CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears shifted gears this week and turned their attention to their first opponent of 2022, the Missouri State Bears.

    UCA opens the season at home on "The Stripes" at First Security Field at Estes Stadium on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

    "We're excited. Our guys have put in a lot of time and effort," said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "It's been one of our longer camps, we're going on three and a half weeks now. With school starting tomorrow (Thursday), it's like I told our players, now you get the full effect of being student-athletes. We have to go to class, we have to drown out all the distractions of all the students being on campus, all the extra activities. And then still get your football work done.

    "So there is a transition stage going on right now. Our players will have Thursday off for the first day of classes, then we'll get after it with our game planning on Friday afternoon."

    The Bears closed the fall camp stage of practice with a Wednesday night scrimmage in conjunction with a student pep rally. Brown said it was just what the Bears needed.

    "You go to practice every day, and even our scrimmages, we might have a hundred, a couple hundred people out here," he said. "But this was the first time a lot of our guys have seen our full student section. And they showed up in full force, and they always do. They had the noise makers, our band was playing, our cheer and dance teams were out here.

    "There's just this extra adrenaline that comes with all that. And I think our guys felt that, even the guys that didn't scrimmage tonight felt that excitement. They understand that we're here to give them a great product on the field, to give our campus and our community something to be proud about.

    "I think our guys who have been here definitely understand that, but even our younger guys, it's a great opportunity, in this type of scrimmage and atmosphere, to really see what college football and UCA football is all about."

    Brown said the long preseason camp was good for the Bears, who have 40-plus newcomers on the roster.

    "I'm really pleased," he said. "We're good health-wise, I feel good about that. And we've gotten in a lot of good work. I think at some key positions, we have some guys who have really solidified themselves. The scrimmage was good because we got to come out and run around and got to see a lot of young guys play and make some big plays.

    "(Transfer receiver) Cole Brown made a huge catch, and he's going to be counted on. (Transfer receiver) Nnamdi (Adim-Madumere) had two big catches tonight. You saw what (freshman) Travelle Anderson can be in the backfield as a young running back. (Freshman receiver) Manny Smith, he continues to flash.

    "So there are just a lot of positives from tonight, but then also winding up camp."

    The attention now turns to Top 10 Missouri State, under third-year head coach Bobby Petrino. UCA swept MSU in a home-and-home series in 2020 but the maroon Bears won a shootout with UCA last season 43-34 in Springfield, Mo.

    "We'll now shift to scout teams, to solely preparing for Missouri State," Brown said. "We'll still get some good vs. good work in some different periods during practice, but man, it's all Missouri State. It's all on their schemes and what they do. We've shifted this week to a more in-season schedule with afternoon practices. It's just an extra focus.

    "I told our guys after practice yesterday, you ought to be flipping the switch right now and really feeling that the season is here. When you start game planning, there ought to be a new fire in you, a new passion, a new urgency, a new opportunity to get yourself ready to go perform.

    "Ultimately we get 11 shots to perform. We practice and work all year for 11 opportunities, 11 Saturdays. And that first opportunity is about a week away."

    The battle of the Bears will kickoff at 7 p.m. Thursday, the first of five regular-season home games for UCA. The Bears will follow that with three consecutive road games, at Ole Miss (Sept. 10), at Idaho State (Sept. 17) and at Southeast Missouri (Sept. 24) before returning home to open ASUN Conference play against Austin Peay on Saturday, Oct. 1.