FB: American Southwest Conference

[Etchglow]

Well, that was just sad.  It was interesting having Kyle King as the color commentator for the radio broadcast.  But, not sure what we need to do with the offense.  Defense looked better after a bad first half I guess is the lone bright spot.  Other bright spot is, I don't feel the need to travel to every away game and can do some actual deer hunting again this year.

[zipmac22]

Etchglow, what radio station was Kyle King doing the color commentator for? I would of liked to hear Kyle's insights.

[Etchglow]

Etchglow, what radio station was Kyle King doing the color commentator for? I would of liked to hear Kyle's insights.

It was on Kmil? The link from the schedule went there. Sounded like he was filling in for Jordan? Could tell he was a qb lol. Had some insights on missed reads for some passes.

[CruFrenzy]

Only silver lining for me was that Carson Horton came in and played late in the game at QB and looked like far and away the best QB on our roster. Regardless of what happens the rest of the year I hope he sticks around, was very encouraged by his play today. Unfortunately he limped off late in the 4th and appeared to have a hamstring strain or something, when it rains it pours...

[Etchglow]

Only silver lining for me was that Carson Horton came in and played late in the game at QB and looked like far and away the best QB on our roster. Regardless of what happens the rest of the year I hope he sticks around, was very encouraged by his play today. Unfortunately he limped off late in the 4th and appeared to have a hamstring strain or something, when it rains it pours...

Yeah, radio broadcast said he had been fighting a leg injury all season

[umhb2001]

UMHB is not a shell of its former self. It is a rudderless ship, with pristine elements, floundering in a sea of opportunity.

I love Coach Harmon for what he has done for Cru Football. The meeting room to watch film can be named after him. But this is not working. He took a national championship team and has run it into the ground.

Every other team has transfers in and out. That is not the problem. The problem is the message being sent to carry on tradition and culture.

[umhb2001]

Based on what I'm hearing and reading, Coach Harmon doesn't connect with players well as a head coach. This is troubling and needs to be addressed. He's had four years to get this team in the right direction and it isn't happening.

[Crubacker]

Defense needs to be more aggressive, offense needs to be more aggressive----------no more Dallas Cowboys style football.  During the HSU game, commentators talked about how UMHB does not really blitz-----they use 4 man front-----obviously this year, the personnel is not good enough to put good pressure on QB like years past-----add a 5th or send some quick LB's.  You have an offensive line that averages a little over 300lbs yet your rushing game sucks--------is it the plays, the scheme, or the players-----------from what I have noticed, offensive line has done a pretty good job of pass blocking with quick passes but run blocking-----it's like they hit one guy and think, "Well, I got my one guy, I'm done." Keep plowing through them!!!  Still having costly penalties, coming out flat.  Frustrating!

[Crubacker]

Time to man up!  Who wants to play, who just wants to go through the motions.  Time to open a can of whoop ass.  3 games they scored 7 points or less------------unacceptable even at the middle school level!!!!!!

[Ralph Turner]

UMHB is faced with the problem that I call the Bear Bryant/Darrell Royal problem (Bryant/Royal Syndrome). How long did it take those schools to ascend to the familiar heights that they knew after those 2 left?

[UMHB03]

UMHB is faced with the problem that I call the Bear Bryant/Darrell Royal problem (Bryant/Royal Syndrome). How long did it take those schools to ascend to the familiar heights that they knew after those 2 left?

I think there is some truth to this, and it may be a long time before UMHB gets back to the level of success it had under Fredenberg. However, Alabama and Texas didn't completely fall off a cliff after Bryant and Royal retired. Even Nebraska held on for a few more solid seasons after Osborne left. The collapse that our program has seen since Harmon took over is nearly unprecedented.

UMHB has lost 3+ games three years in a row for the first time EVER in the program's history. If not for the expanded field, it would be three straight years without a playoff appearance for the first time since 1998-2000, the first three years of the program's existence. During Harmon's four years his teams have lost 11 games (and counting), which is more than Fredenberg's teams lost in the past 15 years combined. We have been blown out more in the past four years than Fredenburg's teams were in his entire tenure.

Harmon's results as a head coach have been an unmitigated disaster, and are completely unacceptable for any school that wants to take it's football program seriously. He was great at running a defense, but he has been historically terrible at running a program.

[crufootball]

UMHB is faced with the problem that I call the Bear Bryant/Darrell Royal problem (Bryant/Royal Syndrome). How long did it take those schools to ascend to the familiar heights that they knew after those 2 left?

I think there is some truth to this, and it may be a long time before UMHB gets back to the level of success it had under Fredenberg. However, Alabama and Texas didn't completely fall off a cliff after Bryant and Royal retired. Even Nebraska held on for a few more solid seasons after Osborne left. The collapse that our program has seen since Harmon took over is nearly unprecedented.

UMHB has lost 3+ games three years in a row for the first time EVER in the program's history. If not for the expanded field, it would be three straight years without a playoff appearance for the first time since 1998-2000, the first three years of the program's existence. During Harmon's four years his teams have lost 11 games (and counting), which is more than Fredenberg's teams lost in the past 15 years combined. We have been blown out more in the past four years than Fredenburg's teams were in his entire tenure.

Harmon's results as a head coach have been an unmitigated disaster, and are completely unacceptable for any school that wants to take it's football program seriously. He was great at running a defense, but he has been historically terrible at running a program.

Are things going great for the Cru, no, but Alabama and Texas both had similar drops to what UMHB is experiencing. After Bear left Alabama he was replaced by Ray Perkins who in 4 years won 67% of his games, Fred Akers replaced Royal, stayed for 10 years winning 73% of his games but went 2-7 in bowl games. Nebraska did hold on for a few years, then fired the coach and haven't been relevant since.

Harmon currently has a 68% winning percentage which isn't amazing but also took the Cru to the national semi-finals and quarterfinals. I will point out that 10 of the 11 D3 loses that Harmon experienced were to playoffs teams with the one non playoff team being a very solid UW-RF team.

It is absolutely fair to say we haven't been as successful the past few years as we were the few before that but to act like we have become an embarrassment is just not accurate. I realize we are not most D3 programs but about 240 D3 teams would happily trade our last 4 years for theirs. 

[Ralph Turner]

CRU fans' expectations are National Championships.

It took Gene Stallings, one of the Junction Boys, to get the next National Championship for Alabama.

UT doesn't get a national championship until the 21st century, Mack Brown.

[UMHB03]

UMHB is faced with the problem that I call the Bear Bryant/Darrell Royal problem (Bryant/Royal Syndrome). How long did it take those schools to ascend to the familiar heights that they knew after those 2 left?

I think there is some truth to this, and it may be a long time before UMHB gets back to the level of success it had under Fredenberg. However, Alabama and Texas didn't completely fall off a cliff after Bryant and Royal retired. Even Nebraska held on for a few more solid seasons after Osborne left. The collapse that our program has seen since Harmon took over is nearly unprecedented.

UMHB has lost 3+ games three years in a row for the first time EVER in the program's history. If not for the expanded field, it would be three straight years without a playoff appearance for the first time since 1998-2000, the first three years of the program's existence. During Harmon's four years his teams have lost 11 games (and counting), which is more than Fredenberg's teams lost in the past 15 years combined. We have been blown out more in the past four years than Fredenburg's teams were in his entire tenure.

Harmon's results as a head coach have been an unmitigated disaster, and are completely unacceptable for any school that wants to take it's football program seriously. He was great at running a defense, but he has been historically terrible at running a program.

Are things going great for the Cru, no, but Alabama and Texas both had similar drops to what UMHB is experiencing. After Bear left Alabama he was replaced by Ray Perkins who in 4 years won 67% of his games, Fred Akers replaced Royal, stayed for 10 years winning 73% of his games but went 2-7 in bowl games. Nebraska did hold on for a few years, then fired the coach and haven't been relevant since.

Harmon currently has a 68% winning percentage which isn't amazing but also took the Cru to the national semi-finals and quarterfinals. I will point out that 10 of the 11 D3 loses that Harmon experienced were to playoffs teams with the one non playoff team being a very solid UW-RF team.

It is absolutely fair to say we haven't been as successful the past few years as we were the few before that but to act like we have become an embarrassment is just not accurate. I realize we are not most D3 programs but about 240 D3 teams would happily trade our last 4 years for theirs. 

I think your last statement says it all. We are not most D3 programs. We have as much as any program in the country when it comes to resources to work with. There is no excuse for losing 3+ games three years in a row, likely missing the playoffs for the second time in three years (again, would be three in a row without the expanded field), and getting blown out routinely. Hardin-Simmons has officially surpassed us as a program, and it's not even close at this point.

Harmon went undefeated and made a deep playoff run in his first year with a nearly intact team coming off a dominant national championship run. Since then he has been a joke, despite sneaking into an expanded playoff and getting hot during that stretch. The ongoing problems that plague the team are not being fixed. I don't expect a national championship every year, but I do expect to see a team making progress, being regularly competitive against good teams, making the playoffs more often than not, and (heaven forbid) actually earning a playoff game AT HOME once in a while. If Harmon can't handle these reasonable standards with the resources at his disposal, he doesn't need to be leading this team. This is not close to our standard.

[Ralph Turner]

... and Barry Switzer won one more Super Bowl with Jimmie Johnson's '92 and '93 Cowboys.

Off the top of my head, Coach F is up there with Larry Kehres at UMU, and Gagliardi at St John's and UWW's Lance Leipold, now at Kansas.