2022 Missouri State Bears football team

The 2022 Missouri State Bears football team represented Missouri State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Bobby Petrino and played their home games at Robert W. Plaster Stadium in Springfield, Missouri. This was the Bears 116th season overall and their 37th season as a member of the MVFC.

2022 Missouri State Bears football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Record	5–6 (3–5 MVFC)
Head coach	Bobby Petrino (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Nick Petrino (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Ryan Beard (3rd season)
Home stadium	Robert W. Plaster Stadium (capacity: 17,500)
Seasons ← 2021 2023 →

2022 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 South Dakota State $^		8	–	0					14	–	1
No. 2 North Dakota State ^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 20 North Dakota ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
Youngstown State		5	–	3					7	–	4
Northern Iowa		5	–	3					6	–	5
Illinois State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Southern Illinois		4	–	4					5	–	6
Missouri State		3	–	5					5	–	6
South Dakota		2	–	6					3	–	8
Indiana State		1	–	7					2	–	9
Western Illinois		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant As of August 24, 2023 Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2021 Missouri State Bears football team

Missouri State entered the year with high expectations after making their first playoff appearance. They were predicted to finish in 6th place in the MVFC Standings. They finished the year with an 8–4 record and finished 2nd in the MVFC with a 6-2 conference record. They returned to the playoffs for the second straight year and hosted their first game since 1990. They lost in the first round to UT Martin 32–31.^[1] QB Jason Shelley won the conference Offensive Player of the Year award and Newcomer of the Year award in his first season.^[2] They finished the season ranked 14th in both Coaches and STATS poll.^[3][4]

Preseason

MVFC Media Poll

The media picked the Bears to finish in 3rd place. This is the highest ranking for the Bears since 1996 when they were selected 2nd.

MVFC media poll^[5]
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st Place)
1	North Dakota State	446 (39)
2	South Dakota State	407 (2)
3	Missouri State	355
4	Southern Illinois	306
5	Northern Iowa	304
6	South Dakota	235
7	North Dakota	190
8	Illinois State	178
9	Youngstown State	132
10	Indiana State	109
11	Western Illinois	44

Preseason awards

Missouri State had eight players selected to the 2022 All-MVFC Preseason Team. Three from the defense, three from the offense, and two from the specialists. Seven players were picked to the first team and one to the second team.

Preseason All-MVFC Team

Preseason All-MFVC Team^[6]
Player	Team	Position	Year
Montrae Braswell	First Team	DB	JR
Landon Bebee	First Team	OL	JR
Jason Shelley	First Team	QB	SR
Kevin Ellis	First Team	DE	SR
Kyriq McDonald	First Team	DB	SR
Ty Scott	First Team	WR	JR
Grant Burkett	First Team	P	SO
Jose Pizano	Second Team	K	JR

Award Watch Lists

Award Watch Lists^[7]^[8]^[9]
Award	Player	Position	Year
FCS Punter of the Year	Grant Burkett	P	SO
Walter Payton Award	Jason Shelley	QB	SR
Buck Buchanan Award	Montrae Braswell	DB	Jr.

Personnel

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Alma mater	Joined staff
Bobby Petrino	Head coach	Carroll College (1983)	2020
Ryan Beard	Defensive coordinator/ Safeties	Western Kentucky (2012)	2020
Nick Petrino	Offense coordinator / quarterbacks coach	Western Kentucky (2014)	2020
Austin Appleby	Wide receivers coach	Purdue (2015)	2020
Skyler Cassity	Inside linebackers coach	Auburn (2016)	2020
Nelson Fishback	Tight ends coach/ co-special teams coordinator	Western Kentucky (2015)	2020
Ronnie Fouch	Running backs coach/ recruiting coordinator/ co-special teams coordinator	Indiana State (2004)	2020
Max Halpin	Offensive line coach	Western Kentucky (2016)	2020
Reggie Johnson	Inside Linebackers	Louisville (1996)	2020
L.D. Scott	Defensive line coach/ run game coordinator	Louisville (2009)	2020
Tramain Thomas	Defensive backs coach	Arkansas (2013)	2020
Kevin Elliot	Outside linebackers coach	Concord (2013)	2022
Lynn Mentzer	Director of football operations	Coastal Carolina (2005)	2018

Source:^[10]

Roster

2022 Missouri State Bears Football Roster
Quarterback  2 Jordan Pachot –   sophomore (6'2, 195)  3 Jason Shelley – senior (5'11, 197) 10 Kaden McMullen –   freshman (6'4, 210) 11 Hess Horne –   freshman (6'2, 183) 12 Jacob Clark – sophomore (6'5, 217) 16 Reid Potts –   freshman (6'3, 176) Running back  4 Andrew Cunningham – junior (6'1, 225)  9 Jacardia Wright – sophomore (6'0, 220) 22 Jeremiah Johnson – sophomore (6'1, 213) 23 Tywuan Lee –   freshman (6'2, 201) 31 Celdon Manning – sophomore (5'10, 187) 39 Sage White – freshman (5'8, 174) 41 Ahmias Hart – freshman (6'2, 218) Wide receiver  0 Jmariyae Robinson – freshman (6'1, 170)  1 Jordan Jones – senior (6'2, 196)  5 Kevon Latulas – senior (6'0, 200)  6 Raylen Sharpe – sophomore (5'9, 172)  8 Larry Wright III –   sophomore (6'4, 212) 13 Liam O'Reilly – freshman (6'2, 187) 15 Jahod Booker –   senior (5'11, 190) 17 Isaiah Isaac – junior (5'10, 174) 18 Terique Owens – junior (6'3, 193) 19 Ty Scott – junior (6'3, 202) 80 Carter Harrell – freshman (6'4, 205) 84 DVontae Key – sophomore (5'10, 187) 88 Hunter Wood – sophomore (6'1, 204) Tight end 14 Stetson Moore –   junior (6'4, 250) 46 Cash Hudson – freshman (6'3, 272) 49 Carson Buddemeyer – sophomore (6'2, 241) 85 Lance Mason – freshman (6'3, 240) 87 Gary Clinton – sophomore (6'4, 244) 89 Cameron Paul – freshman (6'5, 230) Punter 31 Grant Burkett – sophomore (6'1, 184)		Offensive lineman 52 Thomas Schulte – freshman (6'1, 288) 53 Jeremiah Carter – junior (6'6, 301) 54 Tevita Fuimaono – junior (6'2, 300) 56 Ryan Suliafu – junior (6'2, 330) 57 Gilles Tchio − Freshman (6'3, 301) 60 Sean Fitzgerald –   Senior (6'2, 307) 65 Ian Fitzgerald – junior (6'5, 299) 66 Grant Goodson –   freshman (6'6, 296) 72 Mark Hutchinson –   freshman (6'2, 290) 73 Landon Bebee – junior (6'3, 298) 74 Raveion Harrell – freshman (6'1, 300) 75 Ben Martinez – junior (6'3, 303) 76 Christian Loaiza – freshman (6'5, 325) 77 Andrew Wiens – junior (6'5, 289) 79 Brett Harris –   freshman (6'6, 293) Defensive lineman  2 Tico Brown — DL – junior (6'2, 295) 14 Devin Goree – DE – sophomore (6'3, 250) 15 Kevin Ellis – DE – senior (6'4, 241) 33 Anthony Payne – DE – senior (6'2, 295) 33 Anthony Payne – DE – senior (6'2, 295) 34 Kaleb Peleki – DL – freshman (6'3, 269) 44 Siale Suliafu – DL – freshman (6'0, 298) 52 Arian Bhat – DL – junior (6'2, 295) 90 Sterling Smithson – DL –   freshman (6'3, 315) 91 Ja'Veo Toliver – DE – sophomore (6'5, 284) 92 Wesley Bazzle – DL – sophomore (6'0, 283) 94 Ikenna Ahumibe – DT – senior (6'0, 292) 96 Armon Wallace – DL – freshman (6'0, 292) 98 Jayson Caldwell – DL – freshman (6'6, 235) 99 Allen Love – DL – junior (6'2, 296) Long snapper 61 Caden Bolz – sophomore (6'0, 219)		Linebacker  5 Ferrin Manuleleua – senior (6'1, 219) 10 Tyrin Brooks –   junior (6'1, 220) 17 Jared Lloyd – freshman (6'3, 225) 21 Steven Ward – sophomore (6'0, 217) 23 Lucas Eatman – sophomore (6'3, 230) 24 Trae Thompson – junior (6'1, 245) 26 Tahj Chambers – sophomore (6'2, 218) 27 Udoka Ezeani –   freshman (6'2, 212) 30 Von Young – sophomore (6'0, 219) 32 Kilifi Leaaetoa – junior (6'1, 228) 35 Caleb Bouldin – freshman (5'11, 200) 36 Jordan Hoskins –   freshman (6'0, 215) 40 Connor Lair – freshman (6'1, 220) Cornerback  0 Kaunor Ashley – sophomore (5'10, 185)  3 DeAndre Washington – senior (6'2, 188)  4 Montrae Braswell – junior (6'0, 190)  7 Chukwuma Anusiem – junior (6'0, 195)  8 Jaylen Stewart – junior (6'3, 197) 11 Jamal McMurrin –   junior (5'11, 185) 16 C.J. Crump –   sophomore (6'0, 184) 20 Donovan Clark – sophomore (6'2, 194) 22 Lemondre Joe – sophomore (6'0, 174) 25 Caleb Blake –   sophomore (6'0, 187) 28 Jahiel Blue-Smith – sophomore (5'9, 179) Safety  1 Aaron Harris – senior (6'0, 193)  6 Kyriq McDonald – senior (6'0, 209)  9 Dillon Thomas – senior (6'2, 189) 12 P.J. Hall – sophomore (6'3, 200) 13 Todric McGee –   freshman (6'1, 196) 29 J.J. O'Neal – freshman (6'2, 189) Placekicker 37 Khaled Alasad –   sophomore (5'8, 170) 38 Jose Pizano – junior (5'7, 215)

Source:^[11]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 p.m.	at Central Arkansas*	No. 5	Estes Stadium Conway, AR	ESPN+	W 27–14	10,277
September 8	7:00 p.m.	No. 14 UT Martin*	No. 5	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 35–30	9,872
September 17	6:00 p.m.	at No. 10 (FBS) Arkansas*	No. 5	Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR	SECN+/ESPN+	L 27–38	74,133
September 24	2:00 p.m.	No. 2т South Dakota State	No. 6	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	L 14–28	13,189
October 1	12:00 p.m.	at North Dakota	No. 7	Alerus Center Grand Forks	ESPN+	L 31–48	10,020
October 8	2:00 p.m.	No. 17 Southern Illinois	No. 20	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 21–38	7,061
October 22	4:00 p.m.	Northern Iowa		UNI Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN+	L 20–41	8,809
October 29	2:00 p.m.	Western Illinois		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 64–14	10,712
November 5	1:00 p.m.	at South Dakota		DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN3	L 13–20	5,341
November 12	2:00 p.m.	Youngstown State		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 25–22	5,148
November 19	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 24–7	2,575
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Last updated: August 18, 2022.
Source: [1]

Rankings

Further information: 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	5	5	5	6	7	20	RV
Coaches	8	7	6	4т	9	19	RV
Athlon Power Poll	5	5	5	5

References

1. "UT Martin vs. Missouri State - Game Summary - November 27, 2021 - ESPN". ESPN.com.
2. "Shelley Named Valley Offensive Player of the Year". MissouriStateBears.com. November 24, 2021.
3. "North Dakota State is Unanimous No. 1 in Final Stats Perform FCS Top 25". January 10, 2021.
4. "[FCS POLL] NORTH DAKOTA STATE ENDS 2021 AT NO.1 IN THE AFCA TOP 25 - AFCA". www.afca.com.
5. "Missouri Valley Football Announces Preseason Team / Poll". valley-football.org.
6. "Bears Tabbed Third; Eight Players Named to Valley Preseason Team".
7. "Burkett on FCS Punter of the Year Watch List".
8. "Shelley Named to Walter Payton Award Watch List".
9. "Braswell on FCS Defensive Player of the Year Watch List".
10. "2021 Football Coaches". Retrieved September 19, 2022.
11. "2021 Football Roster". Retrieved September 19, 2022.