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Agreed, never is an awfully long time. A State has grown significantly, but let's not misconstrue a rising tide lifting all boats as anyone outside of P5 getting closer to having an opportunity. However, if they expand to 12, G5 teams will likely get a shot at the big boys.

UCA football in 5 days...

I haven't seen a line out for the A State game. I would guess somewhere in the +15 range.

There typically isn't a line between FBS and FCS teams but I'm guessing after last year it will be about the same...

Please keep in mind that our fan base likely didn't follow UCA Football last season. I remember some notable confusion from a few of our fans when it was noticed you weren't playing in the Spring like everyone else. Likely many have no idea that you recently got out of the hell hole that is the Southland. Northeast Arkansas has always been isolated from the rest of the state, so news from the central part of the state doesn't always filter up here.

I tend to look at this years game as if last years didn't happen. We had reduced capacity, some of our team was just coming back from battles with Covid, you guys played one of the weirdest schedules in modern human existence, and we have over 50 new players. Plus, the game was played in the remnants of a freaking hurricane.

There's not a soul in our fan base who doesn't have PTSD from the 2016 debacle. But we're also so excited to get rid of Blake Anderson that we're ready to pretend the last several years didn't exist and its a new day.

Good luck to you guys. Hope we get a good group of Bear fans coming up.

Also, as an aside, I will forever give Brad Teague mad props for sticking to his guns and playing last fall when the Southland didn't want to. I also admire him for seeing the writing on the wall and finding a place for you guys when it became clear the Texas schools were about to bolt. I wish you luck in your remaining 10 games this year, and hope you win whatever that monstrosity of a merger the ASun/WAC is called.

A-State released it's depth chart yesterday and it included a large number of freshmen and transfers, and excluded a lot of players with more experience that have played well in the past, and some highly touted transfers at WR, and RB .

Most of the transfers on it were expected to be on it, but several of the freshmen, especially in the OL, and back seven on defense are surprises.

Best guess, at least according to the people I talked to, is that it contains several "practice warriors", being rewarded for their efforts in fall camp, but games are not practice, and it might not hold up very long.

Jones did say that there were several players not ready now, that could be ready by game 2, 3, or 4. Playing a veteran, and talented team like yours , their coaches might have a change of heart and decide they are ready now because, "been there done that" counts in football.

Regardless of who they play you will see a much more disciplined, fundamentally sound, better prepared team than the last seven years, but that is not saying much. They are also a lot more athletic.

According to CFN it's A-stAte 42 Central Ark. 16. I think it's any given saturday. The Bears will be playing to win.

A-State should win with a good margin but will have to play....Bears probably have one of their most talented teams with potential to give FBS teams fits....we tend to score too fast when we score and fid it hard to run the clock.....to beat FBS teams we have to control the ball and the clock.....making ASU go 80+ yards each possession would be a big help....should be a good indicator for each team....

Our schedule last season was for sure odd but I thought being 5-4 with three of the losses to ASU, UAB and NDSU ...all on the road....was solid.....should have won at EKU.....the C19 element was tough for all but we may have learned more about our players by playing that schedule than anything else we could have done....

As to leaving the Southland....for all of us long-timers in Arkansas, we have learned not to be very trusting of Texas....good job by Brad and there is probably more to come with the change....

With all that said....Go Bears!!

My comment about your strange schedule was more that roughly half your games last year was your opponent's season opener.

Playing NDSU is well as you did, especially with their QB actually playing is nice, but NDSU was essentially playing a random game in the middle of months of practice, while you were in midseason form. Makes gathering information difficult.

Either way this is going to be a fun game because FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!

GO BEARS!!

My god you are insanely insufferable

How nice of ASU to not make sure their stadium is ready. Visitor and band section has a bee or yellow-jacket infestation. They are having to come spray before the band and fans can take their seats.

I think they were Yellow Jackets. At first I thought sweat bee, but they were too big for that.

I make no apologies for our game day junk today. It was absolutely awful. Though I'm sure you guys appreciated the score updates from Week 15 last season... Only excuse I'll offer is that we haven't had a normal crowd since 2019 obviously, ao some kinks made sense.

Good game overall. Impressed with the way you guys played defensively early. Hatcher played out of his mind late and ultimately that got us the win. You'll win a lot of games in FCS playing that way.

They found us new seats, which actually worked out a bit better for us (in-laws were with us, and my mother-in-law had ankle surgery earlier this year. The seats were less climbing for her).

We’ll chalk everything up to first game kinks.

A lot to unpack from the game last night.

First, it is always great to play an in-state team. And while we had a decent amount of fans there, I was really hoping we could get a few more butts in the stands than what we did. Of course, it is just the continuation of the same discussions we have about our own home crowds.

But let me talk about the game now.

The Good:

Defensive scheme was really good the first half. We played a really good bend-don’t-break style, giving up some plays but making the stops when we had to.

Breylin, Winningham, Hudson all looked good against a pretty decent secondary. #5 and #88 were constantly making plays against their corners.

We kept pressure on the QB, even late into the game.

The Bad:

Run game just isn’t there. We had a few good runs, but not near enough on the ground to have a good balanced attack.

Breylin was having to throw on the run or off his back foot too often.

Our secondary either was considerably slower than their guys or tired late in the game. Our guys were losing their WR’s way too often.

As much as I hate taking a loss, even to bigger school, I saw some good things last night. We obviously have a lot of rust we need to get out of our system, and things that need to be cleaned up as we head into FCS play. But I saw the makings of a playoff caliber team. I felt the offensive play calling was a lot better for the most part. I still not like to see the run on 3rd and long where we are not backed up that much, but it only happened once or twice last night.

I think if we can clean up the week 1 mistakes and keep healthy, we’ll have a stout team and a great season.

Thanks for the summary.

Did not know what to expect early from A-State because Jones reshuffled the deck as far as returnees, and all the newcomers.

Thought you guys might be able to take advantage early but apparently practice observers were right and their defense is a lot better than in recent years.