CONWAY — Even though Central Arkansas is already assured of being in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, it still has plenty to play for Saturday when it hosts Ohio Valley Conference champion Eastern Illinois at Estes Stadium.
The Southland Conference co-champion Bears, ranked No. 10 in The Sports Network’s FCS poll, return to action after being off last week. The Bears (8-2) won a share of the Southland title with a 35-14 victory over Northwestern (La.) State at Estes Stadium on Nov. 3.
UCA has won five consecutive games and with a victory Saturday, it could earn a first-round bye and possible second-round home playoff game in the FCS playoffs. The playoff field will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU. The FCS playoffs begin Nov. 24.
“I really like the way as competitors we’ve approached these last couple of weeks,” UCA Coach Clint Conque said. “It is an enormous game. The thing I’m appealing to them on is I realize we’ve expended... a lot of physical energy and emotional energy. We’re just making sure that we’re physically where we need to be and emotionally in a good place to make sure that we got a lot left in our tank here at the end of the regular season.
“There is a tendency to get a little complacent and take a deep breath after the stretch we’ve been through for 10 weeks. It’s been emotionally charged. We’ve had a couple of close wins. But I think our young people will rise up.”
Led by first-year Coach Dino Babers, No. 24 Eastern Illinois (7-3) features the fourth-best offense in the FCS, averaging 498.8 yards per game. Junior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has completed 287 of 466 passes for 3,374 yards, 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions this season for the Panthers. Also, junior wide receiver Erik Lora has caught 115 passes for 1,479 yards and 11 touchdowns, and is eight receptions away from tying the FCS single-season record for receptions (123 by Elon’s Terrell Hudgins in 2009).
“They’re really peaking at the right time,” Conque said. “They spread you out. They play very fast, an Oregon-type pace. So it’s going to present a lot of challenges for us.”
UCA won at Eastern Illinois 37-7 in the schools’ only meeting in 2010. In that game, Bears junior quarterback Wynrick Smothers had 76 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns and finished 7 of 7 for 46 yards, earning his first Southland Conference offensive player of the week award.
The Bears have had recent success against the Ohio Valley Conference. They won at Murray State 42-20 on Sept. 8 and eliminated OVC champion Tennessee Tech in the first round of the FCS playoffs last season.
Saturday’s nonconference matchup presents a good test for UCA, which will make its second consecutive FCS playoff appearance.
“We know we’re going to face a bunch of teams like Eastern Illinois in the playoffs,” Smothers said. “Everybody is going to be just as good as us or better. It’s a great thing to be able to go play somebody like Eastern Illinois, because it prepares you for the bigger teams and the teams of their caliber. We know there’s not going to be another team [we play where] we can go out there and roll the ball out, because it’s going to be a good game.”
At a glance EASTERN ILLINOIS
AT CENTRAL ARKANSAS
WHEN 5 p.m. Saturday WHERE Estes Stadium, Conway RECORDS Central Arkansas 8-2, 6-1 Southland Conference; Eastern Illinois 7-3, 6-1 Ohio Valley Conference RANKINGS Central Arkansas is No. 10 in the FCS coaches and The Sports Network polls. Eastern Illinois is No. 24 FCS TSN poll, No. 25 in the FCS coaches poll. COACHES Central Arkansas: Clint Conque (97-53 in 13 seasons); Eastern Illinois: Dino Babers (7-3 in first season) SERIES Central Arkansas leads 1-0. TICKETS $15 general admission adults, $11 general admission children, seniors, visiting students RADIO KHLR-FM, 106.7, in Benton/ Little Rock; KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway; KCNY-FM, 107.1, in Conway INTERNET ucasports.com
Sports, Pages 24 on 11/15/2012