THIBODAUX, La. _ The No. 10/11 University of Central Arkansas Bears had a frustrating day offensively and defensively Saturday afternoon at Guidry Stadium, falling 34-14 to the No. 15/16 Nicholls Colonels in Southland Conference action.

The Colonels (3-2, 2-0) shut down the Bears' offense for most of the day and held the Bears (3-2, 1-1) to 320 yards of total offense, with 222 of those coming in the second half. Save for three drives _ two that ended in touchdowns and one that closed with a turnover _ UCA was held in check the entire afternoon in Nicholls' first home game of the season. UCA had a long drive end in an interception in the first half and a 75-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Breylin Smith to Lujuan Winningham, midway through the third period.

Coming off an open date, the Bears, as they have been known to do through five games this season, fell behind 20-0 at halftime and never got closer than 16 points the rest of the day. The Colonels, coming off a disapppointing 24-3 loss at FBS Texas State last week, ran up 477 yards of total offense, including 327 through the air by reigning SLC Player of the Year Chase Fourcade. 

"We just dug ourselves a hole,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "We turned the ball over twice on offense, once in the red zone late in the first half that could have been a momentum killer. We fumbled the ball and gave them a short field on our own 20 that they capitalized on and put points on the board.

"We just didn't do enough early on. I take the blame, I didn't have them ready to play. It's on me. I have to do a better job of getting our guys going throughout the week. And we'll do that. We've got a good group of guys that want to figure it out, and we will. We still have a chance to have a good football team. What we've accomplished to this point in the first month, the first five games of the season, has been pretty good. But we've got to be better if we want to have a chance to make a run and get into the playoffs.'
 

The Colonels dominated the first half, piling up 314 yards of total offense and outscoring the Bears 20-0. UCA had 98 total yards and a pair of turnovers in the opening 30 minutes, including an interception at the goal line and a fumble at its own 14. UCA's first-half highlight was the punting of senior Taylor Wallace, who averaged 49 yards on three punts and downed one at the Nicholls' 1 yard line. For the game, Wallace averaged 49.2 yards.

The Bears finally got their offense rolling, at least for one drive, late in the second period with quarterback Breylin Smith connecting with tight end Luke Ross for 19 yards, to freshman Tyler Hudson for 30 yards and to Ross again for another 11 yards. UCA had 1st and 10 at the Nicholls' 11 but Smith was intercepted at the 2 attempting to thread a pass to Lujuan Winningham at the goal line.

The Bears forced a Colonels' turnover on the goal line when UCA defensive back Chris Kershner fell on a fumble by Fourcade, but the Bears gave it right back when running back Carlos Blackman fumbled on UCA's third play following the recovery.

Smith was 8 of 9 for 71 yards at the half while Fourcade was 15 of 17 for 221 yards and also rushed for 45 more yards.

The Bears finally got on the scoreboard at the 9:50 mark of the third quarter when UCA drove 75 yards in 12 plays, capped by a four-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Winningham. But the Colonels scored twice more to push their lead to 34-7 before the Bears added a late score on a 44-yard pass from Smith to redshirt freshman receiver Kylan Robinson with just six seconds remaining. It was Robinson's first career touchdown reception.
 

"We have to do more, we have to be more efficient, we have to do more on first down if we want to have a chance,' Brown said. "And we just didn't do a very good job with the screen today. If there was a play that got us on defense it was the screen pass. The back out of the backfield, we just didn't account for him very well. They do a good job with a lot of eye candy up front with their offensive line. 

"But Chase Fourcade is one of the best quarterbacks in this league, and really at this level of football. He proved it today. He's a really good football player, a winner, just gets them in the right plays, has a lot of poise. We probably won't see another quarterback like him until we hopefully make the playoffs. But we have to be ready and have an answer for that stuff.'

Smith finished the game 20 of 27 for 182 yards and a pair of touchdowns while junior Kierre Crossley led the UCA ground game with 66 yards on 11 carries. Blackman, after a 147-yard effort against Hawaii two weeks ago, was held to 46 yards on eight carries. The Bears recorded six tackles for loss, and had sacks by freshman Marquez Casey and junior J.W. Jones. Chris Kershner had his first career fumble recovery and Rochell had his team-high third interception of the game.

The Bears return home to host McNeese next Saturday at 4 p.m. at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.