COLUMBIA, MO. • Missouri State coach Dave Steckel doesn’t have to spend much time crafting his pregame speech for Saturday’s kickoff at Missouri.
There are inherent mismatches when Mizzou, the state’s only college program that plays at the sport’s highest level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, hosts a Football Championship Subdivision team like Steckel’s Bears. Missouri coach Barry Odom builds a team with 85 available scholarships, while Steckel has 63 at his disposal. Last year, Mizzou spent about $22 million on its football program. Missouri State’s entire athletics department budget was around $16 million.
Both programs recruit players from all corners of the state and parts of Texas, but not for the same caliber of athlete.