UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

I like them a lot. Interested to see what the pants look like.

Is it Bearball season yet? Man I am starved for the Bears, the stripes, and the BMB. I believe the conference has underestimated us. Go Bears Go

THURSDAY’S SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY TO AIR LIVE ON ESPN3

http://southland.org/news/2018/7/16/thu ... espn3.aspx

10:30-10:55 Main Stage: Central Arkansas Head Coach Nathan Brown
Main Stage - ESPN3 Set: Central Arkansas Student-Athletes Carlos Blackman, Chris Terrell

Preseason Poll

UCA picked 3rd

Interview review:

UCA:

Nathan Brown: First year head coach. Former UCA QB.

Returning starters: 11

Offense: 3
Defense: 5
Sp. Teams: 3

Nathan: Expectations set high. Camp starts Aug. 2nd.

Coordinator to head coach challenge: Small details head coach deals with that OC doesn't necessarily deal with.

Growth of UCA from D2 to D1- local growth of city. Unique area for recruiting.

Goals for team: We expect to win. Expectations don't change. Newcomers and returners know this.

After playoff loss: Great season. Guys aren't over the loss. Second round teams aren't good enough for this team. Road games will be tough this year.

Reaction to 3rd place preseason poll after winning conference last year: Preseason polls don't mean much. Just motivation for this year. Shows quality of conference.

Adding Ken Collums: Wanted to surround himself with experience. Valuable to program. Will be inducted into hall of fame at UCA this year. Won natty with UCA in 1991.

QB situation: numerous calls from FBS team QBs wanting to transfer. Didn't field the calls. Happy with our situation. Smith looks like a starter. IT factor. Quality QBs at UCA.

Coaching change: I didn't want to be the convenient choice. I've been preparing since I graduated UCA.


DE Chris Terrell- Easy coach transition. Breylin Smith will fit in no problem. Helping DL get better. Young CBs ready to play. Cardell Best is back.


RB Carlos Blackman- Easy coaching transition. Multiple RBs keeps us fresh. 800 yards. 10 TDs. Work hard.


Nathan Brown: QB situation. As deep as we've ever been at UCA at QB. Kirk Baugh played significant snaps. Besean McCray from Florida too. RBs depth is good. Blackman, Battle, etc. DL has players back from injuries plus recruiting.

Sched: At Tulsa, Murray state at home, AT SLU, AT SHSU, AT SFA, AT MCN...tough road schedule.

From box to sideline: Heavily involved with play calling. Run coach Collums stuff. He was brought here to run his stuff.

Support from community: Tailgating and game support helps.

Anyone planning on making the trip to Tulsa? Never been but it's only 2 hours from me. I hear the aquarium and the Cheesecake Factory are the places to visit.

Well, THE places to visit are two world class museums.............The Gilcrease Museum and the Philbrook Museum of Art........on the other hand, not sure their attendance ever increases on game day when Sooners or Cowboys visit Tulsa..........

The Williams Tower is a to-scale replica of the World Trade Center........

Golf at LaFortune Park............city course and pretty popular.......

Some very nice architecture downtown dating back to 1930s or before............

Tulsa Ballet.........(checking to see if you area still reading)

The Golden Driller statue at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds....

Tulsa Riverfront Park............massive redevelopment along Arkansas River.............not sure how much is complete and open...............

Utica Square for shopping ad restaurants .....shops sort of like The Plaza in KC.... at least as pricy....

Ike's Chili House..............for over 100 years.....

Tally's Café..........Route 66 food........

Hank's Hot Dogs.....since 1949

Mahogany..........good steaks........bring your best credit card.......

Might check out shops and places to eat in Brookside District..........

Then of course The Will Rogers Museum in Claremore....maybe Oklahoma's best ever product............Claremore not far off US412

Then off course there is Chapman Stadium where the Bears will win their 2018 opener over Tulsa.........hoping to be there..............have to wait to see..............Go Bears!!

This is by far the most 3 star recruits I've ever seen committed to UCA before the season has started. Nathan Brown hasn't coached a down of football yet, but he is certainly checking boxes on the recruiting side of things. It has been very impressive

THere is no doubt that Brown and staff are doing a great job in recruiting. I have kept up online and some of the commits for next years class will blow you away. Coming off the best class in the SOuthland as well for the current freshman class. Keep up the good work Brown and staff!

https://247sports.com/player/steven-mackey-jr-89845

Also saw where we signed this kid as a DB this summer from Florida. He is another added talent to the 2018 class that was so good. According to this he had offers from SOuthern Miss & UMASS.

http://ucasports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id= ... h=football

Predictions for the year:

@ Tulsa: W 27-24 (We've played better FBS teams with worse teams and have always competed. I feel like we can win this one)
Murray: W 42-14
@ SE LA: W 24-14
@ SHSU: L 34-31
HBU: W 52-3
@ SFA: W 37-21
NSU: W 28-13
@ McNeese: L 21-20
Lamar: W 38-13
IWU: W 42-6
Abilene: W 28-21

Finish 9-2 and make playoffs. Hopefully a FOCUSED coaching staff gets us ready to make a run.

First, 11 pre-season SLC picks............

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2018/7/12/bears-places-11-on-all-slc-football-teams.aspx?path=football

Second, a first team AA........

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2018/7/31/football-terrell-earns-stats-fcs-all-america-honors.aspx?path=football

Pre-season SLC Poll

SHS 187
NSU 173
UCA 170
MSU 159
SLU 119
SFA 90
ACU 89
NWS 86
UIW 53
LU 52
HBU 32

Huggy has been reading my mind.............score vs Tulsa seems like 25-24 on a late TD..........Tulsa had a miserable 2-10 season last year in a very good conference......for any Bears fan dreaming about moving to FBS someday, think about playing Memphis, Houston, South Florida, Central Florida, Navy and others........Tulsa is picked last in the AAC-West of which Memphis is expected to repeat...this would be a meaningful win, none more so than in the FCS post-season thinking.....Tulsa ended 2017 season with a Sagarin rating of 53 and #140 in D1.....Bears were rated 64 and 89th......TU should be better and inspired not to lose opener to a FCS team for their new coach......


http://theamerican.org/news/2018/7/24/football-ucf-tabbed-as-favorite-in-2018-preseason-media-poll.aspx

"Tulsa was tabbed for sixth in the West Division with 44 points. The Golden Hurricane looks to get back to its form of the 2016 season, when Tulsa won 10 games with a history-making offense. Head coach Philip Montgomery has 15 starters back, including a pair of all-conference offensive linemen (center Chandler Miller and guard Tyler Bowling) and an all-conference receiver (Justin Hobbs)."

I do not expect any easy wins this season.............conference will be tough with the big road games.............UIW (1-10, rating of 21), HBU (1-10, rating 23) and Lamar (2-9, 23) are getting better the past couple years even if records do not show it...........Murray State ended last season 3-8 with rating of 30......

Get excited Bear fans!

Tulsa fans are predicting about a 28 point blowout of UCA.



At least one of their fans mentioned the loss of our players from last year.
The rest seemed to discount us because we're FCS.

Motivate Bears.