FB: American Southwest Conference

[crufootball]

I have to keep believing that sanity will prevail and the ASC and SCAC will come up with something that means all of them will be able to bus to each other and only need 1 or 2 more games after that. I mean really if you combine all of us that is 10 teams, meaning 9 guaranteed games and you only have to find 1 other game.

Its either that or all of us end up with schedules that don't make sense.

UMHB - 2 NAIA school (flight last year), 1 D2 team (flight) and UWW (flight last year)
HSU - 2 NAIA schools, and Chapman (flight)
HPU - 1 NAIA school and Pacific (assume flight next year)
ETBU - 1 NAIA school

Lyon - 1 NAIA school and playing Hendrix twice due to championship weekend
Hendrix - All D3 but playing Lyon twice
Austin - Playing Centenary 3 times and Westgate Christian
Centenary -  Playing Austin 3 times and Westgate Christian
TLU - All D3 but playing McMurry 2 times
McMurry - All D3 but playing TLU 2 times and either flew to Huntingdon or had a very long bus ride

Next year both of us will need more games if neither are going to play round robin, STOP THE MADNESS!

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry played at Huntingdon as the 10th game in 2007, so that is an occasional non-conference opponent.

[crufootball]

McMurry played at Huntingdon as the 10th game in 2007, so that is an occasional non-conference opponent.

And I am all for it, I would love a setup with 1 or 2 non conference games so that schools could pick what type of experience they want. But none of the schedules this year for ASC or SCAC teams are optimal for any D3 athlete, I am sure I don't know the whole story and am a biased UMHB/ASC fan but again STOP THE MADNESS!

[Ralph Turner]

Does Schreiner come on board next year in the ASC?

[crufootball]

Does Schreiner come on board next year in the ASC?

Yes, the should play the full ASC schedule next year.

[UMHB03]

I have to keep believing that sanity will prevail and the ASC and SCAC will come up with something that means all of them will be able to bus to each other and only need 1 or 2 more games after that. I mean really if you combine all of us that is 10 teams, meaning 9 guaranteed games and you only have to find 1 other game.

Its either that or all of us end up with schedules that don't make sense.

UMHB - 2 NAIA school (flight last year), 1 D2 team (flight) and UWW (flight last year)
HSU - 2 NAIA schools, and Chapman (flight)
HPU - 1 NAIA school and Pacific (assume flight next year)
ETBU - 1 NAIA school

Lyon - 1 NAIA school and playing Hendrix twice due to championship weekend
Hendrix - All D3 but playing Lyon twice
Austin - Playing Centenary 3 times and Westgate Christian
Centenary -  Playing Austin 3 times and Westgate Christian
TLU - All D3 but playing McMurry 2 times
McMurry - All D3 but playing TLU 2 times and either flew to Huntingdon or had a very long bus ride

Next year both of us will need more games if neither are going to play round robin, STOP THE MADNESS!

I'd love to see the ASC go back to 10 teams, but I don't see it. I don't think the SCAC schools mind playing the same opponents 2-3 times or scheduling Westgate Christian if it means not getting their butts kicked by UMHB and HSU every year or associating with the dastardly Baptist Four.

Assuming UMHB misses the playoffs, which sadly looks to be likely, then Harmon needs to be on the phone Monday trying to get some D3 opponents scheduled for 2026. Continuing with the kind of scheduling we've had the last 2 years is not a recipe for success.

[crufootball]

I have to keep believing that sanity will prevail and the ASC and SCAC will come up with something that means all of them will be able to bus to each other and only need 1 or 2 more games after that. I mean really if you combine all of us that is 10 teams, meaning 9 guaranteed games and you only have to find 1 other game.

Its either that or all of us end up with schedules that don't make sense.

UMHB - 2 NAIA school (flight last year), 1 D2 team (flight) and UWW (flight last year)
HSU - 2 NAIA schools, and Chapman (flight)
HPU - 1 NAIA school and Pacific (assume flight next year)
ETBU - 1 NAIA school

Lyon - 1 NAIA school and playing Hendrix twice due to championship weekend
Hendrix - All D3 but playing Lyon twice
Austin - Playing Centenary 3 times and Westgate Christian
Centenary -  Playing Austin 3 times and Westgate Christian
TLU - All D3 but playing McMurry 2 times
McMurry - All D3 but playing TLU 2 times and either flew to Huntingdon or had a very long bus ride

Next year both of us will need more games if neither are going to play round robin, STOP THE MADNESS!

I'd love to see the ASC go back to 10 teams, but I don't see it. I don't think the SCAC schools mind playing the same opponents 2-3 times or scheduling Westgate Christian if it means not getting their butts kicked by UMHB and HSU every year or associating with the dastardly Baptist Four.

Assuming UMHB misses the playoffs, which sadly looks to be likely, then Harmon needs to be on the phone Monday trying to get some D3 opponents scheduled for 2026. Continuing with the kind of scheduling we've had the last 2 years is not a recipe for success.

You might be correct but unless Harmon is not telling the truth he does call every D3 school and is turned down. This quote  from him was in the paper this week.

"We just want a Division III opponent to have a home-and-home series. We'll go to their place first and they still turn it down, even with us handling their flight and their buses."

[Ron Boerger]

The Mount Unions and North Centrals find opponents.  One of the things not working in UMHB's favor is that some of those programs probably don't want to have anything to do with coordinating putting 60+ guys, coaches and staff on planes.  If you're not used to flying a team, it can be pretty intimidating trying to deal with that and the inevitable issues that come up when flying these days.  And Belton's not the easiest place to get to on a plane - and you couldn't talk me into putting that many people through the chaos that is the Austin airport on a dare.  I guess AA flies into Killeen but it would be well-nigh impossible to get enough seats on one of those small planes for an entire team (Embraer 175s, the largest plane flying into GRK, seat something like 64 in coach and putting linemen-sized bodies in those seats - probably not going to happen). 

[Ralph Turner]

For the sake of the athletes, I am happy for the players at Lyon or AC or Centenary getting the chance to play opponents of comparable skill level. That is not a knock, because D3 athletics is for the development of the young adult. Competing for a conference championship is the real benefit.

I am saddened that McMurry is having to play so many games on Sunday, especially in basketball, in the SCAC. Returning to the ASC, where Sunday contests are uncommon, is one thing I like about the move.

[UMHB03]

I have to keep believing that sanity will prevail and the ASC and SCAC will come up with something that means all of them will be able to bus to each other and only need 1 or 2 more games after that. I mean really if you combine all of us that is 10 teams, meaning 9 guaranteed games and you only have to find 1 other game.

Its either that or all of us end up with schedules that don't make sense.

UMHB - 2 NAIA school (flight last year), 1 D2 team (flight) and UWW (flight last year)
HSU - 2 NAIA schools, and Chapman (flight)
HPU - 1 NAIA school and Pacific (assume flight next year)
ETBU - 1 NAIA school

Lyon - 1 NAIA school and playing Hendrix twice due to championship weekend
Hendrix - All D3 but playing Lyon twice
Austin - Playing Centenary 3 times and Westgate Christian
Centenary -  Playing Austin 3 times and Westgate Christian
TLU - All D3 but playing McMurry 2 times
McMurry - All D3 but playing TLU 2 times and either flew to Huntingdon or had a very long bus ride

Next year both of us will need more games if neither are going to play round robin, STOP THE MADNESS!

I'd love to see the ASC go back to 10 teams, but I don't see it. I don't think the SCAC schools mind playing the same opponents 2-3 times or scheduling Westgate Christian if it means not getting their butts kicked by UMHB and HSU every year or associating with the dastardly Baptist Four.

Assuming UMHB misses the playoffs, which sadly looks to be likely, then Harmon needs to be on the phone Monday trying to get some D3 opponents scheduled for 2026. Continuing with the kind of scheduling we've had the last 2 years is not a recipe for success.

You might be correct but unless Harmon is not telling the truth he does call every D3 school and is turned down. This quote  from him was in the paper this week.

"We just want a Division III opponent to have a home-and-home series. We'll go to their place first and they still turn it down, even with us handling their flight and their buses."

If he really is that unable to find D3 opponents then he needs to be pushing the AD hard to pressure the other members into a round robin. This practice of scheduling almost exclusively non-D3 teams in non-conference is unsustainable if we ever want to be a consistent playoff program again.

[crufootball]

For the sake of the athletes, I am happy for the players at Lyon or AC or Centenary getting the chance to play opponents of comparable skill level. That is not a knock, because D3 athletics is for the development of the young adult. Competing for a conference championship is the real benefit.

I am saddened that McMurry is having to play so many games on Sunday, especially in basketball, in the SCAC. Returning to the ASC, where Sunday contests are uncommon, is one thing I like about the move.

I see your point, but the players at AC and Centenary can't be thrilled about ending up playing each other three times — plus Westgate Christian. And the issue is only going to get worse next year when McMurry is gone and they no longer have the opponent they expected in Schreiner University.

If the goal is to compete for a conference championship, build a more manageable schedule, and still have a realistic shot at the playoffs, they could just revisit what the SCAC did from 2013–2015. During that stretch, everyone played each other once and filled the rest of the schedule primarily with ASC teams. TLU not only won 3 conference championships under that model, but also made the playoffs and nearly beat UMHB in what turned into a 24-hour football game.

[Ralph Turner]

I reviewed the UMHB margins of victory since 2000 over McMurry, until 2023.
No game in 2001, canceled after 9/11. No games in 2012-2015 with McMurry leaving for D2 and coming back, no game in 2020 due to COVID. There were 2 games in 2011, the latter being a 2nd round playoff in which McMurry's QB was injured.

14, 52, 57, 50, 72, 23, 42, 46, 33, 12, 1 and 29 in 2011, D-2 years, 63 in 2016,  62, 73, 79, COVID, 74, 59, 41 in 2023.

I would rather play home-and-home with a comparable opponent.

[Etchglow]

I was bored, 12 kids in the portal so far, most freshmen/sophomores:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a5bzMA6WXdUjZf7-gqeNxzwB16nxvGeJ9oPuaHLUFh4/edit?usp=sharing