The University of Delaware will have a companion for its 2025 move to Conference USA and the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

Missouri State, whose addition had been rumored since Delaware’s November admittance, will also join Conference USA on July 1 of that year.

That will give CUSA a dozen members in 11 states, with Delaware and Missouri State joining Liberty, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Kennesaw State, Florida International, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Sam Houston and UTEP.

Like Delaware, Missouri State will be moving up from the Football Championship Subdivision as it departs the Missouri Valley Conference.

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The school’s athletic director, Kyle Moats, echoed his future Delaware counterparts in saying “This move represents a transition to a national brand and a platform that will help raise the profile of Missouri State University.” Delaware leaders also said moving to Conference USA will make UD more familiar and recognizable to a wider swath of the country.

Missouri State is located in Springfield and was called Southwest Missouri State until 2005. It has more than 23,000 undergraduate students.

The Bears are already an affiliate CUSA member in beach volleyball. As in Delaware’s case, they will now move their teams in baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, softball, women’s tennis, women’s indoor and outdoor track & field and women’s volleyball. The school does not have men’s tennis.

Its football team plays at 17,500-seat Plaster Stadium. Missouri State has reached the FCS playoffs four times – 1989, 1990, spring 2021 and fall 2021 – winning only in a 1989 first-round game against Maine.

Missouri State teams have been particularly successful in women’s basketball with 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and two Final Fours, the men’s basketball team’s six NCAA, with one Sweet 16, and 10 NIT appearances and one College World Series and three NCAA Super Regionals in baseball.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Missouri State joins Delaware for 2025 climb to FBS, Conference USA