FB: American Southwest Conference

[Warren Thompson]

Ralph:

Thanks for the information. Let's hope things in Seguin aren't as hinky as they appear to be.

[crufootball]

Well the first preview magazine is out so if you hadn't already been counting down the days till football season you can start now because its coming soon. Lindy's Sports Annual came out with an article mainly about Mt.Union and UW-Whitewater  but also mentioned Linfield, Wesley, and Trine.

Two ASC teams are ranked in their top 25 with UMHB ranked 10th and MC coming in at 20th.  The Williamette and and Hardin-Simmons game is listed as one of the "Big Ones" as well as the UMHB-HSU game.

The entire Top 25 is

1. UW-W
2. Mt. Union
3. Wesley
4. Linfield
5 Trine
6 Bethel
7 Delaware Valley
8 St. Johns
9 Wittenburg
10 UMHB
11 Ohio Northern
12 John's Hopkins
13 Central
14 St. John Fisher
15 North Central
16 Ithaca
17 Williamette
18 Thomas Moore
19 Monmouth
20 MC
21 Washington and Jefferson
22 Wartburg
23 Bridgewater
24 Otterbein
25 Augustana

Only 103 days till kickoff!

[Raider 68]

Thanks Crufootball for the 1st poll info for 2010!

[Pat Coleman]

I'm working on the preseason ranking for USA Today and I can say with absolute certainty that Trine and Bethel will not be in my top 10.

Bethel is about right in the spot where I am putting St. Thomas, though.

[Ralph Turner]

I'm working on the preseason ranking for USA Today and I can say with absolute certainty that Trine and Bethel will not be in my top 10.

Bethel is about right in the spot where I am putting St. Thomas, though.

No Tommies at all in their Top 25!

[Pat Coleman]

Well, they only have 20 starters back from last year's national quarterfinal team, so I can see how they might not make the cut.

[crufootball]

For the residents of Texas, the football bible (at least in my opinion anyway) Texas Football was released yesterday and did their typical two page story on the ASC. The main point of the article was about Quincy Daniels of UMHB and Feaster and Robbins of HSU are coming back for their 5th year.

They predicted the ASC would finish as
1. UMHB
2. HSU
3. Louisiana College
4. Mississippi College
5. McMurry
6. ETBU
7.HPU
8. SRSU
9. Texas Lutheran

[hsucowboyfan]

Hardin Simmons Offensive Tackle Koby Parker has been announced Pre-Season All American by College Sporting News and Offensive Guard Cody Honeycutt has been named Pre-Season All American by Lindy's.
Also their rankings have come out.
UMHB ranked 6th by sporting news and HSU 17
Lindy's has UMHB 10 and MC at 17
Williamette is ranked 17 which is HSU's second game....should be interesting!

Just getting fired up for football season...thought this was some good stuff for the ASC.
Also Dustin Davis of UMHB was mentioned AA in both.

[btyndall]

Does anyone out there feel mcmurry has a chance to be in the top 10 considering the incoming recruits they got this year?

[Pat Coleman]

Not in the preseason but come Oct. 31 if they're still undefeated I would say the Top 10 is a likely destination.

You might be overestimating the impact an incoming freshman can have on a college football team. A year of experience for last year's starters and backups will be a far greater factor on McMurry in 2010.

[Ralph Turner]

Does anyone out there feel mcmurry has a chance to be in the top 10 considering the incoming recruits they got this year?

Humbly, not at the beginning of the year.

If they go three rounds into the playoffs, then they may break into the Top 10.  McMurry's emergence in the Top 10 would probably be viewed many outsiders as a "down-year" for the ASC, considering how no ASC team other than UMHB and HSU has had respectful runs in the playoffs in the last 5-6 years.  (HSU was #1 seed in the bracket and then lost to UMHB in the second round in 2004.  HSU loses to UMHB in another "Bracketgate" game in 2008.)

Do I believe that Coach Mumme can do it?  Yes
Do I believe he can find and coach the talent?  Yes

I don't want to put those mythical expectations on a team that has not beaten HSU since the JFK adminstration and UMHB in more than decade.

Well Pat beat me to a response.

[Pat Coleman]

Based on the non-Division III non-conference schedule Mumme has put together, Oct. 31 is the very very earliest McMurry could prove it belongs in the top 10.

[Ralph Turner]

Based on the non-Division III non-conference schedule Mumme has put together, Oct. 31 is the very very earliest McMurry could prove it belongs in the top 10.

Trinity and Austin College elected not to renew the contracts with McMurry which had been 2-year deals.

This year, I do not think that there was the money to fly any place else.

The 2007 trip to Huntingdon was a one-year deal to fill an opening.  The key thing about that game and the 16-hour/832 mile bus trip was the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery.  It was a team experience that those players will never forget.

Colorado College, whom McMurry had played as a non-conference foe twice in the last decade, has given up football.

Menlo played McMurry four times in the last decade.  Menlo is gone to the NAIA!  (Why fly to the west coast for an NAIA game from now on?)

Of the 14 non-conference games that McMurry played in the 2000's, Menlo was 4, Austin College was 4, Colorado College was 2, Trinity was 2, William Jewell (which was NAIA back in 2000) and Huntingdon once. 

[Pat Coleman]

All the excuses are well and good but the fact remains that if McMurry has the Top 10 in its sights (or one McMurry fan does), we won't know for quite some time.

[crufootball]

Ralph do you happen to know when those contracts were decided? I see that Trinity replaced McM with Howard Payne and Austin replaced y'all from TLU so the easy analysis is they wanted an easier game since McM is on the way up but they might have made the decison before that was happening.