Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UCA at Houston Baptist
WHEN 6 p.m.
WHERE Estes Stadium, Conway
RECORDS UCA 2-2 (1-1 Southland); Houston Baptist 1-3 (1-3, 0-2)
COACHES Nathan Brown (2-2 in first season at UCA and overall); Vic Shealy (14-45 in seventh season at HBU, 68-73 in 11th season overall)
SERIES UCA leads 4-0
LAST MEETING 2017: UCA 27, Houston Baptist 7 RADIO KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway; KKPT-FM, 94.1, in Little Rock INTERNET ucasports.com/KUCA
WHEN UCA HAS THE BALL Junior quarterback Kirk Baugh likely will make his first career start as he attempts to replace sophomore Breylin Smith, who broke his ankle in UCA’s 34-31 overtime loss to Sam Houston State last Saturday. In 19 career appearances, Baugh has completed 9 of 15 passes for 97 yards and 1 touchdown. His lone touchdown pass came against Sam Houston State on Saturday when his 3-yard pass to senior Jakari Dillard tied the score at 31-31. Senior Lester Wells leads UCA with 26 catches for 269 yards and 1 touchdown. Dillard has caught 13 for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior running back Carlos Blackman leads UCA in rushing with 337 yards and four touchdowns. WHEN HBU HAS THE BALL Sophomore quarterback Bailey Zappe leads Houston Baptist’s pass-oriented offense. He has completed 84 of 142 passes for 1,015 yards and 9 touchdowns. Sophomore running back Dreshawn Minnieweather has carried 45 times for 329 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has averaged 7.2 yards a carry.
WHAT’S AT STAKE UCA has not lost consecutive games since a 0-2 start to the 2015 season. …UCA has not lost consecutive Southland Conference games since 2013.