Starting a new win streak

A long, hot exhausting day at and around Estes ended with the Bears comfortably taking down the Reddies, 38-14.



There are so many things that could be talked about in the game. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:



We all assumed that Nathan would put up his usual good numbers. He did. He made one careless dump pass early in the game that drew some frowns and some headshaking on the sidelines. But there were times where he could have forced throws and didn’t.



As most of you know, I’m a stats freak. It’s really the first thing I do when I get home after games. So, here we go…



For all of the years I’ve heard Coach Conque talk about football, he’s been pretty consistent that being successful on 3rd downs is vital to winning. Check this stat out: UCA was 10-of-15. HSU was just 1-of-10. The Bear defense was also good on fourth downs, the Reddies were 1-of-4.



Wide Receivers: James Lovett is going to be a good one. Matt Clinkscales is a junior. He’s played in 22 games, last year focusing on special teams. Well, he was moved to WR this season and had a nice game – 4 catches 45 yards and a touchdown. And what can you say about Willie Landers and Marquez Branson other than they cause matchup problems for most teams on our schedule. I’m glad they are on our team.



And how about senior olineman Brad Gordon getting the first touchdown of the season? The offensive line played well, but there was plenty of "motivational speeches" being giving by coaches when they left the field a few times.



Now to the defense – everyone’s concern entering the season. Save for a few plays with missed tackles, I thought they played pretty well. The problem is the plays where we missed tackles weren’t short gains; they were HUGE plays. A 70-yard reception (not trying to pick on anyone, but the coverage on that one was terrible) and another for 52 yards where a tackle should have been made after 5 yards. Both big plays led to both HSU touchdowns.



Obviously the story on defense tonight was the return of senior Dathan Johnson after missing the entire 07 season. He certainly didn’t show signs of rust as he had two interceptions and played pretty good defense on HSU’s go-to receiver Garrett Manning. He also had one tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Manning did have the 70-yarder, but it wasn’t against Johnson’s coverage. Other than that play, Manning was held to just 23 yards on 7 catches.



Special teams was also a question mark coming in. Eddie Carmona looked great as the new placekicker. And Jonathan Beard averaged 47 yards a punt. The punt return game never got going. In fact, it was about the only real negative I can think of. The HSU punter crushed a few punts and then kicked a few wobbly ones. One of the latter was run into by a UCA player and the Reddies recovered on 10 yard line. Luckily James Lancaster forced a fumble on the first HSU play. Kick returns were not going well to start, but Leonard Ceasar finished with 86 yards.



So, let’s summarize:

The offense looked good, but there’s no way I would think we’d be held to just 38 points when we put up 129 yards rushing and 374 passing. And we had just one turnover – on special teams. Weird.



The defense looked much improved for much of the game. But missed tackles against Cal-Davis next week just can’t happen.



It was hot. There was on player inparticular that "got sick" at least two different times on the field. Our depth was probably a key factor in the game, but there were some tired players running off the field after drives.



It was a good day. We got win #1 of 2008 out of the way. Now it’s time for what I expect – without knowing much about this year’s Cal-Davis team – a true challenge. Here we go UCA fans!



<– PHOTO GALLERY –>

First Fall Scrimmage Wrapup

Central Arkansas Coach Clint Conque saw several bright spots in Saturday’s scrimmage, starting with the fact there were no injuries. With several regulars on the sidelines, other players stepped in and showed they might be ready to contribute if needed.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

What I wrote up about the offense and defense.

UCA Report – Nick Walker / NWA News

State college roundup – Nick Walker / NWA News

Effort solid and healthy for Bears in 1st scrimmage – David McCollum / Log Cabin

Conque sees bright spots in scrimmage – UCA Sports

First Fall Scrimmage – Offense

I spent most of the time at Saturday’s scrimmage trying to figure out who was who. Luckily some unfamiliar numbers – due to new players or returning players with new numbers – were called on often enough to overhear some yelling of names.



Both the offensive and defensive units had good and bad plays. But without going at a full 100 percent (not always tackling to the ground, no touching the QBs) it was difficult to truly judge. It did look like the offense was toned down quite a bit.



Here are some notes on the offense:

• Leonard Ceasar – who wears #3 now  – had some good runs. 
• Brent Grimes was noted as sitting out on the ucasports report, but I am pretty sure I saw him out there as the first running back on the field. More on a depth chart guess in a moment.
• The first – and what turned out to be only – touchdown of the scrimmage was more of the same old stuff, a redzone touchdown from Nathan Brown to Marquez Branson.
• UCABEARS75 picked James Lovett as his newcomer of the year. He may have picked up on some good information. Lovett played often as a receiver and even was back on kickoff returns.
• Even with several receivers standing on the sidelines without pads on, the receiver rotation remained pretty deep.
  
• And that leads me to my depth chart guesses:
  
  Offensive Line starters: Will Merritt, Brad Gordon, Casey Thurber, Austin Emerson, Lane Friewald; backups: Matt Dickerson, Logan Roubique, Barrett Blaylock, Tyler Gray, Joe Lehocky.
  
  Tight ends/Hbacks: Marquez Branson, Rico Moss (assuming he was wearing #5?), Marc Winston
  
  Running backs: Brent Grimes, Leonard Ceasar, Spencer Herbert, Terence Bobo, Anthony Blackmon
  
  Receivers: (too difficult to tell who was first or second string depending on the formation) Willie Landers, James Lovett, Matt Clinkscales, Derek Wyatt, Nigel Chandler, Joseph Harris, Kenneth Robey
  
  Quarterbacks: Nathan Brown, Robby Park
• There were two players that I came home and immediately checked the roster for due to their size, #75 and #82. Brandon Hyslop (75) is a huge, huge offensive lineman. He got some work at what I think was third-string left tackle. Hyslop stood a good three or four inches taller than the other guys out there. And  #82 is Joseph Harris, a redshirt freshman from . It’s impossible to say from the scrimmage how much time he’ll get if some of the returners are able to come back from the injuries.
  

First Fall Scrimmage – Defense

DEFENSE

• The one tackle that stood out was a James Lancaster tackle (more like a pick up and slam) on a third down pass attempt. I didn’t catch who the unfortunate receiver was, possibly Kenneth Robey, but he didn’t hold on to the pass.
• The ucasports story said there were no other injuries, but Lancaster did enter the locker room and return with his calf wrapped. Hopefully that means it’s minor.
• Larry Hart got a "sack," but since the quarterbacks are off limits to contact, the play ended with Hart tapping Robbie Park on his yellow jersey.
• Tok Opeloye is still a very vocal player. His chatter on the sidelines drew smiles from those I was around.
• There are some new players in the secondary that have very good size.
  
• Everyone expects the defensive line to be solid with the returners we have and the addition of Hart. I fully expect the linebacker corp to be just as good. Jacob Bane looks really good out there. We know that Lancaster, Opeloye, Corey McMurrian and Mike Neal were not a bad group this year. But the addition of Bane and others could have this group really turning heads.
• The depth chart?
  
  Defensive Line starters: Larry Hart, Tim Holloway, Taylor Scott, Quad Sanders; backups: Markell Carter, Kit Coleman, Hutton Andrew, Norvell Gabriel
  
  Linebacker starters: James Lancaster, Jacob Bane, Tok Opeloye?; backups: Brett Orr, 16?, Corey McMurrian
  
  I’ll admit that I lost track of the cornerbacks. I don’t even want to guess really.
  
  Safety: Derrick Boyd, Pieri Feazell; backups: Phillip Johnson, Zach Hyatt