With Brown and 18 Other Starters Back, Bears' Best Is Yet to Come

UCA Willie Landers can go the distance.

This season may be the University of Central Arkansas' best since making the transition to NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

With a wealth of experience returning and a new sense of confidence, the Bears are expecting bigger and better things this time around. They're also hoping for better than second place in the Southland Conference.

A 41-14 loss to SLC champion McNeese State in the final week of the 2007 campaign has helped give UCA what they need to make sure that comes to pass.

"With our success in the conference, our kids have a sense of confidence about them," Bears head coach Clint Conque said. "There's some enormous challenges ahead."

The season-ending loss to McNeese State, Conque said, "motivated the guys to want to do better."

Conque, entering his ninth year as the UCA coach, knows those challenges will be more manageable with the players returning from 2007. In all, the Bears have 19 starters back but with marked differences.

"We're a year older, but hopefully, we're a year wise and a year stronger," Conque said.

A Sept. 27 date with Tulsa, which had the top offense in Division I last season directed by coordinator Gus Malzahn, the former Springdale High head coach and Arkansas assistant, highlights the UCA schedule. That's no doubt far from the most important thing weighing on the Bears' minds. Improving on the defensive side takes a higher priority, as there's more certainty on the offensive side, with pretty much everyone back from a squad that put up impressive numbers in '07.

"We added half a dozen transfers that helped us shore up our defense," Conque said. "That allowed us to be a little faster and stronger."