GameDay! UCA finally starts playing games that count tonight

CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas opens its highly anticipated 2024 season with a tough test on Saturday night in Jonesboro, Ark.

The Bears, ranked No. 11/13 in the FCS national polls, will take on the FBS Arkansas State Red Wolves at 6 p.m. at Centennial Bank Stadium.The season opener against an FBS opponent will be the 11th for the Bears since moving to NCAA Division I in 2006.

Fans can watch the game on ESPN+ or listen at The Point 94.1 in central Arkansas.

That includes a 40-21 loss to Arkansas State in 2021, as well as games at Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Hawaii and Oklahoma State a year ago in Stillwater, Okla., among others. UCA beat ASU 28-23 in 2016 in Jonesboro, but not in the first game of the season.

“Excited about the opportunity,” said UCA coach Nathan Brown, who was the Bears’ head coach for the 2021 meeting and offensive coordinator in 2016. “Couldn’t be better scheduling for us. What a great deal to open in Jonesboro, two hours down the road at 6 p.m. on August 31.

“We’re day-tripping it so it’s perfect for us. We’re going to wake up, treat it almost like a home game. Come up here, do our walk-through, do what we would normally do (for) a home game. Then get on that bus around midday, eat halfway there and pull up and play football.

“It’s a really good setup for our program and for our guys, and I know we’re excited, like a lot of people at this point. Tired of hitting purple and gray and we’re ready to hit red and black.”

Brown knows the Red Wolves, who finished 6-7 last season, including a Camellia Bowl loss to Northern Iowa, will provide a formidable test.

“Coach Butch Jones, his history definitely follows him. He’s a great football coach,” said Brown of the Red Wolves’ head coach, who coached previously at Tennessee, Cincinnati and Eastern Michigan. “Coach Jones has always been great to me. We’ve crossed paths a lot recruiting, we married up a little for summer camps. Always been a very gracious host. He and his staff have a good rapport with our staff.

“It’s going to be a fun game. Now don’t get me wrong, and Coach Jones knows this. I’m going to go over there and just about do anything to win that game on Saturday. But I have the utmost respect for what he’s doing at A-State. I think he’s getting his type of players into his program.”

The Red Wolves, out of the Sun Belt Conference, were picked fourth in the West Division in the preseason poll. The Bears, who are playing a 12-game regular-season schedule this season, were picked first in the United Athletic Conference (UAC).

“We have high expectations, and high expectations, to me, are very flattering but also very humbling as well,” said Brown. “At the end of the day, preseason polls and preseason all-conference lists and rankings are always a good thing for fans, always a good thing for mamas and daddies out there. But for coaches they’re nightmares to be honest with you.

“But it is very flattering to be where we’re at. I say this all the time, when you’re picked first in the conference or you’re picked as a top 10, 11, 12 football team as far as FCS goes, it’s validation for retention, retaining your players. It’s validation for culture and tradition within the program. And obviously a little bit of projecting on what the season looks like based on your scheduling.

“But I will say this, it’s always easier at the Division I FCS level to start at the top and stay at the top. There aren’t as many eyes, not as much information out there about FCS football. If you start down below the Top 25, scratching and clawing your way to get back to the top.

“So it’s a good spot to be in, but there is also some responsibility that comes with that. And that’s been our challenge all summer, throughout August in fall camp, that every time we cross that parking lot to go to that practice field or we come out of that tunnel to get on The Stripes for practice, are we doing it like a Top 10 team. Are we conducting ourselves like a team that was picked first in the conference.

“Because there is a big difference in being first and being a ninth-place team. There’s a big difference in being a Top 10 team and one that’s maybe the 40th or 50th best team in FCS football. You have to conduct yourself that way, there has to be a level of expectation, there has to be a level of commitment that others don’t have. And that’s not easy to do for 18-22 year olds on a consistent basis every single day.”

The Bears will also be on the road next Saturday, taking on the Lindenwood Lions at St. Charles, Mo., before their home and ASUN opener on Sept. 14 against Austin Peay at Estes Stadium.