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Missouri State football showcased its character in Xbox Bowl comeback bid
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- Missouri State football showcased its character in Xbox Bowl comeback bid
FRISCO, TX — Down 31-7 entering the fourth quarter , Missouri State found itself in a familiar position it had been in throughout a magical FBS debut season.
Rare were the games the Bears were down by so much, but they had the opportunity to lie down. They had every reason to, whether it be the fact that they didn't have their head coach , a few starters decided to opt out of the game and they could have just taken their fancy new Xbox handhelds and gone home.
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But if you watched the Bears throughout this historic season, you knew that's not what they were going to do .
Missouri State fought until the end, scoring three touchdowns over the game's final 15 minutes. The Bears pulled within six with under two minutes to go , but needed an onside kick to have a chance at pulling off their latest miracle.
Arkansas State recovered the kick, winning the Xbox Bowl 34-28 on Thursday, Dec. 18, in Frisco, Texas.
"It was kind of the story of our team the whole year," interim coach Nick Petrino said. "We never give up; we're never out of a fight."
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Missouri State's first bowl appearance as an FBS member started as one to forget before the Bears rallied to make it one to remember. Fittingly, the Bears gave themselves a chance for their eighth one-score game of the season, having won five during the regular season to put themselves in a spot to earn their historic bowl bid.
Jacob Clark , who will go down as one of Missouri State's all-time greats, threw for three of his four touchdowns in the fourth quarter, on perfect passes to Ramone Green Jr., Dash Luke and Jmariyae Robinson, with the latest coming with 1:54 left in the game.
At the same time, Clark kept getting up when he could have just folded in his final collegiate game. The Bears entered the game short-handed along the offensive line, causing Clark to get sacked eight times, while the Red Wolves collected a whopping 14 tackles for a loss.
Yet, somehow, the Bears were in it in the end when there were several times they could have been counted out.
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"We're never out of things," Clark said. "It's a special group of guys, and it's sad that it's come to an end, but I will forever remember this season with them; they're just a bunch of brothers that I'll have for the rest of my life."
Clark alluded to the Bears' togetherness being forged by the offseason death of Todric McGee. With the late safety on their hearts, the Bears rallied to have a season that would have made him proud.
Moments of fight and determination were showcased aplenty throughout arguably the greatest Bears season ever — whether it's Clark's game-winning touchdown pass late against Marshall, winning a game on the road with a true freshman quarterback, somehow pulling off a miraculous win at Liberty, and many others — will define a team that played like one in every sense of the word.
And now, many are likely to leave as MSU heads into a new era under a new head coach, but the memories of the 2025 Bears will be ones fans won't soon forget.
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The Bears' fight late in their bowl game appearance should be one that many look back at with great pride.
"That's just the character of our football team," Clark said.
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_ , contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State showcased its character in Xbox Bowl comeback attempt
