Central Arkansas at Montana State
WHEN 4:30 p.m. Central
WHERE Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman, Mont.
RECORDS Central Arkansas 1-1, Montana State 1-1
COACHES UCA: Steve Campbell (1-1 in first season at UCA, 127-39 in 13th season overall); Montana State: Rob Ash (58-27 in eight seasons at Montana State, 234-126-5 in 34 seasons overall)
SERIES First meeting
TV None
RADIO KHLR-FM, 106.7, in Benton/Little Rock; KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway
INTERNET ucasports.com
WHEN UCA HAS THE BALL UCA’s two-quarterback system with Taylor Reed and Ryan Howard has operated smoothly through two games, and Campbell said he’ll stick with it in the final nonconference road game. Neither quarterback has committed a turnover , and the Bears have converted on all 11 of their red zone attempts while averaging 402.5 yards and 30.5 points per game. They’ll face a Montana State defense that allowed 558 yards in a 37-10 loss at Arkansas State to open the season and then held NCAA Division II member Black Hills State to 238 yards in a 57-10 victory. Bears running back Willie Matthews has emerged as a receiving threat. He rushed for 96 yards and 1 touchdown against Texas Tech in the season opener, then caught 4 passes for 33 yards against Tennessee-Martin last week. His 172 all-purpose yards eads the team.
WHEN MONTANA STATE HAS THE BALL Like its defense, Montana State’s offense is hard to gauge after two games. The Bobcats’ running game managed only 86 yards against Arkansas State but gained 652 total yards against Black Hills State. The Bobcats would prefer to make their yards on the ground, considering sophomore quarterback Dakota Prukop is still developing in only his third carer start. Prukop gained 176 yards on 13 carries in last week’s victory, and the Bobcats are expected to get running back Shawn Johnson back after sitting out last week. Johnson was an All-American kick returner last season but left the ASU game with a head injury after gaining 33 yards. UCA has held teams to an average of 155.5 rushing yards per game.
WHAT’S AT STAKE UCA is trying to win its first game against a member of the Big Sky Conference, widely regarded as one of the top leagues in the Football Championship Subdivision. UCA and Montana State have never met in football, but the Bears lost 41-14 at Montana in the second round of the 2011 FCS playoffs and lost 45-31 to Portland State in 1993, when both teams were Division II members. Montana State’s victory last week was played in front of 19,187 fans.
QUOTING COACH CAMPBELL “It’s supposed to be a very raucous crowd, and they’ve supposedly got a great home environment and it’s a long way from here. So there are a lot of things that we’ve got to handle well on the road.”