Bears use ground game and recovery to slip past Bobcats

When the University of Central Arkansas' suddenly sharpened grinder got jammed Saturday afternoon, the Bear defense arrived with a scooper and a leaper.

It resulted a 31-24 victory over Texas State that had both smooth and very rocky elements. In an early matchup of league leaders, the Bears 2-0 in the Southland Conference after their first major road trip.

"When you go on the road, you take a win any way you can get it," UCA coach Clint Conque told reporters after the game at San Marcos, Texas.

Bear defensive end Quad Sanders was in the right place at the right time for a scoop-and-ramble fumble recovery that wrested momentum from the spunky Bobcats after the Bears had drives of 53 yards in nine plays and 69 yards in 12 plays result in no points after Eddie Carmona missed on two short field goal attempts.

The Bears (6-1, 2-0) , who led 31-17 with 1:22 left, couldn't really celebrate until Anthony Gambles went high and secured an onside kick that bounced high after the Bobcats (4-3, 1-1) drew within 31-24 on a four-play drive with 52 seconds left.

The Bears, who scored seven passing touchdowns in a 63-21 victory over the Bobcats last year in Conway, unleashed a methodical ground game Saturday that resulted in 231 yards rushing on 49 attempts without a fumble. UCA fizzled with execution problems in the red zone, then Carmona missed on field goal attempts of 27 and 33 yards.

The Bobcats, who had 376 yards of offense, seemed gain an edge on their homecoming when they took over at their 20, trailing 21-17 with 7:59 left. Running back Karrington Bush broke up the middle but had the ball knocked away by linebacker TOK Opeloye. Sanders picked up the ball at the 25 and returned it to the TSU 8. On third and goal from the 1, UCA quarterback Nathan Brown rolled out and passed to Vilonia's Nick Cowger for the touchdown.

After the Bears held the Bobcats on downs at the TSU 42, they drove to a 35-yard field goal from Carmona for a 31-17 lead with 1:22 left.

After Bush, the SLC return leader, returned the kickoff to the TSU 48, the Bobcats, aided by a 43-yard pass from Bradley George to Cameron Luke, scored in four plays to draw within seven with 52 seconds left. For the second straight week, UCA had to survive an onside kick attempt as Gamble made his grab with no timeouts left for the Bobcats, who were averaging 37 points a game.

"I wasn't pleased with that last touchdown drive by Texas State, but I was generally pleased with how our defense held up," said Conque said. "We got the big plays when we needed them."

UCA, which passed for 364 yards against the Bobcats last season, only got 168 passing yards this time, but used backs Brent Grimes and Leonard Ceaser behind an experienced offensive line to grind out 231 yards in offense and control the ball for 37:02.

"We felt we had an edge with our running game and o-line against their three-man front," said Conque, who is 10-0 at UCA against Texas teams. "When you go on the road, you better be able to run the football and you have to win the turnover battle (1-0 against the Bobcats)."

Grimes, getting fine seal-blocking from Cowger and the UCA receivers on the edge, rushed for 132 yards on 21 carries. Ceaser added 59 yards on 15 carries.

"You have to have a certain mindset to run the football and I thought we had that today," Conque said. "We have good backs and our offensive line has been underrated. They moved the line of scrimmage and we controlled the trenches today."

Quarterback Nathan Brown, who passed for seven touchdowns against Texas State last year, was efficient in managing the UCA offense, completing 18 of 22 passes for 163 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Much of Brown's effort Saturday afternoon was aiming the Bears' offense straight at the TSU defense. It resulted in UCA scoring on three of its first four possessions the first half.

Ceaser capped an 81-yard drive in 12 plays with a 5-yard run with 3:43 left in the first quarter.

Brown completed a 68-yard drive with a 31-yard scoring pass to Willie Landers to give UCA a 14-0 lead with 12:30 left in the first half.

A 40-yard scamper by Bush led to Stan Zwinggi's 13-yard touchdown run with 9:44 left in the second quarter.

A 4-yard run on a draw on fourth down by Brown and a twisting, 23-yard run by Grimes set up Grimes' 1-yard run to put UCA up 21-7 with 53 seconds left in the half.

The Bobcats took advantage of two penalties against UCA the last for unsportsmanlike conduct after a pass from Bradley to Mishak Rivas to set up at the UCA 18. George, who passed for 250 yards, passed 18 yards to Cameron Luke to draw the Bobcats within 21-14 at the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, Andrew Ireland's 35-yard field goal drew TSU within 21-17 with 14:52 left in the game, setting up an exchange of three straight scoring drives (two by the Bears and one by the Bobcats) after Carmona missed the 33-yard attempt.

Luke, the SLC's all-time receptions leader, had 83 yards on six receptions but was limited to a couple of big plays.

The Bears return home Saturday night to take on Southeastern Louisiana, which is 1-1 after a 26-21 victory over Northwestern State.