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BEAUMONT, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will try to put a disappointing loss behind them this week when they hit the road for another big Southland Conference matchup against the Lamar Cardinals at 6 p.m. Saturday at Provost Umphrey Stadium.

    The Bears (3-3, 3-1) experienced their first Southland Conference loss of the season last Saturday at First Security Field at Estes Stadium, losing 28-13 to No. 9 McNeese State after leading 13-7 late in the third quarter. The Cowboys took advantage of three second-half turnovers by the Bears to pull away for the victory and remain the only undefeated team in the conference at 5-0.

    "It's another a big challenge for us. Our guys are very excited,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell. "Obviously they were down after this past week's game, as you would want them to be. You want them to hurt. But they bounced back Sunday night with a great attitude. We're ready for the next one.' 

    That next one comes Saturday against the Cardinals (3-3, 2-2), a team the Bears beat 44-41 in overtime a year ago in Conway. Campbell hopes the Bears can build off a stellar defensive effort last week against the Cowboys when they take on Lamar, the top rushing offense and No. 2 overall offense in the SLC.

    "I think we learned a lot of a valuable lessons from this last football game that we can use in the upcoming games,' said Campbell. There are a lot of things that we can take away from the McNeese game. I like the fact that we're getting better each and every week. I'm really pleased with the play of the defense. They really gave us a chance to be successful against McNeese.'

    The task facing the UCA defense is stopping, or slowing down, the league's top running back in junior Kade Harrington. He is averaging a whopping 185.8 yards per game and set the SLC single-game record against Abilene Christian with 347 yards. The second leading rusher in the league is UCA sophomore Dominique Thomas at 87.5 yards per game.

    "Lamar has got the top tailback in the league,' said Campbell. "The young man was the freshman of the year two years ago. Very physical runner, good speed and can break tackles and has great vision. Last year they had that running back but he wasn't putting up the numbers he's putting up this year. 

    "Last year they had a record-breaking receiver and a record-breaking quarterback that were both seniors. So they were throwing it all over the park last year and then handing it to him and he would get his 100 yards. This year, their big deal is getting the ball to that back, and he's really, really good.'

    UCA's defense held McNeese State to 160 total yards of offense last Saturday, and just 47 yards on 32 plays in the first half. UCA is ranked second in the league in rushing defense (96.8 yards per game) and second in total defense (366.2 yards per game). It will be tested against a team that averages 273.5 yards per game on the ground.

    "Lamar is a very good football team,' said Campbell. "They are a little bit of an enigma in the fact that they beat Sam Houston earlier in the year, scored 49 points against a very good football team. Southeastern beat them on the last play of the game. Then this last weekend, Northwestern got after them pretty good. They jumped up on them and then were able to hold them off and win the game.

    "Defensively, they have last year's all-conference noseguard coming back, a very good football player in the middle. They are strong on defense. But offensively, they lead our league in rushing and have a very strong rushing attack and two quarterbacks who are very efficient. We'll have to continue to play well on defense and do a good job of protecting the football when we have it.'

    Midway through the SLC schedule, UCA sits in sole possession of third place, trailing only McNeese State and Sam Houston State (4-1).

    "We have one loss in the conference, we're sitting at 3-1,' Campbell said. "And everyone else besides us, McNeese and Sam Houston has at least two losses. So we're at a point now where we feel like we still have our destiny in our own hands. If we take care of business one week at a time, we'll be fine. We can't beat them all this week, we only get to play one.'

    UCA sophomore Hayden Hildebrand is second in the league in passing yards at 195.4 per game and third in pass efficiency. Junior wide receiver Desmond Smith, coming off a game where he had career highs of 12 catches and 159 yards, is No. 2 in receptions per game (5.7) and receiving yards per game (72.2). Lamar senior Reggie Begelton is No. 2 in receptions (5.8) and fifth in yards (58.2).

    Harrington leads the league in scoring with 13 touchdowns and all-purpose yards with 211.7 per game. 

    The Bears got a 25-yard field goal from senior Eddie Camara in overtime to beat the Cardinals last season. Senior linebacker Blake Childress forced and recovered a fumble on Lamar's second play of their overtime possession. UCA quarterback Ryan Howard, now on the Bears' coaching staff, completed 21 of 34 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns and Dezmin Lewis caught 7 passes for 114 yards and a pair of touchdowns in that game. The teams combined for 38 points in a wild first quarter, with UCA leading 21-17 after just 15 minutes of action.

    Saturday's game will be on ESPN3 and ESPN College Extra (DirecTV 790, AT&T Uverse 616, Verizon Fios 323), as well as on The Point 94.1 and The Bears 91.3.