What a game

Demons win 31-28 on a Robert Weeks field goal as time expires.

NSU takes control of field position on the previous drive, moving inside the UCA 35 and pinning them back with a Marshall Burton punt. The defense holds and the offense gets enough to set up Weeks.

Demons have 473 yards total offense. This could be a game we look back on as the year goes on.

David West

Early third quarter

Demons might have been on the way to putting the game away early in the third quarter. They drove inside the Bear 35 and had a third and one, but a false start moved NSU back five. Demons couldn't get a fourth and two and lost possession.

UCA put together its best drive in a while, going 69 yards in 10 plays to tie the game. Hold on for the finish.

David West

Late third quarter

Byron Lawrence makes a nifty 46-yard run to put the Demons ahead 28-21.

Demons get another turnover on a nice play. NSU defensive backs are doing an excellent job of covering on deep passes. On several plays, they have been in better position fo the ball than the UCA receivers.

NSU had 17 plays for 181 yards in the third quarter.

David West

Third quarter

Demons get the turnover then give it back. NSU defense stiffens and turns it over on downs.

Edmonds hits Guice for a big gain to the UCA 36. Broyles catches a 25-yard pass from Edmonds for a touchdown. Edmonds keeps for two and we're tied at 21.

Momemtum has shifted.

David West

Second quarter

Demons had a good drive going, as the running game started cranking up. But NSU couldn't pick up a fourth and one at the UCA 28.

UCA hits a big play on a 49-yard pass to Shaman Thompson, but didn't score. The Bears drop a sure TD pass, then miss a field goal. Score stays 14-7 with just over six minutes to go in the quarter.

Demons don't do much on the drive. Really need to get more people involved.

Punter Marshall Burton elects to keep the ball after he gets some pressure and gets 7 yards to the 35. Not sure what he saw there.

UCA scores on the next play on a 35-yard pass to Marquez Branson. Bears lead 21-7 with 4:04 to go in the third half.

Turnovers, penalties and bad decisions are taking their toll.

David West

More first quarter fireworks

Demons get back into the game in a hurry on a 2-play, 80-yard drive. Edmonds completes a 35-yard pass to Clayton Broyles. After a roughing the passer penalty, Edmonds throws a beautiful touchdown pass to Dudley Guice for 30 yards. Demons pull within 14-7 with 23 seconds to play in the first quarter.

David West

UCA game more late first quarter

Demons go three and out and give it back to UCA.

Bears' offense is looking good. QB Nathan Brown is 4-for-4. Leonard Ceasar runs for 33 yards to increase their lead to 14-0 with 54 seconds to go in the first quarter. Five plays, 58 yards on the drive.

David West

UCA game late first quarter

Edmonds throws an interception and the Bears use the short field to score on a 23-yard Nathan Brown run. UCA leads 7-0 with 5:16 to play in the first quarter.

Central Arkansas game - 1st quarter

First drive started well with some nice throws by Germayne Edmonds. Two false start penalties slowed the drive and it ended with an Edmonds interception.

Good stop by the Purple Swarm after an initial UCA first down on the Bears' opening drive.

Tailgating zone is busy (4:50)

Kickers are warming up on the field at Turpin Stadium but the socializing is already at full swing in the Demon Zone Tailgating Area.

There is a significantly bigger tailgating crowd here than at the same time for last week's season opener. Some of that can be traced to the Military Day observance as there is a large crowd at the National Guard tent. No doubt the Freshman Family Day event is also contributing. But I've seen tailgating groups in place this week in locations where they weren't last week.

There is also plenty of purple to be seen. Central Arkansas has purple as its primary color, with silver as a secondary color. THe Bears uniforms look a bit like the Rice Owls unis, if you sub in purple for the dark blue. THey also resemble an older version of TCU's uniforms, from what I saw on TV many years ago.

Northwestern's shade of purple is officially PMS 267. UCA's purple is PMS 268. The game could be just as close. For some reason, I got a heavy vibe of overtime this afternoon. Maybe it's because when I was home having lunch and getting ready for the game, I watched Army and Rhode Island go OT, and Miami (Ohio) and Minnesota played three OTs. The home team won both games. Now there's a trend Demon fans would appreciate continuing.

We're excited here in the press box seeing old friends. Our stat crew princess, Stacy Morgan, is back with us. Stacy Mo has been the heartbeat of the crew since her undergraduate days in the 1990s. She spent the summer working a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in North Carolina, and was in Mexico on Labor Day weekend at an FCA event.

Also back with us a little later will be our first-ever assistant SID, Tommy Newsom, and his wife, Lady Demon tennis great Vickie Simms Newsom. Tommy came to NSU as a graduate assistant in 1991 and we were able to create an assistant SID job a year later. The Newsoms, and their three kids, live in McKinney, Texas, just around the corner from Demon baseball All-America pitcher Reggie Gatewood and his wife, the former Tamara Webb (oldest daughter of Dr. Randy and Brenda Webb). Ironically, the Newsoms and Gatewoods have boys entering the third grade in the same class.

Good also to see Sam Schacter, the former KTBS TV sportscaster now in his third year as assistant commissioner of the Southland Conference for marketing. Shack is here coordinating the SouthlandTV live video streaming. d

Doug Ireland, SID

Back in business (1:16 p.m.)

The inflatable tunnel is back! Blown nearly to Natchez when a thunderstorm struck last week, with some puncture wounds sustained along the way, it's been repaired and just like a lot of people on campus right now, it's pumped up and ready for tonight's 6 o'clock kickoff.

Surprising score from Boston - at halftime, Richmond 28, Northeastern 7. Richmond has a 183-yard rusher and has thrown for 160. The Huskies evidently may have taken a few bumps in their opening loss to Big 10 Northwestern. But coach Rocky Hager is a proven winner and I would be very surprised if they don't rally back against the Spiders.

We'll see the Huskies up close at this time next Saturday in Beantown.

Doug Ireland, SID

From fog-shrouded to sunny and band-friendly

Pulling into Turpin Stadium at 8 a.m. to set up the press area, our crew knifed through an etouffee-thick fog, but by the time we left 90 minutes later, we could see the fraternities setting up their greek letters behind the north end zone and high school bands massing to walk through tonight's halftime show.

It's game day, and breakfast is being served in the Demon Alley Tailgating Zone. Also underway at the Demon Softball Complex are tryouts allowing the student body to walk on to the softball team. There were a few hopefuls in the batting cage about 8:30.

The forecast is on everybody's mind. It's a 40 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms between 4-9 p.m. today. That is 60 percent probable that it will not happen. Then you have to consider "isolated" and surely, to use a phrase, lightning won't strike twice in the same place. We got our storm last week! Actually, considering the inflatable tunnel the Demons run through to take the field was blown away, literally, by the storm just before kickoff, facilities guru Chuck Bourg rephrased the weather description from last week.

"That wasn't an isolated thunderstorm. That was a concentrated thunderstorm," he said.

It is also encouraging to hear people talking about watching the LSU game tonight -- on TIVO. The Demons kick at 6. Actual kickoff at Tiger Stadium for the LSU-Va. Tech clash is 8:22. As we've said all week on the radio, you can enjoy both games -- and with TIVO you don't have to miss a play of the LSU game. You can also fast-forward through the pile of commercials in the first quarter, which will still be going on after our game ends.

Speaking of TV, there's SouthlandTV tonight. Our first crack at video streaming from Turpin Stadium. The audio will be provided by the Demon Sports Network, so folks watching will get to enjoy the insight of Britt Brittain and E.P. Garth and the colorful, exciting call of the game by Patrick Netherton.

The video production is headed by Tommy Hazlewood, the NSU alum who has been the producer of N-Side Demon Sports for nine years now. Nobody is more passionate about Northwestern than Tommy. He will have his TIVO set for the Va. Tech-LSU game, too. Tommy's family roots are in Virginia and long before last spring's tragic events at Blacksburg, Tommy had plenty of Va. Tech gear that would join his Washington Redskins gear as alternative wardrobe choices if he wasn't wearing NSU gear.

BTW - great first-game effort last night by the Lady Demon volleyball team against Stephen F. Austin. Coach Brittany Uffelman said it was the best her team has looked in her four seasons, against a team that has everybody back from last year's second-round NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lady Demons have a lot of newcomers and will be constantly improving this fall.

It's almost time for the morning games to kick off, so I'm headed to, what else, set the TIVO for any FCS games of interest. We'll check back later today.

Doug Ireland, SID

He's got the music in him

Again, it was GB the AD being a DJ Friday afternoon.

Back by popular demand? Not exactly, but Greg Burke knows his music, having been raised almost in the shadow of the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio.

Burke, the athletics director and jack of all trades, was invited to guest host "Jammin' With Johnny," a Friday afternoon music show on 100.7 FM KZBL, flagship station of the Demon Sports Network.

His musical choices included The Eagles, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. His band director back home in Alliance, Ohio, would be proud.

The show runs from 4-5 each Friday afternoon. NSU grad and local attorney Rodney Harrington is "Johnny" as he is the frontman for the local band "Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs."

Burke, typically, wasn't finished. He was heading back to Turpin Stadium tonight to be the substitute game manager for the St. Mary's High School football game, as one of the athletic staff members who normally fills that role, Katie Harris, is sidelined with an ailment.

No doubt Burke will be straining for cheers from the nearby Demon Soccer Complex where NSU plays South Alabama tonight in what will apparently be a weather-delayed contest in the Holiday Inn Express Classic, originally set for a 7 o'clock start. Lightning in the neighborhood has delayed the start of the 5 o'clock game between Lamar and North Texas. They were hoping to get started about 5:15, unless somebody hits a flash camera by mistake.

Doug Ireland, SID

Maybe the greatest moment ...

... at last Saturday's Demon Football Centennial Celebration came for, as NBC news anchor and author Tom Brokaw called them, "The Greatest Generation."

You bet it was wonderful to see all the reunions of players and coaches. It was exciting to hear the Top 100 players of all-time introduced.

But the biggest roar -- even topping the one when Joe Delaney's name was announced among the Top 100 -- came before the individual introductions.

The players and coaches were recognized by decades, going backwards. For example, players whose careers ended in the 1990s stood together, and in each decade, special mention was made of the teams that won conference championships and went on to the national playoffs.

The roars were fun to hear as time drifted backwards. The smiles on the faces of players, coaches and fans were equally broad. Applause was generous.

But it reached a crescendo for the final group introduced, the Demons of the 1940s and 1930s. Not because the 1939 team was unbeaten. That was certainly appreciated.

But the 1942 Demons took the biggest cheer. That's because, as the 1944 Alumni Columns noted, each player on the 1942 team enlisted and served the United States in World War II.

Every one of them.

That's what Brokaw meant by "The Greatest Generation."

Doug Ireland, SID

100 years of fun

Norm Fletcher interviews Top 100 selection Ross Gwinn during Saturday afternoon's Demon Football Centennial Celebration

The stories keep flowing out of the Demon Football Centennial Celebration. Be sure to check Greg Burke's Demon Dust column with a collection of snapshots from the day.

Here are a few more...

...Butch Ballard, the Top 100 quarterback, and a few of Sidney Thornton's teammates could not resist pulling one at the Bull's expense. All the former players lined up in groups by decades for the introductions at halftime. The players and coaches from each decade were recognized, with championship teams singled out, and the ceremonies concluded with all of the Top 100 Demons and the honorary captains introduced. Of course, Sidney was a Top 100 pick. As the introductions continued -- and it takes a while to run through 100 names (credit to Nick Pollacia for doing it flawlessly and rapidly and with aplomb)-- Ballard and co-conspirators began to tell Sidney that of the Top 100, he was the one with the most votes and therefore he had to speak on behalf of all of the Top 100 and all of the former players. Sidney has never shied away from speaking to anybody, but this was clearly not a playcall he agreed with, much to the delight of Ballard, Ken Meeks and other teammates in on the joke.

...Coach Sam Goodwin had several former players itching to tell the story about him making a perfect form tackle of a McNeese cheerleader running the Cowboys flag through the Demons' bench in a 1995 game. Coach Goodwin tried to diffuse the situation by beating them to the punch in the Storytelling Contest, egged on by Britt Brittain. No such luck. Fullback Rob Robertson brought down the house about 15 minutes later with his account of the event. He said it was the funniest thing he ever saw in Demon football history and there wasn't a close second. He also said after watching that, he was glad Coach Goodwin never tackled him!

...Top 100 offensive lineman Mike Funches had some impassioned comments about his days with the Demons, but also took time to make fun of fellow Top 100 teammate William Broussard's long hair.

...Top 100 defensive end John Kulakowski took a jab from Goodwin for drawing an unsportmanlike conduct penalty -- not when Kool was playing for the Demons, but two years later, when Kool was on the sideline for the 1989 SFA game. That SFA team played for the national championship but the Demons had them dead to rights late in a tied game. A no call on an obvious pass interference fired up the Demon bench. Problem was, Kool was way out of the bench area down inside the 20, giving the official some lip. The 15-yard flag dumped NSU too far back for a good shot at a game-winning field goal, and the Demons ended the season with a 17-17 tie. But, as Kool pointed out, they did keep Chief Caddo. But his wince was painful when he realized Coach Goodwin was telling the story.

...Top 100 offensive lineman Ross Gwinn, certainly one of the most colorful characters ever to don the purple and white, had a lot of teammates nervous when the longtime Voice of the Demons, Norm Fletcher, called him to the mike during the Storytelling Contest. They were surprised when Gwinn explained his relatively puny build nowawadays on his diabetes, which he said kept him from having fun. He said it, we should note, with a smile on his face. I don't think anybody had more fun Saturday than Ross did. It was about a 2,000-way tie between players, coaches, their families and fans at the tailgating area.

... It was interesting to see Tony Joe Maranto with his parents, especially his dad, who for the first time ever did not have his video camera with him. Mr. Maranto was incredible about taping Tony Joe's games, and the Top 100 selection must have quite a personal highlight tape. I also do not know how the Marantos have not aged in the last decade. Smiling a lot must have a great deal to do with it.

... Another guy who loved being back on campus was Top 100 selection Marcus Spears, who brought his boys up from Houston. They immediately teamed with Ed Moses' son, who is already a star tailback and linebacker in Baton Rouge pee wee football, and commandeered a football for a pickup game on the practice field.

... It was poignant to visit with the family of Kurt Rodriguez, one of the top tacklers and most intense players in school history. The Top 100 selection died suddenly three years ago. Talking with his dad, Roddy, it was good to remember Kurt's spirit, and his family's pride. You could always count on a couple dozen No. 58 jerseys in the stands among the Rodriguez clan in attendance at each of his games. I told Roddy that he would enjoy watching the young man now wearing No. 58, Ray Martin, who has the same kind of fire and reckless abandon that Kurt played with. Doing that was clearly going to be a very bittersweet experience for the family, but they are truly NSU proud and were gratified to be back for the event. They are also looking forward to the Oct. 13 SLU game here to host the golf tournament helping fuel the Kurt Rodriguez Endowed Scholarship.

... There was some suspense as to whether two current Demon coaches in the Top 100 players list, head coach Scott Stoker and defensive end Roy Locks, would make it out of the locker room at halftime to be recognized in the ceremonies. Stoker didn't, but Locks, wearing the orange coaching shirt he uses so the players on the field can find him as he helps signal in schemes, dashed out and waved as he was introduced, with a typically big smile on his face.

... Good to see dozens of the former players wearing the commemorative 100-year caps designed by former player (safety) Steve Graf and instigated by Britt Brittain. More caps are on sale through Campus Corner and at the souvenir stand for remaining home games.

... Kudos to the Spirit of Northwestern band for volunteering to form the "100" on the field at the end of their halftime show, and for keeping the halftime show to eight minutes, allowing time for the Centennial Celebration recognitions. Fact is, the SON would have rightfully been recognized as a mass "honorary captain" itself, for as much impact as the band has made in so many magnificent memories for Demon players and fans through the years.

Doug Ireland, SID

Tough weekend for some NFL Demons

Craig Nall's contract got him cut. Depth got to Derrick Doyle. As for Tory Collins and Chad Johnson, my guess is they are going to be unemployed only for hours.

As NFL teams trimmed their active rosters to 53 players over the weekend to get ready for the regular season, those four NSU products got bad news.

Nall was scheduled to make $1.2 million this season. The Bills were sufficiently impressed by their rookie QB, Trent Edwards, to believe he could cut the mustard if J.P. Losman was injured. Craig's exit was a business decision, pure and simple.

All the guy has done, when given a chance to play, is play well, for the Packers and for the Bills. Other NFL teams will surely take notice. I don't think his playing days are over, but I do know this -- thanks to his college degree from NSU, and his level head, when that day does arrive, Craig will handle it just fine. That's just not going to be any time soon. Watch the transactions over the next little bit.

Rookies Collins and Johnson could quickly be back with their teams, the Bears and Vikings, respectively, on the practice squads. Or they might get snapped up by another club with a better offer. Collins was especially impressive and had to be a tough cut for Lovie Smith. Johnson, who hasn't played in two years, has great upside and figures to get a look someplace.

D-Doyle made the most of his time in New Orleans. While the Saints' depth at receiver eventually caught up with him, he raised his stock by hanging around until the final weekend of preseason. He's on the radar for other NFL teams as injuries occur, and I think he'll have more chances ahead.

The preseason star among the Demons in the NFL has been David Pittman, who went from being a draft disappointment for Baltimore last year to being one of the phenoms of preseason this year. Pitt has toughened up and become more aggressive, according to Ravens coaches, and has been rewarded with a starting cornerback assignment in the last two exhibition games. Will he stay in the starting lineup? Wait and see. Will he be around the NFL for several seasons? I would expect that. As his position coach, Dennis Thurmand, said, Pitt has as much ability or more than most players in the NFL ... and now he's showing the coaches he is tough and aggressive and smart, too.

One of Pitt's mentors in Baltimore was here this weekend. Demon fullback (1994-97) Rob Robertson spent part of three seasons on the Ravens' roster and lives in the Baltimore area. He and his delightful son Bryson came in for the 100-year reunion, when Dad received his all-time honorary captain award.

Rob helped Pitt settle in up there and has stayed in touch with him during the past year. That's got to be a factor in Pitt's recent upswing, too.

Doug Ireland, SID