SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State University fans barely had time to celebrate their team coming out of the tunnel for their opening 2008 football game on Thursday night when they found the team trailing Division 2 Washburn University of Topeka, Kan. The Icabods had two touchdowns within the first eight and a half minutes -- a 29-yard touchdown pass from Jake Iverson to Brad Cole, and a 12-yard run by Iverson.

By then, the crowd of 10,360 at Plaster Sports Complex had nothing to celebrate but the $600,000 new video scoreboard system. Starting with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Chris Geisz in the first quarter, however, the Bears came out of hibernation. They tied it early in the second quarter on a 4-yard run by Kingjack Washington and then, after another Washburn score, tied it again at 21 with a touchdown catch by Justin Fuselier just before the intermission.

Nothing much was awesome about the second half for the Bears, despite animations on the scoreboard that said otherwise. MSU had a brief lead on a 31-yard field goal by Matt Hottleman but the Icabods' Terrence Lowe had a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Iverson threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Drameagon Powers a minute into the fourth quarter.

Although MSU fought back, and got another field goal, they could not get a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie it and force overtime.

The Bears drove down the field but one receiver couldn't hold on to a potential touchdown catch. On fourth down and goal to go, Geisz caught a pass and was tackled at the 6-inch line of Washburn, the Bears turned it over on downs, and Washburn had its first victory ever over a Division 1 opponent, 35-27.

MSU Coach Terry Allen said dropped passes, mistakes by special teams and silly penalties doomed the Bears. For instance, MSU lost a potential touchdown late in the first quarter because they had too many men on the field.

MSU (0-1) outplayed Washburn (2-0) in most other areas. The Bears had 433 yards of offense to 374 for Washburn.

Bears quarterback Cody Kirby threw for 261 yards (21 completions on 24 attempts), and had two touchdowns and two interceptions. Kingjack Washington led the Bears in rushing with 68 yards on 14 carries.

Iverson threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores for the Icabods.

Next up for the Bears is a trip to Stillwater, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big 12 Conference. That's a quantum leap upwards from the competition they played Thursday.