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Who projected that the ASUN/WAC would have only two ranked teams at this point...#1 Sam Houston State and #24 Jacksonville State...and that neither UCA nor EKU would be ranked?

Obviously each game is now like a playoff game....and therefore most important to not look ahead but only to this game and get the win...

One way of looking at the rankings...which of course mean nothing as to the outcome of the game this weekend....is that the pollsters find themselves wanting to vote for UCA but with only a 2-3 record and due to the bye week a lot of teams are 3-3 or better, we will certainly have to win our way into the rankings....that is, win and move up....

EKU at 4-2 is different.....record so far....with current Sagarin ratings....


Win @ Western Carolina (33-Southern), 31-28
Loss @ Louisville (72-ACC), 3-30
Loss vs Indiana State (47-MVC), 21-23
Win vs Austin Peay (41-OVC), 35-27
Win vs Tarleton (37-ASUN/WAC), 20-3
Win vs Abilene Christian (43-ASUN/WAC), 30-15

The average Sagarin rating for wins is 39 and the avg ratings of losses is 60. A win by one over Indiana State since they are a MVC team would likely have EKU ranked....a single FG....

UCA is 2-3.....same data for Bears...

Loss @ A-State (54-Sunbelt), 21-40
Loss @ Missouri State (58-MVC), 34-43
Win vs UAPB (29-SWAC),45-23
Loss to Sam Houston State (64-ASUN/WAC), 35-45
Win @ Abilene (43-ASUN/WAC), 42-21

Avg for wins is 36 (ugh)...for losses is 59.....then again, A-State's poor results since the win over UCA does not help UCA at all and may cause pollsters to think twice about UCA....oh, what a win over Sam would have done!!!

This data is extremely similar on average with EKU seeming to have a very slight edge...the UAPB win hurt UCA's "strength of win" (just think how UAPB's game this weekend will work out for UAF...win by less than 50 points and maybe move down in FBS rankings!!)...

So what are UCA's and EKU's Sagarin ratings? 52 for Bears and 48 for Colonels....the predicted margin is 7 for UCA but would be a dead heat at Richmond....as we probably know, this shapes up to be a game down to the wire....

By the way, Richmond is located in a gorgeous part of Kentucky....drove from Lexington to Knoxville last spring and saw the scenery at its best.....but a long road trip from Conway (about 600 miles ..about the same as San Antonio...)...

EKU game stats so far....

In the opening week win over Western Carolina, the Colonels rushed for 123 and threw 20-28/223 with one TD and one INT (356 total) and gave up 266 net rush and 24-45/275 passing with one TD and two INTs (501 total). EKU was 5/5 for red zone scores. Both teams had >75 yards in penalties. Parker McKinney was the QB, Da'Juan Hewitt led rushers with 22-78 with three TDs....Mo Edwards was 5-89 receiving with a TD but two others had 5 catches each.

In an impressive win over then ranked Austin Peay, EKU ...by the way, attendance at EKU was over 13,000...rushed for 108 net and threw for 12-21/160 with 2 INTs (268 total) ....APU was able to rush for only 102 net (140 gross) and passed 27-55/298 with a TD and 3 INTs (400 total).....slightly lower penalty yards than vs WC...EKU 2 for 2 in red zone....made 4 sacks.....McKinney was again the QB and Hewitt rushed 22-103 net and 7 receivers had a catch but no one over 46yds ...APU had long completions of 51 and 34.....

In the game vs Tarleton, attendance again over 13,000....EKU rushed for 217 net and passed 13-28/199 with one INT.....they held Tarleton to 108 net rush and 129 passing....EKU had two picks with one for a TD.....they held Tarleton to only 1-13 3rd down conversions....McKinney again QB....Hewitt ran 26-119 but McKinney ran for 68 and a TD....8 Colonels had at least one catch with Jayden Higgins leading receivers with 4-62....connected on first FGs with a long of 48....Tarleton had a 53 yd completion....

The ACU game is the best comp for UCA although at Richmond while Bears made the trip to Abilene....attendance fell off to about 8600....EKU led 30-7 after Q3......EKU ran for 232 net and threw for 202 (434 total) while Wildcats managed 160 on the ground and 159 passing (319 total).....EKU 5 for 5 red zones scores....3 sacks....only 25 yds of penalties.....McKinney gain the QB and led rushers with 8-98 net and a TD with a 63 yd long run.....still Hewitt had another good day running with 19-88.....Dakota Allen led receivers with 4-61.....hit 3/4 FGs with a 38 yd miss and long of 30......ACU did hit a 46 yd pass completion....

So maybe looking at EKU's loss to Indiana State gives some clues....

Attendance >14,000......very nice.....

Each team had a turnover TD.....ISU had a 5yd fumble recovery for TD in Q1 for a 7-0 lead and EKU an 18yd Pick 6 in Q2 just before half to tie at 14....that indicates a defensive battle that ISU wins 16-14.....

Colonels rushed for 111 gross and 82 net....they threw 23-38/205 with one TD and no INTs....total of 287......EKU gave up 118 gross running and 106 net and ISU threw 17-34/213.....2 TDs and 2 INTs......total of 319.....

EKU 8-17 3rd downs and ISU 6-15......EKU missed their only FG attempt....Parker McKinney was again the QB for EKU....ran for 34yds.....Hewitt carried 8-36 and Kyandre Magliore 6-40...Dakota Allen was 4-66 with long of 27 receiving...8 others caught at least one ball......ISU had two receivers with 75yds including a long of 52....

Indiana State won the game as time expired with a 7 play 48 yd drive in 49 seconds on a 24 yd TD pass.......EKU had just scored a go-ahead TD on a 14 play 80yd drive taking 7:16 off the clock....12 passes ..long of 15....McKinney had an 11 yd run for a first down....

Then leading 21-17 EKU tried an onsides kick and ISU covered at EKU 48....now you know the rest of the story....

Assume Bears defense had studied this film as to what ISU did to contain McKinney (maybe defend the edge???) and slow down EKU offense....

Then leading 21-17 EKU tried an onsides kick and ISU covered at EKU 48....now you know the rest of the story....
Did NOT try an onside kick, was supposed to be a squib over the head of the front line that was not as returnable, the kicker just messed up and missed the kick.


attendance fell off to about 8600. Students were gone for fall break, UK was playing LSU thirty miles up I -75 and Keeneland opened

Sorry...stats not clear re the kick ...hard to believe they would have deliberately considered it...

We know about the attendance issue as we have the same.....there is game in Fayetteville this Sat so some number will go there instead of Conway....then there's deer season.....

What new QB will appear Sat not in the stats so far?

Going to be out of pocket tomorrow and eventually driving down to Conway for an event....

Hard game to pick....our defense better play better or else EKU can cause damage....they give up 21 per game and only 30 to Louisville in Game 1....we give up 34 per game including 40 vs what has proved to be not the normal A-State team...and 45 to a very good SHS team.....on the other hand EKU score avg of 23 while we have tallied 35 per game....

As always special teams will be important and hopefully our kickers will be healthy.....also be nice to get some return yardage from Hudson, Richmond and all but EKU is pretty stingy....

Hoping for less predictable play calling by Bears....better take advantage of what they give us and not just throw it deep into double coverage....and get better edge and backside defense....

Bears by 31-27.....

Coach Wells opened up our mid-week luncheon with, "Before anyone ask, NO it was NOT an onside kick attempt" then went on to explain. Hopefully the only QB you will see is #18 Parker Mckinney. I think he was injured early against you guys last year in Richmond. He has been pretty good for us so far. His back up is Cord Sandberg, a RS Soph transfer from Auburn. Pretty good also. Strong armed lefty.
Great backstory on Cord. He is 26 or 27 yeas old. Played six seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system as an outfielder before enrolling at Auburn posting a .243 career batting average … 2015 minor league Gold Glove winner … he was a third-round pick of the Phillies in the 2013 draft out of Manatee (Fla.) High School. Behind Cord is either A transfer from Concord University or one of two Freshmen. The kid that threw the late touchdown against you guys in Richmond last year, #13 Dakota Allen is now our #1 TE and having a great year. Dakota started several games at QB during his
RS Freshman and Freshman years. He was just too good of an athlete not to have on the field. Just a great kid, unbelievable competitor. The move was at his request.
Our D has been pretty strong this year considering we lost both starting safeties to injury early on. Been playing mix and match with the corners to fill the gap. Getting better there every week. A totally new and very young WR corps are finally starting to get in sync. We had a really good week of practice and I like my team this week. I promise our kids fully understand the challenge presented by a vey talented UCA team. Coming out of Conway with a win will be monumental task. I am really looking forward to this one. Should be a real head knocker with the team making the least mistake getting the win. That is my opinion anyway, for what that is worth. Good Luck to you guys

Thanks for the update.... no doubt EKU will have talented players who are well coached....our two games last season made an impression on Bears fans.....I think I recall reading something earlier about Cord and baseball....I think EKU may become the replacement of McNeese State as our football rival...should be a very good ballgame...lots at stake for both teams...Go Bears!!

What is this s$$t!!! If this team loses I’m gonna lose it

WTF?!

What a way to blow a game that we were clearly going to win! Pathetic!

Maybe the most complete first half I have seen the Bears play against a good opponent ever...or at least in many years...maybe a A-..not perfect for sure but pretty strong...still, not scoring on either of the early Q1 possessions after good drives is what eventually was the difference in the game.

We looked out of sync nearly all of H2 and never figured out how to stop or even slow down the wheel routes and quick wide out passes.... I figured McKinney would break a couple big runs but the 40+ yd TD run was a disaster....

The officiating no calls were disturbing especially vs LW....as were a couple of PI calls against the Bears...but we also kept hurting ourselves with illegal procedure penalties.....and I do not recall a single ball thrown to a TE....I suspect EKU would have some officiating complaints as well no calls on down field passes...

Hudson (9-251/1..new school single game record) played a heck of a game as did Hale (22-99/3 and too many blocks on pass protection to count) and Breylin (19-31/330/1/0)....D-line put a lot of pressure all game on McKinney but seemed to be a tenth of a second late.....certainly affected quite a few passes...Lamont had a couple big breakups...Langham (Tulane trsf) got his first INT as a Bear....usually not good though when a safety (Cameron) leads in tackles....LW attracted a lot of attention as if EKU decided to hold him and take their chances with the officials ......

Credit EKU's placekicker for hitting 3/3 FGs....not sure whether our late FG attempt to tie was deflected due to a low kick or a blocking failure .....so close to keeping in the game... I will still take my chances with Hayden on big FGs....

Guess now we will get to see some of our young QBs that we are very likely out of playoff hunt.....disappointing loss...