CONWAY — It may be a bit of an overstatement to say games don't get any bigger than this. To say they've never been any bigger in Conway and at the University of Central Arkansas is undoubtedly not.
Saturday at 3 p.m. on the renowned stripes of First Security Field at Estes Stadium, Central Arkansas will play host to Sam Houston State in a clash of nationally-ranked Southland Conference powers that has the makings to be one of the marquee Division I FCS games this week, for the Southland Conference this season, and in the 100-plus year history of Central Arkansas football.
Rare is it that a September game draws such consideration, but rare is it (if ever) that the Bears have been presented such a scenario.
The Bears enter the weekend ranked from 21-25 in various national polls, and will put their unblemished record on The Stripes on the line against the highest-ranked Division I team to ever enter Estes Stadium in a Bearkat squad that is slotted anywhere from 1st to 3rd in the national rankings.
Both teams enter the opening of Southland Conference play with one loss, both coming to FBS programs from BCS leagues – the Bears at Ole Miss and the Bearkats at Baylor. Both also led their upper-division counterparts at halftime in those games before succumbing in the second half.
The teams finished in the top two spots in the Southland standings a year ago, both won games in the Division I playoffs and the Bearkats made a run all the way to the national title game – ending the year with 14 wins. Each team returns much of its nucleus from 2011, with a combined 34 returning starters, 27 preseason All-Southland Conference players and seven 2011 All-Americans on the two rosters.
"This is one of the bigger games we've ever played in Estes Stadium, particularly this early in the year," said UCA head coach Clint Conque. "If you compare it to FBS football, it does have some dynamics of having the FCS equivalent of Alabama or LSU or Oregon and that type of program coming to your stadium. It's not every week that a top-three team is coming to your campus. We have that on Saturday, and I think there's a lot of excitement with our fan base to see that quality of play and that high caliber of athlete. It's two Top 25 teams that advanced in the playoffs last season, teams that finished 1st and 2nd in our league, and there are some high-profile players in this game. Southland TV and ESPN3 picked up our game for a reason. You could tell on our conference call, there were a few questions from national media for both head coaches, so there's a sense of some national perspective for this game. It's one of the marquee games in the country in our division, and it's going to happen in Conway, Arkansas. Hopefully we create the type of atmosphere where the crowd will become a factor for us. Our job is to make sure that happens once the game gets started."
After steamrolling Bacone College 70-3 in last week's home opener to move their all-time record on the purple and gray striped turf of First Security Field to 6-0, the Bears will be faced with a much more difficult challenge this week as they try to remain perfect on the surface.
"Our guys recognize that in the last year and a half we have not lost at home since we put down our new field," Conque said. "That's an intangible that may work in our favor because I do feel like it promotes a sense of great pride within our locker room. They understand the formula for success in any season starts with being able to defend the home field, and this weekend we have the biggest challenge to date. Obviously there's pressure, but there's always pressure when you play – in particular at home. I don't want our young men or our coaches to feel that pressure, because there's a lot of season left regardless of the outcome of this game. We've really encouraged our young men to work with a sense of urgency, but to embrace the opportunity and have fun in the preparation because you don't get this caliber of opponent on your home field very often. On Saturday, I want our guys playing loose and with a high level of execution in all three phases. We need to do that very consistently for 60 minutes against a team picked by most to win the national championship this season."
The Bearkats came into the 2012 season with lofty expectations following their march to last season's championship game and returning 19 starters with 18 preseason all-conference selections. Chief among those is junior running back Tim Flanders, last season's Southland Conference Player of the Year and a strong candidate for this year's Walter Payton Award. Flanders, a Kansas State transfer, is already the Bearkats' career leading rusher. Last season he broke three Southland Conference records by putting up 1,644 rushing yards, 24 touchdowns and 144 points.
In the Bearkats' 31-10 win over the Bears last season, he totaled 160 all-purpose yards and averaged 7.6 yards per touch. In SHSU's playoff victory over Montana (which knocked UCA out of the playoffs in the 2nd round), Flanders rushed for 287 yards.
Junior receiver/wildcat quarterback Richard Sincere was last season's Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year after putting up 979 rushing yards, 485 receiving yards and 13 combined touchdowns.
The Bears counter with plenty of firepower of their own, ranking second in the nation in passing efficiency, sixth in scoring offense at just over 46 points per game, and 14th in total offense. UCA also boasts the nation's top punt return average at 31.3 yards.
Junior quarterback Wynrick Smothers is ninth in the nation in total offense at 301.3 yards per game and has completed 78.3 percent of his passes en route to 784 yards and 10 touchdown throws through three games. He has also added 120 rushing yards on 26 carries, an average of 4.6 per attempt, and another score.
"There will certainly be no shortage of major talent on the field on Saturday," Conque said. "There are some young men among the national leaders on both teams, and when you talk about Tim Flanders you're looking at one of the top running backs anywhere in the nation and a favorite for the Payton Award. We've seen what Sincere is capable of, and their defense is as tough and physical as we will face. Then on our side, we've already had a handful of young men receive national recognition and conference player of the week honors. You'll see some long, big, strong, very talented athletes playing at a very high level at Estes Stadium this weekend."
The all-time series between the teams is split at three, with the Bears winning the first three in 2006-08 and the Bearkats returning the favor in the following three meetings. Four of the six meetings have been decided by eight or fewer points, and each team has recorded a 21-point win in the other two matchups.
After a 48-46 shootout in 2008, the last three meetings have been more defensive minded, with the Bearkats' 31 points last year being the only time either team has scored more than 20 points. That could change this year, as Conque sees the ability for big plays going both ways.
"They are very aggressive on defense," he said. "They have a lot of blitz concepts and get their secondary involved in their blitz packages. They play a lot of man coverage. When that happens, the windows become smaller and margin of error tightens up, but with that being said there are some big play opportunities for our offense out there. Whether that be in the run or pass game, we've got to execute at an extremely high level in order to make those types of big plays against that aggressive D. And then obviously with the scheme and playmakers they have on offense, they have the ability to get points on the board in bunches. One way or the other, there's a good chance somebody's band is going to be playing quite a bit on Saturday."