FB: American Southwest Conference

[CruGuy]

I wanted to do this now while it's still fresh in my head. It's one of those things that's good for arguing about in Feb/ March when the board gets slow. These are my personal rankings, not necessarily dependent on points scored or even yards accrued, but what I saw with my eyes, when I watched the game live and in person. UMHB's Opponents ranked and separated by tier:

1.  St John's

2.  Mt. Union
3.  Hardin Simmons
4.  UWW

5.  TLU
6.  ETBU
7.  Southwestern

8.  Berry
9.  Louisiana College

10. HPU
11. McM
12. Belhaven
13. SRSU

14. Albright

[DFWCrufan]

I wanted to do this now while it's still fresh in my head. It's one of those things that's good for arguing about in Feb/ March when the board gets slow. These are my personal rankings, not necessarily dependent on points scored or even yards accrued, but what I saw with my eyes, when I watched the game live and in person. UMHB's Opponents ranked and separated by tier:

1.  St John's

2.  Mt. Union
3.  Hardin Simmons
4.  UWW

5.  TLU
6.  ETBU
7.  Southwestern

8.  Berry
9.  Louisiana College

10. HPU
11. McM
12. Belhaven
13. SRSU

14. Albright

If I were rating them it would be a bit different I'd say Belhaven was tougher than McMurry and HPU - The HSU/UW-W question to me is a toughy I respect both programs so it is hard to say one is over the other in a ranking format and I'm not ready to say they were far below UMU but I would, if you had to ,rank it'd be  UMU/ UW-W and HSU. Albright drew the nasty straw of being first pigeon so it's hard to say they were worse in ranking than McMurry who had time to develop their game, first outings are always a mess.

[DFWCrufan]

Got the replay...thanks!  Just noticed the MU players giving the "horns down" sign after their first touchdown.  Not sure what that is supposed to mean.  That would be like the UMHB players disrespecting Ohio State when they score.  Kind of funny.

Horns down.. that's funny... seeing that we have nothing in common with that other school except geographic location.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Congrats to UMHB for a fine season. 

Hope our program can one day reach that pinnacle.

[CruGuy]

I wanted to do this now while it's still fresh in my head. It's one of those things that's good for arguing about in Feb/ March when the board gets slow. These are my personal rankings, not necessarily dependent on points scored or even yards accrued, but what I saw with my eyes, when I watched the game live and in person. UMHB's Opponents ranked and separated by tier:

1.  St John's

2.  Mt. Union
3.  Hardin Simmons
4.  UWW

5.  TLU
6.  ETBU
7.  Southwestern

8.  Berry
9.  Louisiana College

10. HPU
11. McM
12. Belhaven
13. SRSU

14. Albright

If I were rating them it would be a bit different I'd say Belhaven was tougher than McMurry and HPU - The HSU/UW-W question to me is a toughy I respect both programs so it is hard to say one is over the other in a ranking format and I'm not ready to say they were far below UMU but I would, if you had to ,rank it'd be  UMU/ UW-W and HSU. Albright drew the nasty straw of being first pigeon so it's hard to say they were worse in ranking than McMurry who had time to develop their game, first outings are always a mess.

I wouldn't get too upset about any argument about teams that I put in the same tier. I applied the 500 mile bus ride adjustment to our game @Belhaven. I know that component makes it really difficult to judge anything that Belhaven does in this conference. I just looked, and in that tier HPU had a win and two different one point losses (and the kicker missed an extra point in both one point losses).

[D O.C.]

FWIW, I do not think the best H.S. team in the country could have beaten the Crusaders this season. 

[QB Jock Itch]

Has anyone seen the post game interviews for the last 2 games?

[SaintsFAN]

1.  St John's

2.  Mt. Union
3.  Hardin Simmons
4.  UWW

I'm just not buying this. I commend you for trying but Mt. Union/SJU/Whitewater are just below UMHB's tier in 2018.  Hardin Simmons would be in the next group following that elite tier with teams like North Central and St Thomas.  These other teams scored TD's and challenged the Cru defense.

As a voter, I had hoped HSU would get a shot outside of Texas... because I wasn't really sure where to rank them all year long.  To me, not impressive at UMHB and then the rest of the conference was down.. so I never got a feel for their potential.

[CruGuy]

If you think St Johns and UWW are in the same tier, that's fine, I'm telling you that Hardin Simmons is in that tier with those teams. Hardin Simmons is the most balanced team of those four. They can run, they can pass, they can defend the run, they can defend the pass. Losing their All American Running Back the week before their first meeting with UMHB didn't help. Game flow this season didn't help them.  But too say those other teams scored TD's and challenged the CRU defense is a categorical mischaracterization of what happened here by someone who is scouting the box score and not watching the game.

[SaintsFAN]

If you think St Johns and UWW are in the same tier, that's fine, I'm telling you that Hardin Simmons is in that tier with those teams. Hardin Simmons is the most balanced team of those four. They can run, they can pass, they can defend the run, they can defend the pass. Losing their All American Running Back the week before their first meeting with UMHB didn't help. Game flow this season didn't help them.  But too say those other teams scored TD's and challenged the CRU defense is a categorical mischaracterization of what happened here by someone who is scouting the box score and not watching the game.

I watched the games.  They aren't close to St. Johns, UWW and Mount Union in my opinoin. 

Sorry, sir.  I just don't see what you are seeing. 

EDIT:  Game flow is part of the game.  I understand they lost their RB... but thats a reality.  Thats how I judge them... how they played.  Not potentially what they could've been.  Thats a dangerous slope.

[Ralph Turner]

If you think St Johns and UWW are in the same tier, that's fine, I'm telling you that Hardin Simmons is in that tier with those teams. Hardin Simmons is the most balanced team of those four. They can run, they can pass, they can defend the run, they can defend the pass. Losing their All American Running Back the week before their first meeting with UMHB didn't help. Game flow this season didn't help them.  But too say those other teams scored TD's and challenged the CRU defense is a categorical mischaracterization of what happened here by someone who is scouting the box score and not watching the game.

That is my assessment of the season.

[SaintsFAN]

If you think St Johns and UWW are in the same tier, that's fine, I'm telling you that Hardin Simmons is in that tier with those teams. Hardin Simmons is the most balanced team of those four. They can run, they can pass, they can defend the run, they can defend the pass. Losing their All American Running Back the week before their first meeting with UMHB didn't help. Game flow this season didn't help them.  But too say those other teams scored TD's and challenged the CRU defense is a categorical mischaracterization of what happened here by someone who is scouting the box score and not watching the game.

That is my assessment of the season.

Right... but that happened.  I get it.  That sucks.  You feel for the kid.  I suffered an injury that cost me half a season too.. I get it. 

But you can't say 2018 HSU was on the same level with Mount Union/WW/St. Johns with a caveat about an injury

[crufootball]

Has anyone seen the post game interviews for the last 2 games?

If video is out there I haven't found it but the audio can be found at http://www.listencentraltexassports.com/unnecessary-roughness-podcasts/

[QB Jock Itch]

Has anyone seen the post game interviews for the last 2 games?

If video is out there I haven't found it but the audio can be found at http://www.listencentraltexassports.com/unnecessary-roughness-podcasts/

Thanks

[CruGuy]

Right... but that happened.  I get it.  That sucks.  You feel for the kid.  I suffered an injury that cost me half a season too.. I get it. 

But you can't say 2018 HSU was on the same level with Mount Union/WW/St. Johns with a caveat about an injury

I just went to do a stat sanity-check on my opinion. I left off St John, because in my original post I had them a tier above. Here is Yards Gained, Yards Gained Per Play, Yards Allowed, and Yards allowed per play against UMHB. I used the HSU playoff game from two months after the injury so they have no excuse for losing the best RB and maybe best offensive player in D-III.

     YG     YGPP     YA     YAPP

   303     (4.1)      303    (5.0)
   315     (4.3)      237    (5.0)
   261     (4.7)      312    (4.9)


Please tell me which of these three teams doesn't belong and is significantly worse than the other two.