FB: American Southwest Conference

[cover2]

Interesting that Jonel Reed is not on the 2-deep considering his huge game last week. 

[Toby Taff]

As stated by 2001, Kyle Jones at QB throwing to T.J. Josey and Company! Saturday is going to be fun!

Game notes: http://cruathletics.com/documents/2017/9/29//Game_Notes_Southwestern_2017.pdf?id=1381

2016 T.J. Josey highlights: https://twitter.com/ThomasJosey11/status/885317452518895616

what i find most intriguing is the prospect of a WR pass off of a reverse or lateral.

[umhb2001]

Interesting that Jonel Reed is not on the 2-deep considering his huge game last week.

This has been happening quite a bit frequently. I think some positions are still very fluid. There is A LOT of talent on this team.

[crufootball]

Interesting that Jonel Reed is not on the 2-deep considering his huge game last week.

This has been happening quite a bit frequently. I think some positions are still very fluid. There is A LOT of talent on this team.

The Temple paper said that Josey was starting in place of an injured Jones Reed, going to be very interested to see if Josey still plays some QB.

[umhb2001]

"NOTES: Tonight's UMHB-Southwestern clash is the first in the programs' history. . . . Sophomore quarterback Kyle Jones will make his first career start for the Crusaders today. He replaces T.J. Josey, who will start at wide receiver in place of injured Jonel Reed"

http://www.tdtnews.com/sports/article_86e2f534-a5a6-11e7-a47c-cfda6f1d7204.html

[Toby Taff]

"NOTES: Tonight's UMHB-Southwestern clash is the first in the programs' history. . . . Sophomore quarterback Kyle Jones will make his first career start for the Crusaders today. He replaces T.J. Josey, who will start at wide receiver in place of injured Jonel Reed"

http://www.tdtnews.com/sports/article_86e2f534-a5a6-11e7-a47c-cfda6f1d7204.html

Wow. So many thoughts...Most not real good. Congrats to the D for once again dominating the game. Coming in SU averaged 510 yds/game. Tonight was 290 total. You put the only TDs on the board in the 1st half and had what looked like 2 picks taken away by the refs.
TJ looked good as a receiver 3 catches for 130 and 2 tds, but had an OPI penalty.
now the bad:
the run game. never thought i'd say that.18 carries for 12 yds? What the crap?!?. I get they were stacking the box and bring a lot of blitzes, but Jones took 4 sacks threw 2 picks and a couple of wobbling floaters that almost got picked. he basically scrambled into the arms of SU and gave 40 another reason to swing for the fences.  If that's the offense next week, it'll be a long ride back to belton.
Also bad 160yds in penalties: many after plays.

After sleeping on it I'll add that as a UMHB fan I relish in an embarrassment of success over the past 20 years. I try not to get down on a team that didn't look as good as normal and only won by 30+ points. This week is probably different because I am also an HSU alumni and next week is THE game. I can promise you HSU has this one circled and wants nothing more than to win.  I'm not in Abilene anymore, but the atmosphere created during UMHB week is palpable when you're around the players. I hope the Cru has the O-line and offense buttoned up because the Cowboy D will be hunting.
Toby aka CRUcowboy (UMHB always comes first)

[Kelly Boggs]

I concur with Toby's observations (+k CRUcowboy  ). Four games in and the UMHB offense remains an enigma. On the positive side of things, Kyle Jones threw for 397 yards (307 in the second half) - so there is that.

HSU vs UMHB is the Irresistible Force (HSU's eye-popping offensive numbers) vs the Immovable Object (UMHB's smothering defensive statistics). Saturday we will find out which one prevails.

Saturday's game has, for me, the same feel as the Linfield vs UMHB game played on Sept. 17 last year in Belton. UMHB had never beaten the Wildcats and was coming off a loss to Linfield in a game The CRU felt they should have won. UMHB circled Sept. 17 on the calendar and was salivating for a chance to take on Linfield and beat them.  The parallels are eerily similar: HSU has had little success since 2004 vs The CRU and is 6-16 all-time against UMHB (the Cowboys did win in Abilene during the 2015 regular season) and is convinced they should have won the game HSU lost 20-15 last year in Belton. The Cowboys have had this game circled, highlighted, underlined and with stars beside it. HSU is hungry to beat The CRU and would like nothing more, if possible, to embarrass UMHB.   

Observations from the Southwestern game: SU was a scrappy bunch and never quit against UMHB. They are well coached and play in GISD's wonderful facility. If Coach Austin stays at SU, the Pirates will be a team to be reckoned with in the future. 

The good: UMHB defense continues to impress. Kyle Jones in the second half - made some great throws. T.J. Joesy is a beast at WR. The crowd. There seemed to be more UMHB fans in attendance than Southwestern.
The not-so-good: UMHB offense, while it put up some impressive passing stats, continues to be an enigma. I still do not know what to think or expect each week from The CRU offense.
The ugly: Personal foul penalties. The CRU must clean it up!

HSU is playing really well right now. UMHB is, well, The CRU, so we will see what happens on Saturday. Irresistible Force meet Immovable Object! It should be a great game.

[Kelly Boggs]

Temple Daily Telegram report of UMHB vs Southwestern: http://www.tdtnews.com/sports/article_991250c4-a65f-11e7-8643-8b571bebc976.html

[DFWCrufan]

First off for me, the W, good bad pretty not pretty the W is the product played for. I have a whole different take, UMHB looked bored last night. No run game, no beating the line down as we usually do, Air Raid offense pass pass pass, I believe the guys got bored. Here is what I mean, as a coach I had multiple teams (Different sport but I'm talking psychology here) which went undefeated in the season. In our third year approaching the playoffs the players, you could see it in their eyes, were tired. Winning and winning without a sense of the pressure to lose can lull players into a sort of malaise, and that can spell disaster. 
Last nights game was Meh, it ended at 44, they squeaked in a TD in the fourth I would not call this a total disaster, next weeks game, I am confident both will be up for it.

Personal pet peeve, commentators who do the shiny my lil pony outlook equivalents to puff up their program. I had to watch the SW feed and got tired of hearing the "well if it weren't for the two fumble recoveries this would be a close game" Yeah, and if aliens from space landed to took the D line from UMHB up to their mother ship it would be a close game too, but that is not the case now is it? fact is, when SW recovered fumbles its great, bad for UMHB, just hate that, talk about the reality, not the coulda woulda shoulda. At least I don't see and asterisk next to the score meaning the first 13 points don't count because they were fumble recoveries.

[Toby Taff]

First off for me, the W, good bad pretty not pretty the W is the product played for. I have a whole different take, UMHB looked bored last night. No run game, no beating the line down as we usually do, Air Raid offense pass pass pass, I believe the guys got bored. Here is what I mean, as a coach I had multiple teams (Different sport but I'm talking psychology here) which went undefeated in the season. In our third year approaching the playoffs the players, you could see it in their eyes, were tired. Winning and winning without a sense of the pressure to lose can lull players into a sort of malaise, and that can spell disaster. 
Last nights game was Meh, it ended at 44, they squeaked in a TD in the fourth I would not call this a total disaster, next weeks game, I am confident both will be up for it.

Personal pet peeve, commentators who do the shiny my lil pony outlook equivalents to puff up their program. I had to watch the SW feed and got tired of hearing the "well if it weren't for the two fumble recoveries this would be a close game" Yeah, and if aliens from space landed to took the D line from UMHB up to their mother ship it would be a close game too, but that is not the case now is it? fact is, when SW recovered fumbles its great, bad for UMHB, just hate that, talk about the reality, not the coulda woulda shoulda. At least I don't see and asterisk next to the score meaning the first 13 points don't count because they were fumble recoveries.

I agree the win is the thing and that's the reason I try not to be that fan. you're might be right about the bored thing. I don't know. just a note for those it would have been different folks...it's still a 21 pt loss

[UMHB03]

The Crusaders need to get that offense, particularly the line, squared away before next Saturday (Captain Obvious, I know). I've never seen an offensive line that's as big as they are get pushed around by significantly smaller defenders like these guys do.

I love my Cru, but next week could be ugly. They haven't had an offensive performance yet this year that would be good enough to beat HSU. They'll have to get at least a couple of non-offensive scores to win this one.

[umhb2001]

So yesterday was a W, and that is always good.

Southwestern came to play, and their D through us for a loop. They really had a good first half. Their offense, though, just couldn't keep up. Our 1's and 2's were in their backfield all night.  At this point, they don't have the depth to compete with the upper tier of the ASC.

UMHB's D was outstanding. Domination on the line was evident early.

The offense was not great in the first half.  Here is why I believe this to have happened.

1. UMHB was looking ahead. They know what is at stake next week, and they realized they had to get some things solved.
2. KJ needed a lot of reps to get TJ back into the swing of things at WR. TJ looked good but out of sync in the first half.  In the second half, he was much more aware.  Self admittedly, KJ was nervous and buzzed. I think he will be better next week.
3. They didn't run the ball because I think that to be a no brainer.  Last week, Miller ton of reps and needed a break. They know they can run the ball; they just needed to get the passing game shored up.

HSU is giong to be much more prepared and able than Southwestern. Kelly was right, they've had this circled for a while and want to get back at us.   I think right now, the Cru needs to see the Cowboys as the favorite in the game: playing at home and playing better early sets that tone. I think this shoud give us a bit more of an edge.

I'll be making the trek next week. I think/hope we can come back with a win.

[Kelly Boggs]

No doubt UMHB at HSU is a big game, but it is not the playoffs. It is for the ASC title, bragging rights, and more importantly home field in the playoffs. I would also add that, to some degree, future recruiting is affected by the outcome of the game.

It is very likely the loser will travel to the winner in the first round. I would say possibly the second round, but HSU losing at home to Linfield in the first round last year probably killed that as a possibility.

[DFWCrufan]

Here is Coach's post game 200th Win interview... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS3tCIhK9ko

[Kelly Boggs]

I wish schools with severely limited seating capacity for visitors would make reserved seating available for the guest side, especially for big/rivalry games. As it stands now, many UMHB fans will arrive at HSU at least an hour - if not more - early in order to have a good seat. A word to the wise for any UMHB fans making the trip, if you show up 15 minutes before kickoff, you may not find a place to sit.