MSU to C-USA 5 quick thoughts on Bears’ move to FBS
Missouri State athletics is Conference USA-bound, beginning in the 2025-26 athletics season and there is a lot to unpack as the school jumps to the FBS level in football.
Many thoughts have come to mind over Missouri State’s Friday morning news bomb. Here are five quick thoughts we have on the university’s jump.
Missouri State making conference change shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone
This has been in the rumor mill for several years and we’ve always written that it makes sense. Missouri State’s annual athletics budget lines up with those in Conference USA, or the oftenrumored Sun Belt, and it has sat near the top of the Missouri Valley Conference public school budgets for years.
It’s easy to point and laugh and say “Missouri State is no good at football” when the history is what it is. You’ll hear administrators say that it’s not only a football decision but that’s where the dollars are. There is much more money at the FBS level than FCS. They wouldn’t be leaving the Missouri Valley Football Conference if that wasn’t the case.
There’s also the fact that MSU President Clif Smart and Athletics Director Kyle Moats have been outspoken about this possibility ever since Oklahoma and Texas announced they were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in 2021. Smart said for almost a year he believed it would happen at some point, whether he was the president or not.
Geographically, Missouri State makes more sense than others — even those who have won recent FCS national championships like North Dakota State which has been even more outspoken than MSU’s administration has been.
Clif Smart, Kyle Moats make legacy-altering move
We wrote in recent months that the decline of interest in Missouri State men’s basketball looked like it would be
Smart’s legacy in his impact on athletics as he heads into retirement. Moats’ future also appeared questionable when MSU searched for Smart’s replacement.
With Smart months away from departing the university, he and Moats have redefined what will be their greatest impact on the university athletics program for years to come. This is the legacy unless either is involved if the school looks to make another jump someday, say to the American Athletic Conference.