The SDSU Defense

South Dakota State started the season off much like the Bears – slow. They lost their first three games. Their only loss since was a heart-breaking loss to Georgia Southern when GSU kicked the game-winning 54-yard field goal as time expired.



It all sounds a little too familiar. Last year, SDSU was 2-0 against the Southland Conference heading into the game. This year they are once again off to a 2-0 start against SLC competition. This UCA team needs that to be where the similarities stop.



UCA’s offense threw for 290 yards last year against South Dakota State. It was the second-highest total given up by the SDSU defense all season (Montana had 291). But everyone remembers the -16 yards rushing the Bears were held to. That was due in large part to the five sacks for -48 yards on Nathan Brown.



The Jacks defense had an interception as well and seven total tackles behind the line of scrimmage.



The problem for UCA’s offense, which we all know has been red hot this season, is that most of the defense from last year’s game appears back. And, Jimmy Rogers, a sophomore linebacker who didn’t register a tackle against UCA last year, is leading the team defensively this year.



Senior Mitch Pontrelli and juniors Eric Schroeder and Danny Batten are the guys doing the damage up front this year. They have combined for 11.5 sacks and 26.5 tackles for loss. Against the Bears last season they had three sacks and four tackles for loss.



The SDSU defense has 10 interceptions, but that number may be a little deceiving since five of those were in a single game, against Stephen F. Austin. SFA has thrown 15 this season.



As you might imagine, the -16 yards was the season low for the Jacks defense. In fact, the Bears were one of just four teams to rush for fewer than 100 yards against SDSU last season. Those four games were the only home games SDSU played last season, so maybe that is a good sign.



The very next Jackrabbit opponent, a powerful Cal Poly team that averaged 182 yards per game in 06, rushed for 238. SDSU opponents averaged 154 yards per game, and that’s weighted down heavily by the Bears poor performance last year.



This season the Bears are averaging 166.5 yards on the ground. The Jacks are allowing 201. If the Bears aren’t able to run the ball again this season, it could be a long day for Brown and the passing game as they try to work against what appears to be a solid pass rush.



The Bears gave up just 14 sacks all last season. Through eight games, the offensive line has given up eight sacks. The three new starters on the offensive line must do a better job at both run and pass blocking than last season’s performance against the Jacks. If not, it’s going to take another slippery performance by Brown to buy time to find his group of talented receivers.

Overtime Thriller

The offense put up 42 points in regulation. The defense stepped up when it had to in the fourth quarter and overtime. And the Bears beat Nicholls in the first overtime, 49-42.

Both teams had fumbled earlier in the game – Nicholls twice – but the key turnover came as Nicholls couldn’t pull in the option pitch on third and four in overtime. Josh Fay recovered for the Bears, and that was the ball game.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind blowing people out, but it doesn’t get much better than an overtime win as a fan. I know the coaches might now feel the same way, but man it was intense. It was a great night to be a fan. And it was a great night to be a Bear.

It was amazing. The Bears went into halftime tied at 21-21. After a Nicholls touchdown to take a seven-point lead, both teams traded fumbles in the other team’s territory. Nicholls then scored again and converted the two point attempt – after missing an extra point earlier – to go up by two touchdowns.

But the Bear offense – like last week – was just about to start figuring things out. The run game was working. The pass game was working, when the receivers weren’t uncharacteristically dropping balls. And the 14-point lead was cut to seven in just six plays that covered 75 yards. The big play was the first one, a 44-yard pass to Willie Landers. Brent Grimes took it in to the end zone from 16 yards out.

Okay, let’s stop right here for a second. Let me be the first to say that the crowd also stepped up in crunch time. This was my first week to sit on the east side in the second half. I was complaining about the students throughout the third quarter (I was on the field until halftime.).

On third downs and in overtime, the students got loud. It even looked like the west side stood up and made some noise. The atmosphere went from disappointing to the ever-cliché electric.

The momentum seemed to be squarely in UCA’s favor. The defense forced Nicholls to go three-and-out, and after a punt return, the Bears were starting the drive from their own 41.

Five plays later, Eric Ware, in his second huge ball game in a row, ran 40 yards to tie the game up at 35-35. Ware finished with six catches for 102 yards and has 15 catches for 200 yards in the last two games.

The defense forced Nicholls’ second fumble of the game and recovered to give the offense possession at the UCA 47.

People focus a lot on the play of Nathan Brown, and that is of course well-deserved. But Brent Grimes is a ballplayer. The guy just made consistent run after run. The go-ahead drive was a lot of Grimes and a lot of Brown. Grimes rushed five times for 38 yards during the drive.

The receivers dropped some of the deep passes that were catchable, but the intermediate game was thriving. Nick Cowger took advantage. Almost every time the Bears ran play-action, the defense had to respect the run, and Nathan would roll out find an open receiver. This possession ended with Cowger scoring from five yards out. And the Bears, which hadn’t led since 14-7 in the second quarter, had taken the lead with just under 1:30 left to play.

Sounds like an easy situation with Nicholls’ run-oriented offense right? Nicholls had just attempted a single pass up to this point, and that pass was not very accurate due to a hit on the quarterback as he was releasing the ball. Well, the Colonels’ offense completed 5-of-7 to drive 74 yards in just 48 seconds. A 20-yard completion tied it at 42-42.

The Bears had 48 seconds to get in field goal range, but the clock ran out on a completion to Darrius McNeal (3 catches, 33 yards) as McNeal couldn’t get out of bounds before time ran out. On to overtime we went.

The Colonels won the coin toss and opted to take the ball second in overtime, and the Bears took the ball first on the north end of the field. We’ve had pretty good luck on that end.

The overtime period was a lot of Brent Grimes. Six players had carries for the Bears in the game, including Nathan Brown with 10, so Grimes seemed to be well-rested at the end of the game. And the coaches gave it to him the first four plays of overtime. He carried the ball down to the three yard line.

On third and two – meaning a first down was possible at about one-foot out – the Bears handed off to Ware as he came in motion. It was obvious that he didn’t get into the end zone, but he got just enough for the first down. And when I say just enough, let me be more specific. It was so close that the referee had to get down on one knee to get a closer look. It was, in fact, a first down and after a failed quarterback sneak, Grimes took it in from the one for the 49-42 lead and eventual win.

Grimes finished with 117 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, and he also was the second-leading pass catcher with five for 32 yards.. Nathan Brown ran for 54 yards and was 28-of-44 for 338 yards and four TDs through the air. Tight end Marques Branson was held in check a little but was still able to haul in another touchdown. Preston Echols had the other touchdown.

The defense, which allowed 6.7 yards per rush, allowed the touchdown to give Nicholls the 35-21 lead and then stepped up the run defense in the fourth quarter and in overtime – big time. The next three possessions that the Colonels attempted to run the ball were three-and-out, three-and-fumble, and three-and-fumble. They did give up the tying score near the end of the fourth quarter, but I was uber-impressed with the play of the run defense to end the game. The three fumble recoveries were obviously key to being able to come back and then to seal it.

It sounded ugly, but UCA wins

I don’t really know where to start. It’s always hard to write something up using only a radio broadcast, but I’m gonna give it a shot.



The Bears gave up 216 yards of rushing – to a single player, Jay Lucas – and still came up with enough big plays in the second half to pull out the 37-33 win over Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond.



Tonight the first half was a very unimpressive performance on both sides of the ball. The defense couldn’t stop the running of Lucas. And the offense, although they had 180 yards of offense, took advantage of a fumble on the SELA 29 to somehow end the half down just two 16-14.



Pages and pages could be written about the second half.



Just when you thought UCA may have gained some momentum from the big touchdown to end the half, the Bear’s first drive lasts just three plays and James Paul came in to punt. Paul had punted inside the 10 and then twice more for 42 yards each. The announcers had already mentioned the pressure they got on some of the earlier attempts. This time they got to him and the blocked punt was scooped up by a SELA player and run into the endzone.



The offense couldn’t do anything in their next possession either, but this time Paul got the punt off cleanly and out-of-bounds at the 15. Here’s where announcers Justin Acri and Steve Sullivan expressed the confusion that everyone at home must have been thinking. Where was Lucas in the second half? After a three-yard run (not by Lucas) and a false start penalty, Quad Sanders sacked the Lions’ quarterback for a safety, pulling the Bears to within a touchdown again at 16-23.



SELA’s defense was effective in stopping the Bears for the third straight time in the second half, and UCA’s offense again went three-and-out.



The SELA coaches finally started listening to the announcers and Lucas got three carries on the next Lions possession. The third carry came on third and two – and remember it’s taken three or four tacklers to get him down the entire game so far – redshirt freshman linebacker Andrew Summersett came up with a huge tackle to stop Lucas for just one yard, forcing a punt.



That turns out to be one of the biggest plays in the game, because what followed was (what sounded like) a spectacular punt return by senior Tristan Jackson. Jackson let the ball bounce and then picked it up on the run at the 14. Sully said he ran back to the ten and then it got exciting. TJ got away from the SELA coverage and picked up a key block down the field for the 86 yard punt return. The game was now tied at 23-23.



Both teams stalled offensively on their next possessions. Then SELA jumped back on top on a five play 69 yard drive. Lucas rushed for 20 yards and quarterback Brian Babin tossed what I believe was a screen pass for a 25 yard touchdown.



After not being able to pick up the blitzes and give Nathan Brown any time, the offensive line got everything together for the next drive. The Bears rushed just one time in the drive. Brown completed just one of his first three passes in the drive, but then the offense finally looked to start clicking after 52 minutes of looking pretty ugly. Brown completed his next six attempts to six different receivers. The last one from seven yards out to fullback Nick Cowger – just his second catch of the season. The Bears were once again tied at 30-30.



The Lions started the next drive with a 40-yard run by Lucas, moving them to UCA’s 25. The defense came up with a classic bend-but-don’t-break stand and forced a field goal after SELA got to the eight. After missing an extra point earlier in the game, Jeff Turner made the field goal to give SELA a three-point lead.



Then both defenses came up with huge stops – both on fourth down. UCA linebackers Tok Opeloye and James Lancaster made another huge tackle on Lucas, stopping him behind the line of scrimmage with 2:06 left to play.



And the Bears started the game-winning drive from their own 36. Remember back to Missouri State where the Bears scored a bit to quickly and the "other" Bears were able to come back and kick a field goal for the win. This time, it was once again the Nathan Brown show as he again caught fire.



Nathan completed two passes each to Preston Echols, Darrius McNeal and Eric Ware – who had a career night. McNeal’s second catch was a 17-yarder that put the Bears down to the one. After a SELA timeout, it was Brent Grimes who jumped over a defender to give the Bears the 37-33 lead.



The game obviously wasn’t over. There was 29 seconds left. The good news is that SELA is not a passing offense.



After a Paul kickoff out of bounds, probably a good decision if it was intentional, Babin was able to complete his first two passes but only for nine yards. And on third down Sanders took Babin down for a one-yard loss. They didn’t credit him with a sack, but the play was another key stop for the defense in the second half.



I think there were just six or seven seconds left when Babin flung the ball from his own 35 or so. The pass was ruled incomplete out of bounds to end the game.



The Bears were held to just 41 net yards on the ground against the worst rushing defense in the conference before the game. But Nathan Brown attempted 52 passes, completing 32 of them, for 343 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.



The big receivers in tonight’s game were Eric Ware (9 for 118) and Preston Echols (7 for 104). But neither of those two had a touchdown. Cedric Logan, Brent Grimes and Cowger were the recipients of those.



And I can’t say enough about Jackson’s punt return and the huge stops the defense made in the second half when they had to have them.



It might have been "down-right ugly" according to Coach Conque, but I’ll take it. Now we can think about the homecoming matchup with Nicholls.



Go Bears!

Bears light it up against Texas State

And this is all you need to know for now:

TSU Preview

Texas State Players to Watch

• Obviously quarterback Bradley George (#9) belongs on the list. He’s attempted 180 passes and thrown just four interceptions. (Compared to 160 and six for UCA quarterback Nathan Brown.) George is completing 55% of his passes and averages 204 yards per game. His longest pass of the season is just 40 yards. His touchdown to interception ratio is just 5-to-4. TSU has seven rushing touchdowns. Bradley has gained 103 yards rushing, but he’s also accounted for 85 yards going the wrong direction.
• Running back Karrington Bush (#23) leads the team in attempts (48), yards per game (70.8) and total rushing (354). He’s also averaging an impressive 7.4 yards per carry average.
• But when the Bobcats put it in the endzone by rushing, they put the ball in the hands of Stan Zwinggi (#16). Zwinggi’s numbers are a little higher due to a 92 yard touchdown run in the first game of the season. In that game he gained 165 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries. I’m guessing that Zwinggi has been hurt since that game. He sat out against McNeese, had just three carries for five yards against future UCA opponent South Dakota State, and seven carries for 22 yards against Baylor.
• The passing games leans on four receivers, and the go-to, big-play guy is Cameron Luke (#6). Luke leads the team in every receiving category. He’s caught four touchdown passes and averages 83.2 yards per game, and he started the year slowly with just two catches for 38 yards against Cal Poly. Since that time he’s had 50 yards or more in each game. Baylor had no answer for Luke and his six receptions for 124 yards and three touchdowns.
• Alvin Canady (#22), Adrian Thomas (#17) and Corey Scott (#4) are the other receivers with more than 15 catches on the season.
  
  Canady stands just 5-7 but has caught 21 passes, good enough for second behind Luke’s 24.
  
  Thomas and Scott are 6-1 and 6-3 respectively, and while they both have fewer catches than Canady both have more yards. Scott is just a freshman.
• Andrew Irelend (#95) is 6-of-8 on field goal attempts and a perfect 13-for-13 kicking extra points.
• Travis Houston (#8) far-and-away leads the defensive unit in tackles from his linebacker position. Houston has 36 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss and one interception. Houston is just a sophomore but is the statistical leader of the defense.
• Jervoress Crenshaw (#29) has two interceptions from his defensive back position. Will Thompson (#7) has no interceptions, but he’s the leading tackler from the secondary.
• Marcus Clark (#52) is a freshmen linebacker who has also two interceptions. The invited walk-on has been a solid contributer, playing behind his brother, Nick (#50), a starter at defensive end. Both brothers have 1.5 sacks this season.
• The linebacker corp is very active. Mike Rutledge (#39), Jarvis Coleman (#40) and Chase Pulliam (#35) all have more than 17 tackles.

• UCA averages 287.8 passing yards per game. Guess how many Texas State gives up. You got it – 287.8.
• The Bobcats did an amazing job and held Baylor’s rushing attack to just 28 yards on 19 carries.
• The Bobcats did a poor job stopping the pass though. Baylor totalled 411 yards. Both teams attempted over 50 passes in the game. TSU did force two Baylor interceptions.
• The Baylor game is the only time TSU has allowed fewer than 155 yards rushing.
• TSU is last in the conference in pass defense efficiency.
• TSU has totalled seven sacks while UCA has just four.
• The Bears and Bobcats are the two least penalized teams in the SLC.
• TSU has gone for it on fourth down 16 times and been successful on nine (56.2%). That’s a much better percentage than their 33.3% third down conversion rate.
• Two Bobcat players are in the top 10 for SLC rushers, Bush fourth and Zwinggi seventh.
• Four Bobcat receivers are in the top 10 in receptions per game.
• The Bobcats have completed just three passes to tight ends.
• McNeese State had just one scoring drive of more than seven plays and lost the time of possession stat by almost 11 minutes. The reason? The Texas State defense is prone to give up the big play, at least to the explosive McNeese offense.
  
  Here’s what I mean: MSU had nine plays go for more than 20 yards. Three of those went for Cowboy touchdowns.