FB: American Southwest Conference

[CruGuy]

In the video clips and articles I've read it's been interesting to see Coach Pete's emphasis on the importance of the passing game Saturday. He's really talking up the talent of the receiving Corp. I don't question their talent at all but do wonder if there is some smoke screen to this.
I'm sure most of us UWW fans are wondering how UWW will fare against so much talent in the passing game.

As I'm trying to figure out how I want to pick this game, I don't know what to do with UMHB's pass game.  I think they have gobs of talent there, but I can't help but feel like the pass game is....unrefined?  Is there much more to it than chuck it deep to Josey/Reed/Miller when it's 3rd and long?  That was enough to squeak past St. John's last weekend- which is no small thing.  I believe SaintsFan somewhere pointed this out as well.  Those plays that carried the day last week weren't necessarily available to the Crusaders last year.  I'll be curious this weekend to see if 1) UWW can force UMHB into those kinds of bail out situations and 2) if UWW has the dudes to not allow UMHB to bail themselves out the way they did last week. 

I don't know the answer, but I think that's the whole deal this weekend.  UWW can limit Markeith Miller enough to make UMHB have to get something from Hammack and the WRs.  Can they do it again?

They have six different players with a reception of at least 50 yds on the season, 9 > 30yds, all this coming on limited pass attempts. It's not that they can win jump balls on third and long, it's that so far this season they've been able to line up and run past people from the edge, slot, and back field almost at will. When the UMHB offense is humming they take deep shots on early downs, in closer games, we tend to get more conservative and only throw deep on 2nd or 3rd and long. Hopefully we keep the offense wide open on Saturday. The wind certainly isn't going to help. We all know that UWW has a different kind of athlete from the rest of DIII and that we're not going to be able to move the ball like we did against Berry, but I think Coach Pete is right to focus on the UMHB WR's as the key to this game. If they can break a few long plays, we probably win. If they can't we probably don't put up enough points to advance. UMHB has historically struggled to make big plays against UWW, they will probably be the difference in this game.



And congrats to Jordan Neal. Grade A+ person.

[D O.C.]

So... my weather reporter here in Southern California said the rain we're having ( flash flood warning just came across my phone ) says West Texas is going to see snow and that there will be rain, rain, rain, on the Lone Star State Saturday.

What is your local prediction as of today?

[crufootball]

So... my weather reporter here in Southern California said the rain we're having ( flash flood warning just came across my phone ) says West Texas is going to see snow and that there will be rain, rain, rain, on the Lone Star State Saturday.

What is your local prediction as of today?

Reports seem to indicate that we are going to be poured on the next couple of days but then dry up later in the morning on Saturday.

[CruFrenzy]

John Wallin weekly preview of this weeks matchup between UMHB and UWW, always excellent. 

https://omny.fm/shows/openingdrive/jon-wallin-12-6-18

[QB Jock Itch]

In the video clips and articles I've read it's been interesting to see Coach Pete's emphasis on the importance of the passing game Saturday. He's really talking up the talent of the receiving Corp. I don't question their talent at all but do wonder if there is some smoke screen to this.
I'm sure most of us UWW fans are wondering how UWW will fare against so much talent in the passing game.

As I'm trying to figure out how I want to pick this game, I don't know what to do with UMHB's pass game.  I think they have gobs of talent there, but I can't help but feel like the pass game is....unrefined?  Is there much more to it than chuck it deep to Josey/Reed/Miller when it's 3rd and long?  That was enough to squeak past St. John's last weekend- which is no small thing.  I believe SaintsFan somewhere pointed this out as well.  Those plays that carried the day last week weren't necessarily available to the Crusaders last year.  I'll be curious this weekend to see if 1) UWW can force UMHB into those kinds of bail out situations and 2) if UWW has the dudes to not allow UMHB to bail themselves out the way they did last week. 

I don't know the answer, but I think that's the whole deal this weekend.  UWW can limit Markeith Miller enough to make UMHB have to get something from Hammack and the WRs.  Can they do it again?

I agree with some of this Wally. If we had access to the game against st johns on the drive that set up Miller's rushing TD, Hammack connected on 1 skinny post to Josey and 2 deep crossing patterns Jonell and D Taylor, but this was the only time we saw that package. But so much of our passing is based on option routes where the WR and QB have to be on the same page that 9 times out of 10 our WRs have ran passed the DB so another deep ball is thrown. I believe Coach Fred talked about this earlier in the season.

With that said I would love to see Markeith get out into the flats. We had great success the few times we tried it early in the season.

Can't wait until Game day. Go CRU!!!

[bleedpurple]

strangely quiet on here.

We're a little different than SJU posters.   
Is
We don't feel the need to diminish your regular accomplishments by making fun of you guys beating HSU. Or try to persuade you that you're not as good as you think you are. We know what MHB is capable of and that UWW will be the underdogs. UWW has to earn their way back to being a top tier team. As of right now they're behind MHB and Mount in my mind.

yeah, I don't think I've ever has a discussion with a Warhawk troll. I was actually referring to our regular posters not being on here much either. They're on twitter, just not here as much.

Yeah, it has been really quiet on both boards. I think we both respect each other given our playoff history. It should be a tough game for UWW. They will need a near perfect performance in my opinion to pull this one off.

If you insert "to play well" for "a near perfect performance", I agree with it. Near perfect would mean, touchdowns on 8 of nine possessions?  That's near perfect. Holding them to 1 touchdown on nine possessions. That's near perfect. If we have a near perfect performance, we will win 56-7. We aren't likely to do that. Good teams don't let you do that. And we don't need to do that. We aren't Bellhaven. We aren't outmatched. We just need to do our thing, play well, and get the W.

Should be a great game. Looking forward to our visit. Let's have fun, play ball, and no injuries!

[ITH radio]

Our semifinal preview, with Jon Wallin as our UMHB rep, is up:

https://www.facebook.com/126112447487909/posts/1961251073974028?sfns=1

[HSCTiger74]

The stadium announcer had a problem with Auger.  Which is a really tough one that took me a long time to catch on to.

Their radios got it right--I was amazed!

So what is it? AW-grr, OW-grr, or maybe a soft g like jrr?

Like Pat said, oh-ZHAY is what he's called at SJU, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone outside of SJU pronounce it that way.

   Sorry to be late to reply, but thanks for the info. For some reason French didn't even occur to me.

[QB Jock Itch]

I've been doing some studying of sorts after the D3 podcast where Pat n Keith ranked the QBs still alive. I believe it went Tammaro (jhu), Fulford (mu), Wilber (uww), and Hammack (UMHB).

I started looking at the games played in the playoffs. Stats went like this:

Tammaro - 64 of 92 for 852 (70%) 7 TDs/0 int's 1 sack, 25 rushes 189 & 3 TDs
Defense played against: 25, 50, 49

Fulford - 15 of 33 for 146 (45%) 3 TDs/1 int 0 sacks
4 rushes 14
Defense played against: 70, 39

Wilber - 17 of 40 for 224 (57%) 2 TDs/1 int 2 sacks
6 rushes -2
Defense played against: 147, 19, 26

Hammack - 28 of 45 for 428 (62%) 4 TDs/1 int 4 sacks
16 rushes 24
Defense played against: 77, 64, 10

Understanding that weather, injuries, and playing time isn't factored in. From a numbers only (and maybe a little bias) I would rank them. Tammaro, Hammack, Fulford, and Wilber.

Including this weekend UMHB defense will have gone against the 4, 54, 6, 18 ranked offenses

mu D against 24, 14, 50, 13
uww D against 17, 57, 47, 1
jhu D against 173, 21, 116, 2

Interesting to me anyways. See y'all tomorrow. Go CRU!!!

[Pat Coleman]

I've been doing some studying of sorts after the D3 podcast where Pat n Keith ranked the QBs still alive. I believe it went Tammaro (jhu), Fulford (mu), Wilber (uww), and Hammack (UMHB).

Nope, that's not how we ranked them. Only ranked one of them, maybe two. Definitely did not do 1-4 and definitely not in that order.

[crufootball]

I've been doing some studying of sorts after the D3 podcast where Pat n Keith ranked the QBs still alive. I believe it went Tammaro (jhu), Fulford (mu), Wilber (uww), and Hammack (UMHB).

Nope, that's not how we ranked them. Only ranked one of them, maybe two. Definitely did not do 1-4 and definitely not in that order.

Haha Pat you must be too pumped to sleep or a very early riser with a respond at 2:30 in the morning.

[Pat Coleman]

That was when I got to my hotel room in Temple.

[D O.C.]

Good morning. Weather?

[Pat Coleman]

Good morning. Weather?

Damp and mid-40s, cloudy. Wind about 12-15 mph out of the left-hand end zone. Not actively raining.

[umhbalum]

Unfortunately I won't make it down to the game today and I just found my first real problem when I cut the cord for cable earlier this year.

It seems espn3 is the only video option for today's games and Directv Now currently doesn't allow access to ESPN3.

If you run into a similar issue, I found a free 7 day trial with Sling TV and they carry ESPN3