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CONWAY, Ark. _ After a formidable non-conference schedule, the College of Central Arkansas Bears will open their first season within the United Athletic Convention (UAC) on Saturday after they host the Abilene Christian Wildcats on “The Stripes” at First Safety Discipline at Estes Stadium.
The Bears and Wildcats will kick off at 6 p.m., with reside protection on ESPN+, The Bear 91.3 and The Level 94.1.
UCA (1-2) is coming off a 49-31 loss at second-ranked North Dakota State final weekend, a sport during which the Bears put up greater than 400 yards of offense and had a 200-yard rusher in junior ShunDerrick Powell. However the nine-time FCS nationwide champions did what they do finest, successful at dwelling for the 81st time of their previous 83 non-conference video games.
“I used to be happy with our battle, our effort,” mentioned UCA head coach Nathan Brown.”It (ambiance) was precisely what I believed it was going to be. From high to backside, the way in which they run their program, simply the sport day vibes of the Fargodome, to the band, to the doorway… that is what it is speculated to appear like.
“There is a cause why they’ve received 9 of the final 12 (nationwide championships). And that is what we need to attempt to be. I informed our group, we’re not them but. However that does not imply that we’re not an excellent soccer group. However we’re not what North Dakota State is but. However for us to enter their place, lengthy journey and all that, was spectacular.”
The WIldcats (2-1) are additionally coming off a loss to a High 10 group. No. 9 Incarnate Phrase beat ACU 27-20 final Saturday in Abilene, outgaining the WIldcats 517 to 320 yards. ACU owns wins over Northern Colorado (31-11) in Week 1 and Prairie View A&M (45-16) in Week 2.
The Bears had been picked second within the first preseason UAC ballot, behind Japanese Kentucky, which is at the moment 0-3 on the season. The Wildcats had been picked fifth.
The groups didn’t play final season, however UCA received the earlier assembly in 2021 by a rating of 42-21 in Conway. The Bears, behind quarterback Breylin Smith, rolled up 543 yards of whole offense, together with 358 by way of the air. Smith was 28 of 38 with 5 landing passes.
The Wildcats, below second-year head coach Keith Patterson, have hit the switch portal arduous, with 23 transfers listed on their depth chart heading into Saturday’s sport, together with quarterback Maverick McIvor (Texas Tech) and main tackler Izaiah Kelley (SMU).
“We’re excited to open the UAC season at dwelling,” mentioned Brown. “Abilene is a good program. Clearly they seem to be a scorching group proper now. Lots of people like them, they see the expertise they’ve. They’ve reloaded (with transfers) and they will look the half. Once they stroll out right here on Saturday, you are going to say that is a powerful trying group. As a result of quite a lot of these are Energy 5 transfers.
“They’re simply affected by bounce-back gamers. They’re at a spot in Texas the place they get quite a lot of these, and so they’ve taken full benefit of that. They’re spectacular on the hoof. We all know they will run an attacking fashion protection, they’ll be very a number of on offense. Their quarterback is an excellent participant. They have some actually lengthy broad receivers that they need to take pictures with.”
The Bears lead the general collection with the Wildcats 11-1-1 and have received the previous six conferences, outscoring ACU by a mean of 37-19. The closest matchup was a 31-30 UCA victory in 2019 at Estes Stadium, when the Bears got here from behind with a Carlos Blackman 3-yard landing run with 1:30 remaining and the Wildcats missed a 46-yard area aim with 35 seconds remaining.
“We’re battle-tested,” mentioned Brown. “So that you hope, in enjoying two of the primary three weeks in opposition to groups like Oklahoma State and North Dakota State, hopefully it bodes nicely for you beginning this weekend and entering into convention play. We really feel like we match up nicely in our convention. We really feel like we’ve got the expertise, expertise, velocity and measurement that matches up similar to quite a lot of our groups on this convention, and we really feel like we will acquire an edge in some areas as nicely.”
UCA returns to the highway subsequent Saturday (Sept. 30) with its first journey to Southern Utah in Cedar Metropolis, Utah.
