2019 Central Arkansas Bears football team

2019 Central Arkansas Bears football
2019 Central Arkansas Bears football
Southland Conference co-champion
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 14–24 vs. Illinois State
Conference	Southland Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 11
FCS Coaches	No. 11
Record	9–4 (7–2 Southland)
Head coach	Nathan Brown (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Ken Collums (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Chad Williams (1st season)
Home stadium	Estes Stadium
	Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Southland Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 14 Nicholls +^	7	–	2	8	–	4
No. 11 Central Arkansas +^	7	–	2	9	–	3
No. 19 Southeastern Louisiana ^	6	–	3	8	–	5
Sam Houston State	6	–	3	7	–	5
McNeese State	5	–	4	7	–	5
Incarnate Word	4	–	5	5	–	7
Abilene Christian	4	–	5	5	–	7
Northwestern State	3	–	6	3	–	9
Stephen F. Austin	3	–	6	3	–	9
Houston Baptist	2	–	6	5	–	7
Lamar	2	–	7	4	–	8

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS poll

The 2019 Central Arkansas Bears football team represented the University of Central Arkansas in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Southland Conference. The Bears were led by second-year head coach Nathan Brown and played their home games at Estes Stadium. UCA finished the regular season 9–3 overall, 7–2 in Southland Conference play, earning a share of the 2019 Southland Conference championship, and a first round bye in the FCS playoffs with a #8 seeding.

Preseason

Preseason poll

The Southland Conference released their preseason poll on July 18, 2019. The Bears were picked to finish in second place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Nicholls	200 (20)
2	Central Arkansas	154
3	Incarnate Word	150 (1)
4	Sam Houston State	146
5	Lamar	123
6	McNeese State	114
7	Abilene Christian	112 (1)
8	Southeastern Louisiana	71
9	Stephen F. Austin	63
10	Northwestern State	56
11	Houston Baptist	21

Preseason All–Southland Teams

The Bears placed seven players on the preseason all–Southland teams.^[2]

Offense

1st team

Carlos Blackman – RB

Hunter Watts – OL

2nd team

Toby Sanderson – OL

Defense

1st team

Chris Terrell – DL

Juan Jackson – DB

2nd team

Jackie Harvell – DB

Robert Rochell – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	6:30 p.m.	at Western Kentucky*		Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY	ESPN+	W 35–28	17,120
September 7	2:00 p.m.	at Austin Peay*	No. 20	Fortera Stadium Clarksville, TN	ESPN+	W 24–16	7,523
September 14	6:00 p.m.	Abilene Christian	No. 14	Estes Stadium Conway, AR	ESPN3	W 31–30	10,123
September 21	10:59 p.m.	at Hawaii*	No. 14	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI	Spectrum Sports	L 16–35	23,465
October 5	3:00 p.m.	at No. 16 Nicholls	No. 11	John L. Guidry Stadium Thibodaux, LA	YouTube	L 14–34	7,021
October 12	6:00 p.m.	McNeese State	No. 16	Estes Stadium Conway, AR (Red Beans and Rice Bowl)	ESPN+	W 40–31	11,237
October 19	6:00 p.m.	at Northwestern State	No. 13	Harry Turpin Stadium Natchitoches, LA	CST, ESPN+	W 31–30	7,584
October 26	6:00 p.m.	No. 21 Sam Houston State	No. 12	Estes Stadium Conway, AR	ESPN+	W 29–25	9,363
November 2	3:00 p.m.	at Lamar	No. 10	Provost Umphrey Stadium Beaumont, TX	ESPN+	W 45–17	5,913
November 9	3:00 p.m.	Southeastern Louisiana	No. 7	Estes Stadium Conway, AR	ESPN+	L 0–34	6,275
November 16	3:00 p.m.	Stephen F. Austin	No. 14	Estes Stadium Conway, AR	ESPN+	W 30–7	5,527
November 22	6:30 p.m.	at Incarnate Word	No. 11	Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium San Antonio, TX	ESPN+	W 52–35	2,668
December 7	2:00 p.m.	No. 13 Illinois State*	No. 9	Estes Stadium Conway, AR (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	L 14–24	5,127
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[3]

Game summaries

At Western Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	14	0	21	35
Hilltoppers	14	7	7	0	28

At Austin Peay

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Bears	0	3	7	14	24
Governors	0	0	13	3	16

Abilene Christian

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	3	7	13	30
No. 14 Bears	3	6	0	22	31

At Hawaii

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Bears	0	9	0	7	16
Rainbow Warriors	14	14	0	7	35

At Nicholls

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Bears	0	0	7	7	14
No. 16 Colonels	6	14	7	7	34

McNeese State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	10	14	0	7	31
No. 16 Bears	10	10	14	6	40

At Northwestern State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Bears	7	7	10	7	31
Demons	14	10	0	6	30

Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Bearkats	7	9	6	3	25
No. 12 Bears	0	0	14	15	29

At Lamar

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Bears	14	10	21	0	45
Cardinals	0	10	0	7	17

Southeastern Louisiana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	7	14	6	7	34
No. 7 Bears	0	0	0	0	0

Stephen F. Austin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	7	0	0	7
No. 14 Bears	3	10	10	7	30

At Incarnate Word

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Bears	3	21	7	21	52
Cardinals	0	14	14	7	35

FCS Playoffs

The Bears enter the postseason tournament as the number eight seed, with a first-round bye.^[4] They will play Illinois State at Estes Stadium in Conway on December 7.

Illinois State–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds	0	21	0	3	24
No. 9 Bears	0	7	0	7	14

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	RV	20	14	14	15	11	16	13	12	10	7	14	11	9
Coaches	25	18	14	12	14	10-T	16	13	10	9	6	13	11	7

References

^ "Nicholls Voted to Top Spot in 2019 Football Preseason Poll". www.southland.org. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
^ "Southland Announces 2019 Preseason All-Conference Football Teams". www.southland.org. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
^ "Southland TV Selections Announced For First Four Weeks". Southland Conference. August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
^ "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.

[1] "Nicholls Voted to Top Spot in 2019 Football Preseason Poll". www.southland.org. Retrieved August 19, 2019.

[2] "Southland Announces 2019 Preseason All-Conference Football Teams". www.southland.org. Retrieved August 19, 2019.

[FirstFourWeeks-3] "Southland TV Selections Announced For First Four Weeks". Southland Conference. August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.

[4] "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.

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[4]

v t e Central Arkansas Bears football
Venues	Estes Stadium (1939–present)
Bowls & rivalries	1937 Charity Bowl 1947 Kickapoo Bowl McNeese State: Red Beans and Rice Bowl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Southland Conference football champions
College Division	Lamar Tech (1964) Lamar Tech (1965) Arlington State & Lamar Tech (1966) UT Arlington (1967) Arkansas State (1968) Arkansas State (1969) Arkansas State (1970) Lamar, Louisiana Tech, & Trinity (1971) Louisiana Tech (1972)
Division II	Louisiana Tech (1973) Louisiana Tech (1974)
Division I	Arkansas State (1975) McNeese State (1976) Louisiana Tech (1977)
Division I-A	Arkansas State & Louisiana Tech (1978) McNeese State (1979) McNeese State (1980) UT Arlington (1981)
Division I-AA/FCS	Louisiana Tech (1982) North Texas State & Northeast Louisiana (1983) Louisiana Tech (1984) Arkansas State (1985) Arkansas State (1986) Northeast Louisiana (1987) Northwestern State (1988) Stephen F. Austin (1989) Northeast Louisiana (1990) McNeese State & Sam Houston State (1991) Northeast Louisiana (1992) McNeese State (1993) North Texas (1994) McNeese State (1995) Troy State (1996) McNeese State & Northwestern State (1997) Northwestern State (1998) Stephen F. Austin & Troy State (1999) Troy State (2000) McNeese State & Sam Houston State (2001) McNeese State (2002) McNeese State (2003) Northwestern State & Sam Houston State (2004) Nicholls State & Texas State (2005) McNeese State (2006) McNeese State (2007) Central Arkansas (2008) McNeese State & Stephen F. Austin (2009) Stephen F. Austin (2010) Sam Houston State (2011) Central Arkansas & Sam Houston State (2012) Southeastern Louisiana (2013) Sam Houston State & Southeastern Louisiana (2014) McNeese State (2015) Sam Houston State (2016) Central Arkansas (2017) Incarnate Word & Nicholls (2018) Central Arkansas & Nicholls (2019) Sam Houston State (2020) Incarnate Word (2021) Incarnate Word & Southeastern Louisiana (2022) Nicholls (2023) Incarnate Word (2024)
National championships in bold

v t e 2019 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Albany Austin Peay Central Arkansas Central Connecticut Furman Holy Cross Illinois State James Madison Kennesaw State Monmouth Montana Montana State Nicholls North Dakota North Dakota State Northern Iowa Sacramento State San Diego South Dakota State Southeast Missouri State Southeastern Louisiana Villanova Weber State Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State