FB: American Southwest Conference

[txtiger1]

Anybody have interesting pre-conference games this year? ETBU has nationally ranked UW-Platteville up first, who will be an excellent first win.

[DFWCrufan]

Have a hard working fun time TT.

I know when Blake was up in the CFL they liked him but there is that International limit of only 5 us players per roster that really makes hard choices for coaches concerning who to keep. He and Keith Reineke had them talking, but it wasn't enough. Best of fortune to Blake...

[crufootball]

Anybody have interesting pre-conference games this year? ETBU has nationally ranked UW-Platteville up first, who will be an excellent first win.

UMHB opens the year in Reading, Pennsylvania against Albright. The Lion appear to be a solid team out of the MAC, have gone 8-3 the last 2 seasons and won their league in 2015. Can't say I follow the MAC or them regularly but their will be extra challenge of them having already played a game when the Cru comes to town which always makes me nervous.

[Pat Coleman]

On the plus side, Albright had a ton of seniors last year. They'll be young.

[crufootball]

On the plus side, Albright had a ton of seniors last year. They'll be young.

Seems like a perfect way to note that we would know that and much more if we only buy Kickoff haha. Seriously I am really looking forward to that, especially since it is coming earlier this year.

[Ralph Turner]

I spoke with a former coach at Texas-Tyler about the move. That coach's read was that the University really wants to be Division I, similar to the other UT branch campuses, and this is a stop along the way. That coach also wondered if Texas-Dallas and maybe East Texas Baptist would try to follow the same path.

I know the new president at UTT was pushing the move and the folks I talked with felt it was just for his personal resume purposes.  He had made the comment that he was only going to be there for 5 years so having this on his resume would look good.

I have also heard lately that the move to D2 was pushed by the UT Board of Regents (and thus pushed by the new president).  That would make some sense since UT Dallas is now exploring the move to D2. 

I doubt ETBU would make the move to D2.  I have heard they speared the internal coup to get all the State schools out of the ASC.  If UTD leaves that only leaves Sul Ross as the remaining state school.  ETBU now has the chance to be the big dog in a small yard which is what they want.

Sul Ross was a charter member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the ASC's NAIA predecessor, back in 1976 and a Charter Member of the ASC.  They are not likely to leave.

The mission and vision issue with UT-Dallas is more aligned with its growing role as a research institution.

In some ways, UTD is more similar to Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon.

UTD's Computer Software design was ranked by LinkedIn's Top Universities for Software Design, #21 nationwide. CWRU CMU is #1 and the only other Texas universities in the Top 50 are UT-Austin and Rice.

https://cs.utdallas.edu/utdlinkedinrankings/

The #1 ranked university among colleges founded in the last 50 years by Times Higher Education

https://www.utdallas.edu/news/2017/4/6-32506_UT-Dallas-Ranks-1st-in-US-Among-Universities-Under_story-wide.html

Strength of the Engineering School

https://engineering.utdallas.edu/about/at-a-glance/by-the-numbers/rankings/

I am not saying that the UAA is looking at UTDallas, but I see no other conference in D-3 who is more similar to where UT-Dallas is going.

[ADL70]

Ralph you meant CMU #1 not CWRU

Tufts is similar to UTD in being somewhat of an outlier in NESCAC, a research University among liberal arts colleges. But neither is a member of AAU.

[sigma one]

Some good early OOC games:

          Albright/Mary Hardin-Baylor                       St John Fisher/Washington and Jefferson
          Bethel/UW River Falls                                UW Stevens Point/Wabash
          Brockport/Hobart                                      Westminster, Pa./Wittenberg
          Central/DePauw
          Concordia-Moorhead/UW Whitewater
          Delaware Valley/Wesley
          Denison/Southwestern
          East Texas Baptist/UW Platteville
          Frostburg St./Stevenson
          Goerge Fox/Redlands
          Hope/Millikan
          John Carroll/UW Stevens Point
          Monmouth/Wheaton

Several others of note:

          Albion/Franklin                             
          Cortland/Framingham St.
          Guilford/Huntingdon
          Husson/Union
          Lakeland/Trine
          Linfield/Redlands
          Rowan/Widener
         
And, although Thomas More is not in a conference, they play  Muhlenberg, St. John's, UW Platteville.  Those games may go a long way in helping to determine who gets a bid at the end of the year if those three teams do not win their Conference.

         
         
         

[ITH radio]

Anybody have interesting pre-conference games this year? ETBU has nationally ranked UW-Platteville up first, who will be an excellent first win.

UMHB opens the year in Reading, Pennsylvania against Albright. The Lion appear to be a solid team out of the MAC, have gone 8-3 the last 2 seasons and won their league in 2015. Can't say I follow the MAC or them regularly but their will be extra challenge of them having already played a game when the Cru comes to town which always makes me nervous.

Pretty sure Frank is planning to be there in person for that one. We're excited for Luke and the Cru to see how their first game goes. The MAC is definitely one of the stronger East Region confs, historically, but last season they kind of ended up as a dud in post-season play, save for DelVal, who was a FG away from the Final Four. Albright, Widener and Stevenson all lost in CC-MAC and ECAC bowls to end the year fwiw.

[Ralph Turner]

+1! ADL70. Thanks.

[Warren Thompson]

Anybody have interesting pre-conference games this year? ETBU has nationally ranked UW-Platteville up first, who will be an excellent first win.

UMHB opens the year in Reading, Pennsylvania against Albright. The Lion appear to be a solid team out of the MAC, have gone 8-3 the last 2 seasons and won their league in 2015. Can't say I follow the MAC or them regularly but their will be extra challenge of them having already played a game when the Cru comes to town which always makes me nervous.

When UMHB goes to Reading they can fill up with local Pennsylvania Dutch delicacies such as shoo-fly pie, chicken pot pie, scrapple, stuffed hog stomach, and Lebanon bologna. 

[umhb2001]

First Couple of Week's Games I'm interested in:

Week 1:

Trinity at McMurry: Trinity has really been trying to come back the last couple of years. I believe their coach is fairly new and has brought a renewed spirit with him. Where does McMurry sit?

UW-Platte at ETBU: Can the ASC take down a powerful WIAC contender? ETBU has desires of breaking into the top 2 of the ASC, and this early matchup will prove telling.

Week 2:

UMHB at Albright: How will the new Q look behind a revamped, new coach inspired Oline? Will the DLine be able to hold a candle next to the previous two starting units? Duane Thompson returns after a year off. What will his impact be? Lots of questions.

Hardin Simmons at Trinity: New QB with a stable of talent around him. Will he be able to deliver? My gut says yes, but we'll see.

HPU at George Fox: This is a good matchup. George Fox has been an up and comer in the NWC, and HPU is looking to improve with 2nd-year head coach Braxton Harris, former Cru QB and coach. I'll be pulling for my friend in this matchup.

[Ron Boerger]

I salute Coach Hinson for staying at McM through the D2 -> D3 transition.   A lot of coaches will bail when that occurs.    He and TU's Coach Urban are contemporaries at their respective institutions (Urb was named HC at the conclusion of the 2013 season).

[DFWCrufan]

Did you just say Duane Thompson is back!

[Ralph Turner]

I salute Coach Hinson for staying at McM through the D2 -> D3 transition.   A lot of coaches will bail when that occurs.    He and TU's Coach Urban are contemporaries at their respective institutions (Urb was named HC at the conclusion of the 2013 season).

My take on Coach Hinson's staying through the transition is that this is what he wanted in establishing his program. He knew that the expectations from the President and the AD, as a "new" athletic department was being created, would be to build the program that he wanted. With a program sightline of 8-10 years into the future, it was a "safe" position.

(The great majority of the coaches from the D3 era are gone, Football, men's and women's hoops, swimming, Cross Country and track, and soccer. AD Sam Ferguson has "his staff" in place.)