Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry

Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry

Missouri Western Griffons Northwest Missouri Bearcats
Sport	Football
First meeting	September 19, 1981 Missouri Western 20, Northwest 8
Latest meeting	November 1, 2014 Northwest Missouri 40, Missouri Western 3
Next meeting	October 31, 2015
Statistics
Meetings total	36
All-time series	Northwest leads, 24–12
Largest victory	Northwest Missouri, 42–0 (2010)
Longest win streak	Northwest Missouri, 8 (2004–10)
Current win streak	Northwest Missouri, 2 (2013–present)

Missouri Western

Northwest Missouri

Locations in Missouri

The Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry between the Missouri Western Griffons football team and Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team is between two Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association NCAA Division II rivals that are less than 50 miles apart.

The schools off the field are constantly competing for state funds in the same market ever since Missouri Western expanded from a junior college to a four year college in 1969 fulfilling a Missouri governor Warren Hearnes campaign promise to build the school St. Joseph, Missouri (2000 population 73,912).^[1][2] At the time Northwest at Maryville (2000 population 10,581) founded in 1905 was the sole four-year state college in northwest Missouri.

In 1988 the state under John Ashcroft recommended that Northwest be closed altogether.^[3]

In the wake of the ultimately abandoned proposal both schools have considerably ramped up their football programs with Northwest appearing in seven NCAA Division II National Football Championships (winning three) while Missouri Western has lured the Kansas City Chiefs to the campus for its summer training camp starting in 2010.

The rivalry on the field is a big draw. The biggest crowds at Spratt Stadium are 10,129 in 2009 and 9,007 in 2007.^[4] A crowd of 9,346 attended the September 13, 2008 game—the second biggest at Northwest's Bearcat Stadium.^[5] The 2010 game was attended by 10,805 the biggest in the stadium history.^[6]

Game results

Missouri Western victories

Northwest Missouri State victories

Tie games

#	Date	Location	Winner	Score
1	Sept. 19, 1981	St. Joseph, MO	Missouri Western	20–8
2	Sept. 18, 1982	Maryville, MO	Missouri Western	17–14
3	Sept. 17, 1983	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	19–9
4	Sept. 22, 1984	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	30–27
5	Sept. 21, 1985	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	24–18
6	Sept. 20, 1986	Maryville, MO	Missouri Western	27–16
7	Sept. 19, 1987	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	20–17
8	Sept. 17, 1988	Pittsburg, KS	Missouri Western	27–16
9	Sept. 2, 1989	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	45–29
10	Sept. 1, 1990	Maryville, MO	Missouri Western	47–25
11	Oct. 26, 1991	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	49–26
12	Oct. 24, 1992	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	43–26
13	Sept. 18, 1993	St. Joseph, MO	Missouri Western	21–14
14	Sept. 17, 1994	Maryville, MO	Missouri Western	20–0
15	Sept. 14, 1995	St. Joseph, MO	Missouri Western	24–20
16	Oct. 19, 1996	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	31–24
17	Sept. 27, 1997	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	52–13
18	Sept. 26, 1998	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	45–32
19	Oct. 9, 1999	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	38–34
20	Oct. 7, 2000	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	46–27
21	Nov. 3, 2001	St. Joseph, MO	Missouri Western	37–30
22	Nov. 9, 2002	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	13–10
23	Oct. 25, 2003	St. Joseph, MO	Missouri Western	30–27
24	Oct. 16, 2004	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	31–13
25	Sept. 17, 2005	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	31–21
26	Sept. 23, 2006	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	24–21
27	Sept. 15, 2007	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	44–20
28	Sept. 13, 2008	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	42–35
29	Oct. 3, 2009	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	49–35
30	Oct. 2, 2010	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	42–0
31	Nov. 20, 2010	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	28–24^A
32	Nov. 5, 2011	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	31–28
33	Nov. 19, 2011	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	35–29^A
34	Nov. 10, 2012	Maryville, MO	Missouri Western	21–20
35	Nov. 16, 2013	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	51–21
36	Nov. 1, 2014	Maryville, MO	Northwest Missouri State	40–3
37	Oct. 31, 2015	St. Joseph, MO	Northwest Missouri State	24–10
Series: Northwest Missouri State leads 26–11

^A During the 2010 and 2011 college football seasons, the Griffons and Bearcats played twice; in this case, the second meeting was in the playoffs.

References

1. "A History of Missouri". google.com.
2. Hearnes instrumental in Western’s BIRTH stjoenews.net - August 18, 2009
3. "ST. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper Archives". newsbank.com.
4. Missouri Western Media Guide 2009 - gogriffins.com
5. Northwest Missouri Media Guide 2009 - nwmissouri.edu
6. Archived October 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.