FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Mr.MIAC]

St. Thomas fans, welcome to Belton! A first time meeting between the programs should be a dandy! If any of you are making the trip, please let me know!

So if you were going to fly in from the east coast or the UK, and then drive to Belton, which city would be the best to fly into?

[Kelly Boggs]

Price wise, Dallas or Austin will be your best bet.

DFW airport is about 2 1/2 hours north of Belton. I-35 going south from Dallas can be a crap shoot traffic wise. There is some construction in the Dallas area and between Waco and Temple/Belton that, if there is an accident, can cause some real issues.

Austin's airport is about 1 hour south of Belton and is close to a toll road (speed limit is 80) which by-passes Austin proper on the east side. It is usually a nice trip. I-35 north bound is usually smooth sailing coming up from Austin.

The team will fly into Killeen, which is a small regional airport about 20/25 minutes due west of Belton. If you can get a good fare into Killeen, it is the best way to go, but it's usually pretty pricey flying in and out of Killeen.

[miac952]

St. Thomas fans, welcome to Belton! A first time meeting between the programs should be a dandy! If any of you are making the trip, please let me know!

Really wish I could make the trip. I've wanted to see UMHB's stadium for a while. Plus, TX is a nice escape from MN this time of year.

Looks like the defending champs are firing on all cylinders. The Toms will have to play flawless to have a shot. I worry about the Tommie offense. A lot of drives stalled by turnovers and mental breakdowns against the better teams they have seen this season like SJU, Concordia, and Berry. MHB is faster and better on D than any of the above.

[Pat Coleman]

Price wise, Dallas or Austin will be your best bet.

DFW airport is about 2 1/2 hours north of Belton. I-35 going south from Dallas can be a crap shoot traffic wise. There is some construction in the Dallas area and between Waco and Temple/Belton that, if there is an accident, can cause some real issues.

Austin's airport is about 1 hour south of Belton and is close to a toll road (speed limit is 80) which by-passes Austin proper on the east side. It is usually a nice trip. I-35 north bound is usually smooth sailing coming up from Austin.

The team will fly into Killeen, which is a small regional airport about 20/25 minutes due west of Belton. If you can get a good fare into Killeen, it is the best way to go, but it's usually pretty pricey flying in and out of Killeen.

Austin is great to fly into but it's a bear to fly out of because there aren't any flights after like 6:30 p.m. on a Saturday. But the drive to and from DFW is also a bear, so ... pick your bear poison.

[Kelly Boggs]

Thanks, Pat. I wasn't aware of the flight/s out of Austin situation. If you don't have to fly out Saturday evening, Austin would be my choice.

[Pat Coleman]

As someone who would love to get back out on Saturday nights, it's a consideration. But then again, UST fans can leave pretty much right after the game, where I'm usually needing to stick around an extra hour to get work done.

[joelmama]

As someone who would love to get back out on Saturday nights, it's a consideration. But then again, UST fans can leave pretty much right after the game, where I'm usually needing to stick around an extra hour to get work done.

You call this work?   

[Tom Thumb]

Aloha from Hawaii. My wife and I are in Kauai for vacation for the next week. I got to watch the game yesterday morning around 8 am on the beach. It was kind of fun.

A few thoughts from the game yesterday. The defense looked good, as usual. UST held Berry to about 14 or 15 yards on the ground. UST got beat a few times towards the end of the game on the outside, but that will happen when you put those guys out there on an island as much as UST does. For the most part, they held a pretty good offense in check all game. Mason Kinsey was as good as advertised. He might be the best receiver UST has faced all year.

For the offense, it's pretty obvious that they need to take care of the ball. UST left a lot of points off the board. Moving the ball didn't seem to be the main issue, as they put up almost 500 yards on offense. You'll take that any day of the week, especially in the playoffs.

Gabe Green is looking pretty legit at WR. Perra seems to like throwing his way when teams play man coverage.

Tucker Trettel looked like he left the game with a knee injury. I'm wondering if he will make the trip next week.

I'm interested in seeing how UST stacks up against UMHB. Should be fun!

[Kelly Boggs]

For the UST faithful making the trip to Texas: http://www.umhb.edu/stadium/

I hope this link will be helpful.

Also, if you are planning on staying in the Belton area, the majority of quality hotels are in Temple, which borders Belton to the north, and Killeen, about 20 minutes due west.

Salado is a small historic/touristy town just south of Belton - about 15 minutes. It has a few boutique hotels, B&Bs and a couple of chain hotels. However, it is the first weekend of the community's annual Christmas Stroll which is a pretty big event, so I doubt there would many - if any - rooms available, but you never know.

[umhb2001]

The LaQuinta near the Expo would probably be the best hotel in Belton, and it is within a good distance from the stadium with easy access to campus.

[DFWCrufan]

For the UST faithful making the trip to Texas: http://www.umhb.edu/stadium/

I hope this link will be helpful.

Also, if you are planning on staying in the Belton area, the majority of quality hotels are in Temple, which borders Belton to the north, and Killeen, about 20 minutes due west.

Some other footage to give you an idea... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HYAziQYVQ

[Texas Ole]

In my opinion there is only one purple team playing in Texas on Saturday that is worth watching.  That game is in Arlington.  Go Frogs!

The drive to Belton from DFW can go one of two ways.  It can be a nice 2.5 hour drive with no issues.  Might have some time to stop in West for Kolaches and then get stopped by the police.  Seriously watch your speed on I-35 if it is moving.  It can also be 5-6 hour nightmare.  If there is any traffic on it think of trying to get from St. Paul to Lakeville during a rush hour blizzard and multiply it a few times.  The thing is you never know which way it is going to be until you are on it.  There are a few back roads which are nice.  You get to avoid the Branch Stupidians at Baylllllllllllor.  (I think I got the right number of Ls.)  You also get to avoid the shi?lap.

Austin would probably be preferred for flights in on Saturday, but Houston and San Antonio are options.  They are about the same distance as DFW and Love Field in Dallas.  I just don't know what the drives are like from those cities.  Houston's airports are very similar to the ones in Dallas.  San Antonio is significantly smaller.  There are times it is actually cheaper to fly to Killeen and some of the smaller airports in Texas.

[Kelly Boggs]

FYI: A couple of additional informational tours of The CRUthedral. The second one goes more behind the scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmgbxGRmh3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mnlec3ouOA

[retagent]

Anyone else notice that 7 of the 8 second round games were Monkey Stomps? Curious.

[art76]

I also noticed in the brackets that three out of the remaining four games are the number 1 seeds against the number 2 seeds. The lone hold out is the Mount Union bracket where you have the number 1 seed taking on the number 7 seed, who beat the number 2 and 3 seeds to get there.

FWIW - In my opinion, the Tommies looked lack-lustered this past week against Berry. Moving forward, they're going to have to show more tenacity in garnering points at the end of drives - especially if they get into field goal range. Points are what count at the end of the game (pun somewhat intended).