Ferd Lewis: Central Arkansas aiming for payback against Hawaii

The University of Central Arkansas is a little different from most Football Championship Subdivision teams that book a game to play the University of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.

When many of those teams call it a “business trip,” they are referring to the six-figure check that they take home along with the usually inevitable loss on the field.

But you get the feeling the Bears of Conway, Ark., are looking at more than just the $175,000 (plus airfare, hotels and transfers) they get out of the deal Saturday.

The 4,985-mile, 12-hour trip each way is “business” all right, but undoubtedly an element of unfinished business for UCA, which thought it had — and very nearly did pull off — a victory in its last trip here.

That was in 2009 when it took an 8-yard Greg Alexander-to-Rodney Bradley touchdown pass with 1 minute, 22 seconds remaining for the Rainbow Warriors to pull off a 25-20 comeback and avert an upset in the season opener.

UH had trailed 14-9 at halftime and 20-19 in the fourth quarter until managing the game winner.

Bears’ head coach Nathan Brown, then UCA’s quarterbacks coach, remembers it well. “I feel like if we had made one more first down and didn’t have to punt it away, we would have won that game,” Brown said.

Not long afterward UCA athletic director Brad Teague began corresponding with UH about booking another visit. “Over the years (UH associate athletic director) Carl Clapp and I have kept in touch and we found another date that worked for the both of us.”

For the Bears of the Southland Conference, playing FBS teams is not only a chance to make money for the athletic department it is also an opportunity to make a statement. “When we have an FBS team on our schedule we really pump it up in recruiting,” Brown said. “Coming to Hawaii is really huge.”

This year they have two FBS opponents, the returns from which will enrich athletic department coffers by approximately $500,000.

Usually the Bears prefer to play FBS opponents in their own neck of the woods with trips to Oklahoma State, Memphis, Tulsa, Western Kentucky, etc. to hang onto more of the guarantee money. But the opportunity to come back out to Hawaii, Brown said, was worthwhile. “We’re big on the core value of the student-athlete experience and a lot of our players have never been there or may never have the chance to go again.”

To get the whole 102-member travel party here UCA will have to go east to come west. The Bears will bus to Little Rock and then have to split up the group on two separate flights to Atlanta before going on to Honolulu. But they will be bringing the FCS’s fifth-ranked passing attack, one that has averaged 351.3 yards per game.

They have already claimed one FBS victim so far in a 3-0 start, having knocked off Western Kentucky, 35-28, in the season opener. “We played them in 2009 also,” Teague said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to get them back on the schedule again now.”

As for UH, Brown said, “We will have a great opportunity to make a trip to the islands and play a great program in Hawaii. Our kids will cherish those memories for the rest of their lives.”

Hopefully, he was talking about their sightseeing experiences, not what is on the scoreboard.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.