FB: American Southwest Conference

[umhb2001]

Completely dismayed by my Cru. I had my rear end chewed a few years ago for posting my displeasure, but really, we are better than this. By my count, quickly in my head BTW, in our last three playoff losses, our QB's are 19/53 with 288 yds 4 INT's and 1 TD. No good. And the decision to use ALL THREE TIMEOUTS IN THE THIRD??? I love Coach, but this decision and the one at the end last year to use a timeout and THEN kick the FG leave me shaing my head. Very strange.

A few things I see that need to be done next year:

1. Blake Jackson needs a shot at starter. His throws and running ability, including ball security, make him the clear favorite. His injury today really hurt, as he probably would have been in the game in that position there when Anderson threw the Int.

2. Duane Thompson has to run harder. He's bigger than Barrolle, but Barrolle ran with heart and passion. I don't see that in Thompson, and we missed that this year.

3. After looking so good all year, our DB's looked lost all game. Hopefully, a year's worth of development and offseason work will have them more prepared next year.

4. Finally, Baylor Mullins may be the best player on our team.

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

[Teamski]

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

We Wesley fans feel your pain!  Trust me on that.  Sorry to see the Cru lose today.

-Ski

[Cru Mike]

Completely dismayed by my Cru. I had my rear end chewed a few years ago for posting my displeasure, but really, we are better than this. By my count, quickly in my head BTW, in our last three playoff losses, our QB's are 19/53 with 288 yds 4 INT's and 1 TD. No good. And the decision to use ALL THREE TIMEOUTS IN THE THIRD??? I love Coach, but this decision and the one at the end last year to use a timeout and THEN kick the FG leave me shaing my head. Very strange.

A few things I see that need to be done next year:

1. Blake Jackson needs a shot at starter. His throws and running ability, including ball security, make him the clear favorite. His injury today really hurt, as he probably would have been in the game in that position there when Anderson threw the Int.

2. Duane Thompson has to run harder. He's bigger than Barrolle, but Barrolle ran with heart and passion. I don't see that in Thompson, and we missed that this year.

3. After looking so good all year, our DB's looked lost all game. Hopefully, a year's worth of development and offseason work will have them more prepared next year.

4. Finally, Baylor Mullins may be the best player on our team.

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

Completely agree. All year our running game has been lacking. We missed Elijah this year greatly. Play at QB seems to have regressed. Today our O line and D line were handled easily by Linfield. Linfield was clearly the better team. Baylor Mullins had a monster game and did all he could. The punt when the ball was snapped over his head was a great heads up play by Baylor. Our safeties could not, or would not, cover the receivers. They got chewed out several times by Fredenburg.
One day we need to find a way to get past WW, MTU and Linefield.

[D O.C.]

One of you mentioned on the d3 front page game review opinion section about Sam Riddle and DI. It's no secret.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/11/quarterback_sam_riddles_long_j.html

Hillsboro,OR, is about 20 miles from LINFIELD. The local stadium is named after our Canton Hall of Fame coach  Ad Rutschman.

[crufootball]

Completely dismayed by my Cru. I had my rear end chewed a few years ago for posting my displeasure, but really, we are better than this. By my count, quickly in my head BTW, in our last three playoff losses, our QB's are 19/53 with 288 yds 4 INT's and 1 TD. No good. And the decision to use ALL THREE TIMEOUTS IN THE THIRD??? I love Coach, but this decision and the one at the end last year to use a timeout and THEN kick the FG leave me shaing my head. Very strange.

A few things I see that need to be done next year:

1. Blake Jackson needs a shot at starter. His throws and running ability, including ball security, make him the clear favorite. His injury today really hurt, as he probably would have been in the game in that position there when Anderson threw the Int.

2. Duane Thompson has to run harder. He's bigger than Barrolle, but Barrolle ran with heart and passion. I don't see that in Thompson, and we missed that this year.

3. After looking so good all year, our DB's looked lost all game. Hopefully, a year's worth of development and offseason work will have them more prepared next year.

4. Finally, Baylor Mullins may be the best player on our team.

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

So many things could be said of this game but on the Coach Pete front I will come to his defense a little bit with this. If you stop and think about his coaching philosophy, neither one of the decisions you mention are surprising. As a defensive minded coach against UW-W he thought his defense would be able to get us the ball back with enough time to get in field goal range and win the game, didn't work out but there is logic behind it. This year, he thought his defense could stop Linfield 3 straight time, which they did, and force them to punt into a pretty strong wing and give our offense, which wasn't doing well, a better chance of scoring. Believe me I wish we could have some time-outs in the 4th but I also liked the 7 points that decision created.

As for everything else, I know you said you were tired of saying maybe next year but.....a lot of the issues you mentioned could be much improved next year.

First there will be a big QB battle, that is unless Blake is really hurt and misses some of next season, and heck even TJ Josey deserves a fighting chance.

As for our lack of a premier running back, are the RB's the problem or is it our o-line, I am not sure but I do know that our 2 deep was filled with young linemen that should be much more developed next season.

Our DB's did look lost today and actually if the Linfield receivers caught better today we lose by much more than 3, however it needs to be noted that Dana Taylor was out via suspension again today and I think that created a very thin DB core. That core though, other than Eric Allen who will be missed, did look good most of the year and should be back next year with a lot of game experience under their belt.

I don't think there is any question that Baylor Mullins is our best player and I would say its by a large margin. As the son of a coach I can only hope that he will spend the next 2 seasons being the unquestioned leader of our defense/team.

Lastly this hurts every year but I have been telling my friends for weeks that no matter what happens this season I was already excited about the potential of 2015. We will lose some playmakers but we are bringing back a lot of players that will go into the off-season mad about how this season ended.

[umhb2001]

Completely dismayed by my Cru. I had my rear end chewed a few years ago for posting my displeasure, but really, we are better than this. By my count, quickly in my head BTW, in our last three playoff losses, our QB's are 19/53 with 288 yds 4 INT's and 1 TD. No good. And the decision to use ALL THREE TIMEOUTS IN THE THIRD??? I love Coach, but this decision and the one at the end last year to use a timeout and THEN kick the FG leave me shaing my head. Very strange.

A few things I see that need to be done next year:

1. Blake Jackson needs a shot at starter. His throws and running ability, including ball security, make him the clear favorite. His injury today really hurt, as he probably would have been in the game in that position there when Anderson threw the Int.

2. Duane Thompson has to run harder. He's bigger than Barrolle, but Barrolle ran with heart and passion. I don't see that in Thompson, and we missed that this year.

3. After looking so good all year, our DB's looked lost all game. Hopefully, a year's worth of development and offseason work will have them more prepared next year.

4. Finally, Baylor Mullins may be the best player on our team.

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

So many things could be said of this game but on the Coach Pete front I will come to his defense a little bit with this. If you stop and think about his coaching philosophy, neither one of the decisions you mention are surprising. As a defensive minded coach against UW-W he thought his defense would be able to get us the ball back with enough time to get in field goal range and win the game, didn't work out but there is logic behind it. This year, he thought his defense could stop Linfield 3 straight time, which they did, and force them to punt into a pretty strong wing and give our offense, which wasn't doing well, a better chance of scoring. Believe me I wish we could have some time-outs in the 4th but I also liked the 7 points that decision created.

I completely understand the logic, but the seven point TD return on the punt is not a given, and, it could have come anywhere on the field. Our offense has scored quickly all year long. If we hadn't run the ball into their D so many times, shoot, I'd have liked to see an option called.

As for everything else, I know you said you were tired of saying maybe next year but.....a lot of the issues you mentioned could be much improved next year.

First there will be a big QB battle, that is unless Blake is really hurt and misses some of next season, and heck even TJ Josey deserves a fighting chance.

I agree, Josey looks really good, and I still believe Anderson could be, but I'd really like to see Blake. I hope his injury isn't serious.

As for our lack of a premier running back, are the RB's the problem or is it our o-line, I am not sure but I do know that our 2 deep was filled with young linemen that should be much more developed next season.

Our DB's did look lost today and actually if the Linfield receivers caught better today we lose by much more than 3, however it needs to be noted that Dana Taylor was out via suspension again today and I think that created a very thin DB core. That core though, other than Eric Allen who will be missed, did look good most of the year and should be back next year with a lot of game experience under their belt.

This lesson should have been learned last year with Silvio Diaz. Two years in a row of guys selfishly serving themselves and not putting the team first.

I don't think there is any question that Baylor Mullins is our best player and I would say its by a large margin. As the son of a coach I can only hope that he will spend the next 2 seasons being the unquestioned leader of our defense/team.

Lastly this hurts every year but I have been telling my friends for weeks that no matter what happens this season I was already excited about the potential of 2015. We will lose some playmakers but we are bringing back a lot of players that will go into the off-season mad about how this season ended.

[DE Wesley Fan]

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

We Wesley fans feel your pain!  Trust me on that.  Sorry to see the Cru lose today.

-Ski

You've got that right! I know the Cru will be back strong again next year, but that you're sick of ending every year hearing it (as are we).

Congrats to Linfield on today's win, and please know the east coast sends you and Mr. Moore's family love and prayers.

[UMHB03]

As I said when the pairings came out, the NCAA should be ashamed that they created a situation in which either of these top ten teams would have to be eliminated after the SECOND ROUND. They should have to stand face to face with the seniors of the losing team (UMHB, as it turns out) and explain to them why saving a few bucks on ONE additional flight was worth ending their football careers at least 1-2 games prematurely. It's a disgrace that the NCAA puts so little emphasis on rewarding excellent seasons, and is willing to treat two of it's best D3 programs so unfairly and inequitably all for the sake of the almighty dollar.

I hope that the NCAA will eventually start showing a bit more character and integrity when making decisions about post season pairings, but I won't hold my breath. The hard work that these kids put into producing a great season means nothing to them. It's all about the money.

Rant over.

[zipmac22]

I may not alway agree with Coach Pete, but I fully stand behind Coach Pete not caving in when a player (in this case Dana Taylor) breaks team rules. I hope that the players will think long and hard before they decide to do something that affects the whole team. The team really could of used Taylor, but it appears that he thought he was more important than the team.

We now have all of the off season to work on areas that need attention i.e.: opening up the QB slot, make the QB earn his position every week if need be so there's not a feeling of being too relaxed. Develop a solid running game so that it opens up the passing game. The O-Line being able to hold their ground and not allow the D such easy access to our backfield. The D-Line to be able to get into the backfield and put pressure on the QB every play.

I think without a doubt that Baylor Mullins is the team's MVP. I'd love to see him used with the wildcat. Mullins has a lot of natural talent and he's a threat both running and throwing!

[Ralph Turner]

As I said when the pairings came out, the NCAA should be ashamed that they created a situation in which either of these top ten teams would have to be eliminated after the SECOND ROUND. They should have to stand face to face with the seniors of the losing team (UMHB, as it turns out) and explain to them why saving a few bucks on ONE additional flight was worth ending their football careers at least 1-2 games prematurely. It's a disgrace that the NCAA puts so little emphasis on rewarding excellent seasons, and is willing to treat two of it's best D3 programs so unfairly and inequitably all for the sake of the almighty dollar.

I hope that the NCAA will eventually start showing a bit more character and integrity when making decisions about post season pairings, but I won't hold my breath. The hard work that these kids put into producing a great season means nothing to them. It's all about the money.

Rant over.

Please remember. In the NAIA, the individual school pays for the post-season.  In D3, the NCAA picks up the tab.  For the sake of the D3 budget, the NCAA would do better if the ASC and SCAC as currently constructed went to the NAIA.

[wesleydad]

As I said when the pairings came out, the NCAA should be ashamed that they created a situation in which either of these top ten teams would have to be eliminated after the SECOND ROUND. They should have to stand face to face with the seniors of the losing team (UMHB, as it turns out) and explain to them why saving a few bucks on ONE additional flight was worth ending their football careers at least 1-2 games prematurely. It's a disgrace that the NCAA puts so little emphasis on rewarding excellent seasons, and is willing to treat two of it's best D3 programs so unfairly and inequitably all for the sake of the almighty dollar.

I hope that the NCAA will eventually start showing a bit more character and integrity when making decisions about post season pairings, but I won't hold my breath. The hard work that these kids put into producing a great season means nothing to them. It's all about the money.

Rant over.

I understand your rant, but it is nothing new.  A few years ago Linfield was flown to Dover to play Wesley in round 2 and at the time it seemed unfair especially since Linfield was undefeated.  There seemed to be no reason for it at all, but it happened.  In the end you have to beat good teams to win it all, what round you beat them in should not matter.  It is what it is.  I doubt the seniors think they got ripped off because they played Linfield in round 2, I would hope that they are disgusted/angry with the performance in their last game of their college careers.

[DFWCrufan]

Completely dismayed by my Cru. I had my rear end chewed a few years ago for posting my displeasure, but really, we are better than this. By my count, quickly in my head BTW, in our last three playoff losses, our QB's are 19/53 with 288 yds 4 INT's and 1 TD. No good. And the decision to use ALL THREE TIMEOUTS IN THE THIRD??? I love Coach, but this decision and the one at the end last year to use a timeout and THEN kick the FG leave me shaing my head. Very strange.

A few things I see that need to be done next year:

1. Blake Jackson needs a shot at starter. His throws and running ability, including ball security, make him the clear favorite. His injury today really hurt, as he probably would have been in the game in that position there when Anderson threw the Int.

2. Duane Thompson has to run harder. He's bigger than Barrolle, but Barrolle ran with heart and passion. I don't see that in Thompson, and we missed that this year.

3. After looking so good all year, our DB's looked lost all game. Hopefully, a year's worth of development and offseason work will have them more prepared next year.

4. Finally, Baylor Mullins may be the best player on our team.

I'm so tired of saying maybe next year and I hope ________ wins the Stagg since we were beat by them, but insert it here.

We have to give Linfield all of the credit, they came, they played and will advance, In my mind to stagg Vs. Wesley...so as cru fans we have to look forward to next season.

Yes. blowing TO's in the third is a wtf move...especially when one was used with seconds left on the third quarter clock.

I said it at the beginning of this season and have to again voice it, Zach should be challenged by Blake and AJ Tosey as well, And there are a few others in the pipeline who have state level QB experience and they should be looked at. Zach Just looks as though he is in a fog much of the game with moments of brilliance and from the playoffs of 2013 has seemed to slip into a inconsistent play nature.

Duane I think is in a circumstance with his QB, so I don't believe he has no heart or passion.

I too stand with Coach on the rule stand, cave for one means caving later for many more and then you become a laughing stock.

[GillCJ1]

I understand your rant, but it is nothing new.  A few years ago Linfield was flown to Dover to play Wesley in round 2 and at the time it seemed unfair especially since Linfield was undefeated.  There seemed to be no reason for it at all, but it happened.  In the end you have to beat good teams to win it all, what round you beat them in should not matter.  It is what it is.  I doubt the seniors think they got ripped off because they played Linfield in round 2, I would hope that they are disgusted/angry with the performance in their last game of their college careers.

Agreed with this.  Bemoaning the NCAA and its pairings doesn't do much good.  You have to play (and beat) every team that comes before you, whether it's a potential quarter/semifinal game in the second round or not.  I love my Cru, but the fact remains we have a terrible record against UMU, UWW and Linfield.  All 3 of those teams remain in the elite ranks, and until we can find ways to beat them (aside from our lone victory over UMU in the snow) we just need to keep grinding.  It will happen eventually.

Coach Pete is a fantastic coach.  I really hope he's able to win a Stagg before he retires.

[Kelly Boggs]

Hats off to Linfield, they came, they saw, they conquered. They just whipped UMHB on Saturday. Not much else to be said. I wish the Wildcats well next week as they travel to take on Widener.

Thanks to The CRU for yet another great season. Yes, it was a disappointing loss, more so for the players and coaches than we fans. After all the hard work - the blood, the sweat, the tears - to come up short has to be very tough to swallow. However, everyone associated with the team exhibited class and character in the face of adversity. This alumnus is CRU-proud.

UMHB will be back and The CRU will be one of the teams in all of D3 with which to be reckoned next year. For the UMHB football,program, the best is yet to come! UP with the PURPLE!

[George Thompson]

Crusader fans,

You played a hard-fought game.   You were by far the toughest team we have seen this year.  I do have great admiration for your coach.    Very few coaches are that honorable.   

I am sure we will meet again and I will again be a nervous wreck. 

George
A Linfield fan