#11 CENTRAL ARKANSAS BEARS (2-3) @ MISSOURI STATE BEARS (0-2) GAME 6 INFORMATION DATE: ....................... Saturday, October 17 2019 FINAL SLC STANDINGS TIME: ......................... 7:00 p.m. SITE: ......................... Robert W. Plaster Stadium SCHOOL ...................SLC .....% .............ALL .....% ..............STR Springfield, Mo. UCA ...............................7-2 ..........778 ............9-4 .........692 ............L-1 COVERAGE: KUCA 91.3 FM/The Point 94.1 w/Justin Acri, Nicholls ............................. 7-2 .......... .778 ............. 9-5 ...........643 ..............L-1 SE Louisiana ...................6-3 ......... 667 ............8-5 .........615 ............L-1 Chris Kane & RJ Hawk Sam Houston...................6-3 ..........667 ............7-5 .........583 ............W-1 Fox 16 (LR) / ESPN3 - Don West & Wess Moore McNeese State ..............5-4 ..........556 ............7-5 .........583 ............W-1 SERIES: UCA leads the series 5-4 Incarnate Word ..............4-5 ..........444 ............5-7 .........417 ............L-5 Abilene Christian ...........4-5 ..........444 ............5-7 .........417 ............L-3 Northwestern St. ............3-6 ..........333 ............3-9 .........250 ............L-1 THE SERIES: Stephen F. Austin...........3-6 ..........333 ............3-9 .........250 ............W-1 The Purple Bears and Maroon Bears will be meeting for the 11th time on Houston Baptist .............2-6 ..........250 ............5-7 .........417 ............L-1 Saturday, with UCA leading the series 5-4. UCA is 3-1 in games played in Lamar ............................2-7 ..........222 ............4-8 .........333 ............L-5 Conway and 2-3 in road games in Springfield, Mo. UCA won the last meeting at Plaster Stadium, winning 17-13 on Sept. 21, 2013. LAST MEETING: • 2020 BEARS SCHEDULE • The Bears, coming off a 23-day break between games, rallied to beat Mis- souri State 27-20 on Sept. 26 on “The Stripes” at Estes Stadium. • SATURDAY, AUG. 29 • UCA overcame an early 10-0 deficit, and another 20-7 deficit midway vs. Austin Peay - 8:00 - Montgomery, Ala. - WON 24-17 through the third quarter, by scoring the final 20 points of the game and then • THURSDAY, SEPT. 3 • turning in consecutive defensive stops deep in UCA territory in the final six @. UAB - 7:00 - Birmingham, Ala. - L, 35-45 minutes. L, 35-45 UCA won despite putting up just 177 yards of total offense and completing • SATURDAY, SEPT. 26 • just nine passes for 79 yards. But the Bears got a defensive touchdown _ a vs. Missouri State - 7:00 - Conway, Ark. WON 27-20 30-yard scoop and score from LB Dre Matthews _ and a special teams score _ a 57-yard punt return by Tyler Hudson _ to make up the difference. The • SATURDAY, OCT. 3 • Bears outscored MSU 20-3 in the decisive second half. @ North Dakota State - 2:30 - Fargo, N.D. L, 28-39 UCA’s first six possessions of the game ended in an interception, a missed 22-yard field goal and four consecutive punts. But in the second half, UCA • SATURDAY, OCT. 10 • scored three touchdowns in a span of 2:13 to pull out the victory and improve @ Arkansas State - 2:30 - Jonesboro, Ark. L, 27-50 to 2-1 on the season.The third score was a 7-yard pass from Breylin Smith to Hudson. • SATURDAY, OCT. 17 • @ Missouri State - 7:00 - Springfield, Mo. LAST GAME: • SATURDAY, OCT. 24 • On a rainy, windy day in Jonesboro, the Arkansas State Red Wolves used a @ Eastern Kentucky - 2:00 CT - Richmond, Ky. 20-point third-quarter to pull away from the Bears and win 50-27 last Saturday at Centennial Bank Stadium. ASU’s win avenged its loss to the Bears in the • SATURDAY, OCT. 31 • last meeting in 2016 when UCA won 28-23, also in Jonesboro. vs. Missouri Western • 3:00 • Conway, Ark. The FBS Red Wolves (2-2) had a season-high 573 yards of total offense against a UCA defense depleted by injuries. UCA finished with 411 yards of • SATURDAY, NOV. 14 • total offense, with All-Southland Conference sophomore WR Tyler Hudson vs. Eastern Kentucky - 3:00 - Conway, Ark. catching a career-high 12 passes for 154 yards and junior All-SLC WR Lujuan Winningham grabbing three touchdown receptions in four total catches, cov- • SATURDAY, NOV. 21 • ering 23, 2 and 31 yards. @ Louisiana - TBA - Lafayette, La. Junior quarterback Breylin Smith overcame a rough first half (7 of 26, 90 THIS IS UCA FOOTBALL 3 National championships 2008, 2012, 2017, 2019 SLC Champions 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019 NCAA FCS Playoffs 544 All-Conference selections 120 All-Americans 28 Conference Titles 22 posteason appearances1 64 NCAA All-Academic picks yards) to complete 24 of 49 passes, with two touchdowns and two intercep- UCA will be facing four programs (EKU, UAB, Louisiana, NDSU) for the first tions, while being sacked four times. Redshirt freshman RB Marshun Douglas time. Louisiana is ranked on the Top 25 polls, while UAB is receiving votes. tossed the final TD pass to Winningham on a halfback pass. Seren Hughes- The Rajin Cajuns are 3-0 with a win over No. 23 Iowa State. UAB is 3-1 with Ford punted five times for a 47.4-yard average for the Bears. the only loss to Miami. Arkansas State has a win over Top 25 Kansas State. ASU’s pair of quarterbacks, Logan Bonner and Layne Hatcher, both had The Bears will face a unique trip in the first two weeks of the 2020 season. three touchdown passes and combined for 392 passing yards. Jonathan Ad- UCA travels to Montgomery to face Austin Peay on Saturday (Aug. 29) and ams and Dahu Green had two TD receptions each. rather than return to Conway, will instead stay in Birmingham in preparation UCA played without three defensive starters, including All-American CB for Thursday night’s matchup at UAB. Robert Rochell, All-SLC DE Nathan Grant and LB Malik Wilson. Also, UCA will only have three home games this fall on “The Stripes” at First Security Field at Estes Stadium. The APSU game was originally in Conway NEXT GAME: but was moved to accommodate the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff in The Bears will head to Richmond, Ky, next week for the first of two meet- Montgomery, Ala. UCA added Missouri Western to the schedule on Oct. 31. ings with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at Roy Kidd Stadium. The Bears and Colonels are playing a home-and-home series this season, with the return THE POLLS: matchup in Conway on Nov. 14 at First Security Field at Estes Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. (CT) in Richmond. It will be the first matchup be- UCA finished the 2019 regular season ranked No. 11 both the STATS tween the programs. FCS final and FCS Coaches’ final polls. Fellow Southland Conference teams Nicholls, Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston State were also ranked in the final polls. Austin Peay was 10th and 13th. EFFICIENCY: UCA is No. 11 in the 2020 STATS FCS preseason poll and No. 10 in the Junior WR Lujuan Winningham’s three touchdown receptions against Arkan- Hero Sports poll. sas State gave him eight for the season, out of a total of 20 receptions. His eight TDs leads FCS through five games. For his career, Winningham now has 82 DOUBLING UP: receptions for 1,253 yards and 17 touchdowns, which is ninth in UCA history. The Bears will play two opponents (Missouri State & Eastern Kentucky) The eight TD receptions this season ties his career best from last year, when home and home this season. The last time UCA played the same team twice in he missed four games with a broken arm and is tied for ninth in UCA history. a season was 2005 when UCA beat North Alabama 29-26 in double overtime in the Gulf South Conference regular-season game in Conway, then lost to WALKING WOUNDED: UNA 41-38 in overtime in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals, also at Estes The Bears faced the ASU Red Wolves without six starters, including All- Stadium. American cornerback Robert Rochell. Also missing were LB Malik Wilson, DE The last time UCA repeated an opponent during the regular season was Nathan Grant, S Chris Kershner, WR Dwight Blakey and TE Sam Camargo. all the way back in 1957 when the Bears faced four teams (Ouachita Baptis, Also missing were WR Jarrod Barnes, LB DJ Reed and OL Chandler Knandel, Henderson State, Ozarks, Arkansas A&M) twice each during the NAIA era. among others. CLIMBING THE CHARTS: COMEBACK KIDS: Junior QB Breylin Smith’s three touchdown passes vs. UAB gave him 43 The Bears recorded their seventh come-from-behind victory in the last 14 for his career, moving him past UCA receivers coach Ryan Howard (2011-14) games in the 2020 season opener vs. APSU, and then made it eight comebacks and Wynrick Smothers (2010-13), who had 42 touchdowns each. His one TD in the win over Missouri State on Sept. 26. pass vs. Missouri State tied him with Nathan Dick (2009-11) with 44. Three The Bears trailed APSU 17-16 with 1:40 remaining before winning 24-17 more against NDSU pushed Smith to 47 and into 5th place, just one TD pass with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Breylin Smith to Lujuan Winningham with behind fourth-place Zak Clark (48, 2002, 2004). Two more against Arkansas 34 seconds left. UCA outscored APSU 18-7 in the second half. State puts him at 49 and in fourth place. Against MSU, the Bears trailed 20-7 midway through the third quarter before Smith previously passed UCA offensive coordinator Ken Collums (39, 1991- scoring 20 unanswered points to win 27-20. 94). Head coach Nathan Brown (2005-08) owns the school record with 100 UCA had six comeback victories a year ago, including another APSU win on TD passes.