BOWLING GREEN, Ky. _ For the third consecutive year and the seventh time since moving to NCAA Division I in 2006, the University of Central Arkansas Bears will open the season against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent on Thursday night.

The Bears are 2-12 against FBS opponents since moving up, but one of those victories is meaningful this week when UCA takes on Western Kentucky at Houchens-Smith Stadium at 6:30 Thursday. That same stadium was the site of UCA's first victory over an FBS team in school history when the Bears beat the Hilltoppers 28-7 in Game 2 of the 2009 season.

"We're excited about Thursday night,' said Brown, who was on the UCA coaching staff for the 2009 victory. "To be quite frank, we're tired of hitting purple and gray, we're ready to hit something that's red. We have a great group of men who are ready to go represent our logo and what we're about.'

The Bears, coming off a 6-5 season in Brown's first season as head coach of his alma mater, will try to steal an early victory as they open the 2019 season with a tough stretch of four out of five games on the road.

"It's a pretty tough initial schedule,' said Brown. "Four of our first five are on the road, with two of those being FBS opponents. But I love road games. I love playing on "The Stripes," don't get me wrong. There's nothing better on a Saturday night than the home crowd here in Conway, Ark., playing on "The Stripes." But one thing you get on the road, you get no distractions. You get very structured time with your players. 

"We're on schedule, we're telling them where to be, when to be there, how to tie their shoes, how to put their clothes on, all the things you look for as a coach. That's what you do on the road. So I'm looking at it as an advantage for our program. We have some inexperienced, young guys who are going to be making their first road trip on Thursday, but I'm excited about that and looking forward to that challenge.'

The Bears return all of their offensive backfield from a year ago, led by sophomore quarterback Breylin Smith, who missed the final seven games of last season with a broken ankle. His backup also returns in sophomore Luke Hales, who started the final seven games and led the Bears to a 4-3 mark in that stretch, as well as senior Kirk Baugh (also injured last season) and redshirt freshman BeSean McCray.

The rest of the backfield is talented and deep with senior running back Carlos Blackman and junior Kierre Crossley back after combining for nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Senior D'erek Fernandez and redshirt freshman Cameron Myers give UCA one of the most talented backfields in the FCS.

"I'm excited about our two-headed monster at running back in Carlos and Kierre,' said Brown. "Both of those guys have been our leading rushers the last two years, so both of them have big-game experience in the Southland Conference, they've been a part of playoff teams. And I'm very excited about Cameron Myers. I think he's going to have a special year. He's actually going to be our starting kick returner so he might touch the ball first in this 2019 season for us.'

UCA's defense will be missing a key player for the early part of the season in junior nickel back Jackie Harvell, who is recovering from offseason achilles surgery. But UCA returns nearly all of its secondary intact, led by senior safety Juan Jackson, last year's leading tackler and cornerbacks Trai Mosley, Robert Rochell and Duke Upshaw.

"Our secondary should be one of the strengths of our team,' said Brown. "Five of our top six guys are back in our secondary from last year's team. Very excited about or corner group. Robert Rochell is a preseason all-conference corner. Duke Upshaw, to me, is an all-conference caliber corner. And then Trai Mosley got granted his sixth year fortunately in the offseason to come back and play as a graduate. Juan Jackson at safety has led us in tackles the last two years. Very excited about out secondary.'

The Hilltoppers, from Conference USA, will try to rebound from a 3-9 campaign a year ago under first-year head coach Tyson Helton, the younger brother of Southern Cal head coach Clay Helton. WKU is 10-1 at home against Group of Five or FCS opponents since 2012, with the lone loss coming to Maine a year ago.

"Western Kentucky is going to be a great opponent,' said Brown. "Look, a 3-9 team doesn't look like much, but if you look at it in 20016 and 2017 they were playing for a Conference USA championship on championship weekend. So a lot of their seniors and juniors were part of championship caliber and bowl teams with the Western Kentucky program.

"They had a down year last year and they had a coaching change, so I think there is going to be a lot of excitement around their program. What they've developed over the past few years, and what we've seen on film, is a very talented program. I think they are very comparable to the Tulsa (season-) opener last year as far as personnel goes.'

The Hilltoppers will apparently start junior quarterback Steven Duncan ahead of former Arkansas Razorback Ty Storey, who transferred in after last season. Duncan threw for 1,071 yards and nine touchdowns in 2018. 

"They've got some length, some big offensive linemen,' said Brown. "They have a couple of running backs that are going to be hard to tackle. And in the defensive front, they'll have some guys who can push you back if you let them.'

Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. Coverage is on ESPN+ as well as The Bear 91.3 and The Point 94.1 with Justin Acri, Chris Kane and R.J. Hawk.