FB: American Southwest Conference

[hazzben]

Congrats to the Cru. Great game, especially in the 4th. Hope the dlineman who got hurt late can go next week. Should be a great game against NCC.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear sends his congrats to the CRU on what was a huge W and impressive 24 point swing. Ice Bear wishes the CRU luck moving forward against what is a very good NCC team!

[USee]

Congrats to MHB, very impressive performance when it looked like Bethel had you on the ropes. Looking forward to the rematch this week.

[umhbalum]

Safe travel home Bethel, heck of a game. Y'all had us on the ropes but the Cru battled. Congrats on a great season!

[GoldandBlueBU]

Congrats to UMHB!  Heck of a game.  Would have been very easy for UMHB to get frustrated and phone it in when they were down 28-17 and things had not been going their way, but instead they rallied in a huge way!

Good luck the rest of the way!

[UMHB03]

I love it. Ever other play all you hear during the play is "holding!"

I listened to too much of these guys broadcast and they lie to themselves with homer eyes even when they are way ahead.  As a Wheaton fan I really love the other Christian Schools like Hope and Bethel, while often rooting for them when they are not playing Wheaton.  But with MHB I always ask myself is this really a Christian school?  The school does itself no favors with the announcers if it really is a Christian school.

LOL. Being a homer, or not a homer, is a tenet of Christianity?

Little lies or homer lies are lies.  Thus it is sin.

Nobody was lying. Get a life.

[crufootball]

Congrats to UMHB!  Heck of a game.  Would have been very easy for UMHB to get frustrated and phone it in when they were down 28-17 and things had not been going their way, but instead they rallied in a huge way!

Good luck the rest of the way!

Congrats to Bethel, heck of a season! Props on the amount of Bethel faithful that made the long trek.

[bleedpurple]

I love it. Ever other play all you hear during the play is "holding!"

I listened to too much of these guys broadcast and they lie to themselves with homer eyes even when they are way ahead.  As a Wheaton fan I really love the other Christian Schools like Hope and Bethel, while often rooting for them when they are not playing Wheaton.  But with MHB I always ask myself is this really a Christian school?  The school does itself no favors with the announcers if it really is a Christian school.

LOL. Being a homer, or not a homer, is a tenet of Christianity?

Little lies or homer lies are lies.  Thus it is sin.

This is probably one of the more bizarre responses that I've read in all my years on these boards.  We (UW-W) have a pretty intense rivalry with the CRU even though we are not in the same conference.  What I can say is that very few places I've visited have the level of hospitality and genuine kindness that the folks have that work the games at the CRUthedral. Truthfully,  the folks working on behalf of D-III schools are great almost everywhere.  But the folks at UMHB seem to go above and beyond. In my interactions with the folks at UMHB, I believe they consistently show the love of Christ to others. I don't know why I felt the need to respond to this,  I guess I just don't like it when stuff like this is left out there.

[emma17]

I don't know Bleed, when I was there in 2018 I felt every UMHB was as mean as a snake (in a good way). 
I agree though- very nice people out there.

Congratulations to UMHB, played like champions when you had to.

[bleedpurple]

I don't know Bleed, when I was there in 2018 I felt every UMHB was as mean as a snake (in a good way). 
I agree though- very nice people out there.

Congratulations to UMHB, played like champions when you had to.

I agree with this as well.  Congratulations on the win against an excellent Bethel team.  It's the "when you had to" part that would really good to change by next week.

[crufootball]

I don't know Bleed, when I was there in 2018 I felt every UMHB was as mean as a snake (in a good way). 
I agree though- very nice people out there.

Congratulations to UMHB, played like champions when you had to.

I agree with this as well.  Congratulations on the win against an excellent Bethel team.  It's the "when you had to" part that would really good to change by next week.

I mean when does UMHB ever do things the easy way, other than the last 3 weeks of last season which I still can't quite believe.

[CruFrenzy]

Thoughts on the final 4 teams remaining

Wartburg College

After watching closely it's obvious to me this team is not just statistically good defensively, but they're clearly elite. I know that's not such a hot take, they've been great all year but in D3 we are really only used to seeing incredible championship caliber units come out of a handful of programs. But they have my stamp of approval! Defensive line is long and fast off the edges, linebackers and secondary pursue the ball very well and most importantly they play as a unit. The defense reminds me of Trinity quite a bit actually when I watch the front 7 but their defensive backs are a little longer.

Offensively the run game is also the real deal. The Clasen kid reminds me of a lot of Justin Beaver the UWW running back from a while back. All in all this is a really good team, looking forward to seeing them play vs a traditional power in a huge semi final game.

Mount Union

I believe from what I've seen this UMU team has taken a step forward on both sides of the ball from a year ago. But if I had to pick a side of the ball that has been more impressive I might have to go with the defense.. watching the game last year between Mount & NCC I couldn't help but feel like "this isn't the same Mount Union defense that we're used to". After watching the game vs Del Valley I think Mount is very close if not all the way back to being at that level again defensively. Gonna look into this one a little more before I decide on where to set the odds but right now it's gonna be close to a pick 'em in Alliance for me.

UMHB

Last year our team's performance vs Linfield was the turning point in our season and the 4th quarter comeback this last week vs Bethel where the Cru offense scored 24 unanswered had a very similar feel. I believe this offense is now where it was a year ago on our championship run.. our defense has gotten better and better all season & came up with some MASSIVE plays to stop Bethel. The turnovers were fantastic and something we've been lacking in big spots this season so that was good to see. I still wouldn't put this unit on the same level as our championship defense a year ago but given the youth and turnover I think it's about as much as I could've hoped for this season as a fan. They're good enough to give us a chance and that's all we can ask for.

NCC

I'm having a hard time getting a great feel for where this team is exactly because I've really only had the game vs Wheaton to examine and the other games haven't meant a whole lot. The game against Carnegie Melon was interesting as well.

My assessment of the offense is that they will once again have an elite run game and maybe the most athletic offensive line in D3 which is on par with the teams they've had the last few years. Luke Lehnen (QB) seems to be more involved in the run game this season & I would only expect him to take a step forward this season as a passer. Also I have not said this about many if any D3 players this year but I do believe Deangelo Hardy will have an NFL career.. so that never hurts to have on your team.

Defense, this is where I think NCC seems to have shored some things up. Particularly up front where they're elite against the run and rushing the passer.. I also wouldn't be surprised if they approach the UMHB offense with a little different game plan (maybe an umbrella coverage similar to Bethels) this go around. All in all NCC deserves to be the #1 team and as of now I'd probably have them listed as a field goal favorite or a little less.

Gonna be a fun weekend!

[D O.C.]

I felt last Saturday's game change when the CRU got that field goal for their 17th point.

[wildcat11]

I love it. Ever other play all you hear during the play is "holding!"

I listened to too much of these guys broadcast and they lie to themselves with homer eyes even when they are way ahead.  As a Wheaton fan I really love the other Christian Schools like Hope and Bethel, while often rooting for them when they are not playing Wheaton.  But with MHB I always ask myself is this really a Christian school?  The school does itself no favors with the announcers if it really is a Christian school.

LOL. Being a homer, or not a homer, is a tenet of Christianity?

Little lies or homer lies are lies.  Thus it is sin.

This is probably one of the more bizarre responses that I've read in all my years on these boards.  We (UW-W) have a pretty intense rivalry with the CRU even though we are not in the same conference.  What I can say is that very few places I've visited have the level of hospitality and genuine kindness that the folks have that work the games at the CRUthedral. Truthfully,  the folks working on behalf of D-III schools are great almost everywhere.  But the folks at UMHB seem to go above and beyond. In my interactions with the folks at UMHB, I believe they consistently show the love of Christ to others. I don't know why I felt the need to respond to this,  I guess I just don't like it when stuff like this is left out there.

One of our guys was seriously injured last year at UMHB, was hospitalized, and had to stay in Texas until he was healthy enough to travel.  The UMHB community took care  of our guy and his family like they were one of their own. The president of UMHB would even visit, they provided housing, helped raise money, provided food, comfort, support.  UMHB is a first class operation.

[Etchglow]

https://cruathletics.com/news/2022/12/5/general-randy-mann-to-reassume-role-as-umhbs-vice-president-for-athletics.aspx