FB: American Southwest Conference

[Etchglow]

Honestly, that game kind of went the way I was thinking it would with Belhaven holding the ball and trying to run it like crazy. Defense did pretty good when stopping the run considering they have 3 rushers with over 500 yards of rushing. Belhaven was averaging 267 yards of rushing per game and the Cru held them to 100 even though they held the ball for 39 minutes.

You could tell the offense weren't really able to get into any rhythm between having a new qb and Belhaven eating so much time off of the clock. I'm surprised they didn't throw another qb in just to change things up and see if it got anything going.

Honestly, I think this game would have looked drastically different if not for kj Miller.

[crufootball]

Honestly, that game kind of went the way I was thinking it would with Belhaven holding the ball and trying to run it like crazy. Defense did pretty good when stopping the run considering they have 3 rushers with over 500 yards of rushing. Belhaven was averaging 267 yards of rushing per game and the Cru held them to 100 even though they held the ball for 39 minutes.

You could tell the offense weren't really able to get into any rhythm between having a new qb and Belhaven eating so much time off of the clock. I'm surprised they didn't throw another qb in just to change things up and see if it got anything going.

Honestly, I think this game would have looked drastically different if not for kj Miller.

I think if it was earlier in the season they may have changed up QBs but at this point if Ryan is going to be our main back up he needs all the reps he can get.

[UMHB03]

Oshkosh v Stout

Hendrix v Trinity

Susquehanna v Johns Hopkins

There's a lot of good ones. Mine are:

Susquehanna at Johns Hopkins

Washington and Jefferson at Grove City

Birmingham-Southern at Berry

* the UW match ups have my attention too

That Trinity game is important to me because I think they could be a first round opponent.

Probably second round.

It would make sense to send Hardin-Simmons to San Antonio in round 1. Trinity is a darn good team that deserves a home game.

I would expect Redlands to get shipped out to Belton for the first round.... again.

[Reverendbiker]

[/quote]
Probably second round.

It would make sense to send Hardin-Simmons to San Antonio in round 1. Trinity is a darn good team that deserves a home game.

I would expect Redlands to get shipped out to Belton for the first round.... again.
[/quote]

I agree 100%.  Trinity has has too good a season to make them travel to Belton in the first round.

[Reverendbiker]

Today's CRU-Belhaven game was Defensive Coordinator Larry Harmon at his best.  He knew that with Kyle King sidelined the game would be on the defense's shoulders.  I've seen him run this bend-but-don't-break defense many times over the years, and it worked perfectly.  He stacked the box and absolutely stuffed the ASC's leading rusher.  He dropped the safeties back and conceded the short out and drag routes.  It worked perfectly.  A pretty decent Belhaven offense never even threatened to score.  They ground out the clock and yards between the 30's but not much more. 

My question is this:  The Belhaven coaching staff are not fools and undoubtedly have seen game film of the CRU, so why in the world would they choose to punt to KJ Miller 6 times?  He slipped at the 10-yard line on one return, but he tallied 144 yards on the other 5.  And Fritz had 15 yards on his one return.  That's huge.

As for the offense?  Obviously, not playoff-ready.  Redding is a player, but for the best part of the season he's been getting only 3rd-team reps.  He'll get better, and he'll need to.  I suspect that we missed injured right tackle Ethan Ruckman quite a bit.

[justafan12]

Why does UMHB not post their game videos on their website under the On Demand tab?  Every other school seems too.

[Reverendbiker]

Crusader fan daydreaming while waiting for the Howard Payne game:

Players like Jerrell Freeman, Tevin Jones, Baylor Mullins and Jefferson Fritz are Crusader greats.  I wonder who the next greats to come along.  I'll go out on a limb:

1.  Durand Hill, LB--Coach Pete has even compared him to Freeman!
2. Johnny Smith-Rider, LB--His HS coaches say he'd have been D1 if he was a little larger. 
3.  Jerry Cephus-I think the coaches have kept him on the JV to give him playing time.  True dual-threat QB, but the kid can really throw.
4.  Ethan Ruckman, OT-The kid is big (6'3", 300#), athletic and has a mean streak. 

Any more suggestions?

[Etchglow]

Crusader fan daydreaming while waiting for the Howard Payne game:

Players like Jerrell Freeman, Tevin Jones, Baylor Mullins and Jefferson Fritz are Crusader greats.  I wonder who the next greats to come along.  I'll go out on a limb:

1.  Durand Hill, LB--Coach Pete has even compared him to Freeman!
2. Johnny Smith-Rider, LB--His HS coaches say he'd have been D1 if he was a little larger. 
3.  Jerry Cephus-I think the coaches have kept him on the JV to give him playing time.  True dual-threat QB, but the kid can really throw.
4.  Ethan Ruckman, OT-The kid is big (6'3", 300#), athletic and has a mean streak. 

Any more suggestions?

I'm not sure right now... I was kind of hoping Montana would be that next torch bearer of an All-time great Crusader family... He shows flashes of greatness but maybe he just doesn't have the speed of the other backs?  He runs with power and patience just like his brothers did.

[UMHB03]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

[Ron Boerger]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

I'm thinking that the rule ("2.4 - PAIRINGS AND SITE SELECTION - ...Teams from the same conference may not play each other in the first-round of competition") was something that expired after the 2019 season, and if so you really want Trinity to win.  Me too.  We'll know for sure when the new pre-championship manual is published, usually it's published at least a couple weeks before the championship begin. 

[wally_wabash]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

I'm thinking that the rule ("2.4 - PAIRINGS AND SITE SELECTION - ...Teams from the same conference may not play each other in the first-round of competition") was something that expired after the 2019 season, and if so you really want Trinity to win.  Me too.  We'll know for sure when the new pre-championship manual is published, usually it's published at least a couple weeks before the championship begin.

Some things that I'm extrapolating from other handbooks that I've looked at for Fall 2021 championships:

- The rule prohibiting teams from the same conference playing in the first round is still there
- The no-fly zone has been extended to 600 miles

The first is useful for this board, the second less so but is interesting nonetheless.  I'm surprised we haven't seen the 2021 pre-championship manual yet, but I assume it'll be published in advance of this week's regional rankings listings. 

[Etchglow]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

I'm thinking that the rule ("2.4 - PAIRINGS AND SITE SELECTION - ...Teams from the same conference may not play each other in the first-round of competition") was something that expired after the 2019 season, and if so you really want Trinity to win.  Me too.  We'll know for sure when the new pre-championship manual is published, usually it's published at least a couple weeks before the championship begin.

Some things that I'm extrapolating from other handbooks that I've looked at for Fall 2021 championships:

- The rule prohibiting teams from the same conference playing in the first round is still there
- The no-fly zone has been extended to 600 miles

The first is useful for this board, the second less so but is interesting nonetheless.  I'm surprised we haven't seen the 2021 pre-championship manual yet, but I assume it'll be published in advance of this week's regional rankings listings.

Holy cow, 600 miles on a bus doesn't sound very fun...

[Ron Boerger]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

I'm thinking that the rule ("2.4 - PAIRINGS AND SITE SELECTION - ...Teams from the same conference may not play each other in the first-round of competition") was something that expired after the 2019 season, and if so you really want Trinity to win.  Me too.  We'll know for sure when the new pre-championship manual is published, usually it's published at least a couple weeks before the championship begin.

Some things that I'm extrapolating from other handbooks that I've looked at for Fall 2021 championships:

- The rule prohibiting teams from the same conference playing in the first round is still there
- The no-fly zone has been extended to 600 miles

The first is useful for this board, the second less so but is interesting nonetheless.  I'm surprised we haven't seen the 2021 pre-championship manual yet, but I assume it'll be published in advance of this week's regional rankings listings.

Holy cow, 600 miles on a bus doesn't sound very fun...

Don't Belhaven and Sul Ross bus to each other?  Nearly 900 miles ...

[Etchglow]

Thinking ahead to the playoffs, and the conversation about a potential HSU/Trinity matchup in the first round: What happens if Trinity loses next week and does not make the playoff? Is the rule still in effect where teams from the same conference cannot be paired against each other in the first round, or would we be looking at a UMHB/HSU rematch in the first round?

I'm thinking that the rule ("2.4 - PAIRINGS AND SITE SELECTION - ...Teams from the same conference may not play each other in the first-round of competition") was something that expired after the 2019 season, and if so you really want Trinity to win.  Me too.  We'll know for sure when the new pre-championship manual is published, usually it's published at least a couple weeks before the championship begin.

Some things that I'm extrapolating from other handbooks that I've looked at for Fall 2021 championships:

- The rule prohibiting teams from the same conference playing in the first round is still there
- The no-fly zone has been extended to 600 miles

The first is useful for this board, the second less so but is interesting nonetheless.  I'm surprised we haven't seen the 2021 pre-championship manual yet, but I assume it'll be published in advance of this week's regional rankings listings.

Holy cow, 600 miles on a bus doesn't sound very fun...

Don't Belhaven and Sul Ross bus to each other?  Nearly 900 miles ...

Yeah, that is painful.  Belhaven is always one that seemed weird being in the ASC honestly. They were as much on an island when Louisiana College was around but now they're way out there. Of course Sul Ross is too but they're in the middle of nowhere. Pretty country, but nothing around...

[jknezek]

Belhaven is always one that seemed weird being in the ASC honestly. They were as much on an island when Louisiana College was around but now they're way out there. Of course Sul Ross is too but they're in the middle of nowhere. Pretty country, but nothing around...

Both of those teams are just on D3 islands in general. Belhaven's only other choices are the SAA, which is... unlikely... to want them, and the USASAC, which is probably as inconvenient as the ASC. Belhaven to Greensboro is 714 miles, Methodist is 764 miles, Southern Virginia is 795 miles, NC Wes is 851 miles. Sure, Huntingdon is a mere 250, but after that it gets ugly fast.