Bisons, Bears, A-State take on road challenges
With three in-state teams in action, the first December Saturday of Arkansas college football is quite busy.
With Arkansas State on the brink of another conference title, Central Arkansas and Harding try to remain alive in separate NCAA playoffs.
Harding and Northwest Missouri risk perfect records in a Division II semifinal at 1 p.m. in Maryville, Mo., where the defending national champion Bearcats (12-0) have won 27 consecutive games. Harding is 130, winning playoff games in Searcy and Sioux Falls, S.D., after claiming the school’s first Great American Conference championship.
Central Arkansas goes from its purple- and gray-striped playing surface in Conway to the solid red turf at Eastern Washington for a Football Championship Subdivision second-round game at 3 p.m. Eastern Washington (10-1) is 39-7 since “The Inferno” was installed in 2010. Central Arkansas improved to 10-2 after beating Illinois State 31-24 on “The Stripes” on Thanksgiving Saturday at Estes Stadium in Conway.
Arkansas State gets ESPN2 exposure for its 6:30 p.m. road game with Texas State, the Red Wolves trying to bounce back from a 24-19 road loss to Louisiana-Lafayette that ended the Red Wolves’ 15-game Sun Belt Conference winning streak. Despite an 0-4 start, Arkansas State (6-5) can finish with a winning record and as Sun Belt Conference champion for the fifth time in six years.
Losing to Lafayette cost the Red Wolves an outright conference championship, which will be split three ways if Arkansas State and Troy (at Georgia Southern) win today. Preseason favorite Appalachian State, which did not play A-State, finished the regular season 7-1 in the Sun Belt and 9-3 overall. Lafayette’s upset of A-State gave Troy a chance for the title despite the Alabama team’s 35-3 home loss to Arkansas
State. Troy beat North Carolina-based Appalachian State at home in late season.
Central Arkansas faces a rested team with Eastern Washington one of eight national seeds receiving a firstround bye last weekend. The Eagles are making their 12th playoff appearance and are hosting their 12th game at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Eastern Washington is 14-10 in the playoffs, defeating Delaware 20-19 in the 2010 FCS title game in Frisco, Texas.
Central Arkansas, Southland Conference runner-up, bounced back from a Week 11 road loss to Sam Houston State with a 24-point fourth quarter against Illinois State. The Bears are 2-2 in three postseason appearances.
“That was a great win for our young men last week,” said UCA coach Steve Campbell. “The support we got in playing a home game was great. But every week is a new week and this week we’ve got a tremendous challenge. Eastern Washington is an outstanding football but … we’re looking forward to this trip.”
Having faced Sam Houston State quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe two weeks ago, UCA today confronts Eastern Washington’s two finalists for the FCS Payton Award, which goes to the top FCS player in the country. Quarterback Gabe Gubrud and wide receiver Cooper Kupp were named co-Offensive Players of the Year in the Big Sky Conference, a first for that league. Kupp is the top receiver in college football history, breaking nearly every collegiate record over the past two seasons.
“Jerry Rice had Nintendo numbers (at Mississippi Valley State) and he broke those records,” Campbell said. “This guy is really, really good. He’s not a guy that’s (going to be) a free agent; they’re talking about him being a first- or second-round (NFL) draft pick. He’s the real deal.”
Gubrud “can really throw the football,” Campbell said, “but … when you get pressure on him, he can pull it down and get north and south. Very savvy guy, just a good quarterback.”
Central Arkansas earned a marquee victory in Week 4 against Arkansas State, 28-24 in Jonesboro. Eastern Washington stunned Pac-12 neighbor Washington State 45-42 in its opening game, then lost 50-44 to North Dakota State.