UCA's eyes focused on first-round game

CONWAY -- They sound ready to go.

The Central Arkansas Bears host the Illinois State Redbirds today in the first round of the FCS playoffs at Estes Stadium in Conway. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

The game will mark UCA's first playoff appearance since 2012, and it's first at home since 2005, but it comes seven days after a lopsided loss to Sam Houston State in the final regular-season game. The Bearkats took full advantage of UCA (9-2) mistakes and dominated almost from the start of its 59-23 victory in Huntsville, Texas, last Saturday to win the outright Southland Conference championship by a game over the Bears.

UCA Coach Steve Campbell said the Bears are eager for the opportunity to remove the sting from the loss.

"Football is a lot like life," Campbell said. "Sometimes you're just going to get hit from things out of left field, but it's not so much a question of what happens but rather how you react to it and how you respond to it. The great thing for us is that we have a tremendous opportunity to be able to respond to that adversity at Sam Houston this Saturday."

UCA offensive coordinator Nathan Brown said last week's loss was not how the Bears wanted to end the season.

"We have to do a better job than we did against Sam Houston, but that being said, there were a lot of disappointed kids walking off that field, and that's good," Brown said. "That's not a bad thing because the beautiful thing about football is that there's always another chance, and we get a chance ... to play another home game and get to 1-0 again."

Campbell repeated that victory over Illinois State (6-5) would not come easily and that a mere glance at the Redbirds' record could prove deceptive.

Illinois State is the only of 24 teams to make the FCS playoffs with six or fewer regular-season victories, but it won its final three games, and four of its last five, to move into fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference, from which four teams qualified for the playoffs. No other conference had more schools selected.

"Our guys are really looking forward to this game, but we know we're going up against a powerhouse football team who is playing very well," Campbell said.

"I think our guys know their record doesn't indicate how good Illinois State really is," junior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand said. "They are very good, and they're from a very good football conference."

Illinois State has displayed recent FCS playoff success. It advanced to the quarterfinals with a 36-19 victory over Western Illinois last season, and in 2014 made the championship game where it lost 29-27 to MVC rival North Dakota State, which has won the last six FCS championships.

"Their defense and their offensive line are still made up of a lot of guys who played in that national championship game," Campbell said. "This will be a tremendous challenge for us, but it's one that our guys are definitely looking forward to and are definitely excited about."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart said losses like the Bears' last will happen to any team that plays for long but that despite it, UCA is in a good position.

"There are 125 FCS teams, and now there are 24 of us alive, and we're still rolling," Stewart said. "We're excited about this. Sam Houston is a good football team. We're going to take our lessons; I'm going to learn from it. I'm going to do better. We'll take what we learn from it, and we're fired up about playing Illinois State."

Hildebrand, who threw two interceptions against Sam Houston, said the Bears are ready to make amends for their last game.

"Sam was a good football team," Hildebrand said. "They were everything we expected them to be, but we didn't think we'd get beat like that. But I think it was a good prep game for the playoffs, because Sam Houston is a very good playoff team. They're very consistent every year, and I think that game will help us coming up against Illinois State."

Sports on 11/26/2016