Steve Campbell took some time late Saturday night to stump for his Central Arkansas football team to reach the FCS playoffs.
"I think we're very, very deserving," Campbell said after the Bears' 42-13 loss to Sam Houston State at Estes Stadium.
But come Sunday morning, the FCS selection committee wasn't impressed enough by a UCA resume that was lacking in signature victories, even if it didn't have any bad losses.
The FCS playoff field was unveiled and Sam Houston State, which handed UCA a loss in the regular-season finale, earned an at-large berth from the Southland but not UCA (7-4). McNeese State earned the No. 4 national seed after earning an automatic bid as the Southland's regular-season champion, but the committee passed on UCA, which would have given the Southland a third playoff team for the second year in a row.
Campbell noted Saturday night that last year's Stephen F. Austin team reached the playoffs with four losses. He also pointed to UCA's losses to Samford, Oklahoma State, McNeese State and Sam Houston State. Two of those losses were to teams in the FCS playoff field, one is to a team that was No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings before Saturday's loss. UCA's biggest blemish was a season-opening loss at Samford, which finished 6-5.
"We haven't lost to teams that aren't ranked in the top five in their respective divisions since the first game of the year," Campbell said Saturday night.
The Bears lacked signature victories, though. They missed a chance for one Saturday night, and also on Oct. 17, when they led McNeese State 13-7 in the fourth quarter before losing 28-13. Of UCA's seven Southland victories, none of them came against a team with a winning conference record and only one -- vs. Lamar on Oct. 24 -- came against a team without a losing conference record.
Campbell still complimented the Bears, who battled several injuries to finish in a time for second in the Southland standings.
"You're very disappointed tonight," said Campbell, who completed his second season as coach. "But, I'm very proud with the way that these guys fought back. We were picked sixth in the league and we would up tied for second in the league. We had our chances. I'm proud of their effort."
Sports on 11/23/2015