Bears revel in being conference's best team on the field

Any way you look at it, the University of Central Arkansas finished as the best team in the Southland Conference.

While "conference champions" may not be an official term that can be applied to the Bears with an NCAA by-law making UCA ineligible to be win the league title during their provisional stage in the transition to Division I it's something they'll still celebrate after defeating defending SLC champion McNeese State 47-30 Saturday night at First Security Field at Estes Stadium. It all started the last time the Bears and Cowboys hooked up.

"That game left a bad taste in our mouths and we knew we had to come together as a team to show we could be conference champions," said offensive lineman Brad Gordon of last year's 41-14 loss to McNeese State in the season finale. "This wasn't a revenge game. It was a top-10 (ranking) game. That's what UCA football is all about.

"What matters is that we came out on top. We showed the Southland and the NCAA what we have to offer."

The Bears, who finished the season 10-2 overall and 6-1 in SLC play, won't have the hardware to show they at the conference's best, as Texas State received championship trophy and the automatic berth in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. But on-the-field performance may speak louder than what such an award would indicate.

That was also a stark turnaround from when UCA coach Clint Conque started nine seasons ago.

"We took everybody's best punch week in and week out," Conque said. "We now stand alone atop the conference standings. We struggled to win games when I first started (2000 season), and now we just won a Division I conference championship on the field."

McNeese State knows a thing or two about wining the SLC championship. In fact,