Fast start crucial in Southland
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
CONWAY — There’s no need to stress the importance of the start of conference play to either Central Arkansas Bears Coach Clint Conque or Sam Houston State Bearkats Coach Todd Whitten.
Both teams started 0-1 last season before going on late-season runs to tie for second in the Southland Conference.
The Bears (4-1 ), ranked No. 14 in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA ) and the Bearkats (2-1 ) kick off their game at 6: 05 tonight at Estes Stadium.
“Both of the last two seasons, we’ve started off 0-1 in the conference,” Whitten said. “And that’s tough. Especially when you’ve got a team like [two-time defending conference champion ] McNeese State, who’s a pretty good bet to go undefeated.” It’s especially tough for the Bearkats, who host No. 3 Mc-Neese State next week in Huntsville, Texas. That’s the same dangerous stretch of conference games that did in the Bearkats last season.
In 2007, the Bearkats followed a 35-14 home loss to the Bears with a 31-21 loss to the Cowboys in Lake Charles, La.
Central Arkansas, meanwhile, actually used the Bearkats to get its season jump-started. The Bears started the season 1-3, losing their conference opener to Northwestern (La. ) State on the road in Natchitoches, La., on Sept. 8.
A trip to Huntsville on Oct. 6 marked the start of five consecutive conference victories and a stretch in which the Bears won five of six games. It also marked the second consecutive year that the Bears left Bowers Stadium with a victory.
It was a feat not unnoticed by Whitten.
“Glad to be getting [the Bears ] in their place for once,” Whitten joked before the season.
While Whitten is concerned about setting the tone right early, Conque is focused on figuring out exactly what he has.
The Bears, up and down for much of the season, appeared to be clicking on all cylinders offensively two weeks ago in Tulsa when they scored 34 points on a Golden Hurricane team that was allowing nearly 10 points fewer than that.
“I’m concerned about the defense,” Conque said. “This hasn’t been a particularly good week of practice for them.” The defense will certainly be important against the Bearkats, who rank second in the Southland and fourth in the nation in scoring offense. Some of that is due, in no small part, to the level of competition the Bearkats have played. But a lot of Sam Houston State’s offensive prowess is because of the right arm of senior quarterback Rhett Bomar.
Bomar is second in the conference in passing yards per game (299. 4 ) and leads the Southland in total offense per game (314. 3 ) — good enough for fourth in the country.
“He’s dangerous with the football, period,” Conque said of Bomar. “He’s got talented receivers around him to get the football to, and when he decides to tuck the football and run with it, he’s pretty good there, too.” Bomar is averaging 4. 6 yards per carry when he decides to run the football — nearly a yard per carry better than the Bears are averaging.
The Bears have a pretty good quarterback of their own in fifthyear senior Nathan Brown.
Of the quarterbacks who have completed at least 40 passes, Brown and Bomar are Nos. 1 and 2 in the conference in pass efficiency, with 179. 3 and 167. 8 passer efficiency ratings, respectively.
“We think that Rhett is a very good quarterback,” Whitten said. “We’ve gotten to see Nathan a lot the last couple of years. He’s a very good quarterback. He’s got very good feet. It’s going to be a interesting thing to see how that shakes out. I think both offenses are playing pretty well right now.” Sam Houston State at Central Arkansas WHERE Estes Stadium, Conway WHEN 6: 05 p.m. Central today RECORDS Central Arkansas 4-1, 0-0 Southland; Sam Houston State 2-1, 0-0 COACHES Clint Conque (62-35 at Central Arkansas ); Todd Graham (18-17 at Sam Houston State ) SERIES Central Arkansas leads 2-0 TV KKYK-TV, Channel 20, in Little Rock; KPXJ-TV, Channel 21, in Texarkana RADIO KKPT-FM, 94. 1, in Little Rock; KUCAFM, 91. 3, and KDXE-AM, 1380, in Little Rock; KFFK-AM, 1390, in Rogers; and KCNY-FM, 107. 1, in Conway. INTERNET www. ucasports. com
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