BEARS FALL TO DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

CONWAY, Ark. _ A slow start and a big hole doomed the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday night in a 45-35 loss to the defending FCS national champion Sam Houston Bearkats at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The Bears (1-3) spotted the Bearkats leads of 14-0 in the first quarter and 31-7 late in the second period before staging a third-quarter rally that made it a game. The Bearkats (3-0), who won their 14th consecutive game dating back to 2019, scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game, and four of their first five on the night.

Down 14-0 after less than seven minutes of action, the Bears drove 57 yards in seven plays and got a 14-yard touchdown pass from junior Breylin Smith to freshman running back Darius Hale to close the margin to 14-7 with 1:56 left in the first period. But Sam Houston scored three more times _ two touchdowns and a field goal _ before the Bears struck again on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Smith to sophomore Tyler Hudson in the final seconds of the half to make it 31-14 at the break.

Sam Houston ahd 321 yards of total offense in the first half compared to 172 for UCA. Junior quarterback Eric Schmid tossed four touchdown passes, two each to Jequez Ezzard and Cody Chrest. 

"The first quarter killed us,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown, whose team had won the last meeting between the programs in 2019. "You look at what we gave up in the first quarter, and really the first part of the second quarter. We just weren't able to get off the field on third down, and offensively we sputtered on our first drive. We just dug ourselves too much of a hole there early in the game.

"And when you dig yourself too much of a hole against a great team like Sam Houston _ and we're not talking about an average football team, we're talking about the national champions and a team that's won 13 or 14 straight games _ you can't do that. You can't give them opportunities.'

The Bears came out of halftime, and after a punt on their first possession, put together two quick touchdown drives. The first covered 78 yards and took 10 plays, capped by a 24-yard pass from Smith to junior Lujuan Winningham. UCA's defense fell on an SHSU fumble, forced by Cameron Godfrey and recovered by defensive end Logan Jessup at midfield.

The Bears went 48 yards in nine plays, with Hale finishing it off from 7 yards out to get the Bears within 31-28 with 2:03 left in the third quarter. But Sam Houston got a field goal from Seth Morgan, a touchdown from Ramon Jefferson and another Morgan field goal on successive possessions to push the lead to 45-28 with 3:54 remaining. Smith was intercepted on UCA's ensuing possession at the 4-yard line but the Bears forced a punt from deep in SHSU's end zone with 1:08 left.

Hudson returned the punt 18 yards to the 34 and then caught a touchdown pass from Smith on the first play from scrimmage with 1:01 left to set the final at 45-35. Hudson, a sophomore All-American from Spring, Texas, caught 11 passes _ one short of tying his career high _ for 181 yards and two scores. Smith completed 25 of 41 for 288 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions.

"I love the way our guys battled,' said Brown. "Going into half down 17, then you come out and you score 14 straight and you turn it into a three-point game. You could feel the momentum if we could just have one more turnover or one more big play. But gosh, our guys fought. We fought our tails off the whole game. We know we've got a good team, and we lost to a great football team.

"But our guys fought, and I think that's the most important thing.' 

UCA finished with 326 yards of total offense, with just 38 on the ground. Sam Houston had 478, evenly distributed between the air (283) and ground (195. Jefferson led the ground attack with 104 yards on 22 carries.

Godfrey, a sophomore from Spring, Texas, had 10 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Jessup finished with six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

The Bears will head to Abilene, Texas, next Saturday to face the Abilene Christian Wildcats at 6 p.m. at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.