FB: American Southwest Conference

[TxFight]

In a VERY EARLY preview of next weekends tilt between UMHB and Wesley...I say that UMHB takes this one.  I saw ETBU play against both of them and I know it was early when I saw Wesley but UMHB looked to be the better of the two teams.  I think it is going to be a close hard fought game, but Im pulling for our ASC counterparts in this one!

[umhb2001]

UMHB is going to need a great 2nd half. We've not had a good second half in a while, so this would be the week to have it. Running game seemed to hit a wall in the 3rd and LB looked a little frazzled. Need to shore that up and we'll be good to go.

[Ralph Turner]

UMHB is going to need a great 2nd half. We've not had a good second half in a while, so this would be the week to have it. Running game seemed to hit a wall in the 3rd and LB looked a little frazzled. Need to shore that up and we'll be good to go.

I thought that that game changer was the McMurry fumble in the early 4th quarter.  I thought that the McMurry ball player was down.  The score is 28-20 and we are driving after the Bailey fumble.

McMurry's defense made adjustments at the half that shut down UMHB.  (IMHO McMurry defensive co-ordinator Joe Lee Dunn is the absolute best in the conference.)

On the UMHB 2nd half possessions prior to the play of the Bailey fumble that I mentioned, UMHB had run 16 plays in 4 series for 31 yds net.  On the 17th play, Bailey is sacked for a 16 yd loss and the fumble.  After the first four series for UMHB in the second half, they have run 17 plays for 15 total yards.  Box score

McMurry QB Mulllin was clearly not as mobile as he was in September. 

The wind was an incredible factor in the game.  The wind was a rare westerly (cross) wind that was funneling down the field from the north end.  (The Belton ISD field is not true north/south. If it were a airport runway, it looks like it might be a "16/34".) When McMurry was trying go into the wind, not having Mullin, the punter, was clearly a major difference.

[umhb2001]

UMHB is going to need a great 2nd half. We've not had a good second half in a while, so this would be the week to have it. Running game seemed to hit a wall in the 3rd and LB looked a little frazzled. Need to shore that up and we'll be good to go.

I thought that that game changer was the McMurry fumble in the early 4th quarter.  I thought that the McMurry ball player was down.  The score is 28-20 and we are driving after the Bailey fumble.

McMurry's defense made adjustments at the half that shut down UMHB.  (IMHO McMurry defensive co-ordinator Joe Lee Dunn is the absolute best in the conference.)

On the UMHB 2nd half possessions prior to the play of the Bailey fumble that I mentioned, UMHB had run 16 plays in 4 series for 31 yds net.  On the 17th play, Bailey is sacked for a 16 yd loss and the fumble.  After the first four series for UMHB in the second half, they have run 17 plays for 15 total yards.  Box score

McMurry QB Mulllin was clearly not as mobile as he was in September. 

The wind was an incredible factor in the game.  The wind was a rare westerly (cross) wind that was funneling down the field from the north end.  (The Belton ISD field is not true north/south. If it were a airport runway, it looks like it might be a "16/34".) When McMurry was trying go into the wind, not having Mullin, the punter, was clearly a major difference.

I agree that the D for MCM really stepped up its game in the second half. For some reason, our offense has looked flat coming out of the half for a couple of games now. We need to shore that up.

About the wind, I was really surprised that McMurry chose to receive in such a way that would give them the wind at their face in the 4th quarter. I was really amazed by that. They dominated the 3rd, and had it been the other way, the score would have been a lot closer.

I too was really confused by the muffed punt. In his post game comments, Coach Mumme said that he felt that had they punted, UMHB would have had the ball close and would have scored anyway, so he might as well go for it. The D had been holding us back, so not sure why he felt that way, but it was a gutsy call that proved to turn the tide of the game.

The fumble by LB and the insuing fumble for McMurry was a huge turn of events. That really saved the game for us.

I'm confused by the punting situation. Do they do that, with Mullin, so that if it looks good, he can audible out and go for the 1st down? Or do they not have a punter? I don't recall McMurry doing this two years ago when they traveled to Belton during the regular season.

[Ralph Turner]

Mullin and Warren have served as punters from that spread formation all season.

http://www.mcmurrysports.com/custompages/football/2011/teamcume.htm]

We had only had 39 punts in the first 11 games.

Mullin was averaging 46 yds per punt; Warren 43 yds per punt.

[Ralph Turner]

I think that Mumme did not want to get too far behind in the 3rd quarter so he took the wind.

If it is 28-26 with 12 minutes left in the game, then that is another ball game.  That is why I thought that fumble turned the momentum.

We had the UMHB offense "on the ropes".  Whether they could have adjusted with the wind and the punting game in the 4th is another question.  The wind was worth a +/- 15 yd swing in the kicking game.

We iced the UMHB Fg kicker going towards the north endzone, and IMHO, the wind blew that kick wide right!

[bcal]

On this day, this much is true.  The cru oline and dline were stronger and McMurry's ability to pass the ball outside in to the wind to the hash mark to the side lines was impacted greatly by the wind.  Any passes outside 15 to 20 yards past the line were knocked down when thrown to the home press box side of the field and floated away from the reciever when thrown to the other sideline. This lowered our ability to hit crossing patterns and passes to the running backs coming out of the backfield.  The passing game is what we do best! Our running game is much improved from last year which brings me to UMHB's line play.  Cru dline did a fine job in the trenches.  McMurry is stronger than last year, did a better job on pass protection and in run blocking.  The cru dline was a notch or two better.  The cru oline showed why UMHB likes to run the ball. The cru oline is a notch stronger than McMurry.  It was a pleasure to watch both lines work.  Both team lines played to their ability to final horn.  Good luck the the cru next week!  One final thought, how good could #6 for UMHB be if showcased on a passing team.

[roocru]

see DOC didnt take long to jump ship.  going to be a nice week chatting with you guys about another Wesley - UMHB tilt.  Looks like it could be another good one.  roocru, hope you enjoyed the BBQ.

Thanks Wesleydad.  I ate at the place you are remembering with Ralph Turner and Gray Fox.  Thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the fellowship!

The game this week may come down to how each defense plays against the opposing QB.  I can tell that McSweeny is definitely your catalyst and go to guy.  You saw the ETBU QB Sed Harris.  In your view, how does McSweeny compare to him? 

We still are primarily a tailback oriented team but Bailey has really improved his passing and his overall passing efficiency before this week's games stands at 19th in the nation compared to McSweeny's number four.  That may seem to be way behind but Bailey threw nine of his ten interceptions early in the season while we were primarily running from the pistol.  Since switching back to primarily the I formation in the sixth game he has only been picked off one time.

Bailey's passing efficiency stats -
2009 - 136.08 (unranked, not enough passes thrown)
2010 - 142.47 (unranked, not enough passes thrown)
2011 - 152.15 (ranked 19)

I fully expect another hard hitting and close fought game as many of our previous contests have been!

[wesleydad]

roocru, unfortunately I did not see the ETBU game, I went to Bridgewater to see the Stone Station folks.  Wesley is clearly better than they were in that game.  McSweeney took advantage of Linfield's inability to shut lanes down, saw the same thing in the Cal Luth game.  Wesley's weak part of the defense is the secondary so UMHB may pass more this week.  Good D line and linebackers make it tough to run the ball.  Turnovers as they have been all year will be the key.  Wesley was +1 yesterday which turned out to be huge and they cut down on the penalties, I think I saw only 4 for 30 yds.  As usual it should be another good game.  Wesley showed a lot of guts yesterday coming back from 20 down and that should propel them into this game.  The travel will be a set back as it usually is for teams flying somewhere.  Talk to you during the week.

[Ralph Turner]

bcal, good to see you. Glad you had a safe trip home.

Good to see GrayFox and Roocru after the game at Schoepf's.  It was fun talking with y'all.

[Toby Taff]

I was just reading the articles in the temple paper on yesterday's game and I found this quote from the post game presser about the 4th and 15 fake punt:

When asked during the postgame press conference what UMHB's favorite fourth-and-15 play is, Crusaders receiver Damian Davis answered before his coach could.

"It's called 'punt,'" Davis said to laughs

All i could do was laugh

[Bill McCabe]

It was ridiculous for McM to go for it on 4th down deep in their own territory.

[wesleydad]

roocru, toby, ralph, umhb2001, looking at the boxscore it looks like McMurray self destructed in the 4th quarter.  2 turnovers lead to 2 scores and some of the other stuff I have heard about, a fake punt inside their 20.  Playing what if, does McMurray have a chance to win the game if they play a clean 4th quarter.  Good teams cause turnovers and UMHB has been known for doing that.  Just trying to get a read on what Wesley has to do to win and UMHB has not had many close games this season to look at since the first 2 games of the season and that is too far back to get a read on anything at this point.

[Ralph Turner]

roocru, toby, ralph, umhb2001, looking at the boxscore it looks like McMurray self destructed in the 4th quarter.  2 turnovers lead to 2 scores and some of the other stuff I have heard about, a fake punt inside their 20.  Playing what if, does McMurray have a chance to win the game if they play a clean 4th quarter.  Good teams cause turnovers and UMHB has been known for doing that.  Just trying to get a read on what Wesley has to do to win and UMHB has not had many close games this season to look at since the first 2 games of the season and that is too far back to get a read on anything at this point.

I will give credit to UMHB's defense and Vaclavick for the fumble at the end of the reception after Bailey's fumble. I was on the sideline, and it looked like the play was over and the ball was dead.  I thought that that play was the momentum shift in the game.

The UMHB stiffened; we lost field position and were deep in our territory with that stiff wind blowing into and across our faces.

The "fake punt" occurred with 10:00 left in the 4th and down "2 scores/8 points" to win.  80 yards away?  It would take a 4 minute drive to get there. If you punt into that wind, you only get 25-30 yds in the exchange of punts and UMHB starts about the McMurry 35-40 yd line. If we score and cut the lead to 2, 28-26, or tie, then we kickoff with 6:00 left.  As for using a conventional punter, we haven't used one all year.  Mullin was averaging 46 yds per punt and was an offensive threat to boot.  I did not see a "conventional" punter on the 53-player roster.

--  On the kickoff, into the wind, UMHB sets up shop at about their own 40.  Drive 30 yards consuming 3-4 minutes off the clock and kick a 40 yd FG with the wind at their backs and go ahead by 3 or 5 points. If we hold and they go 3-and-out, then they have burned 2 mintues and punt inside the 20.

-- You probably take the ensuing kick off with a touchback or no better than the 30 yd line and must drive 70 yds against a "prevent" into the strong wind with less than 3 mintues left.

I can see the case that the gamble should occur in the possession when Coach Mumme took it.

[Toby Taff]

roocru, toby, ralph, umhb2001, looking at the boxscore it looks like McMurray self destructed in the 4th quarter.  2 turnovers lead to 2 scores and some of the other stuff I have heard about, a fake punt inside their 20.  Playing what if, does McMurray have a chance to win the game if they play a clean 4th quarter.  Good teams cause turnovers and UMHB has been known for doing that.  Just trying to get a read on what Wesley has to do to win and UMHB has not had many close games this season to look at since the first 2 games of the season and that is too far back to get a read on anything at this point.

I didn't get to see the whole game. I was at the Texas Renaissance Festival with friends dressed in 13th century Celtic garb. I watched some of it on my phone, but not too much because of cell reception. I can say that one of the articles I read quoted Jake Mullin as saying that when he threw the ball the wind was making it so that he couldn't tell where the ball was going.