Quote from: Etchglow on November 23, 2025, 09:39:40 PMSince I was bored, I went and looked at the folks who have announced they were transferring from UMHB.  Only 9 of the 29 have offers.  7 of the offers are D3, 3 are NAIA, 2 are FCS, and 1 is for a community college.

Yup. Some of the guys I'm not mad at. The JV guys that saw the writing on the wall and just want to play somewhere, no problem. Then you have a guy like D Morris who likely lands on a good FCS or a low end FBS roster, I still don't like it but it's somewhat understandable. JJ Davis probably lands on a mid to low end FCS... I kind of get it but still think it's a mistake. Then you have guys like Battle III that had no business transferring out. Could have stayed and been a damn good corner on a really good defense but instead he jumped on the portal wagon after D Mo and JJ did and he's got no offers. Not saying he's not good enough to get offers but he doesn't have the same body of work yet as Morris or Davis did.. reminds me a lot of Dorien Hill playing 4 games last year in the playoffs and hitting the portal. He showed a ton of promise and might've been our best LB if he had returned this season but instead he hit the portal and got East Central and Trinity and went to Trinity.. that's basically Battle this year... maybe he will come back.

On the positive side of things it looks like we've kept everyone else so far. If that's all we lose we return a way more cohesive group than we have in a few years and will just need to find a few secondary guys to step up.

As far as I'm being told the WR corps including BJ should be back, obviously things can change on a whim nowadays but supposed to have them back. Horton is also returning from what I've been told. We can find a RB... heck theres probably 5 on JV that would be ready to go with minimal drop off, lol.

Also think there's a real case to be made for the offense taking a step forward with Horton, won't know for sure until we see a few games under center but I'm optimistic he would be an upgrade.

Only key portal departures so far have been on defense, all in the secondary.

JJ Davis, Battle III and D Morris.

Not great but if we can keep everyone else we have shown a good track record of whipping athletes into shape on that side of the ball. As long as we don't lose any more key guys or defensive lineman (much harder to find elite DLINE guys). Also offense is still in tact so far... need everyone back there.

Quote from: Crubacker on November 12, 2025, 12:12:06 PMOf those 8 games listed above, I see that 7 are realistic, but I'm thinking only 4-5 of those actually happen.  Will it be enough to lift UMHB.......what were the odds like last year? 

Logan Hansen's model gives us a 2% chance of getting a pool C bid... We are gonna need some chaos!

Maryville beating Trinity would actually hurt UMHB's already slim pool C chances because Maryville is #26 and might actually jump UMHB in that scenario, while Trinity is in with or without a win.

That's just one of many things we'd need to go our way.

Needs:

Wabash to beat Depauw
Central to beat Coe
Cortland to beat Ithaca
Brockport to beat Utica
North Park to beat Wheaton
Endicott to beat Curry
Merchant Marine to beat Coast Guard
Alma to beat Adrian

Probably need 5 or 6 of those things to happen to even get close to having a chance. Still maybe not enough.

Quote from: crufootball on November 02, 2025, 01:34:59 PMAgreed on all count UMHB03.

One thing is for sure is this defense is so much different with a healthy Gaige Sanders and Brandon McGruder, we have always relied on the front 4 to do so much that without them our defense was fine but with them and an improved offense we at least can down swinging against HSU.

Massive difference with those guys healthy... worth noting we didn't have either of them OR any starting LB's vs HSU in the first matchup. We now have both DE's back and Brzenzniski and Izeal Jones at LB. Much different defense out there for round 2.

Quote from: Crubacker on October 27, 2025, 04:58:08 PMWhat happened to Joey Johnson #9?

Likely out for the year due to a shoulder injury, unfortunately. That's what I was told a few weeks ago anyway. Brzenzniski has looked good at LB and so has Izeal Jones but I didn't see Jones on the field last saturday... hopefully not injury related

Quote from: crufootball on October 27, 2025, 08:17:31 PM

Quote from: CruFrenzy on October 27, 2025, 04:17:55 PM

Quote from: Toby Taff on October 27, 2025, 01:10:24 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on October 26, 2025, 11:50:30 AMSaw three decent quarters out of the Cru. Now just to see a good full game. Tackling could use some work but saw some new faces on the defense have good games. Michaux looked better and made some really nice passes. It was a shame he didn't make any connections on deep balls though.


Blessing Ngene is a special running back.

What are we considering deep balls? The touchdown pass to stewart in the 4th was a 33yd dime on the run. probably the prettiest pass he's thrown all season.

I said the exact same thing Toby. Feels like we've completed about 10% of our deep passes this year, but that pass up the near sideline was right on the money!

As the glass half full fan I am going to hope that connection we might not have had at the start of the season with more then a few new players is finally starting to click.

Same here! Quinci Jones emerging has helped a lot, as he looks like our best wide out. That will hopefully continue to free up space to get BJ Stewart more meaningful touches.

Quote from: Toby Taff on October 27, 2025, 01:10:24 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on October 26, 2025, 11:50:30 AMSaw three decent quarters out of the Cru. Now just to see a good full game. Tackling could use some work but saw some new faces on the defense have good games. Michaux looked better and made some really nice passes. It was a shame he didn't make any connections on deep balls though.


Blessing Ngene is a special running back.

What are we considering deep balls? The touchdown pass to stewart in the 4th was a 33yd dime on the run. probably the prettiest pass he's thrown all season.

I said the exact same thing Toby. Feels like we've completed about 10% of our deep passes this year, but that pass up the near sideline was right on the money!

Couple of changes on the 2-deep for UMHB this week, though they are mostly what we saw last week vs Tx Wes.

https://x.com/CouchCru17/status/1981757697360851205

Do we finally see Horton get meaningful snaps this week at QB?

Mannnnnn we need to get McGruder and Sanders back on the defensive line, badly!

Quote from: Toby Taff on October 22, 2025, 01:04:27 PMJust read a Temple Daily Telegram story about the CRu that said BJ Stewart is in concussion protocols and is questionable for the HPU game.

Hope he takes all the time he needs to return and play healthy, but that's definitely positive that it sounds like he will be back this season.

Quote from: UMHB03 on October 19, 2025, 03:53:41 PM

Quote from: CruFrenzy on October 19, 2025, 12:35:31 PM

Quote from: zipmac22 on October 19, 2025, 12:08:16 AMI bet if the offense was allowed to actual use real plays instead of running up the middle a lot of the times. Or perhaps when the defense actually wrap their arms around the ball carrier to tackle instead of throwing their body through the air and hope they knock someone down.

Why are there still players on the field instead of sitting on the bench when they keep causing bonehead penalties over and over again? I have just about given up expecting to see someone different at QB. After six games the starting QB should be able to run move the ball down the field instead of all those three and out.

If Coach Harmon is able to turn the team around start playing with a purpose the fans will be there, but when we see more of the same old, same old its not going to happen.

I wrote a little about it on x but there were some positives.

For starters we do seem to finally be getting our best offensive weapons on the field at wideout. Quinci Jones #4 was probably our best portal grab in the offseason at receiver and he looked it yesterday, he's been hurt most of the season. Quinci Jones, Watson, Vidal and BJ Stewart all healthy you have your self a pretty good WR corps. The next and bigger issue like you said is QB play which has been bad all season, hate to say that but it's the truth. With 0 second half points and game after game of poor QB production idk what we have to lose, let Carson Horton play - he's the only QB that's shown any spark at all for us this season and with the improved WR's we might just have a decent shot at winning out with him in there. He's a gamer, he showed that at the end of HSU game. Small sample size yes but he rips it and again what else do we have to lose at this point?

Defensively we have to heal up. Still missing both starting defensive ends McGruder and Gaige Sanders. Get those guys back and that makes a huge difference up front.

I thought Brzezniski looked great at middle LB yesterday, good for him!!

When I saw Michaux trot out onto the field to start the game, I almost started wondering to myself if he has some kind of compromising blackmail info on Harmon or something. By all accounts Harmon is a good man, so I say that in jest, but I honestly can't comprehend what the coaches think he brings to the table that would compel them to keep putting him out there to throw one wounded duck after another every game. At 47 years old, and not in the best shape of my life, I really do think that I could complete some of the routine passes that he misses on a regular basis.

Haha, yea... I don't know for sure but I'd guess it's coach Lee making the decision to continue to start Michaux. I know there was some family connection and he was probably told he'd have the job as a graduate transfer from Illinois, but at this point the season is past being on the line and you have to play the guy that gives you a chance. I know Horton has been practicing through a tweaked hamstring so that could also be at play, I'm really not sure.

Guess we'll see what happens next two weeks vs Howard Payne and ETBU. Whoever starts vs Hardin Simmons on Nov 8 would ideally not be making their first collegiate start...

Quote from: zipmac22 on October 19, 2025, 12:08:16 AMI bet if the offense was allowed to actual use real plays instead of running up the middle a lot of the times. Or perhaps when the defense actually wrap their arms around the ball carrier to tackle instead of throwing their body through the air and hope they knock someone down.

Why are there still players on the field instead of sitting on the bench when they keep causing bonehead penalties over and over again? I have just about given up expecting to see someone different at QB. After six games the starting QB should be able to run move the ball down the field instead of all those three and out.

If Coach Harmon is able to turn the team around start playing with a purpose the fans will be there, but when we see more of the same old, same old its not going to happen.

I wrote a little about it on x but there were some positives.

For starters we do seem to finally be getting our best offensive weapons on the field at wideout. Quinci Jones #4 was probably our best portal grab in the offseason at receiver and he looked it yesterday, he's been hurt most of the season. Quinci Jones, Watson, Vidal and BJ Stewart all healthy you have your self a pretty good WR corps. The next and bigger issue like you said is QB play which has been bad all season, hate to say that but it's the truth. With 0 second half points and game after game of poor QB production idk what we have to lose, let Carson Horton play - he's the only QB that's shown any spark at all for us this season and with the improved WR's we might just have a decent shot at winning out with him in there. He's a gamer, he showed that at the end of HSU game. Small sample size yes but he rips it and again what else do we have to lose at this point?

Defensively we have to heal up. Still missing both starting defensive ends McGruder and Gaige Sanders. Get those guys back and that makes a huge difference up front.

I thought Brzezniski looked great at middle LB yesterday, good for him!!

Right... why should the 4th winningest head coach in college football history be mentioned as an all time great? LOL !

The reality is it's been 4 years and that's more than a big enough sample size to see the truth of the matter.

Ohio State lost Urban Meyer in 2018 after winning the title in 2014 and hired Ryan Day. They were back to the national championship in 2020 and won another in 2024, they remained extremely relevant despite losing an all time great HC during that entire 10 year span.

Even better example is North Dakota State:

Won 3 titles under Craig Bowl from 2011-2013
Won 4 titles (played in 5) under Chris Klieman 2014-2018
Won 2 titles under Matt Entz (played in 3) from 2019-2023

Just won another title under Tim Polasek and are currently #1 ranked team in FCS this year.

So it can be done. Not saying it's easy, there's a reason only one team can win the whole thing. But consistently not even being close to contending with our athletes and resources is crazy.