FB: American Southwest Conference

[@d3jason]

I think Bailey will be better in '12 and more dangerous than ever. I've seen him every year since 2009 and and he has improved leaps and bounds as a passer. He is still prone to a few bad decisions with the ball, but he will be senior next year.

Senior QB's are scary things. They are at the top of their game mentally.

I think that LB has the motivation too. I sat in the post game presser after Wesley and he was fuming. You can tell that he is burning to succeed. UMHB lost Davis and Galleske at wide out so he will have to break in some new receivers. Those news guys should spend the whole summer with him.

I for one liked the fact that they went to the pistol. Their were some growing pains sure, but, they still won all those games and gave themselves a chance in the 4th against the Wolverines. Could a less diverse past Cru offense bridged the difference when down 18 against a team like Wesley? I am thinking probably not.

The thing that I know from watching McSweeny develop is that the kid has an incredible work ethic and confidence. He set a goal his sophomore year in 2008 to beat out the incumbent starter and did it. He inspired teammates with his aggressive (some times reckless) play. He worked on his mental and physical game with manic intensity.

If LB does these things, I think he can take the Crusaders were they want to be in '12.

[Ralph Turner]

The exciting thing for me and athletic competition is when the athlete discovers the "work ethic" necessary to achieve the dreams.

That is why I do not denigrate the athletic competition at any level... D-1, Pro, D-III, or high school.

Everyone on these boards can remember when someone inspired them to turn on the "work ethic" to get better.  Quite often, that person was a coach.

[Kelly Boggs]

UMHB2001 on Dec. 13 - "... but Harris from LC was a pretty good thrower"

There is no Harris at LC. I think you mean ETBU.

[TxFight]

As the ETBU Tigers finish up finals this week and head home for the holidays I thought I'd do a break down of what I saw from the Tigers this season and what to expect for 2012.

@ Wesley-Tigers showed some real promise in this ball game, and had the nations #3 team in a dogfight for 50 minutes of football.  However, some trends that I had hoped were just first game jitters popped up that we could find through out the year and the main one being not making the big plays when the opportunity presented itself.  Whether it be defensively not getting the stops on those 3rd and mediums and longs, or the offense only getting a FG out of 5 trips into the redzone.

V. Austin- ETBU brought out the total package for their home opener against the Roos, and dominated this game from the get go.  Would be the first of 2 54 pt. outbursts for the Tigers.

V. TLU- Start of a really bad two week stretch for the Tigers.  Jumped out early on TLU, but found themselves getting outscored 30-14 in the 2nd half.  This was another trend that ETBU developed which I found disappointing, which was holding a lead at halftime and not finishing the deal. 

@ McMurry- not a whole lot to say about this one, even though the Tigers jumped out to a 17-0 (all coming off turnovers and special teams) they were completely shut down by the McMurry defense.  Was tough to watch this one from the stands for sure.

V. Hardin-Simmons- Tigers finally got a huge monkey off their backs beating HSU for the first time in program history.  A slow first half saw the Tigers crawl back into it and get the W in the 2nd half. 

@ LC- Tigers seemed to have a little swagger in them heading into LC and it showed with a 24-14 halftime lead.  Three critical plays defined this ball game for the tigers though.  Right before half the tigers had a 1st and goal at the 1 ft line, but jumped offsides and wound up only getting a fg.  First drive of the 2nd half the Tigers march down the field only to turn the ball over inside the LC 25.  Last drive of the game the Tigers are driving to tie the game, when yet another turnover inside the LC 25 kills the drive and ends the game.  Tigers had a great chance to start a nice winning streak but let this one get away IMO

V Mississippi-  Harris left the game early in the 2nd quarter for the Tigers, but they didn't seem to miss a beat as QB Hubbard tossed 2 scoring TDs and the Tigers cruised in the 2nd half to a 34-21 victory in which they led 34-0 in the 4th. 

@ UMHB- Tigers jumped out to a 21-17 lead at halftime, but were undone by special teams and turnovers as they were outscored 30-9 in the 3rd quarter.  Tigers saw just how close but yet how far they are to being right there at the top of the conference in this one.  UMHB proved why they are the best in the conference though, when they smell blood in the water its over for the opponent. 

V. Howard Payne- just an ugly ball game to watch IMO, HPU held the ball what seemed like all do, but the Tigers made big plays when it counted and got the W 27-7.  It wasn't pretty but it was W to send the seniors out at home.

@ Sul Ross-once again Harris went down early in the 2nd quarter and teams got a glimpse of what they will see from the Tigers next year as Hubbard tossed 4 TDs in a little over 2 quarters of competitive action before the Tigers went to grinding out the clock.  It was good to see RB Jair Stover get to 1000 yards rushing on the year as he ended his career with possibly his best game.

In wrap up, the Tigers held the lead at the end of the 1st quarter in each of their 5 losses and had the lead at halftime in 3 of those.  3 of those losses came to playoff teams, and 4 of those teams spent time in the top 25, 2 of which in the top 5.  I felt the Tigers were just lacking that killer instinct to put teams away when they have a chance and they just couldn't do it on a consistent basis.  Offensively it was a very productive year and the defense showed signs of promise.

As for 2012, I think the Tigers have a chance to put together something special if all the pieces fall into place.  They will start a Sr. QB who has seen significant action over the course of his career and had success.  From the stands the players really seem to have a lot of respect for him and trust him.  Around him on the offense will be every skill player minus the TB who saw significant time this year.  3 starters will be back on the O-line.  As for the defense the Tigers played alot of young guys and will be in the 2nd year under the DC so I look for improvement there as well.

As for the schedule, I have heard rumors of a national semi-finalist coming to Marshall to open the year and a trip to Oregon could be on the slate so it will be interesting to see what the finished product is.

[umhb2001]

UMHB2001 on Dec. 13 - "... but Harris from LC was a pretty good thrower"

There is no Harris at LC. I think you mean ETBU.

Yeah, my bad. That's what I meant.

[Toby Taff]

MERRYCHRISTMASEVERYONE!!!!

[roocru]

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

                     and to all a good night!!!!

[Ron Boerger]

An interesting article in today's Austin American-Statesman reviewing Concordia's progress since they've moved to the new Schlumberger campus.  At the very end the school president is talking about the gender imbalance (38% male and dropping) and says sports is one way to address that.  We all know the one sport that will.  I'm headed out the door; perhaps someone can go to statesman.com and provide the link. 

A very merry Christmas to allQ

[crufootball]

An interesting article in today's Austin American-Statesman reviewing Concordia's progress since they've moved to the new Schlumberger campus.  At the very end the school president is talking about the gender imbalance (38% male and dropping) and says sports is one way to address that.  We all know the one sport that will.  I'm headed out the door; perhaps someone can go to statesman.com and provide the link. 

A very merry Christmas to allQ

The only article I could find is this http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/concordia-settling-into-new-campus-new-challenges-2054304.html. However I don't see anything about the gender imbalance, prehaps I am missing something 

[Ron Boerger]

Thanks, crufootball, it looks like the AA-S didn't post the entire article online.  If I can come across the paper today I'll put the whole quote out there.

EDIT:   Here's the very last part of the article.

Q: If you get to 5,000 students, can you preserve that (getting to know students and spend time with them) ?

[President] Cedel:  I don't know.  Those are some of the questions we've got to deal with.
[VP of strategic planning & assessment] Belcher:  One of the things that's on our radar is the male exodus from college campuses.  We're about 38 percent male, and the rest are female.  And that gap has been slowly widening, as it's done in the national trend.  We think we've got a pretty diverse student body, ethnically and racially, but gender is an issue.

Q:  What's the solution?

Belcher:  Figuring out what brings young men to campus and keeps them there.  Clearly, sports are an important part of that.

The other questions left out of the online story are about their non-traditional programs, their mission, graduation rates, and "what's ahead for Concordia." 

[Ron Boerger]

The whole article is now available at the link crufootball posted above.

[Ralph Turner]

Is a football-playing Concordia more interesting to the Poobahs of the SCAC?

[Ron Boerger]

Is a football-playing Concordia more interesting to the Poobahs of the SCAC?

This from the same article makes me think Concordia wouldn't want to be in the SCAC:

Belcher: There's a percentage of every incoming freshman class that we admit in a provisional status. And it's about 15 percent of the class. We see it as part of our mission. Out of those young men and women coming in, half of them are going to fail out. They simply don't have the preparation for college life yet. But the success side of that is that half of them do make it.

Q:  Do you worry that with all of the obsession about graduation rates [Concordia's six-year graduation rate:  33%] that schools will tighten up admission standards to get the numbers to look better and that students who are less prepared or perhaps less economically positioned to pursue higher education won't have as much of an opportunity?

Belcher: The beauty-queen schools — the flagship universities, the name-brand liberal arts colleges — are destination colleges. They can afford to be selective. About a third of our incoming freshmen come in as transfer students, and those folks never make it into the mix of that calculation.

There are more non-traditional students (1600+) than traditional (<1100) at Concordia; the non-traditional student body is growing faster than the traditional one.  The school's mission, while worthy, doesn't seem to line up well with the SCAC.

[Warren Thompson]

Is it that Concordia wouldn't want the SCAC? Or is it the other way around?  By the way, do those figures for traditional v. non-traditional students include the Concordia satellite programs?

[Ron Boerger]

I think it's probably both ways, WT.  From their comments, the Concordia leadership wouldn't want to associate themselves with a bunch of exclusive snooty butts, which is no doubt how they perceive the SCAC.   The SCAC might find Concordia's more open admissions policy and low graduation rates to be stoppers. 

The numbers do include Concordia's satellite campuses, another thing that would set them apart from the typical SCAC institution.