Ranked #25 Maybe?

Gready

So if (hopefully when) we knock off West Georgia should we be ranked? At least maybe in the AFCA Coaches Poll. We could jump over current #25 ACU. We'd have the same record (they have a bye this week) at 4-4 and both be 3-1 in the UAC. We'd be riding a 3 game win streak having won 3 of our last 4 with ACU having only won 2 of the last 4 games with their last game being a loss. We're already receiving votes.

MountainBear

If the voters take into consideration that we not have Myers playing, I think a victory puts us close, with a win at homecoming definitely putting us in. Voters want to see an overall positive record first I would imagine, and a 4 game streak is a good argument.

Gready

MountainBear A win would only give us a 3 game win streak (still beating West Georgia for their homecoming if we pull it off). I think we would be real close to getting ranked and deserving of it. But yeah, I think the voters would want to see a winning record and one more win the following week as well before ranking us. Especially after how we imploded in the rankings last year. I think we were as high as #5 or #8. Can't blame them for being skeptical.

MountainBear

I’m definitely rooting for ACU to keep winning and hopefully defeat Tarleton.

Gready

MountainBear Definitely need an ACU win over Tarleton and either EKU or Austin Peay to beat Tarleton as well. Which is doable because all the teams I mentioned are the better teams in the UCA. We would just need to win out then and take care of ACU to end the regular season and win the UAC. So because Tarleton has the tie breaker over us, we need them to have 2 UAC losses. Because I don't wanna put it in the committees hand as to if UCA should get a bid if they win out ad end with an 8-4 record. It'd be just a lot easier to just win the UAC and get that auto bid. But…..lots of games still to be played. We'll see how it goes. GO BEARS!!!!

1968graduate

Gready We need to win out and finish second in UAC because nobody is going to beat Tarleton. If we win out and finish second in league we will be in the playoffs and that is the only thing I care about. We should be qualifying for the playoffs 3 out of 4 years in my opinion. That is what UCA coaches should be expected to produce with no questions asked !

Gready

1968graduate We are in agreement that UCA has to win out to get into the playoffs as an at-large qualifier. That would put us at 8-4. I don't think we can get in at 7-5. Mostly due to the Big Sky/MVFC bias. Every year the committee takes way more schools from those conferences at 7-4 or 6-5 that shouldn't be in the playoffs. Now I want us to make the playoffs too but I'd be okay with a 7-5 season and no playoffs. ONLY because we started the season with a backup QB and didn't get things rolling until Austin Myers was able to play. As for Tarleton winning out, I think there are three games they could lose (EKU, ACU, and/or Austin Peay). Realistically I only see a possibility of ACU or Austin Peay beating them. Guess we'll see how it goes.

And I want UCA to make the playoffs every year but the UAC is a tough conference unlike our days in the weaker Southland. The only way I see us making the playoffs 3 out of 4 years would be if we stopped playing money FBS games and started playing an all FCS non-conference or FCS and weaker G5 schools. So that way we could actually win a game or two more every season to improve our overall season record. If we don't, I'd be okay making the playoffs 2 or 3 times in a 5 year period.

1968graduate

Gready I don't think A.Peay can beat Tarleton since it's a Tarleton home game. ACU might possibly beat them since the game will be an ACU home game but I don't think they will. Even if ACU won the best we could finish would be second in conference but I do think it will take an 8-4 record to get into the playoffs. I hope we can stay focused and not lay down again like we did against Tarleton and Sac. State. I realize that both those teams are 14 to 17 points better than we are but not 28 to 35 points better and good teams don't quit like we did those two games. I hope we learned a lesson those two games. If our defense continues to play like they have the last two games and Myers stays hot we can still win out but it won't be easy. I have decided that we should make the playoffs 2 out of 4 years instead of 3 out of 4 because you're right the UAC is a pretty tough conference. I don't care who the coach is but I still think we should make the playoffs 2 out of 4 years !

joshgoff

Excluding 2006-09 because of the D1 transition probationary period and 2020 because of COVID…

• We are in our 15th season of FCS playoff eligibility. We've made it 5 times.

• There have been 11 4-year rolling windows in that time. We've made it 3 out of 4 years exactly once ('16, '17, '19). We've made it 2 out of 4 years in 6 of those 11 windows – so just over half. Will be exactly half if we don't make it this year.

• We were Division II for 13 seasons. We made the playoffs twice. Zero times did we make it twice in a 4-year window.

• In 28 NCAA seasons, we've made the playoffs 7 times. That's an average of once every 4 years.

So what I don't understand is where we get this notion that we should be in the playoffs 2 or 3 out of every 4 years. Where does that come from? This isn't a rhetorical question – I'm genuinely curious. Is there any logical reasoning behind that, or are we just tossing out numbers all willy-nilly based on nothing more than emotion?

Sure, we'd all like to be in there every year – but why should we be? What inherent advantages do we have over all these other programs trying to do the same thing?

Is it because we have a massive and heavily-invested alumni base? Is it that we have such incredible support from not just Conway and our surrounding area, but all around the state? Is it because of our on-campus culture that has students and alums alike packing the stands every time we open the gates? Is it because the university has made such a substantial investment in football?

Think you're going to be pretty hard-pressed to find a "Yes" anywhere in there.

The one thing people like to point to is "tradition" … which sounds great, and it's obviously good to recognize and honor the legends of yesteryear – but as it relates to today, a lot of that occurred in what might as well be a prehistoric era. You think any players are crawling to Conway because some guys their grandpa's age they never heard of tied Carson-Newman and Hillsdale in NAIA Champion Bowls back before the Challenger exploded or there was a Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

We can't apply a run of beating the hell out of UAM and SAU 40-something years ago to expectations for today. Well, we can, but we shouldn't.

Youngstown State has 4 FCS national titles - behind only NDSU and Georgia Southern. They've made 13 playoff appearances … but only 2 in the last 17 years, and they haven't won a conference title since 2006.

Northern Iowa has 33 conference titles, 16 of them in the Missouri Valley. They haven't won one since 2011.

McNeese, which we heard about being "The Gold Standard" for all those years in the Southland, they've got 14 Southland titles and 16 playoff appearances – but only 1 title and 2 playoffs in the last 15 years.

How often should those teams be making the playoffs or winning conference titles? Are they entitled to continued success in today's landscape because they were good a long time ago?

In the course of civilization, 100 years ago was basically just yesterday. Well, a hundred or so years ago the British Empire controlled a quarter of the world's population and land mass. Doesn't exactly do them a lot of good today. Things change, the landscape evolves, and past performance is no indicator of future results.

Expecting playoffs 2 or 3 out of every 4 years is … ambitious, to say the least. Would it be nice? Absolutely. Should it happen? I just don't know how we arrive at those exact numbers as the standard or logically expect that.

Anyway, go Bears. Let's go beat UWG and keep the playoff dream alive another week.

Charlie76

joshgoff

Really in-depth research…well done.

I guess most fans consider UCA to be a top 25 program and 24 teams make the playoffs. But the reality is we haven't been able to sustain any consistency in quite a few years. The team is playing well of late but are one injury away from being irrelevant. We will have to finish out 8-4 to have a shot.

woosterbear

joshgoff appreciate the post. however, you take nathan browns crap run out of the equation, the ratios look a ton better. Clint Conque won almost 70% of his games in D2, D1 transition and in D1. the ability to win is here, but this staff does not have the mental acuity to organize a winning program.

Enough is enough. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

1968graduate

Charlie76 I will accept Josh's research and change my expectations to 1out of every 3 years since that is what we have averaged in FCS eligibility. I'm not expecting Harold Horton results of 8 straight conference titles and 5 playoffs berths out of 8 years because I know he was our Nick Saban. I would be happy with a Steven Campbell clone because he made the playoffs 2 out of his 4 years hear at UCA. I still think that we should expect a playoff run 1 out of every 3 or 4 years regardless of who the coach is.

UCABEARS75

1968graduate keep in mind that all that history was in the pre NIL era. Odds are against us making the playoffs with any degree of regularity because we do not have a fan base that is inclined to give $$$$. I won’t be surprised to see us finish in the bottom half of the conference most years under the current “rules”. In truth, we are not a D1 school.

I’d like to see us start with having less $hitty concession stands at games!!

Bigpurplebear

Listening to the bear backers today on YouTube I would just like for once for Brown to take some blame. He threw his Qb under the bus who started the game 17-19 and that was some of the worst play calling I’ve seen in a second half all year. Be better Brown.

DownWithBrown

Brown is not a serious Head Coach. Even at the FCS level, he’s in way over his head. Nothing in his tenure proves otherwise. Scrapping out wins vs teams like EKU means this programs is light years away from anything serious. To think there was talk about moving to FBS in recent years.

Gobeers

Don't beat up on my boy Nathan too much now. He does a really effective job every year making sure you get free Saturdays by November. And if you just back off and give him another couple years you won't have to worry about football in October either.

As the great John L Smith once said - Keep your chin up! SMILE!