Missouri State falls to SMU, but Casey Woods says Bears proved they can compete with top programs

See our best photos from Missouri State football at SMU in Week 4

DALLAS —The underdogs had a fighting chance late.

Missouri State pulled a possession in the fourth quarter, but gave up two touchdowns in a 1-minute, 27-second span and lost 34-24 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

The Bears pulled within 21-16 following a touchdown pass from Skyler Locklear to Isaiah Myers with 12:16 left against No. 22-ranked SMU .

Locklear threw an incomplete pass on the 2-point conversion, but a pass interference call on the Mustangs gave the Bears another chance. Locklear capitalized on a 1-yard run, and the Bears pulled within 21-18.

Then, the Bears defense forced a 3-and-out.

That play dropped SMU's win probability from 99.3% to 86.2% on ESPN's analytics.

Missouri State would get the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead on the road against a Power 4 program.

"You know, that's what you pray for going in these games," Locklear said. "Have a chance to go win it."

On 3rd-and-4, the Bears went for the home run ball and missed. Incomplete pass.

Six plays later, Heisman Trophy candidate Kevin Jennings threw a touchdown pass to give the Mustangs some breathing room. A Bears' turnover on the next drive, an interception, led to another SMU touchdown and a 34-18 deficit, which all but sealed their fate.

The Bears lost by 10 to a team that was favored to win by 34.5 points according to many betting sites.

"We didn't get it done, but you know, credit to our defense, credit to special teams, credit to the offensive line, the receivers," Locklear said. "You know, everybody played their hearts out and fought to the very end."

Missouri State flew back to Springfield with a 1-3 mark after non-conference games with losses to Marshall , Texas A&M and SMU.

However, you have to walk before you can run.

While moral victories only count to fans, first-year head coach Casey Woods saw that his team can hang with a talented team like SMU.

"You saw us tonight," Woods said. "We're capable of competing at a level with a really, really, really good football team."

It was not long after Woods was hired to coach at SMU — in 2022 — that the Mustangs turned the corner from being a good team to being a Top 25-ranked program.

The Mustangs were in the American Conference in 2022 and went 7-6 that season — after a 2-3 start.

The next year, SMU went 11-3 and won the American Conference championship. Two years after that, in the ACC, the Mustangs made the college football playoffs.

Woods returned to The Hilltop on Saturday as an opposing coach, but the memories he built with Rhett Lashlee could be the foundation that could continue the Bears' trajectory as an FBS program. He asked what it meant to be back in Dallas.

"Here's what I think about… the greatest memories that I've got are really an encouragement to what it is that we want to do at Missouri State," he said. "And what it is that we want to do at Springfield."

SMU didn't have much tradition after Eric Dickerson. There were some bowl game trips, but generally, even in the good years, the Mustangs were barely .500.

The same Kevin Jennings that torched the Bears for 464 yards on Saturday night was the same Kevin Jennings from nearby Dallas South Oak Cliff that flipped his commitment from Missouri State to SMU. The Gary Webber End Zone Complex was proposed: a $100 million complex that connected the stadium's east and west gates and turned a hill into a state-of-the-art facility with a new weight room, locker room, players' lounge, and sports medicine center for the football players. The second floor had an on-site kitchen to make meals for the 17 varsity programs. The third floor had premium lounge spaces for boosters.

"The end zone was a hill, and the students weren't coming to the games," Woods said. "It was four years ago. So we're not talking about 100 years of tradition. We built the facility just like we're building the facility (in Springfield). We went and sold it to the student body just like we're selling to the student body. We went and sold it to the community. The community got their ass off of the boulevard and came in and started watching the games."

Woods sees the parallels between what happened at SMU and what he wants to happen at MSU.

He just needs to dig up the horse bones, or Bear bones if you will, move them and keep building.

When the end zone football complex was underway, construction crews found the bones of the original Peruna and the other Shetland ponies that followed as the mascot for the Mustangs. When each of the Perunas passed, it was buried in the 'hill' that sat beyond the end zone in what was a U-shaped stadium.

"We moved the horse bones, we got them in a great place and we built this facility and then went to win two conference championships and everybody's like, 'man, that's probably a smart move to move the horse bones, right?' So we've got a chance to do that. We have our own horse bones at Missouri State and in Springfield. For every single person that steps in the stadium is like, 'Ah, same old Missouri State that's always been.' That's the attitude we got to change, right?" No, this has got to be like, you're missing out.

This was a hell of a crowd. We got to get our asses in the seats and make sure we fill the stadium, so we can give to this university that's going to give back to Springfield and make sure that we do that right. That's what I mean by it takes all of us. It's everybody's role."