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Great game! Attendance was very bad but we pulled it out! Blocked punt was huge

Wow!! What a second half!

Attendance was 3,152...sigh

The defense simply doesn't quit. I feel like that if they weren't put in terrible spots SHSU may have been different. Oh well, a win over an MVC team is always nice.

EWU will be SHSU round 2. play a clean game like we did today and we will have a chance. Putting the defense in good spots with long fields tends to flip a switch.

Offense has got to show up. Defense can't bail them out next game.

Hope Jatavious is alright.

Just a few thoughts about todays contest.

VERY proud of the Bears for fighting back after what looked like would be a rough outing today. Loved the way they "finished". Something that the U of A doesn't know how to do! LOL

Coach Campbell got a little aggravated at our fan base today, and I don't blame him. He looked into the stands around the beginning of the 3rd quarter and asked us all to get loud. We all need to quit sitting on our hands when things aren't going well and start being into the game for all 4 quarters.

It was a perfect storm for a terrible turnout and it happened. Holiday weekend, Crappy weather, Duck and Deer season. I felt bad for the guys during the Bear walk before the game. There was hardly anyone there. I would imagine a few of them had to wonder what the hell was going on. Despite all these factors they pulled it off. They are a good football team.

Our players and staff deserve better. Coach Campbell came here wanting/hoping to make the playoffs and this is how we reward him? With this turnout? I spoke with Foot briefly before the game and I could sense the same feelings. There has to be a way to grow the support/fan base. I know this is kind of beating a dead horse since we have discussed it many times before, but somethings got to change folks.

GO BEARS !!!!!!!!!!

I know the attendance wasn't good, but on the bright side, it was the fourth highest attendance of the first round playoff games. Youngstown State, Chattanooga, and Richmond had more. Richmond only had about 100 more. At least we aren't way under everyone else. Even the top two were only in the 5000s.

I seem to remember that the dorms shut down for the holiday. That can never be good for attendance.

First of all, a couple of things....I agree with absolutely everything in your post. The attendance did not surprised me....Thanksgiving weekend is a VERY tough weekend to host an event. Would love to have had more on hand Saturday, but feel lucky to have what we had.

This next part really pisses me off....when your head coach has to stop what he is doing in the game and basically approach the fans about getting up off their dead behinds to make some noise, that is just not acceptable. Hell, I saw him get after the cheerleaders for not cheering at a home game earlier in the year. Cheerleading is such a damn waste of resources. Yes, our staff and players deserve better.....MUCH, MUCH better, but lets face it, we are a small fan base and we have GOT to keep trying to build it. I don't have the answers, but I have been following the program for 40 years and although our base has increased some, it is not NEAR where it needs to be.

Finally, I was told that only about 2000 tickets were pre-sold for the game and that the school was in hopes of having a strong walk up. Can you imagine what the attendance MIGHT have been had we purchased advertising in the media ? With the exception of some social media activity, there was NO promotion on this game, at all. The athletic department contracted Peak Sports Management to assist with cooperate advertising and I understand that has worked out well, but the promotion of the games leaves alot to be desired.

Didn't mean to be so damn long winded, but despite the win, I am a little upset.

i had some friends and family who usually attend games not make it because of holiday plans. Prices are also higher and students not being able to walk in or probably not be here at all contributed, so it's not surprising attendance was this bad. However, it's par for the course among other home playoff attendance. SHSU had as poor attendance last year for their 1st round game as well.

I agree with the poor marketing of the game. I never saw or heard anything on tv or radio, so basically only "die hard" fans or fans that would have came anyway showed up. Seems to me Teague would be embarrassed by this. I felt sorry for the players as well

Campbell and the players seem to have the mind set that they need to play for themselves and for each other. That's a good sign since the fans will show up for the first game and homecoming and that's about it.

Everyone feels the pain of the lack of support for this program...it has been hashed
out time and time again. As for the lack of promotion for the game by UCA it is
a lack of $$$$$ in the budget I would suspect. Donations to the Purple Circle have
been around $300k for as long as I can remember and I don't have a clue what the
overall football budget is...but I bet it's mediocre at best.

I heard from a good source that free tickets were given out to all schools in
Faulkner County. Not sure how many, if any were actually used...judging by the
attendance I would guess very few.

For whatever reason and I damn sure can't explain it...the Bear Football Program
is looked upon as a second class operation...kind of discrimination in the football
world so to speak. Even though the so called big schools of the P5 and G5
conferences routinely play programs like UCA to get a D1 win to make sure their
goal of 6 wins is attained to guarantee a bowl game. They call us "CUPCAKES"
before the games, but they are quick to count it as a D1 win at the end of the
year so they can toot their horn and say "look what we did".

The Bears are 10-2 on the season with a 8-1 conference record...just won a
home playoff game and are on to the second round vs. Eastern Washington.
And for those who chose not to come out and support these kids...SHAME ON
YOU...YOU SORRY DOGS...you missed one hell of a game by a bunch of kids
who won't ever quit the way you quit on them...

I was there...and I had a great time...GO BEARS

While understanding the attendance was epidemic for all playoff games yesterday, I just don't buy it. A Texas high school quarterfinal had 17,000 at a neutral site Friday night, guess they didn't celebrate Thanksgiving or maybe they don't deer or duck hunt? Our problem is much bigger than a single playoff game. Perhaps we should ask why people prefer to attend the "other" division 1 in state games? Perhaps it's because they are perennial winners of their conference title? (don't think so). Maybe their games are recognized as more of a social event than UCA? Maybe they are promoted better or they have more money. Maybe it's apathy on our fans part or we just don't do a good job of nurturing and including them. I know we all wish we knew the way to energize our fan base.
As far as the game yesterday, those fans who didn't attend missed a terrific game by a team that never quits. They definitely deserve more support, especially from our alumni.

Simple answer: this state is full of razorback wannabes.

Other schools have same problem.
Sam averaged less than 9K per home game this year.

Solution: come to games and cheer for YOUR UCA BEARS and give to Purple Circle.

I feel sorry for those who have so little self respect that they feel obligated to support a school they never attended because Frank, Orville, Wally, and their grandparents told them to.

GO BEARS!!

Hope to see some of you in Cheney!

I think it's time we stop comparing apples and oranges. The SEC school has twice as many alumni, big time donors (Tyson, Jones, Walmart family, Hunt Family, etc...), SEC TV contract worth $32.7 million a year, and plays an easily recognizable opponent every week that has their own fan base buying tickets.


If we are going to be comparing UCA to anyone it should be FCS Schools. In the meantime we could all do more to support the bears, such as celebrate the victories, join purple circle, create fans at an early age, and encourage high school age kids to take a campus tour and apply. Meanwhile the university could do more to partner with companies/industries to do research, pursue mega donors, advertise games/season tickets, and stop the decline in enrollment that has been a constant during the last 10 years.

There is no doubt UCA does not have the resources to compete with the piggys and you are correct in pointing out we should develop our own resources and programs. Most of us understand UCA's biggest issue is the lack of support from our own alumni and improving that support and loyalty requires the most effort. I think a lot of the frustration is that many of our alumni support they pigs with donations and attendance and never come to a Bear game. So, in effect, we are fighting with the pigs for what should rightfully be ours.....the faithfulness and loyalty of our alumni. Having said that, it's our issue to cultivate, support and bring them home. Obviously, this is not an easy challenge or we would have succeeded long ago.