HAMMOND, La. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears have won five consecutive games and are ranked No. 18/19 in the two FCS national polls.

    They will face an equally hot team on Saturday in Hammond, La., when they take on the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at 2:30 on ESPN3. The Lions (4-3, 4-1) have won three straight games, and four of their past five. SLU is coming off a 37-3 victory over Houston Baptist last Saturday at Strawberry Stadium.

    UCA (6-1, 5-0) beat Lamar 22-12 last weekend in a Homecoming game at Estes Stadium. The Bears used its usually stingy defense to hold the Cardinals to just 15 rushing yards on 34 carries and to 220 total yards of offense.

    "It was a very workmanlike day for us,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell. "And you have to have some of those kinds of days sometimes. Things didn't happen easily and things didn't always go exactly as planned. But I thought Lamar came out with an outstanding game plan. They were showing us a lot of different looks and some things we hadn't seen on film.

    "But then the defense adjusted to the things Lamar was doing and I can't say enough about the way the defense played. They had thrown the football for 400 yards the week before against Northwestern State. So I was really pleased with the way the defense responded after those first couple of drives.'     

    The Lions were just as dominant in their win over HBU, piling up 563 yards of total offense and allowing only 293. The Huskies got a first-quarter field goal and nothing more in the loss.

    "We're playing one of the hottest teams in the league,' Campbell said. "They are as talented as any team in our league. They've got speed, they've got size. Both quarterbacks they are playing are very athletic. Southeastern, since I've been in the league and since (head coach) Ron Roberts has been there, has always been good on defense. They are ranked third in a lot of defensive catetories, so they are definitely talented on that side of the ball.

    '"We will be playing a very confident football team on Saturday. And our guys know that and we'll prepare for that. It's a big challenge for us, but definitely one we're excited about.' 

    UCA's defense is No. 1 in the nation against the rush, allowing only 58.6 yards on the ground. The Bears' opponents have 410 rushing yards in seven games.

    The Lions are fifth in the SLC in both rushing offense (178.0) and total offense (416.3) and are coming off a game in which they had 563 total yards against HBU at Strawberry Stadium. Quarterback D'Shaie Landor completed 16 of 30 passes for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Rasheed Harrell and Julius Maracalin both topped 80 yards rushing and each scored a touchdown.

    Defensively, SLU held HBU to 293 yards, 178 through the air and 115 on the ground. For the season, the Lions are ranked third in the SLC in total defense, allowing 391.6 yards per game, and are second in pass defense, allowing only 203.9 yards per game through the air.

    "A lot of their defensive numbers are skewed because they opened the season with Oklahoma State and they scored a lot of points and got a lot of yards against Southeastern,' Campbell said. "But since that point, they've been really good. They are very, very strong defensively.'

    The game will be broadcast on The Bear 91.3, The Point 94.1 and ESPN3.