Conque hopes for longterm benefits after frustrating season

The raw facts are painful and glaring. The University of Central Arkansas Bears have lost four straight football games by four points or fewer. They’ve lost five of their last six games, and all six losses have been by five points or fewer.

“I told our players I’m not sure why all this is happening to us,” UCA coach Clint Conque said at Monday’s Bearbacker luncheon. “I can make a lot of theories, excuses or observations. I’ve got to believe that the young men in our program will benefit from all this. I know our coaching staff, and it starts with me, will be better as for as preparing us for the future.”

He said he was proud of his team’s effort Saturday in a 21-17 loss to McNeese State, a 9-2 team claimed a share of the Southland Conference championship.

“We had every reason you can imagine not to prepare well or play well in that game, but it was just the opposite,” he said. “We played extremely hard. It was a very violent, very fast, very physical college football game. Our plan was good and we controlled the game for the most part. We controlled the tempo by changing the tempo of offense. For the most part, we played a little more physical than they did.”

The UCA defense limited the Cowboys to 250 total yards. They also had no first downs the first quarter.

“They (the Cowboys) had a 14-yard drive after we bobble the snap on a punt; they drove 75 yards, which was a bona fide drive, then they scored on one play from 64 yards that was pretty controversial. Other than that, we shut them down,” Conque said.

He said the ongoing series of penalties will be addressed during the offseason.

“This is a very difficult thing to get your hands on during the season because it could mean putting your best players on the bench,” he said. “But we have to have accountability.”

He said he has consulted with other head coaches about how to handle the same mistakes being made by certain players on a regular basis.

“I’ve already gotten some suggestions, and it’s a matter of fitting some of those into our model,” Conque said. “But that will be addressed and it will start with me.”

He said Brent Grimes, who hold almost all of UCA’s career rushing records and rushed for 181 yards on 39 carries against McNeese, is “a great football player.”

“In concert with some others, Brent has single-handedly kept us in the game most of the season,” Conque said. 

He also praised wide receiver Isaiah Jackson for his five receptions for 58 yards against McNeese, a couple that were superb efforts.

“Isaiah had a rough week a couple of weeks ago, and he responded by playing better,” Conque said. “Robbie Park (quarterback) for the most park played solidly. I was proud of the offensive line with being able to run the football like we did. Jacob Bane (linebacker) had another double-digit game at tackle. Markell Carter and Larry Hart (ends0 are studning to push the pocket and our pressure is better on the quarterback.”

He reiterated that this is a different UCA football team, as far as capabilities, as in the past.

“We have to go 16 plays, 14 plays, nine plays on drives and our margin for error is magnified,” Conque said. “We don’t have over-the-top receiver that we can throw it up there and the guy makes 60 yards.” THE WAVE-OFF: The most controversial play of the game when back judge Shawn Hochuli overruled and waved off a flag by side judge Tim Murphy, who ruled there was an illegal block on a 64-yard speed sweep by Bernardo Henry. 

“I asked, respectfully, the side judge what he saw,” Conque said. “He told me our player was pushed. Then, the back judge told me that it was his key and he didn’t see a a block from behind.”

Conque did not comment further about the officiating except to say, “I think coaches throughout the conference need to talk about how the officiating needs to be more consistent. ... We should have played the sweep better. But it’s an example of how the mistakes we make are magnified. In the past, we had the type of team that could overcome penalties and dropped passes. We can’t do that this season.”

THE PUNT: UCA came out of a timeout and burned its final timeout with 2:49 left on a McNeese punt when Conque thought the Bears had 12 men on the field.

Actually, the Bears had 10 men on the field. Conque said he had trouble hearing out of his headphones at the time.

“All I thought I heard from the coaches were we had to many or that thing coaches dread to hear — 12 men,” Conque said. “On fourth and seven where we absolutely had to have possession, you can’t take chances. If I had know it was 10, I would have let it go. We had people couunting, but I couldn’t hear everything. You don’t want to take a chance you might have 12.”

He said some of the confusion on the special teams might have been created when several frontline players were injured during the game and the Bears had several backups in the game.

INJURIES: Wide receiver Preston Echols is out for Saturday’s season finale with a knee injury. Offensive linemen Will Merritt is out with an MCL. Conque said three other players are being treated for concussions and their availability will not be known for three days.

SATURDAY: The Bears (5-6) close the season against North Dakota (5-5), another team in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision transition at 1 p.m. at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

“This game is important to me, just as important as our first game against Hawaii,” Conque said.