BELTON — Larry Harmon recognizes the difficulty of the six-game stretch that lies ahead. His 14th-ranked Crusaders, who vaulted themselves into the Top 25 two weeks ago by slaying No. 3 UW-Whitewater on the road, are entering the arena of conference play. And they can’t afford any missteps. Not if they want to reclaim the conference title after Hardin-Simmons captured the crown last fall.
Within that quest, UMHB is faced with a league schedule that sees The Cru play the other three members of the ASC twice, creating game-planning challenges that have never been present before, except for a handful of cases in which they went up against a conference opponent in the national playoffs. And while the ASC is composed of just four teams, it is a daunting league nonetheless, with ETBU ranking amongst the nation’s top offenses and Hardin-Simmons currently slotted in the Top 10 in both national Top 25 polls.
The first checkpoint of conference play comes on Saturday at Crusader Stadium, as UMHB (2-1) welcomes undefeated ETBU (3-0) for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Cru has won 18 straight meetings against the Tigers, but this also might be the best team ETBU has put on the field in quite some time.
“I would think, with the way we played two weeks ago at Whitewater, we’ll have a packed house [on Saturday],” Harmon said Monday. “Our guys have everything to play for. These kids know each other really well, so it’ll be like the Hatfields and McCoys out here on Saturday. It’ll be a fun atmosphere to be in.”
Harmon met with the media on Monday, previewing the ASC opener while also touching on the way last week unfolded the Crusaders. Here are three takeaways from that press conference as UMHB preps for its first in-state Division III opponent of 2024.
Positive developments were made last week as UMHB readied itself for ASC play
Last week gave way to a unique turn of events, as UMHB came off the Whitewater win expecting to host John Melvin University for one final tune-up before ASC play. Instead, John Melvin informed The Cru on Tuesday that due to a lack of available players, the Millers would not make the trip to Belton. It canceled what was to be UMHB’s second home contest of the fall, as Harmon and his staff pivoted with the week’s schedule. Rather than going through the typical game week schedule, UMHB took advantage of the de-facto bye week and used the time to reset.
“We made the decision to go into camp-mode,” Harmon said. “We wanted to make corrections from our Whitewater game. We feel like we got that done. We wanted to get some conditioning in. We were able to do that as well with some team scenarios and boot camp. And the last thing we wanted to do was let some guys heal up, and we got that done.
“We practiced yesterday and got a good jump on the week. I asked the guys, ‘How do you guys feel?’ They said, ‘We feel brand new.’”
Amongst those “corrections” from the Week 3 matchup at Whitewater was the performance of the punting unit, who had two punts blocked and returned for touchdowns against the Warhawks—UWW’s only scoring plays of the game. Harmon made it clear that an effective showing from that unit against ETBU is expected, considering the amount of work the Crusaders put in last week.
“We changed some [player] personnel there,” Harmon said. “We worked on it every single day we were in practice. It’ll be an atrocity if we can’t execute any better on Saturday than we did against Whitewater, because we’ve sure spent a lot of time on it.”
ETBU’s high-powered offense presents a serious challenge…and a must-see matchup against UMHB’s experienced defense
Headlining the ETBU squad coming to Belton on Saturday is an offensive attack unlike any that has been seen in Marshall for quite some time. The Tigers had the second-lowest yardage per game average in the ASC in 2023 (301.7 yards/game) and 2022 was no better, with the Tigers mustering just 310.9 yards/game.
But the offense was completely revamped this offseason, under the direction of first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Smith, and the results have been astounding. An offensive mastermind, Smith has ETBU leading Division III in offensive yardage, averaging 599 yards/game through three contests, all of which saw the Tigers put 47 or more points on the board. ETBU is fifth in the nation in scoring offense, at 55.7 points per game.
While all three defenses ETBU faced in non-conference play rank in the bottom 70 in D-III in yards allowed per game, which certainly contributed to those big numbers, there is no doubt that the Tigers are clicking. Quarterback Kaden Brown, a transfer from Division I South Dakota State, has spearheaded that effort with 11 passing touchdowns and 288 passing yards per game, fitting perfectly into the system that Smith instituted. Receiver Trayjen Llanas-Wilcox has five touchdown catches and 13 receptions overall. Running back Paul Woodard was named the ASC’s Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after rushing for 113 yards and three scores against Centenary. And the ETBU offensive line, which includes former UMHB center Elijah Mankins, has allowed just two sacks.
After UMHB’s defense exceeded expectations with five interceptions and a total of eight takeaways at UW-Whitewater, The Cru has another challenger on tap. And slowing down the Tigers won’t be easy.
“He does a great job spreading the field,” Harmon said of Smith’s offense. “He makes you defend the field horizontally and vertically and has a great scheme of protecting the quarterback. [That] makes it hard to get sacks, and defensive linemen get frustrated because the ball is out so fast.
“We have to do a great job of field distribution, making sure our eyes are in the right place, and making [Brown] hold the ball a little bit longer than he wants. And then maybe we get there with some pressure. They’re the No. 1 offense in the country for a reason. They have very good skill, they’re well-coached, and they do a great job of using all of the grass and making the defense have to defend everything.”
“We need to grab ahold of it”: UMHB is focused on the opponent at hand and carrying over momentum from the win over Whitewater, even with the HSU game nearing closer
While the season still feels relatively fresh—UMHB has just one Division III game under its belt—the fact is that Saturday marks Week 5 of the regular season. Just three home games remain on The Cru’s schedule, two of which will come within the next two weeks. While the second round of games against its ASC rivals will come with challenges, the first go-around holds significance, especially when two of the three are in Belton.
On top of that, the back-to-back home contests are against the best competition the league has to offer, with ETBU this Saturday followed by the highly-anticipated duel with No. 7 Hardin-Simmons the next. Because of the rivalry between UMHB and HSU, along with the fact that the Oct. 12 contest marks the first time HSU has played in Belton since 2021, it is shaping up to be the ASC’s “Game of the Year”.
The passion surrounding that matchup is understandable. But UMHB will need to be careful to not overlook ETBU in the process, despite The Cru’s lengthy run of success against the Tigers. Every conference game holds immense value, especially when going against a team playing at the level ETBU has been at. Harmon said he doesn’t expect that to be an issue, even with the HSU matchup two weeks away.
“All you have to do is watch the film,” Harmon said. “ETBU is clicking on all cylinders. I don’t think our kids are going to have any problem looking at this film and going, ‘We need to make sure we’re locked in and keep this momentum going from Whitewater.’ That’s what you hope happens.
“That was my talk to them on Friday after we got done with boot camp. We had an incredible team win, probably our best team win in a year-and-a-half. We need to grab a hold of it and not let it slip through our fingers just because we didn’t think we had to play our best to beat somebody. It’s a tough season with having to play everybody [in our conference] twice, and I think our kids know how difficult it’s going to be. I think there’s more than just Hardin-Simmons on the horizon that will keep us from overlooking this team. It’s trying to build on what we did two weeks ago. That will be the message all week.”
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