2019 Central Arkansas Bears football team

The 2019 Central Arkansas Bears football team represents the University of Central Arkansas in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Southland Conference. The Bears are led by second-year head coach Nathan Brown and play 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.

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 (Capacity: 10,000)
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Southland Conference football standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
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 ooll

Previous season

The Bears finished the 2018 season 6–5, 5–4 in Southland play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place.

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 Honolulu, 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 (FCS Playoffs 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

Source: ^[3][4]

Game summaries

at Western Kentucky

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

See also: 2019 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team

at Austin Peay

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

See also: 2019 Austin Peay Governors football team

Abilene Christian

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

See also: 2019 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team

at Hawaii

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

See also: 2019 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team

at Nicholls

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

See also: 2019 Nicholls Colonels football team

McNeese State

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

See also: 2019 McNeese State Cowboys football team

at Northwestern State

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

See also: 2019 Northwestern State Demons football team

Sam Houston State

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

See also: 2019 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

at Lamar

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

See also: 2019 Lamar Cardinals football team

Southeastern Louisiana

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

See also: 2019 Southeastern Louisiana Lions football team

Stephen F. Austin

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

See also: 2019 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team

at Incarnate Word

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

See also: 2019 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team

FCS Playoffs

The Bears enter the postseason tournament as the number eight seed, with a first-round bye.^[5] 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

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

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

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.
3. "2019 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE". UCA Athletics. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
4. "SOUTHLAND TV SELECTIONS ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST FOUR WEEKS". Southland Conference. August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
5. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.