Missouri State Bears Rebuild (S1)

The Missouri State Bears enter the 2026 Off-Season Program in very high spirits, despite finishing the season on a loss. Together, under new Head Coach Mitchell Franconia, the Bears had their best season ever that nearly seen them getting a huge upset win over the Penn State Nittany Lions in the opening round of the 2025 College Football Playoffs. This season was a great foundation-building season that will hopefully set this program up for many, many years to come.

With Season 1 of the Missouri State Bears’ Program Rebuild ending in a disappointing loss in the opening round of the College Football Playoffs to Penn State, let’s take an in-depth look at how the best season in program history looked under new HC Mitchell Francolia.

The Missouri State Bears' unforgettable season has come to an end, pushing the Nittany Lions to the brink but ultimately falling in a 7-10 loss in the opening round of the 2025 College Football Playoffs.

While the #11 Missouri State Bears prepare to face the #6 Penn State Nittany Lions in the opening round of the 2025 College Football Playoffs, the best players and coaching staffs all gathered at the Lincoln Center in New York City to recognize those who helped continue to grow this sport and continue making it as spectacular as it is.

With the Missouri State Bears coming off a huge win over the Delaware Blue Hens in the C-USA Championship, capping off a season for the ages for this program, they now eye a huge mountain that anyone tied to this program thought was a very distant goal in the College Football Playoffs. HC Mitchell Franconia is writing the history books with this historic run that the Missouri State Bears are on right now.

The Missouri State Bears come up big in the C-USA Championship game and defeat the Delaware Blue Hens 24-0. They will now sit back and see if their perfect 13-0 season is enough to land them a spot in the College Football Playoffs or not. Either way, they will be playing one more game; CFP or Bowl game.

The Missouri State Bears struggle in their final regular season game, but manage to pull off a 3-0 win against the LA Tech Bulldogs and finish with a perfect regular season record. This is the first time ever that the program has ever went undefeated. They now get ready to face the Delaware Blue Hens in the C-USA Championship next week!

The Missouri State Bears handle the Kennesaw State Owls 17-3 on the road to improve to 11-0.

The Missouri State Bears turn to their freshman tight end Jeron Askren to help defeat the UTEP Miners 25-14 at home, improving their undefeated streak to ten games.

The Missouri State Bears keep their undefeated season alive with a 28-21 road win over the Liberty Flames.

The Missouri State Bears turn to their backup QB Drew Viotto, and he delivers in another one score victory, as they defeat the scrappy FIU Panthers 28-21.

The Missouri State Bears keep their undefeated record alive for another week, getting a big 17-10 road win over the New Mexico State Aggies.

The Missouri Bears head into their second, and final, bye week of the regular season with a flawless 6-0 record. Marking the halfway point on the season, the Bears will now go right into six weeks of Conference USA games to decide if they can run away with the conference in their very first season or not.

The Missouri State Bears are pushed to the brim but just barely escape with a 17-14 win over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on the road.

The Missouri State Bears get another blow out win, this time defeating the Kent State Golden Flashes 42-7.

The Missouri State Bears have blown out the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 28-3.

With the Missouri State Bears entering their first bye of the season, sitting at a surprising 3-0 record, it is important to look at where this team sits so we can really take in what a difference the new HC is making on this program already. It isn’t just that the Bears are winning, but two of the games were against big programs like Missouri and SMU; not to mention, on the road. Now, it is only a 3-game sample size, but man, are we liking what we see out of the rebuilding M

The Missouri State Bears have defeated the SMU Mustangs 37-34 in overtime.

The Missouri State Bears have defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd 31-15.

The Missouri State Bears have upset the Missouri Tigers 31-28 to kick off Season 1 of the rebuild, setting the stage for a budding rivalry to ensue over the span of this series.