SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State’s second season in FBS is about to begin. The Bears will travel to College Station, Texas for a clash against No. 8 Texas A&M on Saturday, Sept. 5.
No one is more excited than first-year head coach Casey Woods, he said during availability on Monday, Aug. 31.
“Our team is in a great place right now. I’m excited to see the development that will come,” Woods said. “I don’t think there is a better place to get started than College Station, Texas. Kyle Field is an unbelievable location to experience college football.”
The Bears will certainly have their hands full against a team that has SEC championship aspirations and College Football Playoff hopes. Woods
has made his team aware that their schedule is broken down into three parts.
The first part is the non-conference slate. Of course, he expects his team to compete and challenge the Aggies along with the other non-conference opponents. But, the meat of the schedule is Conference USA play, that’s when he wants his team to be at peak performance.
Missouri State will check out Kyle Field on Friday. It’s another step to helping the Bears be comfortable in an uncomfortable environment. Woods has tried to prepare his team for every possible thing, just like when he simulated a road game during a scrimmage a few weeks ago.
“It’s going to sound a little Hoosiers, but the field is the same size, they play by the same rules, they’ve got the same number of players on the field,” Woods said. “We have to go out there and execute what we’ve gotten good at.”
Woods emphasized throughout the press conference that Missouri State has to be themselves. According to Woods, the team has improved in tackling during camp.
Tackling will be key for the Bears, who will face Heisman hopeful quarterback Marcel Reed and impressive running backs Rueben Owens and Jamarion Morrow.
Clean, sound football is the way to Woods’ heart. The Bears will need that style of play to contend with the country’s best.
“This is going to be a whole heap of adversity,” Woods said. “How will we respond when that 102,000 is rolling or if they score or if we have something bad happen. We have to respond in the right way.”
Liam Keating covers high school sports and Washburn University for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State football taking 'Hoosiers' approach against Texas A&M
