Bisons look to reverse trend in playoffs against Bearcats

Harding will be making its fourth consecutive playoff appearance when it meets Northwest Missouri State at 1 p.m. today in a first-round game, but the Bisons have nothing on the Bearcats when it comes to swagger.

The Bisons’ 5-3 playoff record since 2016 is more than respectable, but the Bearcats are a different animal in the kingdom of NCAA Division II football.

They have more playoff victories (48), more national championship game appearances (10) and more national titles (6) than any Division II program.

Northwest Missouri also leads Division II in all-time playoff appearances (24) and is riding a streak of 16 consecutive playoff bids.

No other program has ever been to the playoffs more than 10 consecutive times.

Oh, and Northwest Missouri owns a 22-game home playoff winning streak at Bearcats Stadium in Maryville, Mo, the site of today’s matchup with Harding.

Harding Coach Paul Simmons said the Bisons (10-1) are viewing today’s game as an opportunity as well as a challenge.

“We certainly have the right mentality,” Simmons said. “They’ve got nothing to lose, so much to gain.”

Simmons said the matchup with the Bearcats does not appear favorable for Harding — on paper at least.

First, there is the history between the two programs.

Northwest Missouri beat Harding 35-0 in a first-round matchup in 2012.

The Bearcats repeated that score in the 2016 quarterfinals.

Both games were in Maryville, just like today.

Then, there is the matchup itself: Harding’s triple-option Flexbone offense leads Division II in rushing yards per game (383.7), but Northwest Missouri’s rush defense ranks 10th, allowing 84.4 rushing yards per game.

“Their strength is our strength,” Simmons said. “Nobody in the country does what we do in the manner we do it. We’re not going to change who we are. We know who we are.”

Simmons said Harding battled different circumstances in 2012, when it lost both of its starting fullbacks in the first quarter, as opposed to the 2016 matchup.

The 2016 Northwest Missouri team was, according to Simmons, “the best Division II team [there’s] ever been. … They were fantastic.”

Simmons said he sees this matchup as more of an opportunity than an impossibility.

“We would have had to play near perfect to win then,” Simmons said. “We don’t have to be perfect [today]. We have to [be] disciplined, physical and win the takeaway battle.”

And score, something Harding has yet to do against Northwest Missouri.

“Our kids, they’ve got a different look in their eye this week,” Simmons said.

Northwest Missouri Coach Rich Wright said the 2016 Bearcats defense, which held Harding to 119 yards and four first downs, was the best he’s ever coached.

“I’ve told my kids, we don’t have the talent we had in 2016,” he said.

Wright said there is no way to correlate the two previous 35-0 games with what might happen today.

He said high expectations drive the Bearcats, explaining he told the team that the average record for Northwest Missouri State over the past 16 years is 12-2.

These Bearcats are 10-1. “I told them, ‘We’re not even an average Northwest Missouri football team,’ ” Wright said. “We’re a below average football team.”