FB: American Southwest Conference

[Ralph Turner]

The ASC faces a real challenge, and the challenge got harder with the SCAC going to a 9-team conference.

The way for us to prove how good we are lies in three areas:

1)  Strength at the top -- going deep in the playoffs and beating other strong teams.  I keep pushing for the concept of the "Texas sub-bracket" to sow doubt in the minds of fans across D-III.  UMHB was seeded #4 by the increasingly objective criteria used by the selection committee.  Increasing (subjectively) the weight of the UWW loss would be a step backwards 9 instances out of 10, and hurt the "Texas sub-bracket" even more.  As it is now, we can challenge the Pres AC fans about Washington and Jefferson, the putative #1 seed, losing at home, to a 4th-year #8 seed, the first time that has ever happened!  (All together now, OVERRATED!)  Trinity as a #6 is probably 2 seeds too low in a very strong South Region.  The #3 team in the SCAC (Depauw) beat Wabash, the #2 seed in the North Region in a "play-off calibre" envirionment, the Monon Bell Game.  (Monon Bell is OU/UT, UT/A&M and Cowboys/Redskins wrapped into one.)

2)  Strength in the middle -- we have very few teams that have great reputations in D-III that our mid-level teams can "beat" up on.  Millsaps was "under-rated" for multiple reasons that consumed the SCAC message board for the entire season.  Please look at the concentration of D-III schools in NY, OH, IL, WI and PA and see that we don't have many chances to beat up on the competition.

3)  Early season games -- I think that we have more turnover on the teams so that we may not be in "better" form until the fourth and fifth games (e.g., HSU)  We then don't perform to our peak against our non-conference foes.

I think that the CRU should look for in-region reputable opponents and schedule anyway.  Practice is where the senior leadership should prompt teammates to reach deeper!

Thanks to the CRU for carrying the ASC banner deep! 

[Ralph Turner]

Here is my final South Region ballot. 

1)  UMHB  Seed #1 (Gambled with the big game vs. UWW.  On the line was the #1/#2 seed in the playoffs.  Was overly penalized by the objective criteria.)
2)  Wesley  #2  (I think this year UMHB wins the best 6 of 11 by 6 games to four.  Not necessarily the case in the previous years.     Giving credit to a strong opponent.)
3)  Muhlenberg  #3  (I think that they played solid smashmouth defensive football that would match very favorably against most South Region teams.)
4)  Trinity  #4 (out of a very competitive SCAC)
5)  Millsaps  Did  not receive a Pool C bid  (A Miss College loss away.)
6)  Salisbury  #5  (Very strong as a Pool B.)
7)  Miss College Did not receive a Pool C bid  (A loss to HSU away.)
8 )  NCWC  #6 (This program could come to dominate the young USA South as no program has.)
9)  W&J  #7
10)  H-SC  #8 (Plenty of balance in the ODAC.)

[crufootball]

Merry Christmas to everyone

[PA_wesleyfan]

Happy Holidays to all

[Toby Taff]

Merry Christmas to all.

[Pat Coleman]

and to all a good night.

[Warhawk 96]

Happy Holidays from your beer and cheese enthusiasts on the WIAC board.

[Sender]

I read a while back that yall were talking about couple guys from the conference getting a shot at the nfl.  the have a site nfldraftscout.com.   It has the guys from the conference and there rank.  the WR from MC is 104 out of 347.  the LB from UMHB is 108 out of 247 at LB.  It has several UMHB players in there.  The LB from HSU is in there also.     

[evacuee]

If you want to promote division 3 sports, do a google search for pontiac game changing performance and vote for the only d3 play that will likely be seen there for a long time.  We only have a few days left and Appalachain State is currently in the lead. 

A vote for Trinity is a vote for d3football.

[Ralph Turner]

UTSA Football Feasibility Study

FYI

[HSWho2007]

What a great year to be a crusader.....
Cheers to '08 being even better.....
Happy new years to everyone, even the cowboys 

[drinkxs.com]

Does anyone have information on who the Cru may have scheduled for their non-conference games?

[umhb2001]

This is all I have heard, as I posted a few pages back.

Southern Nazaren, an NAIA out of Oklahoma. 

Apparently, they have played HPU the past two seasons.  Does anyone know the outcomes of those games?

[Ron Boerger]

The team pages have history going back to 1999.

http://www.d3football.com/school_info.php?school=Howard+Payne&year=2007

Nazarene 42, at HPU 14

http://www.d3football.com/school_info.php?school=Howard+Payne&year=2006

HPU 7, at Nazarene 0

[Toby Taff]

It was announced today that Jordan Neal has been hired to be the Offensive Coordinator at Howard Payne.  Congrats to JNeal I know that has to be surreal for a die hard Cowboy.