TULSA, Okla. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears had their opportunities Saturday night to record their third victory over an FBS team, and second in the past three seasons, but could not quite pull it off in a 38-27 loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at H.A. Chapman.

The Bears (0-1) took advantage of a strange turnover sequence to grab a 27-24 lead over the Golden Hurricane early in the fourth quarter in head coach Nathan Brown's debut. UCA senior linebacker Raphael Garner forced Tulsa quarterback Luke Skipper to fumble at the TU 14. Senior defensive end Cardell Best scooped up the ball and returned it to the five before fumbling it into the end zone.

Sophomore linebacker Justin Morris fell on the ball in the end zone to give UCA a 27-24 lead and the momentum with 11:08 to play. However, UCA returned the favor shortly after with a muffed kickoff return that Tulsa recovered inside the UCA 10. The Golden Hurricane (1-0) scored two plays later, their second touchdown in less than a minute, to hold off the Bears.  

"We're going to have a good football team,' said Brown. "There's no doubt we played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion. We have a lot of championship players on this team. There's a lot of long faces. I just told them there is nothing to celebrate, no moral victories in a game like this. We thought we could come in here and win, and we had our chances to win. We turned the ball over in the red zone, we got field goals instead of touchdowns early in the game, then we muffed a kick inside our own 10.

"The errors that kill you, first-week stuff, got us. But I tell you, we've got a good football team and I'm excited to watch us improve this week and get ready for Murray State.'
 

The Bears won the turnover battle by forcing four fumbles and recovering three of them. Junior All-Southland Conference cornerback Juan Jackson had one of the forced fumbles and added a career-high 16 tackles. With the Bears trailing 21-13 early in the third quarter, Jackson caused Tulsa receiver Keenen Johnson to lose the ball at the end of a 41-yard reception at the UCA 38, with sophomore safety Jackie Harvell recovering at the 25. UCA then put together its longest sustained drive of the game, going 75 yards in 14 plays, capped by sophomore quarterback Breylin's Smith first career touchdown run from two yards out. That closed the Tulsa lead to 21-20 with 5:52 left in the third quarter.

"Juan is an all-conference player and he played like it,' said Brown. "We expect that out of Juan, he's the last line of defense as a safety in our scheme of defense. He's going to be freed up to make a lot of plays. So really pleased with the way Juan played tonight. And he played a lot of snaps tonight.'
The Bears, who had to settle for field goals on two early drives, took a 13-7 late in the first quarter after Kierre Crossley set up his own 1-yard touchdown run with a 43-yard shovel pass from Smith down to the Tulsa 1. But the Golden Hurricane scored twice in the second quarter on a pair of 1-yard runs and held the Bears off the board to take a 21-13 halftime lead.

Tulsa opened the scoring with 12:49 left in the first quarter on a 49-yard pass from Luke Skipper to Justin Hobbs when UCA's defensive back fell down on the route. UCA answered with consecutive field goals by senior Matt Cummins, from 19 and 40 yards, to close the gap to 7-6 with 6:23 left in the period. 

UCA finished the first half with just 121 total yards of offense, including 49 on the ground. Tulsa had 205 yards, evenly distributed with 106 rushing and 99 passing.
 

Tulsa finished the game with 470 yards of total offense, including 274 on the ground.

"The defense played well tonight, they scored a touchdown,' said Brown. "And that Tulsa is explosive and you're going to see them put up a lot of points this year. I thought our guys played hard. There was no doubt we left it on the field tonight. At times we were the more physical team. 

"I thought our defensive front and defense played really well for the most part. On offense, we had our moments. We were able to assert ourselves at times, but we shot ourselves in the foot. Early in the game, we were getting field goals instead of touchdowns. I think we had three trips into the red zone and only got six points. 

"So, you can't play like that and beat a great team in Tulsa. Especially when you're playing a team up a division and in a hostile environment, you've got to win the turnover battle. You have to win that and play well on special teams. We muffed a kick on special teams and turned the ball over too many times. Hats off to them. I think they are going to have a good season. And their offense can be as explosive as anybody in the country. So all in all, I thought we played a great effort and guys definitely pushed hard.'

Smith, a sophomore from Conway starting his first game at quarterback, completed 17 of 25 passes for 165 yards as the replacement for All-SLC quarterback Hayden Hildebrand who graduated. Junior running back Carlos Blackman led all UCA rushers with 57 hard-fought yards. Senior Jakari Dillard caught six passes for 61 yards for UCA.

"I thought Breylin did a great job,' said Brown. "He had poise and he found his checkdowns. He was very responsive on the sideline and knew what he was seeing. It was just a good performance from Breylin. I thought he handled himself well.'

The Bears play their home opener at 6 p.m. Saturday against Murray State.