Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry

The Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry between the Missouri Western Griffons football team and Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team is between two Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association NCAA Division II rivals that are less than 50 miles apart.

Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry

Missouri Western Griffons Northwest Missouri State Bearcats
First meeting	September 19, 1981 Missouri Western, 20–8
Latest meeting	October 14, 2023 Northwest Missouri State, 27–23
Next meeting	2024
Statistics
Meetings total	44
All-time series	Northwest Missouri State leads, 32–12
Largest victory	Northwest Missouri State, 42–0 (2010)
Longest win streak	Northwest Missouri State, 10 (2004–2011), (2013–present)
Current win streak	Northwest Missouri State, 10 (2013–present)
Missouri Western Northwest Missouri State Locations in Missouri

The schools off the field are constantly competing for state funds in the same market ever since Missouri Western expanded from a junior college to a four-year college in 1969 fulfilling a Missouri governor Warren Hearnes campaign promise to build the school St. Joseph, Missouri (2000 population 73,912).^[1][2] At the time Northwest at Maryville (2000 population 10,581) founded in 1905 was the sole four-year state college in northwest Missouri.

In 1988, the state under John Ashcroft recommended that Northwest be closed altogether.^[3]

In the wake of the ultimately abandoned proposal, both schools have considerably ramped up their football programs with Northwest appearing in ten NCAA Division II National Football Championships (winning six) while Missouri Western has hosted the Kansas City Chiefs summer training camp starting since 2010.^[4]

The rivalry on the field is a big draw. The biggest crowds at Spratt Stadium are 10,129 in 2009 and 9,007 in 2007.^[5] A crowd of 9,346 attended the September 13, 2008, game—the second biggest at Northwest's Bearcat Stadium.^[6] The 2010 game was attended by 10,805 the biggest in the stadium history.^[7]

Game results

Missouri Western victories

Northwest Missouri State victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 September 19, 1981 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 20–8 2 September 18, 1982 Maryville, MO Missouri Western 17–14 3 September 17, 1983 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 19–9 4 September 22, 1984 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 30–27 5 September 21, 1985 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 24–18 6 September 20, 1986 Maryville, MO Missouri Western 27–16 7 September 19, 1987 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 20–17 8 September 17, 1988 Pittsburg, KS Missouri Western 27–16 9 September 2, 1989 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 45–29 10 September 1, 1990 Maryville, MO Missouri Western 47–25 11 October 26, 1991 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 49–26 12 October 24, 1992 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 43–26 13 September 18, 1993 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 21–14 14 September 17, 1994 Maryville, MO Missouri Western 20–0 15 September 14, 1995 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 24–20 16 October 19, 1996 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 31–24 17 September 27, 1997 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 52–13 18 September 26, 1998 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 45–32 19 October 9, 1999 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 38–34 20 October 7, 2000 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 46–27 21 November 3, 2001 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 37–30 22 November 9, 2002 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 13–10 23 October 25, 2003 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 30–27 No. Date Location Winner Score 24 October 16, 2004 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 31–13 25 September 17, 2005 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 31–21 26 September 23, 2006 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 24–21 27 September 15, 2007 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 44–20 28 September 13, 2008 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 42–35 29 October 3, 2009 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 49–35 30 October 2, 2010 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 42–0 31 November 20, 2010 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 28–24^A 32 November 5, 2011 St. Joseph, MO Missouri Western 31–28 33 November 19, 2011 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 35–29^A 34 November 10, 2012 Maryville, MO Missouri Western 21–20 35 November 16, 2013 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 51–21 36 November 1, 2014 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 40–3 37 October 31, 2015 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 24–10 38 November 12, 2016 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 44–3 39 November 11, 2017 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 30–0 40 August 30, 2018 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 28–6 41 September 5, 2019 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 45–35 42 October 2, 2021 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 30–7 43 October 1, 2022 Maryville, MO Northwest Missouri State 16–3 44 October 14, 2023 St. Joseph, MO Northwest Missouri State 27–23 Series: Northwest Missouri State leads 32–12

^A During the 2010 and 2011 college football seasons, the Griffons and Bearcats played twice; in this case, the second meeting was in the playoffs.

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games

References

1. Larsen, Lawrence Harold (1971). A History of Missouri. ISBN 9780826215468.
2. Hearnes instrumental in Western’s BIRTH stjoenews.net - August 18, 2009 November 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
3. "ST. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper Archives". newsbank.com.
4. "Chiefs and Missouri Western State University Agree to Extend Training Camp Through 2019". chiefs.com.
5. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
6. Northwest Missouri Media Guide 2009 – nwmissouri.edu May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
7. [1] October 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine