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POCATELLO, Idaho _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears are heading west this weekend in search of a victory.

    UCA (0-2) will take on the Idaho State Bengals at 2 p.m. (CT) Saturday at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho. It will be the first meeting between the FCS programs and just the second indoor football game in UCA history.

    The Bears are coming off a lopsided loss at FBS No. 20 Ole Miss last Saturday, which followed a home loss to the No. 5 team in the FCS in Missouri State.

    "The big deal is go win one game," said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "We've had two tough weeks against two great opponents, give them all the credit in the world. We didn't do enough obviously in either game to win the game. But you can't get those back and you can't go win them all at one time. So that's the focus, win this one game. Our guys have that focus and mentality."

    The Bears, who played indoors at North Dakota State in 2021, will face an ISU team that is also 0-2 on the season, but also against quality competition.

    "Idaho State is 0-2 as well, just like us," said Brown. "That can be a little deceiving, they've played two FBS opponents. They lost to UNLV in Week 1 and they lost to San Diego State, which was  10-win team last year, on Saturday night. I thought they played San Diego State better than they played UNLV, so I think they improved from Week 1 to Week 2.
    
    "They have a new coaching staff, so there's some excitement there.  So this is a new group of guys we're preparing for. We've seen two games on tape of this coaching staff the last two weeks. It's going to be a battle."

    The Bengals have not had much success in the past eight years, with just one winning season, a 6-5 record in 2018. ISU finished 1-10 last season before making the coaching change and bringing in Charlie Ragle, a veteran assistant in the Pac-12 at California and Arizona.
    
    UCA will be making its fourth trip to the northwest since 2011, with previous games at Montana (FCS Playoffs), Eastern Washington (FCS Playoffs) and Montana State (regular season).
    "It's a trip we're excited about making," said Brown. "The fruits of our labor are going to get rewarded soon, I truly believe that. I think we have a team that has a chance to be a very good team. We're not there yet, but we're working to get there. So I think you have to just taste it one time, get that taste in your mouth and see that ball start rolling and that confidence start going up.

    "And I think the encouraging thing is, you can see it in the guys' eyes, most of our guys know we have a chance to be a really good team. And we have to go execute and do it, and I think that's the most important thing."

    The trip to Idaho will be a first for most, if not all, of the traveling party.   

    "The student-athlete experience, what a cool deal to be able to go to a part of the country you never get to go to and go play a football game," said Brown. "We're going to take 70 dudes that think we can go over there and find one win."

    The game will be carried on The Point 94.1 and The Bear 91.3, along with ESPN+.