GAMEDAY CENTRAL INFO PAGE


    HOUSTON _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will try to improve to 3-0 in the Southland Conference when they take on the Houston Baptist Huskies on Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium.

    The Bears (2-2, 2-0) have won their past two games, both in Southland Conference play, beating Northwestern State on the road and Abilene Christian at home at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

    Saturday's matchup with the Huskies (1-3, 0-2) will be just the second meeting between the teams after last year's 70-0 victory by the Bears in Conway. In that game, UCA had 10 touchdowns from nine different players who combined to score the seventh-most points in school history. The Bears finished with 545 yards of total offense on just 55 plays, averaging 9.9 yards per play.

    UCA has now scored more than 40 points in two consecutive victories, beating the Demons 49-21 and the Wildcats 42-14. The Bears had their third straight game without a turnover last week at home and improved to second in the SLC in turnover margin at +4. UCA also topped the 250-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive game with 259 on the ground against ACU.

    Sophomore running back Dominique Thomas had a career-high 126 yards and a touchdown and averaged 6.0 yards per carry.

    Defensively, the Bears held their second straight opponent to less than 100 yards rushing last Saturday.

    "I'm very proud of the way our defense has gotten better each and every week,' Campbell said. "To hold a team under 100 yards rushing, that's one of our major goals each game. Whenever you can do that, you have a great chance to be successful.'

    The Huskies, under second-year head coach Vic Shealy, is coming off a 65-0 victory over College of Faith, a victory that counts toward their overall record but does not count for statistical purpose according to the NCAA. HBU's other victory was over Bethany (Kan.) College in the season opener. They followed that with losses to Northern Colorado (34-10), ACU (49-21) and Sam Houston State (63-14).

    " Houston Baptist is a very formidable football team,' said Campbell. "They scored 60-plus points in both of the games they won. The Abilene game _ and Abilene ended up pulling away _ but it was tied 14-14 at one point and Houston Baptist was driving to take the lead when they threw a pick.

    "Sam Houston, which is a very good football team, that was a 14-14 game early. So Houston Baptist is a formidable team and has played well against some good teams. They are a much better football team than they were a year ago, and they're playing with much more confidence.'

    The game, which kicks off at 2:30, will be broadcast live on the American Sports Network, which is Channel 171 on Conway Corporation cable. The game can also be found online at southland.org/watch.