Looking for a fourth straight win, Liberty is back in action at Williams Stadium on Saturday afternoon, playing host to FBS and CUSA newcomer Missouri State.

Game Overview

  • Matchup: Liberty Flames (4-4, 3-1 CUSA) vs Missouri State Bears (5-3, 3-1 CUSA)
  • Date & Time: Saturday, November 8, 2025, at Williams Stadium, Lynchburg, Virginia. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
  • Series History: Tied, 1-1

Preview of the Bears

Ryan Beard is in his third season as head coach of the Bears, posting a 4-7 mark in his first season in 2023 before going 8-4 last year while competing at the FCS level in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It is the first head coaching job for Beard who played his college ball as a defensive back at Western Kentucky from 2007-11. He came to Missouri State in 2020 as defensive coordinator and safeties coach under the previous Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino, whom Beard succeeded as head coach. Beard is married to Katie, the daughter of Petrino. (Of note, Petrino is currently the interim head coach at Arkansas). Beard’s offensive coordinator is Nick Petrino, Bobby’s son. The defensive coordinator is L.D. Scott who is also Bobby Petrino’s son-in-law.

Missouri State comes to the FBS and CUSA from the Missouri Valley where they had competed since 1986. In 2020 and 2021, under Petrino, the Bears finished in the top 2 of the league and in the top 15 nationally. Last season, Missouri State posted a 6-2 mark in the Missouri Valley with their two league losses coming to North Dakota State (won the FCS National Championship) and South Dakota State (lost to North Dakota State in the FCS semifinals). The Missouri Valley has produced the FCS National Champion each of the past four seasons and 12 of the past 14 seasons.

“You come from the Missouri Valley and you’ve done good in the Missouri Valley, you’re going to be a good team,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “They are the best conference (in FCS). If you perform well in that league, which they have, then you are going to perform well in a lot of leagues because it’s a physical league.”

This season, Beard and Missouri State is 5-3 on the season and 3-1 in conference play, the program’s first competing at the FBS level and in Conference USA. After opening the season with a 73-13 loss at USC, the Bears picked up their first ever win as an FBS program over Marshall, 21-20. After losing in their home opener to SMU, 28-10, Missouri State has won four of their last five including a current three-game win streak. Their lone loss during this span was a 27-22 setback at home against Western Kentucky on Sept. 27.

In their last contest, Missouri State never trailed to pick up a win at home over FIU, 28-21, on Wednesday night, October 29. It was Missouri State’s first home victory over an FBS program and helped secure an unbeaten October (3-0) for the second straight season.

The Bears are led by seventh-year quarterback Jacob Clark who has completed 132 of 206 passes (64.1%) for 1,641 yards (234.4 per game), 13 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. He’s not too much of a rushing threat, having ran the ball 52 times for 41 yards and 2 touchdowns on the season.

After spending his first three seasons at Minnesota where he appeared in one game, Clark transferred to Missouri State. In 2022, he was number two on the depth chart, appearing in just one game. In 2023, Clark started the first four games of the season before suffering a season-ending injury. Last year, he was first-team All-MVFC quarterback and third in the league’s offensive player of the year voting after passing for 3,604 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.

Clark likes to spready the ball around. He has four different receivers with 20+ catches and nine with nine or more. Eight different receivers have at least one receiving touchdown, including six with two or more. Dash Luke leads the team with 25 catches for 339 yards and 2 scores while Ronnel Johnson has 24 receptions for 329 yards and 2 scores.

“He knows more football than probably most people combined,” Chadwell said of Clark. “They do a really nice job with their system, as far as there are a bunch of different personnel groups. He’s able to know what they’re trying to do with their offensive coordinator. He’s seen everything. You’re not going to surprise him. We’ve got to do a good job of trying to contain and doing a good job of hopefully making him slow down a little bit and think with some of the things we will show him.”

As a team, Missouri State is averaging 22.8 points per game and rank 5th in CUSA with 372.9 yards of offense per game. Their rushing attack is 8th best in CUSA, averaging 118.8 yards on the ground and 9th with 3.64 yards per carry. Behind Clark at quarterback, the Bears have the third best passing offense in the league, averaging 254.1 yards per game; however, they do rank 10th on 3rd downs, converting only 32.71% of the time. Missouri State is also worst in the league in allowing sacks, giving up 3.75 per game. They also like to get off to a fast start, outscoring their opponents 48-24 int he first quarter this season and scoring first in 7 of 8 contests.

The Bears are 5th in the league in total defense, allowing 375.5 yards per game. They also rank 8th in CUSA by allowing 27 points per game, though they haven’t allowed an opponent to score more than 28 points in each of the past seven games dating back to their season opener at USC. In conference only games, the Bears rank second in the league in scoring defense (21.3). The Bears have the 2nd best rushing defense, giving up 138 yards per game on the ground, and 7th best passing defense in the conference, allowing 237.5 yards per game through the air.

Coach Beard on the Flames

“Well-coached, explosive in all areas. They’ve gotten better every week. I think they put together their best four quarters against Delaware, and they were extremely explosive on offense, and they got after them on defense. Kind of did anything they wanted. We are catching them at a pretty tough time, but I think we match up well at places. Obviously, our players know how tough it is to go and play at Liberty, but we’re up to the task.”

Coach Chadwell on the Bears

“They do a fantastic job from a scheme standpoint, offensively. They are going to use a lot of personnel. Defensively, they are big and strong. People have struggled to score points on them, with the exception of Southern Cal, which Southern Cal scores points on everybody. They do a really, really good job. This is going to be a big challenge from a physical standpoint for us, on both sides of the ball. To this point, they are arguably the most physical football team that we have seen just from the way they run, the way they hit. We know we’ve got a huge opportunity in front of us It’s basically like an elimination game in the conference, we understand that.”

Prediction

Spread: Liberty -7.5

My forecast: Liberty 28, Missouri State 21

My record this season: 6-2 straight-up, 5-3 against the spread