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    SPRINGFIELD, Mo. _ The University of Central Arkansas and Missouri State will be meeting for the second time in three weeks on Saturday night when they take the field at Plaster Stadium.

    However, the UCA Bears and the MSU Bears enter the rematch on very different paths.

    UCA (2-3) has played twice since its 27-20 victory over MSU on Sept. 26 at First Security Field at Estes Stadium, both on the road against formidable competition. UCA lost to three-time defending FCS national champion North Dakota State on Oct. 3 in Fargo, N.D., and to FBS Arkansas State last weekend in Jonesboro, Ark. Five games into the 2020 season, the UCA Bears are battling several mid-season injuries and will be somewhat shorthanded again Saturday.

    Meanwhile, the MSU Bears (0-2), coached by Bobby Petrino in his first season at the school, have been sitting idle and preparing for UCA since the loss in Conway. MSU is only playing a three-game schedule this fall, with their opener against Top 25 Oklahoma back on Sept. 12, followed by the back-to-back games with UCA.

    "The unfortunate part of this is (for us), they went home two weeks ago, drove back to Springfield and the next day they were preparing for UCA,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "While we were preparing for North Dakota State, and then Arkansas State. So they've had a lot of time to cross their Ts and dot their Is, to figure out where our weaknesses are, where they need to attack us to do better.

    "So we're playing a little bit of catch up right now probably as far as scheme-wise and game plan-wise. But we'll be ready to go. I think our guys are excited about the short trip to Springfield. We know it's going to be a challenge on both sides of the ball and on special teams.'

    UCA won the first meeting with a fourth-quarter comeback, outscoring MSU 14-0 in the fourth quarter and posting 20 unanswered points in a span of 2:13. With UCA trailing 20-7 midway through the third quarter, junior quarterback Breylin Smith hit sophomore receiver Tyler Hudson with a 7-yard touchdown pass in the final two minutes of the period. Junior linebacker Dre Matthews followed with a scoop-and-score fumble return of 30 yards to tie the game at 20-20 with 14:48 remaining.

    The Purple Bears then added a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown by Hudson just 37 seconds later to set the final score. UCA's defense sealed the victory with big stops twice in the final  3:28, stopping MSU on two fourth-down plays inside the UCA 10 and 30 yard lines. For the game, UCA recorded 16 tackles for loss and nine sacks and held MSU to 291 total yards of offense.

    "I think we naturally took Missouri State a little lightly the first time,' said Brown. "They were coming off a one-win season. They got blown out by Oklahoma before they played us. I know our coaching staff respected them and knew what they had, but maybe as players, we took them a little bit lightly. And we had to fight to win that game here. They had a good scheme against us, they did a great job defensively. And I thought out defense kept us in that game and probably won that game for us.'

    UCA survived with just 79 passing yards and an FCS-era low 177 yards of total offense. Smith completed 9 of 24 passes for 79 yards and one touchdown. Hudson caught four passes for 62 yards and a touchdown while All-SLC junior receiver Lujuan Winningham was shut out. But the Bears got much-needed touchdowns from its defense and special teams to improve to 5-4 against MSU.

    Against Arkansas State, UCA put up 411 yards of total offense, with Winningham returning to form with three touchdown receptions covering 23, 2 and 31 yards. Hudson was the Bears' go-to guy, grabbing a career-high 12 passes for 154 yards as Smith completed 24 of 49 passes for 302 yards. But the Red Wolves, perennial Sun Belt Conference contenders, used a 20-point third quarter to pull away from the Bears and win 50-27.

    "Our focus is to get to 3-3 and be 1-0 this week,' Brown said. "If we can do that, and I think we can, then we'll get that good taste back in our mouth. Right now we've got a bad taste in our mouth. This is not the way we would like to be sitting here on Oct. 12, as a 2-3 football team. We're not accustomed to that. We're a better football team than that.

    "We've got work ahead of us, but we're excited about it and we're looking forward to the challenge on Saturday.'
    
    UCA, which will be playing its third of four consecutive road games this weekend, came home a winner the last time the teams met in Springfield. The Purple Bears won 17-13 in 2013. UCA's defense also led the charge in that game, shutting out MSU in the second half. UCA forced six consecutive MSU punts in the second half and then turned in a final goal-line stand with 2:42 to seal it.

     Saturday's game, with a 7 p.m. kickoff, will be broadcast live on KLRT Fox 16, ESPN3, The Point 94.1 and The Bear 91.3.