FB: American Southwest Conference

[Cowboy2]

Wondering if chalk holds and Trinity and HSU win out of it is a sure thing that Trinity will host in the first round. Both teams, based on today's regional ranking, would be 1-1 against RRO. HSU has the slightest advantage in SOS. The common results against UMHB probably favor Trinity, but based on what Coach Moore said in the podcast I'm not sure difference in margin of victory is something they will look at there. I also tend to think HSU's RR win over UWL is better than Trinity's RR win over Berry, but again I'm not sure that is something the RAC will consider. This one really seems like a toss-up—maybe they look at last year's result and give the edge to Trinity?

The OOS games are really a crapshoot. Preseason they look great. You never really know how it will all play out though. I think the games are scheduled more so to help see what a program has and to get guys ready for conference games. With only 4 AQs nothing is a given, and a top profile game can hurt you as much as help you should a team not win their Pool A. 9-1 UMHB gets in if they didn't play those. An 8-2 SJU has a shot at Pool C because they played those games. Follow?

UWL finally got over the UWW hump and it worked for HSUs favor. Trinity and HSU get over the UMHB hump, and they happen to have a bad season and it doesn't look as great as it would have the last couple of seasons.

Berry improved the last two outings vs UWW and statistically are atop almost all national categories this year. It's too bad they will most likely miss the playoffs due to SoS ratings. They are dangerous. They are similar to UMHB from the standpoint they would demolish most schools. Huntingdon having a sub par year stings their quality of victory. They had Trinity on the ropes. Not having a BSC this year, and a par Centre also doesn't help Berry's SoS.

Trinity let the SJU game go. I think HSU is better than the Endicott outing as well. I actually think, should both programs win at least one more game, that they will make for a great first round matchup. If I can't make it, from a fan standpoint, I'd hope it's at Trinity so I can watch it on their broadcast.

[tigerguy]

UMHB looks like they've simply given up on the season. Phe looks lost back there. They can't even get the run game going.

[umhbalum]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

[Ralph Turner]

Congrats to HSU, but another coach who has turned a program around is Jordan Neal at McMurry. McM has gone from 1-9 to 5-4 with two 1-point losses and a 3-point loss to HSU in OT. With a twist of fate, they could be vying as a Tri-champ.

Longest time rival SRSU next week.

[UMHB03]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

Recruiting better be a big part of the strategy for getting things back on track, especially on offense. Harmon better hit the recruiting trail hard a week from today. High school, JUCO, portal.... whatever he needs to do. I don't think we have a single OL who needs to be starting next year, and most of the productive skill guys are seniors. I'm not ready to completely give up on Phe, but I'm not convinced he's he long term answer. The offense needs to complete overhaul, and that includes the staff. I think my grandmother could field a better offense than Padron has.

I also completely agree about discipline. Totally unacceptable all year. The fact that this is still an issue 9 games into the season raises serious questions as to whether Harmon is head coach material

Special teams is still a joke. I think they could go down to Belton Middle School and find better place kicking and punting. Absolute peewee league level.

On the bright side, the defense has made strides. We can win with the defense playing at this level. However, the other two phases of the game need a comprehensive reset from the coaches down to the players.

[Etchglow]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

Recruiting better be a big part of the strategy for getting things back on track, especially on offense. Harmon better hit the recruiting trail hard a week from today. High school, JUCO, portal.... whatever he needs to do. I don't think we have a single OL who needs to be starting next year, and most of the productive skill guys are seniors. I'm not ready to completely give up on Phe, but I'm not convinced he's he long term answer. The offense needs to complete overhaul, and that includes the staff. I think my grandmother could field a better offense than Padron has.

I also completely agree about discipline. Totally unacceptable all year. The fact that this is still an issue 9 games into the season raises serious questions as to whether Harmon is head coach material

Special teams is still a joke. I think they could go down to Belton Middle School and find better place kicking and punting. Absolute peewee league level.

On the bright side, the defense has made strides. We can win with the defense playing at this level. However, the other two phases of the game need a comprehensive reset from the coaches down to the players.

I kind of wish we would have gotten a look at some other folks besides all the seniors. 

The crazy thing is Jack Bruner was one of the best kicking recruits I can remember us getting in a WHILE.  He was all-state 4A before he came here. 

I would love to see them empty the benches next week and get a good look at what we have.  While I'm not sold on Phe (he doesn't seem to make much more than 15 yards down field), he never got a chance in any of the scrimmages, and had Tingler + Howell not gotten hurt against UWRF, who knows if he would have gotten a chance to play.  It is the same with Ozias Wright, dude should've gotten on the field way before game 4 of the season. 

[tigerguy]

The crazy thing is Jack Bruner was one of the best kicking recruits I can remember us getting in a WHILE.  He was all-state 4A before he came here. 

Something changed about Bruner in the McMurry game. He was 4/4 going into that game, and made his first two against McMurry. Albiet, his second one was initially a miss, but there was a running into the kicker penalty so he got a re-do and made it. He missed his third, made his fourth, missed his fifth. He hasn't made one since, going 0/4 since then. I'm not sure if he hurt something on the running into the kicker play, or if he lost his confidence at some point in that game. Pretty bizarre. But with kickers - doesn't matter how good they are - if they lose their heads it's hard for them to get back on track.

[Toby Taff]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

Recruiting better be a big part of the strategy for getting things back on track, especially on offense. Harmon better hit the recruiting trail hard a week from today. High school, JUCO, portal.... whatever he needs to do. I don't think we have a single OL who needs to be starting next year, and most of the productive skill guys are seniors. I'm not ready to completely give up on Phe, but I'm not convinced he's he long term answer. The offense needs to complete overhaul, and that includes the staff. I think my grandmother could field a better offense than Padron has.

I also completely agree about discipline. Totally unacceptable all year. The fact that this is still an issue 9 games into the season raises serious questions as to whether Harmon is head coach material

Special teams is still a joke. I think they could go down to Belton Middle School and find better place kicking and punting. Absolute peewee league level.

On the bright side, the defense has made strides. We can win with the defense playing at this level. However, the other two phases of the game need a comprehensive reset from the coaches down to the players.

I like Phe and think he will be a very good QB, esp if he gets a good O-Line in front of him. My biggest concerns are 1) O Line 2) Special Teams, 3} overall team discipline.
While I agree that all reflect on the HC, I'm not on the fire Harmon bandwagon. I'm on the Bye Bye Andy bandwagon. He may be a great OC for somewhere that was built to play the way he calls a game, but his use of the talent pool he's had the last 2 years was poor.   He calls the offence like the Cru is playing with the player pool from the early 2000s, that was built to pound the rock relentlessly. That hasn't been UMHB football since the early 2010s
On the special team side of things, We havent had a punter that wasn't an all american at another field position since before Baylor Mullins. and with the exception of one year where Avila had an off season, we've had stellar place kicking. When we saw Bruner last year he was was OK . This year he has not been even OK. There has to be some smalltown kid to recruit that can kick the lights out.

About Coach Harmon, things I read after the HSU game lead me to think Harmon's expectation was that the culture he helped coach Fred build would continue. A culture that is supposed to be player led, and the leadership hasn't lived up to the expectation. He can rebuild that culture, but they're going to have to be very selective in choosing that core group.

I could be way off, but that's how I see it .

[umhb2001]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

I have parents messaging me on FB/X saying their kids are quitting because the morale is low and the coaches aren't listening to their concerns.

[Ralph Turner]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

I have parents messaging me on FB/X saying their kids are quitting because the morale is low and the coaches aren't listening to their concerns.

Transfer to McMurry.

[CruFrenzy]

The Cru QB for the future doesn't appear to be on our roster. I've got a lot of concerns about things moving forward, and discipline has been a huge question. What about recruiting?

I have parents messaging me on FB/X saying their kids are quitting because the morale is low and the coaches aren't listening to their concerns.

This is concerning and unfortunately not surprising based on the trend we've seen under HC Harmon. I've already made my opinion clear on this issue. But I do want to say, I think there is some denial/delusion about the severity of the current state of the program. We have been SO elite for SO long that people are forgetting what it took to get here and how quickly it can fall. It took one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game almost 20 years to win one and then he was able to keep us on top for a half decade, a masterclass. But Rome can fall in a day with the wrong leader.. and the leader is THE HEAD COACH. Yes it's players in captain positions but it can only truly fall on on the top man.

Our best two offensive lineman including one of the best left tackles in program history (Tandoh) intentionally chose to walk away from the program instead of playing out their final year of eligibility this season. Arguably the best young defensive player on the 2022 team ( Cam Mitton) chose to walk away from what would've been a starting role at safety this year. Our best transfer portal commit (Spiller - Tarleton St) didn't make it through fall camp.

The penalties, the lack of effort, the wheels have completely fallen off. I cannot stand to see the program that I love and have supported since it's inception to be in the state it's currently in. Yes I'm spoiled and yes I'm REALLY complaining about a 6-4/5-5 season because we are UNDERACHIEVING at every level, players and coaches. My biggest fear is we allow this mediocrity to linger... then it becomes a much tougher situation. 

[crufootball]

We are a team that is having its worst season in over 2 decades, if we weren't struggling with low morale I would concerned that the players didn't care enough. I won't pretend its not concerning that players are quitting but when you bring in over 100+ freshmen a year on the promise that they could win a national championship and the team goes 6-4 (at best) things are going to be hard.

One thing I will point out though, when things are going badly it is easier to notice things like penalties and Coach Harmon even commented that he was embarrassed by them. However while this years average (65 yards) is higher than it has been since 2016, before that year 65 yards a game would have been the lowest season average since 1999. Pretty much every year from our start till 2016 we averaged in the low 70's in penalties. Obviously some very good things started happening in 2016, maybe discipline was emphasized more in that time frame but we can't say a new coach came in and cleaned things up.

Clearly there are issues that need to be resolved but I have feeling that if we were 9-0 this year and committing the same amount of penalties we might be concerned that it could hurt us come playoff time but I don't think many would be paying much attention to it.   

[Toby Taff]

We are a team that is having its worst season in over 2 decades, if we weren't struggling with low morale I would concerned that the players didn't care enough. I won't pretend its not concerning that players are quitting but when you bring in over 100+ freshmen a year on the promise that they could win a national championship and the team goes 6-4 (at best) things are going to be hard.

One thing I will point out though, when things are going badly it is easier to notice things like penalties and Coach Harmon even commented that he was embarrassed by them. However while this years average (65 yards) is higher than it has been since 2016, before that year 65 yards a game would have been the lowest season average since 1999. Pretty much every year from our start till 2016 we averaged in the low 70's in penalties. Obviously some very good things started happening in 2016, maybe discipline was emphasized more in that time frame but we can't say a new coach came in and cleaned things up.

Clearly there are issues that need to be resolved but I have feeling that if we were 9-0 this year and committing the same amount of penalties we might be concerned that it could hurt us come playoff time but I don't think many would be paying much attention to it.

The penalty yards are not my issue, it's the type and placement of the penalties. It's the personal fouls and unsportsmanlike on 3rd when you stopped them and suddenly they have a 1st when you should have the ball. It's committing the same false start penalty over and again when HSUs D line shifts. Those are sensless and have cost the team severely this seasaon.

[CRULive1845]

We are a team that is having its worst season in over 2 decades, if we weren't struggling with low morale I would concerned that the players didn't care enough. I won't pretend its not concerning that players are quitting but when you bring in over 100+ freshmen a year on the promise that they could win a national championship and the team goes 6-4 (at best) things are going to be hard.

One thing I will point out though, when things are going badly it is easier to notice things like penalties and Coach Harmon even commented that he was embarrassed by them. However while this years average (65 yards) is higher than it has been since 2016, before that year 65 yards a game would have been the lowest season average since 1999. Pretty much every year from our start till 2016 we averaged in the low 70's in penalties. Obviously some very good things started happening in 2016, maybe discipline was emphasized more in that time frame but we can't say a new coach came in and cleaned things up.

Clearly there are issues that need to be resolved but I have feeling that if we were 9-0 this year and committing the same amount of penalties we might be concerned that it could hurt us come playoff time but I don't think many would be paying much attention to it.

The penalty yards are not my issue, it's the type and placement of the penalties. It's the personal fouls and unsportsmanlike on 3rd when you stopped them and suddenly they have a 1st when you should have the ball. It's committing the same false start penalty over and again when HSUs D line shifts. Those are sensless and have cost the team severely this seasaon.

Agreed on it's not so much the yardage as much as it is the type of penalties being committed... especially the 15yrd personal fouls/unsportsmanlike penalties.

Literally a situation the program has not been in in 20yrs. Also now with a completely different mindset between building a program in the early days and still having something to play for (respect/future) and not making the playoffs vs expectations of yearly playoffs (national championships) and not making playoffs at all and thinking, "well what's the point?"

Back in the day, I know I always felt like playoffs were a given and I didn't feel like the season actually started until playoffs started. The 10 games leading up to that were all just necessary BS that we had to navigate so the "real season" would begin.

I may be delusional haha but I'm still not ready to hit the big red button and blow everything up. To me, I still think this current team would have been 8-1 or 7-2 at this point in the season had they not played that gauntlet of a non-conference schedule with an overall inexperienced team.

Also think Phe maybe reminds me of a more mobile Jace Hammock? Definitely a passer but doesn't seem real comfortable running the ball. Hammock was a Stagg Bowl winning QB with the all time leader in every major  UMHB rushing category behind him (Miller), TJ Josey, Reed, a young KJ Miller, legit OLine, and an all time great UMHB defense on the other side of the ball.....maybe my current evaluation is a bit harsh on Phe then considering what Hammock had around him in 2018. IDK, still would like to see Whitehead get reps. Out of all the QBs they added to the program this year, I thought his tape stood out. Granted it was HS tape but still thought he might be one we would see in 2024 or 2025.

[Etchglow]

We are a team that is having its worst season in over 2 decades, if we weren't struggling with low morale I would concerned that the players didn't care enough. I won't pretend its not concerning that players are quitting but when you bring in over 100+ freshmen a year on the promise that they could win a national championship and the team goes 6-4 (at best) things are going to be hard.

One thing I will point out though, when things are going badly it is easier to notice things like penalties and Coach Harmon even commented that he was embarrassed by them. However while this years average (65 yards) is higher than it has been since 2016, before that year 65 yards a game would have been the lowest season average since 1999. Pretty much every year from our start till 2016 we averaged in the low 70's in penalties. Obviously some very good things started happening in 2016, maybe discipline was emphasized more in that time frame but we can't say a new coach came in and cleaned things up.

Clearly there are issues that need to be resolved but I have feeling that if we were 9-0 this year and committing the same amount of penalties we might be concerned that it could hurt us come playoff time but I don't think many would be paying much attention to it.

The penalty yards are not my issue, it's the type and placement of the penalties. It's the personal fouls and unsportsmanlike on 3rd when you stopped them and suddenly they have a 1st when you should have the ball. It's committing the same false start penalty over and again when HSUs D line shifts. Those are sensless and have cost the team severely this seasaon.

Agreed on it's not so much the yardage as much as it is the type of penalties being committed... especially the 15yrd personal fouls/unsportsmanlike penalties.

Literally a situation the program has not been in in 20yrs. Also now with a completely different mindset between building a program in the early days and still having something to play for (respect/future) and not making the playoffs vs expectations of yearly playoffs (national championships) and not making playoffs at all and thinking, "well what's the point?"

Back in the day, I know I always felt like playoffs were a given and I didn't feel like the season actually started until playoffs started. The 10 games leading up to that were all just necessary BS that we had to navigate so the "real season" would begin.

I may be delusional haha but I'm still not ready to hit the big red button and blow everything up. To me, I still think this current team would have been 8-1 or 7-2 at this point in the season had they not played that gauntlet of a non-conference schedule with an overall inexperienced team.

Also think Phe maybe reminds me of a more mobile Jace Hammock? Definitely a passer but doesn't seem real comfortable running the ball. Hammock was a Stagg Bowl winning QB with the all time leader in every major  UMHB rushing category behind him (Miller), TJ Josey, Reed, a young KJ Miller, legit OLine, and an all time great UMHB defense on the other side of the ball.....maybe my current evaluation is a bit harsh on Phe then considering what Hammock had around him in 2018. IDK, still would like to see Whitehead get reps. Out of all the QBs they added to the program this year, I thought his tape stood out. Granted it was HS tape but still thought he might be one we would see in 2024 or 2025.

To me, Phe reminds me a lot of Luke Poorman.  Jace had a cannon for an arm but Luke in those years was deadly in the short range.  Yeah, I'd like to see Whitehead get some reps, would like to see Oldoerp as well.  In his HS tape he had a heck of an arm.