FB: American Southwest Conference

[Toby Taff]

It's still 69-21 now 76-21. reserves have played most of the 2nd. Springer has been picked 3 times. SRSU has 277 total yds to UMHBs 734. SRSU 78 on the ground Cru 355 on 60 carries.

I guess we can put the Sully's on the rise talks to bed.

[Toby Taff]

Springer is now on the bench

[umhbalum]

I think we can conclude that

UMHB is very good!

Sul Ross is about the same as always, maybe a bit better this year

Trinity is and was overrated

[umhb2001]

Bailey, first 300 yd passing game for UMHB. Very balanced attack for the Cru! So good to see.

[Kelly Boggs]

LC was a little sloppy and sluggish in the first half today, but got it together in the second half.

[wesleydad]

going on record early, UMHB may be the best team in the country.  the wesley game will be the only close game they have until likely the quarter finals when they play them again unless both teams are lucky and they are in different regions.  if they continue to be able to throw the ball very few teams have the athletes to shut both the run and pass down.

[umhb2001]

Sul Ross is awesome. 

Trinity will be ready for UMHB without a doubt.  UMHB will be flat coming off their big win today and with the knowledge that Trinity got dominated by a perennial ASC bottom feeder.  The game in San Antonio will be a very tough one and I can't think there's a clear favorite considering the circumstances.  The Crusaders probably are the superior team, but again- the circumstances.

After playing Trinity, UMHB gets Sul Ross and that is going to be the end of a murderous three game stretch for the Crusaders.  A whipping of today's proportion is not a fluke and no upset.  You can only do that to a team like Trinity if you have superior athletes/players, which Sul Ross Apparently all of a sudden has. Trinity could apparently do nothing to help themselves on defense.  I can see Sul Ross beating UMHB coming off the bye and then running the table in the ASC.

Where you at? JK, I know where you are coming from, but seriously, I think this is the most balanced team UMHB has had. This season is very interesting.

[evacuee]

I'm right here.

When I thought about posting last week I realized I couldn't contribute anything that hadn't already been said.  Seems to me that most people are surprised, as am I, that the Cru is this good and that Trinity has been so mediocre.  The gap between the contenders and the next level is and has been far too wide to cross for about six years and it appears that yet another purple school has found themselves way, way above the rest.  Hopefully they'll get to Salem. 

[umhb2001]

I'm right here.

When I thought about posting last week I realized I couldn't contribute anything that hadn't already been said.  Seems to me that most people are surprised, as am I, that the Cru is this good and that Trinity has been so mediocre.  The gap between the contenders and the next level is and has been far too wide to cross for about six years and it appears that yet another purple school has found themselves way, way above the rest.  Hopefully they'll get to Salem.

I see you TU2698, and I'm just playing. +1 to ya! It's a long season and many games yet to get through AND get through in good health. After watching the Cru since 98, this is the most balanced team, even more so than '04, so we'll see. I'm excited. The key for the Cru is getting everyone healthy, growing the underclassman, and becoming even better. Sounds simple, but they are young and will only continue to grow at very key positions.

[umhb2001]

Great highlight video from the LC vs. Wesley game: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lCitrQjqB-Q
Check it out.

[Kelly Boggs]

Good stuff, umhb2001. I had not seen the video. Thanks for posting.

[crufootball]

Very impressive videos, not only good quality but the speed at which they get them online since they posted a video about the HPU game on Saturday.

[Ron Boerger]

Good discussion of MC's impending departure (and impact on ASC, SCAC, and the national picture] just after the 55:30 mark of this week's Around the Nation podcast.

[Toby Taff]

An article in the temple paper talks about the MC situation with regard to UMHB. You have to subscribe to read the article, but here are some interesting excerps:

"I think it's unfortunate. I think it's what (MC) considers to be in their best interest, and certainly we have to do what's in our best interest," Fredenburg said during his weekly news conference Monday. "We're going to develop a plan. I talked to (Dr. Randy O'Rear, UMHB president) Saturday, and we're all concerned.

"We have to develop a plan to protect us and what's in our best interest. We certainly feel like we've done a nice job of developing this program, and we want to continue."

"The schools in Texas, we're going to have to find a way to work together," O'Rear said. "Having two conferences in the state and neither one having an AQ would not make any sense."

"UMHB has no interest in going to Division II," the president said. "There has been some speculation for a while about us going to DII, and I think it centers around the stadium being built. But we feel like DIII is a great fit for us philosophically.

"I can't say UMHB will never go DII, but it's not our priority. We've never had a discussion about it."

UMHB athletic director Randy Mann had the same sentiments.

"It would be a total philosophy reversal for us, so my gut feeling is to say we won't go to Division II," Mann said. "You can never say for sure because of what's happening. Going to DII, though, is not our first option."

[Ralph Turner]

An article in the temple paper talks about the MC situation with regard to UMHB. You have to subscribe to read the article, but here are some interesting excerpts:

"The schools in Texas, we're going to have to find a way to work together," O'Rear said. "Having two conferences in the state and neither one having an AQ would not make any sense."

Questions from the internet fandom:

1)  Mr O'Rear, for the other schools in the ASC, when was the last time that someone other than UMHB won a conference championship?  (Just how old were the current crop of freshmen when that happened?)

2)  You have poured millions of dollars into your athletic program and facilities (including basketball/volleyball).  Other schools in Texas have not had the resources or the institutional goals to put that much money into the athletic resources that UMHB has.  Has UMHB de-stabilized the ASC with this financial commitment to its program and facilities?

3)  From the perspective of the other schools in Texas, is this a recognition that mission and vision for D-III athletics for numerous schools is different from what UMHB wants to have?

4)  From the perspective of the other D-III schools in Texas, can I find 6-7 other football playing schools whose mission and vision are different from the way that UMHB has gone in the last 5-10 years? 

5)  Under the ongoing operations of the ASC, as it will likely be constituted without McMurry, Mississippi College, Texas Lutheran (and Schreiner), what is the likelihood that I can win the football AQ in a conference with UMHB? 

6)  If I see very little prospect of winning the AQ in the ASC, why not create my own football-playing conference with like-minded institutions?