CONWAY, Ark. _ Supremacy at the halfway point of the Southland Conference season will be decided Saturday night in Hammond, La., when the University of Central Arkansas Bears take on the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at Strawberry Stadium.

    The Bears and Lions are both 3-0 in league play, with the winner taking over sole possession of the top spot with four games remaining. SLU is 5-2 overall and ranked No. 8/9 in the national FCS polls. UCA is 4-3 overall and coming off a 70-0 victory over Houston Baptist in Conway.

    "We're very excited about the challenge, said UCA head coach Steve Campbell, who played two seasons at SLU before the school shut down its program after the 1985 season. "Our guys are fired up. I think we are really looking forward to this football game.

    "We're 3-0, they're 3-0. We've been talking about having the high ground. Right now we're standing on the high ground. This week is a battle for that high ground. I think the guys are really looking forward to taking on a very tough Southeastern football team.'

    The Bears did a lot right in the dismantling of the Huskies last week, scoring 10 touchdowns by nine different players and holding HBU to just 131 yards of total offense, and just 47 yards in the second half. UCA played 68 players in the game and held a few starters out of the game or to a limited number of plays in the blowout. 

    "There were definitely some good things that came out of that game,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell,  "Anytime you win 70-0, it's a positive. That's an understatement. But I saw a lot of improvement defensively. What had been hurting us, being able to get off the field on third down, we saw tremendous improvement there. We created some turnovers and set the offense up in great position to score.

    "A lot of the things we had worked on over the past few weeks, we were able to see come to fruition during the game, and that's always good. That kind of game allowed us to be able to play a lot of people, a lot of young guys. And that's definitely going to pay dividends for us in the long run.'

    The competition improves by leaps and bounds this weekend in the Lions, who beat Lamar 61-34 last weekend on the road, scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter to blow the game open.

    "Southeastern is an outstanding football team,' said Campbell. "They have the reigning Player of the Year in the conference in quarterback Bryan Bennett. He's and outstanding player, can run and throw, great speed. So defensively, it's good that we're starting to play better. We tackled better this past week and that's something we definitely have to do against an oustanding Southeastern team.

    Defensively, they play a three-man line, and when you're this big, you can play a three-man line. They are 300 pounds across the front. They are a big, physical football team, with a lot of speed at linebacker. They definitely present a great challenge. They didn't lose a conference game last year and they haven't lost one yet this year.'

    Southeastern has won its last 13 games against Southland Conference teams, including a perfect 7-0 championship run last season. 

    One key Saturday may be the turnover battle, where the Bears excel. For the fifth game out of seven this season, UCA did not have a turnover last Saturday, while forcing a season-high five. The Bears are tied for first in the SLC and ninth in the country in turnover margin with a +9.

    Kickoff is 7 p.m. on Strawberry Stadium. UCA is 2-1 in games played at that venue, and leads the overall series 5-2 against SLU. The Lions won 58-31 in Conway a year ago.