Missouri Southern State University football is back on the road again, taking on Missouri Western State University at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Southern (1-6) is coming off “another tough road trip” said MSSU head coach Atiba Bradley this week. They lost 13-16 against the University of Nebraska-Kearney last week.
Bradley said, “I thought the defense came out … struggled a little bit in the first quarter and then really settled in and got pretty stingy the rest of the afternoon.”
Southern allowed 7 points in the first quarter and 7 in the second.
“I thought our special teams, for the most part, were really solid," he said.
Kicker Asher Huffman was 2 for 2 on field goals with a 41-yard kick and an 18-yard kick. Punter Mitchell Cory had five punts for an average of 43 yards.
Bradley wrapped it up by saying, “We got to be better. I mean that’s the bottom line as a football team.”
Missouri Western is "offensively, a bit of juggernaut” according to Bradley.
Western (3-4) averages 482.4 yards of offense per game (first in the MIAA, ninth in the country) and has 32 offensive touchdowns (second in MIAA, tied for 33rd in the country). The majority of those have come from the air with 352.1 yards per game (first MIAA, third in the country) and 19 passing touchdowns (first in the MIAA, 13th in the country).
They have scored more than 40 points in four games.
Bradley also said, “They got a really good quarterback” referring to Isaiah Tate, who has been an MIAA offensive player of the week and currently holds five single-game records for Missouri Western. In just seven games, Tate has the 10th-most passing yards in a single season and is tied for 10th-most passing touchdowns in a season in program history.
Its defense was described by Bradley as “feast or famine.” They have allowed more than 30 points in five games and 45 or more in three games.
Bradley said of Southern, “Some weeks the offense is gonna struggle … some weeks the defense is gonna struggle. … Each side of the ball has to have this kind of big brother mentality. … If the offense is struggling … we’re going to lift them up.”
Cory added to that by saying, “There’s going to be days where … the offense isn’t producing, and I always say to some of the guys, ‘I got your back.’"