NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State is back home, settled in and coming out of its best week of practice going into Saturday night's Southland Conference football matchup with Central Arkansas.

The Demons will play at home for the first time in three weeks. Coach Jay Thomas has tabbed sophomore J.D. Almond as the starting quarterback, capping seven weeks of competition among four capable contenders. Thomas was extremely pleased with how the entire team conducted business this week in practice as NSU plays the first of eight straight Southland games.

Kickoff is 6:06 Saturday evening in Turpin Stadium with ESPN3 coverage of the game as Lyn Rollins, Rene Nadeau and Kelsey Wingert will be the announcing crew. At halftime, ESPN3 will show the ESPN 30 For 30 Short Film "Delaney" telling the remarkable, inspiring and heartbreaking story of two-sport NSU All-American Joe Delaney, a Pro Bowl running back for the Kansas City Chiefs who died in an heroic 1983 rescue attempt to save three drowning children, one whom survived. The short film debuted at Grantland.com on Aug. 19.

The game broadcast will be on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches and including 710 AM KEEL in Shreveport, 105.5 FM KBKK in Alexandria and 103.1 KWLA in Many/Leesville. The veteran team of Patrick Netherton, Richard deVargas and Tony Taglavore will call the game. A free audio stream is available through NSUDemons.com.

Each team is seeking its first win. The Demons fell in their season and conference opener at home Sept. 3 to Southeastern Louisiana (34-20) with the Lions scoring a clinching touchdown in the final minute. NSU bowed to FBS bowl participants UL Lafayette (44-17) and Mississippi State (62-13) in the last two weeks on the road.

UCA (0-2) opened with a 45-16 loss at Samford, and played very competitively in a 32-8 loss two weeks ago at Oklahoma State. The Bears were idle last week and will open their conference season Saturday.
Each of NSU's first three opponents won at least nine games last year and they combined for a 29-11 record in 2014.

Demons' senior receiver Ed Eagan will break the school record for career receptions with his next catch. Eagan, who has a 23-game streak with at least one catch, tied Derrick Doyle's career standard of 126 receptions by making three grabs last week at Mississippi State.

Eagan is third all-time in Southland Conference history with 2,337 kickoff return yards. He is 93 yards from second and 194 away from the top spot.

De'Mard Llorens is NSU's top runner with 144 yards on 33 carries. Eagan's seven catches lead the receiving corps.

Top tacklers for the Demons are safeties Chase Collins (25) and Darius Poullard (19), along with defensive end Leroy Armstrong (18) and linebacker Jacob Merriman (16).

UCA's veteran defense is led by last year's Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year, NFL draft prospect Jonathan Woodard. The Bears feature one of the league's most explosive returners in Jatavious Wilson, who has three kickoff return touchdowns in his career.

Next week, the Demons go to Incarnate Word before the Oct. 17  homecoming contest in Turpin Stadium against Lamar.