FB: American Southwest Conference

[wildcat11]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

[CruFrenzy]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

We'll see. I think we have great depth on the line, some young guys have made up for the side to side speed we had been lacking, and rarely do they throw Fritz's way.

When you can shut down a whole side of a field, that's not too bad.

To be fair---"the word on the NW Board" is from a SCIAC guy.  I don't think anybody from Linfield thinks that the CRU is anything but an elite team across the board.

Don't be spoiling our bulletin board material haha. At this point of the season I am way too sports paranoid to be overly confident about any opponent and when that opponent is Linfield I have too many memories of them ending our season to be confident until the very end of the game.

I feel the same way. Our track record against Linfield has not been great. Better than our track record against Whitewater, but nevertheless, I still remember how aggravating and disappointing it was when they ended our 2014 season prematurely in Crusader Stadium (one of only two home losses since the stadium opened).

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but UW-W has beaten the CRU there twice. So maybe three home losses?

My feathers are officially ruffled reading this lol

[UMHB03]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

We'll see. I think we have great depth on the line, some young guys have made up for the side to side speed we had been lacking, and rarely do they throw Fritz's way.

When you can shut down a whole side of a field, that's not too bad.

To be fair---"the word on the NW Board" is from a SCIAC guy.  I don't think anybody from Linfield thinks that the CRU is anything but an elite team across the board.

Don't be spoiling our bulletin board material haha. At this point of the season I am way too sports paranoid to be overly confident about any opponent and when that opponent is Linfield I have too many memories of them ending our season to be confident until the very end of the game.

I feel the same way. Our track record against Linfield has not been great. Better than our track record against Whitewater, but nevertheless, I still remember how aggravating and disappointing it was when they ended our 2014 season prematurely in Crusader Stadium (one of only two home losses since the stadium opened).

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but UW-W has beaten the CRU there twice. So maybe three home losses?

You're right, I forgot about the 2019 Whitewater loss. The other two stuck with me more because I was in attendance for both of them.

[CalCat]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

We'll see. I think we have great depth on the line, some young guys have made up for the side to side speed we had been lacking, and rarely do they throw Fritz's way.

When you can shut down a whole side of a field, that's not too bad.

To be fair---"the word on the NW Board" is from a SCIAC guy.  I don't think anybody from Linfield thinks that the CRU is anything but an elite team across the board.

Yep a Redlands guy...still butt hurt from a couple of playoff trips to Belton. We know all about "Fritz's way" as we still have nightmares about Baylor Mullins his brother from another mother.

[Toby Taff]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

We'll see. I think we have great depth on the line, some young guys have made up for the side to side speed we had been lacking, and rarely do they throw Fritz's way.

When you can shut down a whole side of a field, that's not too bad.

To be fair---"the word on the NW Board" is from a SCIAC guy.  I don't think anybody from Linfield thinks that the CRU is anything but an elite team across the board.

Yep a Redlands guy...still butt hurt from a couple of playoff trips to Belton. We know all about "Fritz's way" as we still have nightmares about Baylor Mullins his brother from another mother.

They do seem to be cut from the same bolt of cloth

[Riley Zayas]

Linfield is set to meet UMHB in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday in Belton. Linfield HC Joseph Smith spoke with the media on Wednesday about the contest, the strengths of his team, and his thoughts on the Crusaders. Also wanted to add that I could not include everything he said in his 20-minute press conference but tried to focus on some of the main points and storylines of the matchup. And after listening to both head coaches talk about the game this week, one thing is clear. There's a tremendous amount of respect for one another when it comes to UMHB and Linfield, but is certainly still a rivalry.

https://truetothecru.com/2021/12/02/linfield-ready-to-rise-to-the-challenge-in-quarterfinal-matchup-with-umhb/

[Ron Boerger]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

[HSUCowboy2015]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

This may just be me, but I think King has regressed since the HSU game. I know that he has battled some injuries, but it seems like the offense hums better with Redding under center. Any UMHB fans want to correct me or back me up?

As for the game Saturday, it's all going to depend which offensive line shows up for UMHB. If the line shows up that played Trinity and played the first half of the HSU game. Linfield by 10. If it's the one that came out in the second half against HSU and who came last week, UMHB by 7. Really interesting matchup this week.

[UMHB03]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

This may just be me, but I think King has regressed since the HSU game. I know that he has battled some injuries, but it seems like the offense hums better with Redding under center. Any UMHB fans want to correct me or back me up?

As for the game Saturday, it's all going to depend which offensive line shows up for UMHB. If the line shows up that played Trinity and played the first half of the HSU game. Linfield by 10. If it's the one that came out in the second half against HSU and who came last week, UMHB by 7. Really interesting matchup this week.

This is pretty fair but I think Coach Fred could help out his OL a lot by abandoning the basic, between-the-tackles, 1962 running attack that they've tried to force in 6 out of 8 quarters of the playoffs this year. UMHB will not be able to grind it out against Linfield's elite run defense, and they'll have to be able to make plays down the field to keep up with LU's passing game.

[bleedpurple]

The word over on the NW Board is that our safeties aren't very good and that our front is soft.

We'll see. I think we have great depth on the line, some young guys have made up for the side to side speed we had been lacking, and rarely do they throw Fritz's way.

When you can shut down a whole side of a field, that's not too bad.

To be fair---"the word on the NW Board" is from a SCIAC guy.  I don't think anybody from Linfield thinks that the CRU is anything but an elite team across the board.

Don't be spoiling our bulletin board material haha. At this point of the season I am way too sports paranoid to be overly confident about any opponent and when that opponent is Linfield I have too many memories of them ending our season to be confident until the very end of the game.

I feel the same way. Our track record against Linfield has not been great. Better than our track record against Whitewater, but nevertheless, I still remember how aggravating and disappointing it was when they ended our 2014 season prematurely in Crusader Stadium (one of only two home losses since the stadium opened).

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but UW-W has beaten the CRU there twice. So maybe three home losses?

My feathers are officially ruffled reading this lol

Shoot. Officially ruffled is even worse. Sorry. 

[Riley Zayas]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

This may just be me, but I think King has regressed since the HSU game. I know that he has battled some injuries, but it seems like the offense hums better with Redding under center. Any UMHB fans want to correct me or back me up?

As for the game Saturday, it's all going to depend which offensive line shows up for UMHB. If the line shows up that played Trinity and played the first half of the HSU game. Linfield by 10. If it's the one that came out in the second half against HSU and who came last week, UMHB by 7. Really interesting matchup this week.

One thing that's important to note from my article on the UMHB quarterbacks is that both quarterbacks have consistently run the offense well, and that has created a unique situation for the coaching staff. Redding has risen to the occasion in his three starts, and for the first eight games of the year, King was extremely efficient passing. Since that point, he has been battling injuries and started just one game, against Trinity. And it seems unfair to judge who should start based on King's performance against the nation's No. 2 defense. Redding was 8-for-20 passing his start against Belhaven, and I'd say Trinity has a better D than Belhaven. Ultimately, though, I think both quarterbacks have valid cases to claim the starting job. Really, the situation Fredenburg finds himself in is not one of struggling who to start because of poor play, but who to start because of how well each has performed throughout the season. That's a good spot to be in. We'll see who starts, but I would say it is going a little far to say King has regressed at QB since HSU. It is hard to judge the level of defenses UMHB faced towards the end of the regular season, and also, we did not see the run-first offense in the regular season like we saw against Trinity and even a little bit last week. The run-first offense limited opportunities in the passing game, which is an area I think both QBs are especially proficient in.

[Etchglow]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

This may just be me, but I think King has regressed since the HSU game. I know that he has battled some injuries, but it seems like the offense hums better with Redding under center. Any UMHB fans want to correct me or back me up?

As for the game Saturday, it's all going to depend which offensive line shows up for UMHB. If the line shows up that played Trinity and played the first half of the HSU game. Linfield by 10. If it's the one that came out in the second half against HSU and who came last week, UMHB by 7. Really interesting matchup this week.

This is pretty fair but I think Coach Fred could help out his OL a lot by abandoning the basic, between-the-tackles, 1962 running attack that they've tried to force in 6 out of 8 quarters of the playoffs this year. UMHB will not be able to grind it out against Linfield's elite run defense, and they'll have to be able to make plays down the field to keep up with LU's passing game.

I want to say before we played Birmingham Southern they had the 6th best rushing defense in the country according to the NCAA?  Trinity was a statistically elite defense as well.  We ran for 199 and 179 yards against them? 

[UMHB03]

On the off chance nobody saw this on the front page yesterday:

'We don't necessarily have a controversy. We just have two really good quarterbacks.'

This may just be me, but I think King has regressed since the HSU game. I know that he has battled some injuries, but it seems like the offense hums better with Redding under center. Any UMHB fans want to correct me or back me up?

As for the game Saturday, it's all going to depend which offensive line shows up for UMHB. If the line shows up that played Trinity and played the first half of the HSU game. Linfield by 10. If it's the one that came out in the second half against HSU and who came last week, UMHB by 7. Really interesting matchup this week.

This is pretty fair but I think Coach Fred could help out his OL a lot by abandoning the basic, between-the-tackles, 1962 running attack that they've tried to force in 6 out of 8 quarters of the playoffs this year. UMHB will not be able to grind it out against Linfield's elite run defense, and they'll have to be able to make plays down the field to keep up with LU's passing game.

I want to say before we played Birmingham Southern they had the 6th best rushing defense in the country according to the NCAA?  Trinity was a statistically elite defense as well.  We ran for 199 and 179 yards against them?

I think that opening things up in the 2nd half against Birmingham helped the running game have more success resulting in points. Hopefully they do that for 4 quarters tomorrow.

Regardless of how many yards they ran for against Trinity, when they face Linfield they're going to need more than the 13 points that the ultra-conservative game plan produced.

[Cowboy2]

I want to say before we played Birmingham Southern they had the 6th best rushing defense in the country according to the NCAA?  Trinity was a statistically elite defense as well.  We ran for 199 and 179 yards against them?
[/quote]

I think the Trinity and BSC beat each other up pretty good in that H2H game. That was the first time either team had a real slugfest all season. Berry and Centre were talented, but just wasn't their year. But you are correct, BSC had a great D. Just didn't match up well against UMHB when they're one dimensional.

As for UMHBs matchups,  Trinity's D is for real. That was evident. The offense just didn't muster enough and stalled on the drives from not being able to get their balanced approach going that they did all year. Crazy it was so close for 58 min... BSC I don't think had seen that level of size and speed that they saw from UMHB. It is a testament to the quality of athlete the ASC has. I don't think the Region 3 gets as much credit as they should. If UMHB rolls out  another W it's safe to say, R3 should have had 4 playoff teams now that we've seen how other matchups faired.

I think if UMHB can get their special teams going, they win by 2-3 scores. They will do well in the trenches, and this year they have the athletes out wide most do not have at this level, maybe outside of HSU, Trinity, and BSC...which they beat.

I'm going with the home team on this one!

[Riley Zayas]

Follow our running game blog for the latest updates from today's quarterfinal matchup between Linfield and UMHB:

https://truetothecru.com/2021/12/04/from-the-press-box-updates-as-umhb-battles-linfield-in-d-iii-football-playoffs/