UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

https://indenwoodlions.com/news/2022/10/4/football-looks-to-rebound-on-the-road-this-weekend.aspx

"The Lindenwood football team (2-2) will begin a two-game road trip starting this weekend at Central Arkansas (2-3) on Saturday in Conway, Ark. for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff.

The Lions are coming off of a 49-28 loss to Southeast Missouri State, who currently ranks in the top-25 in both the FCS Coaches Poll and the Stats Perform Poll. Cade Brister eclipsed the 400-yard mark for total offense in the game, as his 346 passing yards was complemented by his 80 yards on the ground.

Andrew Martin had a strong day in all phases of the game, as he compiled 134 all-purpose yards. Martin rushed the ball for 74 yards, collected 60 receiving yards, and made two great tackles on kickoff coverage. Brister ran the ball in for the 21st time in his career, placing him in sole possession of fourth place in the school's record book. Payton Rose hauled in his 28th career touchdown pass, and sits just four scores away from tying the program leader in Andrew Helmick.

Lindenwood ranks third in the OVC in both scoring offense (28.0 PPG), and scoring defense (32.0 PPG). Offensively, the Lions are leading the conference in passing yards per game with 322.0. On the defensive side of the ball, Lindenwood is holding the opposition to a completion percentage of just 60.5 percent and only five touchdowns.

The Lions have been stout on third down on both sides of the ball. Lindenwood is converting on an OVC-leading 44.2 percent of the time, while the defense is leading the conference by holding the opposition to just a 28.0 percent success rate.

The trio of Brister, Rose, and Kobe Smith have proven to be difference makers through four games this year. The three seniors rank in the top-four in the OVC in multiple categories. Darion Bolden is leading the league with 1.75 pass breakups per game. Sterlin Williams has accumulated 3.5 tackles for loss, while his 2.5 sacks ranks him fourth in the conference."

https://lindenwoodlions.com/documents/2022/10/4/Game_Notes_vs_UCA.pdf

Exceptional Games notes....maybe the FCS leader!!

Lots of data on both teams.....

LU Upperclassmen Roster Summary:

TE: 2...about 6'3 and range from 240-265...one transfer from Northern Colorado
OL: 3....2 at 6'2 295

DE/DL: 7 at about 6'1+....2 at 310....2 at 290..2 big guys transfer from Sacramento State and Florida A&M
LB: 3....about 5'10 205..biggest at 225
DB: 7....4>6'0 and 200....one transfer from South Dakota

LOTS of freshmen....offense skill player transfers from San Diego State (WR), SEMO (WR), Arkansas State (RB).....

Among underclassmen are transfers from Oklahoma State, South Dakota State, Washington, Indiana State, Texas Southern, Colorado State, New Mexico State, Utah State.....

Roster has players from good high school programs in Missouri and several players from Owasso, OK....

Moral of the story....they may be on the less experienced side and maybe not as big as we often see but they will have talented players....

LU/SEMO:
Rush:35-188 (217 gross) vs 37-372 (377 gross)
Pass: 28-44-346-3TDs and 1INT vs 19-33-312-1-0
Total Offense: 534 vs 684
3rd down%: 6 of 12 vs 3 of 9
4th down%: 1 of 1 vs 1 of 2
Redzone scores: 3 of 5 vs 6 of 7
Sacks: None vs 5-19


Season stats for kicking:
PATs: 10/11
FGs: 6/7, long 44
Punts: 13-42avg, long 57, 6 in 20
Punt returns: 8-7avg, long 23 (for a TD)
KO returns: 11-16avg, no TDs, long 24 (opponents avg 20 and have a 54 yd return)

Top rushers:
Andrew Martin, 47-4.9avg, long 22, 3 TDs
Cade Brister, 41-3.4avg, long 26, 1 TD
Robert Gaimo, 24-4.5avg, long 20

Top receivers:
Payton Rose, 23-19avg, long 41, 2 TDs
Kobe Smith, 21-13avg, long 78, 3 TDs
7 others with a long of 20 or more....6 others avg over 10 yds per catch

Top passers:
Cade Brister, 93-152-1210-7TDs-3INT, long 78, avg 302 per game, 139 QBR
Cole Dugger.....backup QB with only 13 attempts but has a long of 33 and 1 TD

Defense:
Tyrone Griffin, 31 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1 sack
David Whittemore, 18 tackles
Kai Ross, 17 tackles
Sterlin Williams, 3 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 4 QB hurries


Season record:
Win at Houston Christian (used to be Houston Baptist) by 21-20
Win over Keiser University, 37-3
Loss at #19 UT-Martin by 56-26
Loss at SEMO by 49-28..held SEMO to two FGs in Q1....fell behind 21-7 in Q2....closed to 21-14 in Q3....fell behind 35-14 in Q4 and never got closer than 14 ...

Comparison to UCA:

QB: Slight edge to LU.....Brister is both a run and pass threat as is McElvain.... about 62% completion avg and throws for 300+ per game....McElvain about 63% and 220 per game

RBs: Slight edge to UCA....both have RBs with good stats.....The Triplets are just now coming into good form...

TEs: Edge to LU.....both have big TEs on the roster ..UCA uses more as a blocker but there is potential for more involvement in pass game....LU has 20 completions for 180 yds to Tes with a TD and a long of 34....UCA has only 3 completions to TEs...

OL: Edge to UCA.....certainly the size goes to UCA and experienced depth....the issue is putting that size and experience to bets use.... we had three good drives vs APU where the O-line excelled...then again there were numerous misfires on drives with ineffective blocking

WRs: Even ...both have WRs with solid reception stats.....UCA is impressive in the sheer number of WRs who play and can go deep....

DL: Edge to UCA....play like they did vs APU and no match....

LB: Edge to UCA due to overall experience...key will be how we scheme up vs LU

DB: Even.....LU may have more depth....UCA has shown they can be taken advantage of but they are improving in their open field tackling....

Special Teams: Placekickers even.....UCA seem to have slightly better KO stats...UCA returns yads with Richmond and Barnes can be decisive....edge to UCA in punting...

Prediction.......Sagarin ratings say UCA should win by 22....sounds high to me after the way LU played SEMO for much of the game...we have been outscored 38-7 in Q1 and 47-31 in Q2....not going to win many more games like that....Bears need to get out fast and get 20+ in H1 and not fall behind and give LU reasons to think they can win....hoping O-line takes another step forward tomorrow and sustain drives, run clock, score and keep the ball away from LU...

UCA 34-21.....

Go Bears!!

Ok this is it, this is the time to make some changes, tonight.

5th season, loss to D2 school.

We’re a shell of our former selves

Never would have thought our defense would be so porous...LU O-line played very well. LU QB was a playmaker we never really figured out to stop.....finally started getting hands on him in Q3 but not enough....very impressive performance....missed opportunities to put the game away in Q4.....UCA offense was really good for three quarters then misfires.....too bad the last ball into the endzone wasn't caught for the TD...Richmond 100yd KOR was awesome.....great blocking and a couple terrific cuts by #6 before he ignited the jets....

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm loyal to the Bears. I am not happy.

Amen Papa…

I hate to say this, but I don’t see another win left on the schedule.
That’s a hard pill to swallow but it’s a stark reality.

Justin Acri was asked during the 11am hour on 103.7 if Nathan Brown was on the hot seat. He quickly avoided the question and changed topic but we can only hope so.

I certainly don’t want to see anyone get fired and
would never advocate that. There is however something
about the program that baffles me. I can’t put my
finger on it but it is very frustrating to see this team
underperforming. It never crossed my mind that
lindenwood would hang 52 on the Bears.

The offense has put up 49 in consecutive games
but fizzled out late against Lindenwood and was
Pretty much dormant in the first half vs. Peay.

I certainly can’t figure it out… maybe some of
you have some thoughts on the matter?

He’s not going to bite the hand that feeds him.

nathan brown 27-23 (took over top 10 team)
campbell 33-15
conque 105-59 (rebuilt program)
isom 68-38 (handed the keys to a cadillac)
horton 74-12 (GOAT)
stephens 67-35

Which one doesn’t belong? We should not settle for mediocrity

Have to admit that the offense looked really sharp and got out fast...pretty sure Lindenwood's defense was not up to par but still offense was crisp and fast....we scored almost as many points in Q1/H1 than we had in all Q1H1s combined so far....

Foot's comment about slowing down in Q4 is a concern but while we missed 2-3 opportunities in Q4 with short drives, the last drive that started at the UCA 1 was really nicely executed with a lot of Hale/James and a couple short passes....then we had the holding penalty deep in LU territory and ended up 2nd and 20 and got about half back but instead of getting the first down we went for TD the last two plays...would have loved to get that 1st down and still have time for Hale/James to take another crack at it....if and buts....still o-line made nice holes that last
drive....

We lost this game on defense (or lack of defense)...give QB Brister lots of credit....the best opponent QB I have seen this season....looks like a LB and tough to get down plus good passer ....he usually had LOTS of time)....our edge contain seemed pretty good but the middle was wide open too many times and Brister took advantage...it was if Brister was keying off our left edge...when Jessup or Wilson lined up there and rushed he dropped it right over where they were to a receiver...when they fell back in coverage he ran thru where they had been...I did not see lack of effort so it must have been a scheme issue that we did not find needed adjustment until late in game but offense could not convert...LU really did not have much offense after mid Q3 except for the one medium drive for the winning FG...

Ray missed the FG in H1 but it should never have come down to a missed FG early in the game....

The remaining games are all tough...we are still 1-0 in ASUN and have time to get it together this weekend in ATL....going to be tough no matter what....

Dual threat QB’s always give the defense fits. Problem with that is
when you face one every week, somethings gotta give. Got another
chance this week to get it done.

GO BEARS

Foot84, I agree with you about the rest of the season. I agree with JRK as well. Even if the Bears was to win out the rest of the season, 7&4 will not get you in the playoffs.
I've been on board since 2004. I am tied in by marriage and love UCA football. When all of my high school classmates was going to college, I was going across the ocean to serving my country. Good Lords willing I will attend the rest of the home games. I will say we need a change in leadership. If not, nothing will change, and we will be cellar dwellers no matter what conference we are in. My blood will always bleed purple no matter what. I don't mean to be negative, but something has got to change. Love you all, and go Bears