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Time to look at the next opponent.

ACU's (3-1) results so far:

@SMU, 56-9 loss
Louisiana College, 62-7 win
UT-Permian Basin, 34-9 win
@Lamar, 56-0 win

SMU rating is 79 and ACU's is 52.....30 prediction deficit vs actual of 47...not very meaningful given degree of mismatch and first game of season...

LC is NAIA and 0-5 on the season...."best loss" is by 7 to SW Assemblies of God University....another no meaningful comparison....appears ACU was playing reserves in Q4 and scored 14 including a TD with 1:31 left....

UTPB is NCAA D2....3-1 on the season...wins @SW Baptist (24-16), home win over West Texas A&M (42-31) and @Western New Mexico (27-19).....

Lamar (37 rating) is 2-2 with wins at home over North American by 47-3 and @Northern Colorado by 17-10.....losses to ACU by 56 and to UTSA by 54....

UTPB appears to be the most competitive game.......ACU QB Stone Earle was 17-27/143yd, 1 TD and no INTs....Tyrese White ran 12-103 with one TD and long of 40....Anthony Smith ran for 11-73 with one TD and long of 16.....Kobe Clark caught 9-92 and one TD......held UTPB to 18-34 passing for 152 yds and 2 INTs....gross rush yards was 37-150.....31 loss yards on QB sacks....ACU made 7 TFL.....ACU good punting with 42 yd avg and zero return yards by UTPB....ACU placekicker was 2/4FGs with one miss from 36 and one blocked...long made was 30....4/4 PATs....

Kickoff weather....about 70, 70% humidity, very slight chance of rain, winds 4-10 mph....

UTPB was actually our biggest competition after SMU; just outmatched on that one. UTPB was coming off of an impressive 8 game winning streak going back to last Spring and has only been around 5 years. They outweighed us on both sides of the line. I think our strength and speed was too much, but they impressed me. I was surprised at the extent to which we dominated Lamar. I really thought that game could be a toss up, but we came with a gameplan and attacked the ball. I knew we could slow their run down, I didn't expect to shut it down and prevent any type of passing success. I am not sure we will replicate it again when we play them in a few weeks in Abilene, although we should win. UCA is a different ballgame altogether. Collumns always comes at us with a chip on his shoulder and UCA is just tough in general. Are we better and more prepared than the last time we met on the stripes a couple of years ago??? I hope so, but not predicting a win at this point. We are growing and progressing week to week. How much do we progress this week?? I hope some of you make the trip. It's kinda long, but a straight shot and the weather should be amazing.

Your QB should have a good day

This game is tricky to predict...Bears usually play very well on the road but ACU whipped us pretty bad a few years back at their place courtesy of 7 UCA turnovers.....last 5 years of scores below....notice that winning margin has notably declined....

2019: Bears win 31-30 at home
2018: @ACU, Bears win 16-7
2017: Bears win 34-0 at home
2016: @ACU, Bears win 58-27
2015: Bears win 42-14 at home

ACU's big win over Lamar is of concern.....Cards had 3 TOs which did not help....each quickly turned into TDs...also LU had a punt for negative one giving ACU a very short field but no points off....still that is only 21 of 56 points scored....Lamar could only complete 4/10 passing for 38 yards......and only rushed 42 for 98.....136 total yards...meanwhile ACU passed for 187 and ran for 274....pretty much total domination.....so is ACU really that much better or is LU just not "up to snuff"....or both....

Given the Bears have given up about 38 points per game and >40 point except for UAPB, I assume ACU will score more than a little....Bears scored 35 on #1 SHS and 34 on what has turned out to be a pretty solid MO State defense...if the game is really close I like our chances with Hayden Ray kicking....Bears defense needs to tackle better, contain the edges better and keep WRs from getting behind DBs...be nice to run the ball for 150+....make ACU earn every point and limit their possessions....

Ratings predict ACU by 3 but I never go against the Bears so I am looking for a 38-35 win...Go Bears!!

worst bear defense in the past 7 years

So why do we spend most of the first half before deciding to throw a forward pass?

We have no oline.

acu finally dropped enough wide open passes to get beat. the offense did good and breylin had a great game. not convinced of anything else other than we beat an inferior opponent.

it’s amazing that we returned so many starters on defense and we have regressed as a unit.

Central Arkansas
Bears
2-3, 1-1 CONF

1 2 3 4 T
CARK 0 14 14 14 42
ACU 7 14 0 0 21

Abilene Christian
Wildcats
3-2, 0-1 CONF


Matchup
1st Downs 29 18
3rd down efficiency 10-15 6-13
4th down efficiency 1-1 0-0
Total Yards 543 391
Passing 358 221
Comp-Att 28-38 20-30
Yards per pass 9.4 7.4
Interceptions thrown 0 1
Rushing 185 170
Rushing Attempts 39 30
Yards per rush 4.7 5.7
Penalties 6-48 6-85
Turnovers 0 3
Fumbles lost 0 2
Interceptions thrown 0 1
Possession 33:55 26:05

Go Bears !!! and a Bye week to work & get even better !

2nd half shutout vs ACU.....Q3 shutout vs Sam.....2 freshmen RBs combined for 173 yds rushing....used 9+ minutes off clock in Q4 including 8:08 on last scoring drive....o-line wore down ACU d-line....ACU could not cover all the Bear's WRs....Breylin pretty sharp ..seemed like offense was just testing ACU out in Q1 to see what they would give us and who they would try to defend....

ACU not Sam, A-State or MO State....still a "conference" and D1 win....35-0 run to finish pretty impressive..no one gave up and we for sure played better as the game went on...

New ratings next week should show UCA about 5-7 margin over EKU.....we know how scrappy they will be and how many back-up QBs do they have to pull out of the hat? Have to play complete game to win....

Have to watch SFA given how well they played Sam tonight.....we needed Jacks to win.....

For now, very nice to win big at ACU and extend that winning streak.....one game at a time and keep getting better execution.....only 48 yds of penalties vs ACU and zero TOs.....

Go Bears!!

Nice win guys, Congratulations!

Can we please make adjustments before halftime?

One thing to note about the SFA/SHSU game is that SHSU did not play their starting QB due to him being targeted several times.

I am SOOOO glad to see our team make adjustments at the half! It was a welcome change. I really saw a positive step forward overall this week. I hope we continue this trend.

Nice to have a backup who throws for 220+.....

https://ucasports.com/news/2021/10/4/football-smith-earns-second-asun-weekly-honor.aspx

Congrats to Breylin......national TD pass leader!!

CONWAY, Ark. _ University of Central Arkansas quarterback Breylin Smith earned his second ASUN Offensive Player of the Week honor on Monday after UCA's 42-21 road victory over Abilene Christian last Saturday.

Smith, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior from Conway, completed 28 of 38 passes (73.6 percent) for 358 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Smith helped engineer a comeback that saw the Bears score 35 consecutive points to win the game going away. He completed passes to 11 different players, and touchdowns to three different players.

Smith is tied for first in the nation with 18 passing touchdowns and ranks fourth with 1,603 passing yards. He is averaging 320.6 passing yards per game, ranking eighth in the nation.

Smith's award was the third consecutive Offensive Player of the Week award for a UCA player and the ninth football weekly award of the season for UCA.