What is there to say?

One dropped pass. One errant throw. One missed field goal. One more defensive stop. All could have won it for the Bears.

But, the Bears couldn’t hold onto an improbable (at one point) 7-point lead with 2:08 left. And they couldn’t get into field goal range with only :58 seconds remaining in regulation. And they move the ball in overtime. And they got the field goal blocked. And then, a 22-yard run by Lennon Creer essentially ended ‘it.’

‘It’ was the very real chance of beating a school from the WAC. ‘It’ was a statement game that the UCA Bears are for real this year. ‘It’ ended in a 48-42 loss in overtime. ‘It’ should be something that we can build on this season. And ‘it’ will hopefully make us a better team the rest of the year.

Because you know what? We have a good team.  I still believe that team that lost tonight might actually have ‘it.’

There were times (35-20) when it sure seemed like the depth had caught up to us. That we just didn’t have enough in the tank to make a comeback. But there ‘it’ was.

The most important thing now is to bounce back against Sam Houston next week. The conference games are what really matter in our season. As disappointing as that overtime was. As disappointing as a few of those huge plays were. As disappointing as the players probably are right now. We know that this is a playoff caliber team. And this can still accomplish a lot of things never done before by a UCA football team.

Great effort tonight guys. That’s really all I have to say right now. (Sorry for getting pretty cheesy.)

Go Bears!

Coach’s Show – HSU

This is just a running diary of thoughts while watching the coaches show. Not that anyone is interested. I just thought I’d see how it turns out…

FIRST QUARTER
Why is the video of the game so small? And if it’s not the team camera anymore, why can’t the guy running it push in some. Everything is tiny even on my 50″ tv.

The first two kickoffs for Buford went down to the 3 yard line. They got shorter after that. On those kickoffs, there are some big boys running down and making the tackles – Carmical + Lippe; Soft.

The defense really did some weird looks where linemen weren’t down or were just getting down as the ball was snapped. At least at the start there were a lot of 3-down formations.

I expected this passing offense to be explosive. Adding Grandy makes it even more so. He’s just so fast.

The defense is just swarming to everything.

The camera finally pushed in some.

The pass by Dick into the endzone just before the end of the quarter was risky and almost intercepted.

SECOND QUARTER
We were really pretty fortunate that Hawkins put a big hit on Jarvis Smith and forced the fumble. Smith was running well at that point. It looked like Williams spun Smith around and Hawkins drilled him coming back to the ball.

Insane fake punt call by them. I know you have to take some gambles when you’re overmatched, but doing that from your 30 is too much of one.

Corey Howard? (I can’t tell because it’s so small, but the left guard) blocked out on the same man that the tackle (Dickerson?) was blocking and Nathan took a big sack on 3rd and 5. They only brought four men and it’s hard to tell with the score but it looks like the end comes inside and our LG just never gets over to him. So, we don’t score after the fumble recovery or the fake punt.

HSU moved the ball well on the next drive, but our defense was pretty awesome when the Reddies got inside the 10. A 78-yard drive for them and they come away with no points.

Great blocking by the receivers on TJ’s long reception.

Can’t tell who the RB is, but he just gets blown up on the play where Dick fumbled.

THIRD QUARTER
Buford dropped another punt down inside the 10 after we had another negative play on 3rd down.

Sims made a really good play on the interception.

On Dick’s interception, it looked to me like their safety was just more aggressive going to the ball than our receiver. Good play by them in return. Disappointing to still be up just 17.

Croom just blew by two defenders for the touchdown grab. Great timing and throw by Dick.

FOURTH QUARTER
Lasker is just wide open after the faked reverse. Love that play. Love that it was the first play of the drive.

Not much else to say after that. Tyler’s run was nice, just right up the middle. It was set up by Grandy’s speed on the 36-yard catch and run.

OTHER
Cool commercials by Crain and First Security. Glad they made some specifically for UCA.

HSU – Next Day

Bears dominate Henderson State before record crowd – LCD

“We came out focused and on point in all three phases,” said Conque, who is 12-0 in home openers. “I thought we played pretty well in the kicking game, our offense got some big plays and the defense got turnovers.”

UCA produced 429 yards in offense and held the Reddies to 271, most of that against the second and third teams in the second half.

“We got to play a lot of people and rest some people, so that was good,” Conque said.

Bears splashy on purple-gray – ADG

Dick, the Southland Conference’s preseason first team quarterback, threw touchdown passes to Derrick Steele (21 yards), Dominique Croom (34) and Al Lasker (40).

“He made three spectacular throws on those deep balls,” Conque said.

Henderson State first to Fear The Stripes

It was an attendance-record setting Thursday night win for the Bears. The first game on the turf put 12,755 fans in the stands and a 38-14 win in the books. Here’s a quick recap, mainly of the stats.

The UCA offense scored touchdowns on its first two possessions. Derrick Steele scored the first ever touchdown on the stripes. Terrance Bobo followed with a 4-yard TD run. And then the offense moved the ball into the redzone with time running out in the first half only to fumble away the scoring opportunity.

The good news is that the defense was busy “lock[ing] the gates” (Coach Conque twitter quote). The only HSU points came in the fourth quarter against backups. And remember, this was supposed to be an explosive HSU offense. But outside of one 2nd quarter drive that resulted in a missed field goal, the defense was dominant. There were seven Reddie possessions of four or fewer plays.

Jessie Sims got the defensive player of the game from the radio crew. He finished with four tackles and an interception.

On offense, 10 players caught passes – sounds like Bear offenses of the past doesn’t it? Nathan Dick was 27-of-36 for 280 yards and three TDs. Those numbers were offset by two errors though – the fumble on the 12 and an interception on the 4. Two wasted scoring opportunities.

Jesse Grandy was the media’s most talked about newcomer. And he didn’t disappoint. However, it wasn’t on special teams where he really showed off. Grandy led the team with seven catches and was just behind Dominique Croom with 76 yards. Croom had six for 79 yards. TJ Adams had a big 42-yard catch. And Al Lasker scored his first Bear touchdown on a 40-yard completion from Dick.

The ground game had glimpses of success. Bobo finished with 12 carries for 43 yards. Anthony Blackmon had 8 and 31. And late in the game Roosevelt Tyler burst up the middle for a 31-yard TD.

All-in-all it was a good game. It was one where you couldn’t help but think that it was closer that it needed to be – even before the late HSU touchdowns. But the offense didn’t sputter at the start of a new season. And the defense made a statement against the lower-level competition. Now our guys get two extra days to recover before heading to Louisiana Tech – the first of two FBS wins this season. Right Crump/that one ASU guy who keeps posting nonsense on the forum?

Go Bears.