Bearcats look for second win in a row against Missouri Southern

By Jacob Meikel

Northwest Missouri State football got out of its 0-2 rut by trusting its run game, and saving its best rushing performance of the season for its first win.

During the two-game skid that equaled the worst start to a season for Northwest since 1994, Northwest had rushing totals of -17 and 32 in its first two games against Minnesota State and Nebraska Kearney.

Head coach Rich Wright and the coaching staff got to work to find answers to make the run game effective sooner rather than later and found something that worked well for the offensive line and quarterback Chris Ruhnke.

“We didn’t like the way we were running the football, so we created some things to where it opened up the running game,” Wright said. “So more RPO, more run-pass for Chris.”

Reaping the benefits of the improved run schemes was junior running back Tank Young. Young accounted for 57 of the 138 yards last Saturday along with two touchdowns. The Overland Park, Kansas, native

“We came out and we just knew we had to run the ball,” Young said. “Northwest is big on running the ball, so not being able to run it the last couple weeks just hurt us.”

With the run game having its struggles in the past, passing the football hasn’t been an achiles heel for Northwest’s offense this season. Ruhnke is third in the MIAA in passing yards per game this season, so the productivity has shown in three games in 2024.

Northwest Missouri State will get an 0-3 Missouri Southern team on the road this Saturday and will find itself in another advantageous position facing the second-to-worst run defense in the MIAA.