FB: American Southwest Conference

[Kelly Boggs]

Dennis Dunn will have had two weeks to prepare for UMHB, so I expect to see everything plus the kitchen sink thrown at The CRU. They had better be ready play. LC will give them their best shot.

TLU will also have two weeks to prepare The CRU.

UMHB needs to play with CRUtensity the remainder of the season.

UP with the PURPLE!

[umhb2001]

Apparently they've lost two of their wide receivers, and without a dominant RB, I think they will be in trouble. I suspect we are deeper and have greater conditioning. I expect a hard fight from LC, but we should be able to handle them pretty well.

[crufootball]

You would think the writer of the Temple Daily Telegram was reading this board by what was in today article about UMHB.

Started off talking about prepping for LC which is going to be difficult since they will have had 2 weeks and are always unpredictable.

Followed that up saying we had to work on our kicking game both with bad snaps and the fact that we are missing them. Coach Pete also commented that  we are having trouble with snaps for the offense which is almost always when someone lines up on the center so they will be practicing more on that.

Interesting fact that was pointed out by the paper was that Saturdays game will be the 200th game in UMHB history and that they have won 164 of them so far.

In terms of the LC game, while anything can happen if LC is truly without the two wide receivers mentioned earlier, they are really going to have to find some magic to stay in the game. Coach Dunn is a great coach but they don't seem to have much of a running game this year and if those receivers are gone for the rest of the year not only could the UMHB game be a task for them but the rest of the season might be too.

[Kelly Boggs]

I watched LC play TLU. Neither team is particularly large and while they do have some good athletes and speed at certain positions, the team speed does not compare to UMHB's. On paper, this game should not be close. However, in recent years LC has risen to the occasion a few times to give UMHB all it could handle. If The CRU comes out focused and plays to its potential, UMHB will leave no doubt on Saturday.

I have the utmost respect for Coach Dennis Dunn and his staff. What he has done in making LC competitive is nothing short of miraculous. I also know he will throw everything his imagination can come up at The CRU in order to keep UMHB off balance. Nothing LC will do on Saturday will surprise me.

Looks like great weather for Homecoming. I hope the CRU Nation will turn out in large numbers and be CRUproud and CRUloud!

UP with the PURPLE!

[umhb2001]

Don't forget the UMHB coaches shows airs at 6:30 tonight. I posed a question about the new RB Duane Thompson. I hope we get more answers.

[umhb2001]

No word on the RB last night on the UMHB Coaches Radio show but the kicking game was discussed greatly.

Sounds like the Cru are expecting everything to be thrown at them this week against LC. Should be a fun, homecoming weekend.

[umhb2001]

Not a great game for the Cru today, but the stage is set for next Saturday in Seguin.

Coach Dunn put his team in the hole early with the attempted onside kick. I know he wanted to catch us off guard, but it felt desperate. He should have trusted the plan and his guys. They played well enough to have a chance at the end, but going behind the 8 ball early left them hanging.

Melancon played well with what he got, hitting guys well in stride when openings were there. If they had a run game, LC would have caused trouble.

UMHB can't be happy with their performance today. I don't know if it was "prevent offense", not wanting TLU to see something, or a step back, as they seemed to let go of the throttle after going up comfortably. The freshman running back didn't get going, and our D looked awful against the pass. Too many yards given up and not taking advantage of opportunities to intercept the ball.

Coach Fred can't be happy, and I look forward to tomorrow's article.

[zipmac22]

I agree, The Cru did not have their normal zip out on the field, both the offense and defense. The special teams did a pretty good job for the most part.

Coach Fredenburg kept Anderson in the game too long in my opinion. Once Jackson got into the game things seemed to flow better. Since Coach Fredenburg had given the QB's more responsibility and make any changes as they see fit. It seemed that Anderson was having a hard time reading the defenses and was slow developing the plays. The exchange (snap) between the center and QB is still a problem. There were way too many ankle high as well as on the ground snaps. Why do we continue to keep running the ball up the middle? Could it be as UMHB2001 stated and didn't want to show our hand to TLC for our game next week?

The Cru showed some great play, but we need to clean up our play. If we have another week next week like today we might not be as lucky. I don't think it will take much for TLU to bring their A-Game, and if they get some breaks or chances they very well may take The Cru to task.

[Toby Taff]

I agree, The Cru did not have their normal zip out on the field, both the offense and defense. The special teams did a pretty good job for the most part.

Coach Fredenburg kept Anderson in the game too long in my opinion. Once Jackson got into the game things seemed to flow better. Since Coach Fredenburg had given the QB's more responsibility and make any changes as they see fit. It seemed that Anderson was having a hard time reading the defenses and was slow developing the plays. The exchange (snap) between the center and QB is still a problem. There were way too many ankle high as well as on the ground snaps. Why do we continue to keep running the ball up the middle? Could it be as UMHB2001 stated and didn't want to show our hand to TLC for our game next week?

The Cru showed some great play, but we need to clean up our play. If we have another week next week like today we might not be as lucky. I don't think it will take much for TLU to bring their A-Game, and if they get some breaks or chances they very well may take The Cru to task.

I get the sentiment, but I don't think any part of that game was lucky. Were there hiccups? Yes. Was it ugly at times, yes, but other than the one I'll thought into by Anderson, the passing game was OK. Over 50% and 3 TDs with some big time throws will get it done. What I thought was odd was the number of times we rushed 3 on defense so there was not much pressure on the QB. Their o line was solid, but i think the d could have pressured  more. Melancon had all day and part of tomorrow to find receivers. The DBs played good for the most part, and broke a good number of well thrown passes. Melancon was under 50% and threw 77 times;odds say you're putting up some yards when you're chucking it down field that much.  As for the run game, I got nothing. It seemed like LC was determined to stop the run, even when they were getting burned with the long ball, but UMHB still managed 200 on the ground. I'll sum it up this way... there's plenty to work on (especially snapping the dang ball) and it was ugly, but LC still got monkey stomped.

Just looked at the box score. The secondary had 30 pass breakups. That seems pretty solid to me

[Kelly Boggs]

Just getting home from Central Texas. Lackluster performance by UMHB today. The CRU has a lot of work to do if they are going to make a serious run in the playoffs. The poor snaps have to be corrected. The more I think about it, the low snaps throw the timing off of whatever the play call happens to be.

Next week at Texas Lutheran should prove interesting.

[crufootball]

I agree, The Cru did not have their normal zip out on the field, both the offense and defense. The special teams did a pretty good job for the most part.

Coach Fredenburg kept Anderson in the game too long in my opinion. Once Jackson got into the game things seemed to flow better. Since Coach Fredenburg had given the QB's more responsibility and make any changes as they see fit. It seemed that Anderson was having a hard time reading the defenses and was slow developing the plays. The exchange (snap) between the center and QB is still a problem. There were way too many ankle high as well as on the ground snaps. Why do we continue to keep running the ball up the middle? Could it be as UMHB2001 stated and didn't want to show our hand to TLC for our game next week?

The Cru showed some great play, but we need to clean up our play. If we have another week next week like today we might not be as lucky. I don't think it will take much for TLU to bring their A-Game, and if they get some breaks or chances they very well may take The Cru to task.

I get the sentiment, but I don't think any part of that game was lucky. Were there hiccups? Yes. Was it ugly at times, yes, but other than the one I'll thought into by Anderson, the passing game was OK. Over 50% and 3 TDs with some big time throws will get it done. What I thought was odd was the number of times we rushed 3 on defense so there was not much pressure on the QB. Their o line was solid, but i think the d could have pressured  more. Melancon had all day and part of tomorrow to find receivers. The DBs played good for the most part, and broke a good number of well thrown passes. Melancon was under 50% and threw 77 times;odds say you're putting up some yards when you're chucking it down field that much.  As for the run game, I got nothing. It seemed like LC was determined to stop the run, even when they were getting burned with the long ball, but UMHB still managed 200 on the ground. I'll sum it up this way... there's plenty to work on (especially snapping the dang ball) and it was ugly, but LC still got monkey stomped.

Just looked at the box score. The secondary had 30 pass breakups. That seems pretty solid to me

Couldn't agree more, also I have to wonder if some of the fire of the Cru was put out when they got up 24-0 before the end of the 1st quarter. It is not a good excuse but hard to imagine that some of the players didn't take their foot of the gas when they were up by a large margin.

[DFWCrufan]

Great points all.. I noticed something sitting in the stands, at least in my area, and I know the crowd does not measure the players zeal, but.. once we were up comfortably the crowd got comfortable as well. It was like, "we look at the board and aren't worried we were up by 20+" and could that safe comfort be generated from the bench? Not the coaching staff mind you, but looking at the numbers and saying, we got this, just play to that level instead of play to excellence all the way through?. LC came to play and everyone has to give them credit, We came out gangbusters and ended almost sleepy it would seem. one other thought was perhaps since we have entered League play, keep yourself healthy...get out there and then play safe...perhaps.. I dunno...But none the less it was a solid win, there was no doubt
I SO look forward to next week....

[DFWCrufan]

Anyone catch the ETBU/HPU game.. I just got tweets can you believe that one.

[umhb2001]

Great points all.. I noticed something sitting in the stands, at least in my area, and I know the crowd does not measure the players zeal, but.. once we were up comfortably the crowd got comfortable as well. It was like, "we look at the board and aren't worried we were up by 20+" and could that safe comfort be generated from the bench? Not the coaching staff mind you, but looking at the numbers and saying, we got this, just play to that level instead of play to excellence all the way through?. LC came to play and everyone has to give them credit, We came out gangbusters and ended almost sleepy it would seem. one other thought was perhaps since we have entered League play, keep yourself healthy...get out there and then play safe...perhaps.. I dunno...But none the less it was a solid win, there was no doubt
I SO look forward to next week....

UMHB has a few things against it when it comes to fans.

Many are older with no affiliation to the school other than it's Texas and they love football. UMHB is a great team with an amazing track record. This brings people in who enjoy football. They don't want to be loud unless it is really important (4th down, third down, or such). One year in the playoffs, a gentleman with his binoculars was sitting toward the top of the stands at Tiger Field. Having not purchased my regular seats on time, I ended up sitting near him. He asked me to stop whistling and stomping because it jostled his binoculars and the whistling hurt his ears. That's one issue...

Secondly, the heat seemed to take it out of the fans Sat. Night games breed higher attendance, higher attendance noise.

Thirdly, the percentage of students that attend as compared to those who are enrolled is probably low.

Finally, did I mention the older fan base?

[umhb2001]

According to the paper today, the head ref for the game Saturday was Wayne Elliot, the referee for the Seattle vs Green Bay game in 2012 when Seattle won on what should have been an interception.