McCollum's Column: A thin tightrope separates winning, losing

It’s hard to believe that such a innocent, mundane-looking play during a shorts workout early in the University of Central Arkansas first practice has had such a dynamic impact on the season.

That play, in which Willie Landers tore up a knee in just a freak twist while giving maximum effort to catch a ball, cost the Bears a piece of a puzzle that haven’t been able to replace. They’ve been shuffling things about — but they have never completely replaced that piece.

Landers, the Bears’ most experienced returning receiver and the best in coming up with the big play, was lost for the season in less than an hour after practice began. Unfortunately for UCA, Landers, with his 6-foot-3 frame and speed, was one of the players UCA could least afford to lose.

“Willie was easily our most consistent deep vertical threat who had made a lot of big plays for us,” UCA coach Clint Conque said. 

Landers, with his height, was a key component on the fade route.

UCA was left with receivers who didn’t possess all the skills as Landers and were young, short and still trying to find their way and niche. The Bears’ next most experienced receiver who had been a playmaker at times during his career, Darrius McNeal, proved to be a loose cannon this year and was finally dismissed from the team this week.

“We had to re-invent ourselves after we lost Willie,” said Conque, whose staff made no excuses and tried to move on.

All this serves as a setup to how close the Bears are to again being among the Southland Conference leaders and how fine a line it is from the top to the middle.

The Bears have lost three games by a total of 11 points (5 to Hawaii, 3 to Stephen F. Austin and 4 to Southeastern Louisiana.

“We’ve got a good football team, and we’ve played good football,” Conque said. “We’ve lost three close games for different reasons. It hasn’t been one problem. Against Hawaii, we played very well on defense and really got pressure on their quarterback. We broke down in the secondary a couple of key times, had some big penalties. Against SFA, we had three major kicking game errors that cost us the game. Against Southeastern, it was our inability to score touchdowns in the red zone and there were three interceptions and one holding penality that set us back.

“It’s been a different leak in every loss, but it hasn’t been the same leak in any one game.”

On the stat sheet, the three interceptions go on quarterback Robbie Park’s ledger. But Conque is not putting the entire burden on Park and said his quarterback made two major plays that were overlooked.

“The last interception was a desperation pass near the end of the game that was high risk,” Conque said. “There was an interception in the end zone on fourth down in which the pressure came in quick, they (the Lions) beat our protection, and Robbie had to throw too soon. He had to throw it up and see if our receiver could get to it or take a sack. Either way, the ball goes over. The other interception was a miscommunication between Robbie and a receiver on a wheel route. He did not make a good decision to throw the ball, but the interception wasn’t entirely his doing.”

However.

“In that game, Robbie made two throws that were just amazing,” Conque said. “On one he went to his fourth progression, having patience and moving his eyes all across the field to complete a pass. In my career here, he is only the third quarterback to ever complete a pass while having to go to his fourth progression all the way across the field. The other two were Zac Clark and Nathan Brown. Then, he completed a deep sideline route to (Dominique) Croom in which he threw across his body laid it up perfectly in the air.”

Missing also has been the deep threat at tight end that Marquez Branson produced the last two seasons. Rico Moss, only in his first full year at tight end, has been mainly effective on short to medium routes. Because of the various pluses and minuses of the receiving corps, the UCA coaches have had to pick their spots and opportunities about the deep ball.

That leads into the chess match that many games inevitably turn.

Games nowadays are as much about individual matchups as overall team dynamics.

Southeastern Louisiana was a tough matchup for UCA because its players were smaller but faster and generally more athletic. The Bears have a large, physical offensive line but it sometimes worked against them.

“Our front seven just couldn’t handle Southeastern’s athleticism and movement,” Conque said. “Their movement gave us more trouble than Hawaii. They were lean and long on defense with speed, which usually translates to good tackling because they can get the angles. They had some great athletes moving about on the edges and corners and it created a guessing game for us. When we guessed right, we got some big plays. When we guessed wrong, we got stuffed. It wasn’t the same guy every time.”

And the fine line on defense? Conque said that the Lions got 2/3 of their offense (more than 200 yards) on five plays — those in which they got the right matchups and guessed right.

“What we’re seeing is people are handling our pass rush, using six people back and chipping and double-teaming (defensive end) Larry Hart as much as possible,” Conque said. “It’s giving the quarterback extra time to read our secondary coverage.” 

Why am I furnishing today (on the eve of another game) such a detailed breakdown of past defeats?

It helps explain why, with three games left to go, four teams are tied at the top of the SLC with 3-1 records. Among those four leaders, McNeese had to use a frantic last-minute drive to defeat Southeastern; Texas State saw a three-touchdown lead against Southeastern evaporate in 11 minutes and lost in overtime when an extra-point attempt hit the crossbar; SFA kicked a last-second field goal to defeat UCA, then was dominated by Texas State.

It’s a fine line between first and the rest.

It’s a tough league with good coaches who will find and exploit an opponent’s weak areas.

“Mistakes are magnified in this league,” Conque said.

Games are coming down to four or five plays in a 60-play game.

Maybe Northwestern State’s Bradley Dale Peveto, whose team hasn’t won a game, said it best, “Getting it right 56 times out of 60 may get you an A in algebra, but it may get you beat in football.”

(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net)