CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College football team will head to the "Show Me State" for the first time since 1989 when they travel to Bolivar, Mo. to face Southwest Baptist University. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Plaster Stadium.

In the first-ever meeting between the two schools, both teams will look to bounce back from a season-opening loss. The Choctaws dropped an overtime thriller at Clark Atlanta (32-29), while the Bearcats fell to Eastern New Mexico on a last-second field goal (23-21).

The Choctaws (0-1) are led by fourth-year head coach John Bland, who has improved MC's win total in each of his three seasons at the helm. Robert Clardy leads the Bearcats (0-1) after a playing career in Bolivar. He also helped get SBU to the Division II playoffs with a 10-2 record in 2016.
 

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WHEN MC HAS THE BALL

- Junior quarterback Ty Jobe led the MC offensive attack with three touchdown runs in the season-opener against Clark Atlanta. He combined for 132 total yards of offense, including a team-high 16 carries for 33 yards.
- The rushing attack that piled up 185 yards on 45 carries was paced by junior running back Tiberias Lampkin, who tallied 94 yards on 11 attempts. Junior running back Alizee Chubbs also rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries in his return to his hometown of Atlanta, Ga.
- The Bearcats had four players tally at least 10 tackles, inlcuding a team-high 13 from Tyler Curts, who also racked up a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss.
- As a unit, SBU had 17.0 tackles for loss with five players recording at least 2.0. De'shawn Tone and Victor Clavier combined for 20 tackles and 4.5 TFL in the season-opening loss to ENMU.
 

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WHEN SBU HAS THE BALL

- The Bearcats are led by reigning Great Lakes Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback TJ Edwards, who tallied nearly 4,000 total yards with 44 total touchdowns in 2016. Last week, Edwards passed for 156 yards and a score with 51 rushing yards and a touchdown.
- Kendrick Payne caught a team-high eight passes for 54 yards, while also completing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Chris Robb, who caught five passes for 70 yards against ENMU.
- Junior linebacker Kaleb Coleman had a team-high seven tackles in the season-opener against Clark Atlanta, while senior Steven Bradley had six tackles and a tackle for loss.
- Junior linebacker Colton Magee picked off a pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown last Thursday against the Panthers.
 

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SPECIAL TEAMS

- Preseason All-Gulf South Conference selection Matthew Turcotte averaged 40.2 yards per punt with a long of 50 yards against CAU.
- Junior Greg Nickles missed both of his field goal attempts in the opening week, while senior Matt Brasher averaged 57.3 yards per kickoff.
- Sophomore Nathan Faciane had a 16-yard punt returner against the Panthers, while freshman Darius Young returned a kickoff 17 yards.
- Jordan LeClair missed both of his field goal attempts fot the Beacats last week and averaged 32.7 yards per punt with a long of 55 yards.
 

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GAME NOTES
- The Choctaws were picked to finish 8th in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll, while seniors Chris Manning and Turcotte and junior Arik Washington were All-GSC selections.
- MC is 2-3 all-time against teams from the State of Missouri, going 0-1 against Ozarks (MO) and 2-2 against Southeast Missouri State.
- The Choctaws have played five previous times on September 9th, going 3-2, including a 34-0 win over North Alabama on their way to a win in the 1989 Division II national championship game.
- MC controlled time of possession in the season-opening game against CAU, holding the ball for over 19 minutes in the second half, including a 12-play, 88-yard touchdown drive to open the final 30 minutes.
- This will be the first-ever meeting between MC and SBU
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC is recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and will be competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.

The athletic department sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.

For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or nichols@mc.edu.