Beard vows Bears won’t fall in trap game

SPRINGFIELD, Mo–Missouri State announced Wednesday that the Bears football team will play at Cincinnati on Saturday, September 11th, 2027.

This will be the first meeting between the Bears and Bearcats.

Missouri State will move up to FBS football in July.

In our Bear Nation report, coach Ryan Beard would like to finish Mo State's history in the FCS division with a Missouri Valley Football Conference championship.

The next step toward that goal is a win at Murray State on Saturday.

The 15th ranked Bears have won seven straight games.

The Racers have lost six straight games.

Next week, Missouri State goes to the top ranked team in FCS North Dakota State.

Beard doesn't want his Bears to fall into the trap of looking past the Racers.

"Human nature always wants the end goal. But going back to what we've been talking about day in and day out since we talked in fall camp. Just staying, be where your feet are at. Stay in the moment. And make sure you handle today. You hear it all the time, you know tomorrow has enough issues of its own. Control what you can control today. We have to figure out how much better we can get from last Saturday's performance to this Saturday at Murray State," said Beard.