CONWAY - The high-flying scoring act is back at Estes Stadium.
Central Arkansas scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 49-42 overtime victory against Nicholls State, marking the fourth time this season the Bears have had three touchdowns in a single quarter.
"We've got a few weapons around our quarterback," Coach Clint Conque said.
The 49 points pushed the Bears' Southland Conferenceleading scoring average to 38.1 points per game. It was the third time this season the Bears have scored 48 or more points in a game.
The Bears also lead the Southland Conference in passing offense (308.2 yards per game),total offense (474.8 ypg), first downs (218), fewest penalties (46), third-down conversions (54.6 percent) and opponents' third-down conversions (33.7 percent).
Central Arkansas has not scored fewer than 35 points in a game since Sept. 8, when the Bears lost to Northwestern (La.) State, 31-28. The next week, UCA beat Tennessee-Martin 48-34, and the points have kept coming.
After averaging 27.5 points a game last season, the Bears' games this season bring back memories of 2004 and 2005, when they averaged 38.1 and 40.2 points a game respectively.
"Since Tennessee-Martin, we've been in a real, real nice offensive rhythm," Conque said. "I just don't want to wake them up."
Quarterback Nathan Brown passed for 338 yards and four touchdowns Saturday. He completed passes to 11 Bears, including seven wide receivers.
Conque said Brown's ability to spread the ball around has been key to the Bears' success.
"We have five or six different front-line receivers, and they've all had big games," Conque said. "But that all goes back to the quarterback's decision-making and accuracy."
Saturday's shootout wasn't good for the Bears' defensive statistics, however. It pushed their average points allowed to 30.6 points per game, fourth-best in the conference. The Bears rank fifth out of the conference's eight football-playing members in total defense, allowing 394.5 yards per game.
"We know where ourstrengths and weaknesses are right now," Conque said. "We've got a young, inexperienced defense. But they certainly have a tendency to make the play when we need them. And they have a flair for the dramatic."
Like the forced fumble in overtime against Nicholls State, stopping Southeastern Louisiana on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter the week before and a 97-yard interception return in the third week of the season against Tennessee-Martin.
The Bears defense sometimes comes up short as well.
"Then you go to the Missouri State game when we had a chance to make the play and we didn't," Conque said, referring to the winning touchdown for Missouri State that went through the hands of a Central Arkansas defender.
Sports, Pages 21 on 10/29/2007