Beard not bothered by with low preseason ranking

SPRINGFIELD, Mo–Missouri State football coach Ryan Beard will jump on a Valley zoom call Wednesday to talk about his Bears.

The Valley’s preseason poll has Missouri State near the bottom of the conference, number nine out of 11.

Beard feels his team can do better in his second season.

The Bears are wrapping up their non-football summer workouts.

Fall camp begins next week.

The season opener at Montana is 40 days away.

And Missouri State will be hoping to recapture the momentum of the end of last season.

Three of the Bears four wins in 2023 came in the second half of the season.

And 11 Missouri State players earned preseason Valley honors.

Beard says he’s not paying attention to the preseason picks.

“Everybody that votes has their opinion. Really at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. What matters is the work that we’re willing to put in on the practice field day in and day out. Trust our process and see what shakes when the ball drops. This is one of the best times of the year. Everyone’s excited about the work they put in over the summer and throughout the spring. Really getting it ramped up to where you hit the ground running when you get to the fall camp. It’s been nice to have a whole other year under your belt. The maturity on our football team. And I’m excited about what we can do,” said Beard.

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