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  CONWAY, Ark. _ The good news for the University of Central Arkansas Bears is they are finally returning home to "The Stripes" at First Security Field at Estes Stadium for the first time since Sept. 26, and just the second time all season, when they host Missouri Western at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
   The bad news is the Bears will be facing, for the fourth time in eight games, a team that is playing its initial game of the season. Austin Peay, with a brand new coaching staff, UAB and North Dakota State were all competing for the first time this season when they took on the Bears, leaving the UCA coaching staff with a lot of question marks heading into the games. Another, Missouri State, had three weeks to prepare between consecutive games against the Bears.
   "For the fourth time this year, we're playing a team in their first game, and that's unheard of,' said UCA head coach
Nathan Brown. "That's difficult, that's not something that is normal. When you're playing a team, and it being their first game, and they've had nothing but prep time for you, it makes for a difficult game plan.
   "One, we haven't seen their personnel, we have not seen what maybe they have changed from last season to this season. All of our game film (on MWSU) is 2019, whereas they have seven game tapes of 2020 on us. That's difficult. We dealt with that obviously with North Dakota State, we dealt with that with UAB and we dealt with that with Austin Peay.
   "So that's not something that we're not used to, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier. That's a neutralizing factor that is part of the chess game as a coach, is figuring out exactly who and what you are about to play.'
   What the Bears are about to face is Top 25 NCAA Division II football team, one that won nine games last year, with the ninth being a 35-14 victory over Henderson State in the Agent Barry Live United Bowl. The Griffons have actually won consecutive Live United Bowls, beating Southern Arkansas in 2018.
   A familiar face will be on the opposing sideline on Saturday. The Griffons' head coach is Matt Williamson, a former assistant coach (2007-09) and defensive coordinator (2010-13) at UCA.
   "I know Coach Williamson very well, very good friends with him,' said Brown. "He coached here and then I coached against him as well in the Southland Conference (at Stephen F. Austin). Very respectable coach, he's going to have his players ready to go with a lot of enthusiasm. That's his alma mater, so he's got a lot of pride in that program. And you can tell by the way they play.
   "They are coming off a nine-win season in the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), which is probably, it not the best or toughest conference in Division II, it is one of the toughest. So we know they're battle-tested. They are big, strong, tough kids.
   "Coach Willy does a great job recruiting and he's put together a great staff. I've been very impressed watching him from afar in the last three years as his head coaching journey is starting at Missouri Western. They are a really, really good Division II football team.'
   Brown said he has made sure not to mention the classification of the Griffons with his team, but rather the talent level of this week's opponent.
   "I told our coaches this the other day,' he said. "Maybe the best, maybe the most talented team I may have ever been a part of here at UCA as a player and as a coach was our 2005 Gulf South Conference team,' said Brown, a former record-setting quarterback for the Bears. "When you look at the talent on that team, when we were a Division II team, it was phenomenal. So Missouri Western is going to have great talent.
   "One thing that has been my strategy this week is to not talk to our young men about it that they're a Division II team. We're playing Missouri Western, we're not playing a Division II football team. We're playing a nine-win Missouri Western team from last year, that this is their first opportunity of the 2020 season.'
   Brown said the teams' paths to this Halloween matchup are what are in stark contrast. UCA is 3-4 overall, with two loses to FBS teams and six games on the road. MWSU is 0-0 and just beginning its four-game fall schedule, three of which will be on the road.
   "The season, for lack of a better term, maybe has lost its sexiness for us,' said Brown. "We've played seven weeks, we're in the grind, we've got injuries, we've got bumps and bruises. For Missouri Western, this is Game 1. They're excited, they're pumped up, they don't have a lot of bumps and bruises and injuries I would assume. They're excited about trying to knock off a Division I program. So there's going to be a lot of adrenaline on their side of the ball, and we're going to have to counter that with execution.
   "And we're going to have to counter that by being excited to be playing on "The Stripes" and getting back home for Homecoming.'
   The Bears are 1-0 at home this season, beating Missouri State 27-20 five weeks ago. After an open date next Saturday, the Bears will host their third and final home game, a rematch with Eastern Kentucky, on Nov. 14. EKU scored with six seconds left to beat the Bears 31-28 in a heartbreaker last weekend in Richmond, Ky.
   "It's been difficult, being on the road and really being a battle-tested team in opposing teams' territory,' said Brown. "Six of our seven games to this point have been outside of Conway. We knew what we signed up for as a program and as a team, and I think our guys have handled it relatively well, considering the circumstances. So No. 1, we're excited to be back on "The Stripes." No. 2, we're excited to be able to compete and try to avenge a loss, a tough loss, from last Saturday.
   "Give credit to Eastern Kentucky and their team and their coaching staff on executing for making more plays than us when it was all said and done. They are a tradition-rich program at the FCS level, they've won two or three national championships and a lot of conference championships in the Ohio Valley over the years.
   "Unfortunately we weren't able to make enough plays to win that game, but our guys played hard for 60 minutes. We just left too many plays out there. So that's the most exciting thing, to be able to get back on the field and hopefully get back in the win column against a good Missouri Western team.'
   To get that victory, Brown is expecting a battle.
   "If you leave a team like this, who obviously has a culture of winning, but they are coming in as "the smaller division school".. hey, we've been there, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, UAB. Time and time again, we've played that underdog mentality and we always seem to play tough in those games because we believe.
   "This is going to be no different for Missouri Western. I know Coach Willy, I know how he's going to coach, I know his style. Those guys are going to come in here believing they can beat us. And if we let them play a four-quarter game, we're putting ourselves in a dangerous situation.'
   The game will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 and The Point 94.1 with Justin Acri, Chris Kane and RJ Hawk, and on ESPN3 with Steve Sullivan, Wess Moore and RJ Hawk.
