The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the United Athletic Conference (UAC), which started play in 2023.

[2] In the 2021 season, UCA competed in a football partnership between the ASUN and WAC officially branded as the "ASUN–WAC Challenge".

After the 2022 season, the ASUN and WAC jointly announced their football-only merger,[4][5] which was officially rebranded as the United Athletic Conference in April 2023.

Although they finished 1-4-3 in their first season, and have an unusual record of 23-54-22 in its first 20 years of existence, the Bears would play for 7 championships in that span.

During that time frame, UCA won or shared twelve consecutive AIC titles from 1981 - 1992, as well as three NAIA national championships, in 1984, 1985, and 1991.

In 1993, the Bears left the AIC and the NAIA, and moved up in competition to the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference.

The Bears also had a long time rivalry with Arkansas Tech University, located in Russellville, Arkansas, only 45 miles west of Conway along Interstate 40, but that series was discontinued after UCA left the Gulf South Conference, and moved up in competition to the Southland Conference.