BELTON–Bouncing back from a loss. It is something that UMHB was faced with coming out of Week 1 last fall, and a year later, The Cru has the same task at hand. Saturday’s 20-10 loss to Bethel University (TN), now the NAIA’s seventh-ranked team, left the Crusaders with plenty to think about, and head coach Larry Harmon was candid about that at his weekly press conference on Monday.
“We have to be confident in what we’re doing and do it at full speed,” the Crusaders’ third-year head coach noted. “At times on Saturday, we played really great on both sides [of the ball]. And then at times we just played timid. Our technique would be a little questionable or they weren’t sure exactly what their assignment was, which made us play just a little bit slow.
“I just want to see the confident, aggressive football team that I know we can be.”
Bethel was a formidable opponent by every definition of the word, a program that went 11-2 last fall, reached the 2023 NAIA quarterfinals, and boasts one of the top defenses in the NAIA. And as is often the case in games against top nationally-ranked programs, a handful of UMHB’s weaknesses were exposed by the Wildcats, as The Cru continues to mesh with several newcomers seeing action on both sides of the ball.
“We’re all in the same boat, so it doesn’t matter what side played better than the other side,” Harmon said later in the presser, when the topic of the defensive performance was brought up. “The defense did the same thing that the offense did—there were times when we weren’t as confident in what we were doing. [But] all of our guys want to do their very best. All of our guys want to win. All of our guys want to play well.”
And UMHB certainly has the capability to do that moving forwards. With the home opener set for Saturday against a Westgate Christian University squad that is 0-1, coming off a 54-3 loss at Texas College on Saturday, the Crusaders are eager to get back on track. The Cru won’t face a Division III opponent until Sept. 21, when UMHB travels to face UW-Whitewater, the nation’s third-ranked team, so there is more than enough time for UMHB to find its footing in the Crusaders’ quest for a November playoff bid. But those adjustments will need to happen promptly.
As we look ahead to Week 2 of the 2024 season, here are a few takeaways from Harmon’s Monday presser.
Developing trust is a top priority
One of the primary components in establishing a strong team chemistry centers upon trust. Trust in the coaching staff, trust in teammates, and trust in the playcalls. There were times on Saturday, Harmon noted, in which an absence of trust was seen, starting with the point at which Bethel took its first lead.
With UMHB holding a 3-0 lead, The Cru offense was steadily moving upfield when Kamerin Ferguson caught a pass out of the backfield in Bethel territory. He had barely taken a step when he was hit hard, knocking the ball loose. The fumble was recovered by the Wildcats and returned for a touchdown, flipping the momentum suddenly, with Bethel now leading 7-3. Though Harmon challenged the play, believing Ferguson hadn’t established possession when he lost the ball, the replay angles were inconclusive, and the fumble recovery stood.
“When the chips were down a little bit, that’s when you could sense that we’re not quite there yet with the trust factor. With, ‘Hey, we’re going to be together, we’re going to get through this, we’re going to be able to overcome this,” Harmon said, referencing the abrupt turn of events. “You could tell that there was some doubt. Some of those negative thoughts creeping into their mind, like, ‘here it goes again’ sort of thing instead of, ‘Hey, we got this’. So that’s my concern still with bringing in so many new people and some transfers and things like that. We still have some bonding to do. There was a team meeting yesterday [and] that was addressed and brought up. So the good thing is we get another week to try to improve on that this week and get ready for Westgate.”
Even more specifically, Harmon said the need for stronger trust was seen as UMHB looked to get its rushing game going behind Ferguson and Asa Osbourn, and an offensive line with three new starters. There were glimpses of success in running the ball, as UMHB rushed for over 100 yards for the ninth straight game, finishing with 146, led by Ferguson’s 77. It’s now simply a matter of getting more consistency in running the ball, which has the potential to also open up passing lanes a bit more for Phe.
“I thought there were times that our running backs ran real timid. I thought there were times that our offensive line could’ve finished their blocks better than what they did. So that’s the trust. The running backs have to trust the O-Line that the hole is going to be there and the O-Line needs to trust that the running backs are going to actually hit the hole that they’re trying to make.
“We had a little bit of Doubting Thomas…we had to see the hole completely open up before we went through it instead of running as hard as we could right at that [spot on the line]. It might be a dark room at the beginning of it, but it is going to open, and if we hit it at the right time, instead of being a 3 or 4 or 5-yard run, it’s going to be a 35 or 40-yard run, because our running backs are very talented. We have some speed back there and it’s not going to take much to have big gains.”
Addressing the high turnover number
UMHB turned the ball over an uncharacteristic five times on Saturday, four of which came on interceptions from sophomore quarterback Isaac Phe. The time in which they came was especially important as well, as interceptions ended each of The Cru’s final two drives in both the second and fourth quarters. Per research done by True To The Cru, it marked the first time in which UMHB had at least four turnovers in a game since Oct. 28, 2017, in a 62-0 shutout of McMurry—80 games ago.
There were various reasons for the interceptions within different situations, not all of which can be attributed to Phe. It should also be noted that the Bethel secondary led the Mid-South Conference in interceptions last season, with 21, and has now recorded four interceptions in each of the first two games of 2024.
“There was a lot that happened,” Harmon said. “Obviously we can do a better job of coaching that young man. Bethel did a great job pre-snap and post-snap of changing the picture that we struggled with a little bit.
“Two of his interceptions were at the end of the second quarter and the end of the fourth quarter, when we were really just throwing up a hail mary. We wanted to kick a field goal at the end of the second quarter and the wind was blowing about 30 [miles per hour] and we were on the [Bethel] 31-yard line, and didn’t feel like we could be successful [on a field goal] so we tried to throw up a 50-50 ball to AJ Williams and it didn’t work out for us. And then the last one, he was scrambling down towards the sideline and he was trying to throw it out of bounds, but he just didn’t quite get it as far as he should’ve.”
As for the other two, Harmon said it came down to timing, and trying to put the ball into windows that had already closed. Facing a top-level defense that featured experienced cornerbacks and safeties only seemed to amplify the issue, with Bethel taking advantage of those forced throws.
“The other two, I felt like he tried to force it in,” Harmon continued. “He wasn’t confident in his read, he thought he was late, and still tried to force it in. So in my opinion, we—the coaching staff, me—need to do a much better job of not asking him to do all those things. Maybe we need to make it to where he doesn’t have three progressions. That it’s just one, two, and get rid of the ball sort of thing. And have a chance to eliminate some of these turnovers. Because if we don’t, we’re not going to get the ship right. It’s always going to be fighting uphill. We don’t need to have to try to beat ourselves every game, you know what I mean? The opponent’s good enough.”
Thoughts on the defensive performance
As for the defense, Saturday had its share of highs and lows. Amongst the positives was the performance from the defense against the pass, pressuring Bethel QB Avaun Rucker in the backfield and limiting him to just 61 passing yards and a 40 percent completion rate. Considering the first quarter fumble by Ferguson led to Bethel’s first touchdown, the Crusader defense surrendered just one touchdown and a total of 13 points. On the other hand, the Wildcats ran for 156 yards in the second half alone, more than doubling their first half rushing yardage (68). And that certainly contributed to the outcome.
“The reason why our defense is able to do what they did is because they’re great players. They want to be the best they can be. I feel like we do a good job coaching. But there were times against Bethel when we were semi-timid. We had bad steps. We had bad eyes at times. Even though the defense had a good performance as far as yardage, yards per rush, pass efficiency, and keeping the score down, they go on the field to play defense. And that’s what they’re supposed to do.
“[Bethel] still scored too many points for us to win the game, because we only scored 10. They understand that. We’ve always had pride in being able to go out and play great defense. We did not do that Saturday, but we’re very capable of doing it. Our job this week is to get better so we can have that type of performance at some point in time this season.”
Amongst the top performers on Saturday was sophomore Gavin Brzezinski, who put together one of the best varsity debuts by a defensive player in recent memory. A safety who stood out in the preseason, the Leander native tallied nine solo tackles, a team-high, and recorded an interception that set up Edwin Lopez’s first quarter field goal.
”He’s a really tough kid,” Harmon said of Brzezinski. “He’s got great instincts. He cares tremendously about this team and his performance, and does an incredible job of preparing each week. He played a whale of a game. He was probably our most consistent player in the secondary.”
Up Next
UMHB kicks off against Westgate Christian at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday evening at Crusader Stadium. It marks The Cru’s first meeting with WCU, who is in its inaugural season of football, and will also be UMHB’s Family Weekend. It will also be one of only two times during the regular season in which the Crusaders kick off after 1 p.m., with the other being a 2:30 p.m. road game at Howard Payne on Oct. 19. Stay tuned for more UMHB Football coverage, including our Week 2 Game Preview presented by Montgomery Chiropractic, later in the week.
I don’t like that he didn’t address the need to have given the second QB a chance. Phe was struggling. We need to figure out which QB gives us the best chance to beat UWW and the rest of D3. Only running out 1 QB, who was really struggling, only limits our chances. Broken record….