Bears still riding emotion of win
Today’s game against Southeast Missouri State was three years in the making for University of Central Arkansas Coach Nathan Brown.
In 2019, with the Bears as the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, Brown and his staff spent the week preparing for two possible opponents.
UCA had gone 9-3 in the regular season and earned a bye to the second round. Brown watched countless hours of film on his eventual opponent, Illinois State, as well as its first-round matchup, Southeast Missouri State.
Illinois State defeated Southeast Missouri State 24-6 and went on to beat Brown’s Bears 24-14 before losing to North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.
Three years later, Brown gets his first chance to face the Redhawks.
The Bears (1-2) will square off with the Redhawks (2-1) coming off their first win — a 31-16 defeat of Idaho State.
UCA found life difficult the first two weeks of its schedule with losses to Missouri State and Ole Miss. But Brown said he is looking to take the thrill of last week’s win and ride it into today’s game.
“Going cross country and winning a game against the Big Sky Conference is a big deal, and so getting that win, and getting that taste in our mouth, was huge,” Brown said. “Even coming to practice [Sunday night], getting back on the field and getting back to work, you could just feel the energy. The guys have a little momentum on their side now for the first time this year and hopefully, we’ll be able to build on that.”
UCA and Southeast Missouri State have met 15 times but haven’t played since 1986. The Bears took a 13-9 road win in the most recent meeting to tie the all-time series at 7-7-1.
Southeast Missouri, like UCA, features a transfer at quarterback. The Redhawks have entrusted their offense to Paxton DeLaurent, a sophomore from Central Methodist (Mo.), who has passed for 836 yards and eight touchdowns through three games.
Brown said he finally got to see the version of his transfer quarterback, Will McElvain, that he recruited in UCA’s win at Idaho State. McElvain completed 24 of 29 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown.
UCA has relied heavily on transfers this season. Brown said he’s had to alter the way he approaches weekly preparation with so many new faces and is hoping that the changes will translate to success.
“I just think we have to be over precise as coaches,” He said. “We’ve still got a bunch of guys that haven’t had a ton of experience here at UCA. I mean even Will. We’ve thrown a lot on his plate, but he’s learning on the fly, too.
“The devil’s in the details. Stuff like that, that maybe you could take for granted with an older team that has been here and been in our program for a while, but we’re not. We’re a young team. We’re a team that has some key spots with transfers. So just being overly detailed throughout the week is going to in turn help us on Saturdays when we get into the game.”