BELTON — UMHB finds itself on the doorstep of its final road game of the 2024 regular season, in what, by just about every metric, is The Cru’s toughest matchup of the 10-game slate. Already 3-1 away from Crusader Stadium this fall, which includes the 35-17 win over UW-Whitewater that vaulted UMHB back into the Top 25, the Crusaders head west to Abilene for a Saturday tilt at fifth-ranked Hardin-Simmons.
HSU’s record is both unblemished, at 8-0, and highly-valued, as the Cowboys own two Top 25 wins this season. They have also been remarkably good at home, with a perfect 4-0 record thus far and an average margin of victory of 33.5 points in contests played at Shelton Stadium. The last time HSU lost on its home field? Sept. 24, 2022. The opponent? UMHB, who won 50-20 on that September evening. Playing in Abilene for the third consecutive season, The Cru is seeking another victory on that turf, knowing that any chance of an ASC title this fall will come with the result.
“Right now, we control our own destiny,” UMHB head coach Larry Harmon said Monday. “We just have to have the mental toughness to execute and do what we’re being asked to do. I don’t think there’s any kind of secret recipe. We need to be ourselves.”
They managed to snap ETBU’s four-game home win streak last Saturday in Marshall. The Crusaders are certainly capable of doing the same in Abilene. On Monday, Harmon met with the media to discuss the upcoming matchup at HSU, along with offering some comments on last week’s victory and the state of the team with just two weeks left on the regular season slate.
Looking back on last Saturday
UMHB battled through rainy and wet conditions, an explosive ETBU offense, and the element of facing a conference opponent for the second time in the regular season last Saturday in Marshall. They emerged on the other side with a 27-14 win, improving to 4-1 against ASC opponents. Harmon specifically praised his team’s focus throughout the contest, as The Cru never trailed at any point.
“I thought they did a good job of trying to stay focused,” he said. “It’s a long trip. I thought the kids did a good job of starting the game. We started fairly quickly on both sides of the ball. I did feel like we gave away a couple of gifts early, where we could’ve been up 21-0 in the first quarter if we could’ve just executed a little better. We kind of fell asleep for a series in the second quarter, let them score, and then got in a dogfight until early in the fourth quarter when we finally got up three possessions. For the most part, I thought we were the most physical team. We obviously did enough to win the game. But at the same time, with a little better execution, the margin would’ve been much bigger for us.”
Harmon was also asked about his thoughts on the double round-robin dynamic of the matchup. It marked the first time UMHB played an ASC opponent twice in the regular season, which, as was noted last week, creates a situation where both teams can take what happened in the first meeting and appropriately make adjustments to the game plan for the second time around.
“We cut their score down,” Harmon noted. “Defensively, we didn’t give up as many big plays. For the most part, the offense was able to execute and do what they wanted to do. ETBU did a nice job moving their front around a lot more than we had anticipated them doing. When it worked for them, it resulted in a big loss for us, but at the same time, they’d do it and we’d catch them with a big play ourselves. I thought, for the most part, that what we worked on and the changes we made definitely benefitted us on special teams and offense and defense.”
Starting fast
For just the second time in UMHB’s six countable games this season, The Cru reached the end zone on its first offensive drive against ETBU. Both instances came against the Tigers, in fact. UMHB marched down the field in 10 plays, eight of which saw the Crusaders run the ball, as they went 74 yards, scoring on a Kamerin Ferguson 10-yard run around the left side of the line.
Conversely, a poor offensive start—and that’s putting it mildly—in the first meeting with HSU sank UMHB into a deep hole quickly. The Cru turned the ball over five times, punted three times, and missed a field goal, adding up to a scoreless opening half. Seeking to change that this time around, Harmon pointed out preparation as the primary contributor to sustaining early drives and getting on the board in the opening quarter.
“It comes down to your preparation,” Harmon said. “We need to have our scout teams better prepared to give our offense, defense, and special teams a better look than what they did last time. Obviously our plans need to be better.
“We have a few twists to throw at them, and like I said, the main thing is, it’s going to come down to who is mentally tough enough to sit in there and have a chance to win it in the end. Both sides are going to have some momentum go their way and go against them. Whoever can mentally overcome that is going to have the best chance to win it.”
Defense looks to carry momentum from last week
Amongst the biggest highlights on Saturday was the showing from UMHB’s defense. The Cru bent, but didn’t break, on multiple ETBU drives, leading to UMHB becoming the first defense to surrender fewer than 20 points to ETBU this season.
While the Tigers totaled 292 passing yards, quarterback Kaden Brown averaged 10.1 yards/completion, 3.6 fewer than UMHB’s Jake Wright. By holding the Tigers to a lower average per completion, The Cru reduced ETBU’s passing effectiveness, with very few of the Tigers’ completions going for big gains. And the run-stopping ability of UMHB’s front seven held ETBU to a mere 49 yards on the ground; the first time this season that the Tigers failed to ecplise the 100-yard mark.
Reaching that caliber of performance will be key on Saturday at HSU, facing an offense that averages 41.0 points per game in ASC play.
“The back end is playing better with their vision. They’re reading run or pass better. We’re getting into the zones when we play zone. We have better technique when we’re playing man. Our front seven has been pretty good all year, but the thing that hurt us when we played Hardin-Simmons the first time was our back end got caught looking at the backfield too much, didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and gave up some big plays. It wasn’t necessarily the thing that completely got us beat, but it sure took away a lot of momentum.
“Not beating yourself is very important in this, and just playing assignment football on both sides of the ball, and especially on special teams. It’s not like you can play great on offense and defense and still not lose. Hardin-Simmons has very good special teams. They take a lot of pride in it, and so do we. It’s going to be a 60-minute game and we have to do everything we can to be able to be there in the end and have a chance to win it.”
