UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

Lamar 2021 season summary below....

0-2 ASUN/WAC, 2-4 overall

North American, 47-3
@UTSA, 0-54....UTSA ranked 24th in FBS this week
@Northern Colorado, 17-10 OT...this was a mild upset
Abilene Christian, 0-56
@Sam Houston State, 7-41
@Abilene Christian, 17-24...quite a turn around from the first ACU game

The 2nd game with ACU is probably the best comp except UCA game at LU's place....

However, as for the SHS game, LU took the open KO and was INT on 2nd play and SHS started at LU45...drove to LU 23 where Kats turned it over on downs...sounds a little familiar to Bears vs EKU....LU drive went backwards then punted to SHS45.....Kats moved a little but was INT at LU35.....LU then threw another INT on 2nd play and returned to LU20....LU penalty moved ball to LU10 and two rush plays later SHS scored ...LU then 3 and out with punt to SHS29...Kats then scored in 6 plays on a short pass.....not sure we can count on 2 short scoring drives to get a 14-0 lead early....Kats a bit later had a 6 play 64 yd drive after a missed FG attempt scoring on a 34 yd pass.....Cards moved 73 yds in 7 plays with a TD coming on a 33yd pass to Jaylon Jackson....Kats then scored in H2 on two 44yd drives and an 82 yd drive for final score....

Kats rushed for 267 while LU only 23....Sam threw for 171 and Cards 135..each team had 2 INTs....Kats had 5 sacks while LU only 1....

QB Mike Chandler (Colorado transfer) threw for 135 (but neither of the INT...Chandler is a FR and came off the bench) and ran for 23 gross.....SO Chaz Ward led rushers with 11-22/1....TE Jeremy Davis (JR-Missouri Southern transfer) led receivers with 2-52rec....

Then for the 2nd ACU game.....

ACU ran for 241 gross vs 191 gross for LU.....ACU threw for 258 and LU 9-17-206/1/0....ACU total of 466 vs 364 for LU....neither team had an INT....

Chandler passed 9-17/206/1/0.....long of 80.....30yd gross rush....SO RB James Jones led rushers with 9-81/1.....JR TE Nathan Gaskamp (transfers from Trinity Valley CC) led receivers at 1-80/1 but SO WR Erik Pizarro led in receptions at 4-68....Bailey Griffin connected on a 54yd FG.....

LU led 17-14 at half.....shut out in H2....

Scoring drives.......
ACU, 3-70...scored on 39 yd TD run by QB
LU, 4-70....scored on James 46 yd TD run
ACU, 4-75
LU, 1-80..Gaskamp TD reception
LU, 7-47.....FG
ACU, 10-75...4yd QB run
ACU, 13-28.....FG

Stats for the season are hard to assess due to the schedule.....however, they are -3 on turnovers and have lost 4 fumbles.....4-5 on FGAs....still 55% 4th down conversions....no on-sides kicks attempted....and 7-8 red zone scores....

Cards have 17 transfers including from Texas Tech, Colorado, SFA, Tarleton and several D2, including Harding, and several CCs....

DTs looks to be about 6"3 290 on avg.....O-line about 6"3 300....

Note leading receiver against both ACU and SHS were TEs....

So it's like their not very good playing verses our not very good coaching.

Sounds like a draw to me.

Good Luck Saturday !!!

Hoping we play a little better Q4 defense this weekend.....this has been an issue with us all year.....A-State scored 20 in Q4 to put the game away....we gave up 20 at Missouri State in Q4 which negated a terrific Q4 offense show by Bears....gave up 13 to Sam in last 16 minutes which secured the win while offense was making a big comeback.....shutting out ACU in H2 raised our hopes....then the EKU game...

Colonels have Lamar, @SFA, @SHS and JSU......should be picked over LU...even up vs SFA and JSU.....both winnable....would not be surprised to see a win over Sam but they are deceptively good....we had a lot of chances to win that game but they would make the play they needed at the moment....

I'll take Bears by 38-21.....

Here we go again...

If this happens again man oh man…

it doesn’t take a football genius to see how badly coached this defense is. horrible angles and the worst tackling in division 1

every single game has had complete defensive breakdowns in the second half. all of them

Look we held off a pathetic Lamar team. But this play calling on defense will never cut it in games against better opponents.

No matter the reason, it is always good to win conference games.

Except for the first two possessions of H2, offense played well.....not perfect but good.....I think the loss of JR Cameron Webb off o-line due to the injury affected o-line play in H2 and probably pass rush blocking, at least for a few series until the backup FR Jamal Mull got into the groove. Still, piling up 541 yds total offense is pretty solid especially with 350 rush....apparently they dared us to run and we did...hats off to offense and to Darius Hale and Kylin James for great games running the ball....is Hale's 241 yards a UCA freshman record? ....and let's not forget Hayden Ray going 7/7 PATs....by the way, did we throw to a TE at all tonight? Iowa State beat a very good Ok State defense today with great use of the TE Charlie Kolar....

The defense is another matter....admittedly playing a triple option team is a challenge if you do not see it often.....it places a premium on good tackling and limiting yards after initial contact...but that is something we have had issues with for a few years....Lamar always seems to have lots of speed who can break a 3 yd play to 15 in a blink of the eye....as a point of reference, FBS #16 Wake Forest beat Army 70-56 today.....Army runs a lot of triple option and similar plays and rushed for 416 yards as well as passed for 179...total of 595.....fortunately for Wake they threw for 458 and rushed for 180 for total of 638.....

What is most concerning to me is that we used to struggle on defense in first half and shut people down in H2....not being able to do that screams out either not making proper adjustments and/or not having the depth to keep fresh legs in the game.....other than top tier teams like Sam it also tells other teams to show a minimum amount of offense in H1 and depend on big H2s as we tire plus not have chance to adjust....we certainly allowed Lamar's QBs to run effectively (169 rush between them) .....credit their play calling for keeping our defense on our heels and picking us apart.....a few big defensive plays down the stretch late preserved this win...like Jessup's pressure and forced fumble that Casey covered at midfield....if we are scratching our heads, look at the stats from the Georgia Tech vs Virginia game today....over 1200 yards offense including 510 yds rush and 696 pass.....besides throwing the ball at will, the two QBs rushed for 65 and 99 respectively....I'll bet the defensive coaches are busy trying to figure out what is going on...

For this season, the H1/H2 points by opponents is as follows....

A-State: 6/34
Mo State: 17/26
UAPB: 9/14
SHS: 31/14
ACU: 21/0
EKU: 10/28
LU: 7/31

We did best against the best team we have played....holding Sam to only 14 in H2 and blanking ACU shows we can get it done but the other games not so much....

Need to get this fixed now.....we can win out but need better defense play.....GoBears!!

AP story picked up by internet newspapers across US.....

Hale runs for 253, 4 TDs as Central Arkansas tops Lamar
https://www.dailyunion.com/sports/national/hale-runs-for-253-4-tds-as-central-arkansas-tops-lamar/article_a93b5103-5ce8-5442-8bba-5b49ed85e28e.html
Ft Atkinson, WI


https://www.nhregister.com/sports/article/Hale-runs-for-253-4-TDs-as-Central-Arkansas-tops-16557958.php
New Haven, CN


https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/article255242441.html
Miami, FL

https://ucasports.com/news/2021/10/25/football-bears-sweep-asun-football-weekly-awards.aspx

Someone thought we played pretty well to have all of the ASUN awards this week........congrats to the Bears!!

BEARS SWEEP ASUN FOOTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears hauled in all four of the weekly ASUN football player of the week awards on Monday.

Freshman running back Darius Hale was named the Offensive Player of the Week, freshman running back Kylin James was the Freshman of the Week, sophomore defensive end Logan Jessup was named the Defensive Player of the Week and redshirt freshman punter Chandler Caughron took home the Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Hale, a 5-foot-11, 215-pounder from Pearland, Texas, turned in one of the best rushing nights in school history in UCA's 49-38 road victory over Lamar. Hale carried 22 times for 253 yards and scored a career-high four touchdowns. Hale scored on runs of 6, 2, 69 and 67 yards and is now tied for the FCS national lead with 13 rushing touchdowns. His yardage mark was the second-best in school history, behind only Blake Veasley's 292 set on the same field against Lamar in 2015.

James, a fellow backfield freshman from Dumas, Ark., carried 11 times for 112 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run. He also completed a halfback pass to Tyler Hudson that went for a 42-yard touchdown, and caught three passes for 18 more yards.

Caughron, from Evangel Christian in Memphis, Tenn., punted three times for a 45.7-yard average, with a long punt of 50 yards.

Jessup, a 6-3, 255 pounder from Wynne, Ark., registered a team-high 11 tackles, including 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss and also forced a fumble that UCA recovered on Lamar's final possession to seal the victory.

Hale received his third ASUN honor this season, two as freshman of the week and one as offensive player of the week. Jessup won his second defensive award, while James and Caughron were honored for the first time. UCA has taken home 14 weekly awards this season.

Hale is the best RB we have faced this year. Outstanding !

Good luck Saturday. Take it to the Cocks.