Hardin-Simmons: 5 things to know about UMHB’s Week 5 opponent

Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/@lukezayas_photography

BELTON — UMHB and Hardin-Simmons will clash for the fourth time in the last 12 months when the two meet at Shelton Stadium on Saturday. It could be easily argued that no two programs anywhere else in college football have had that much recent familiarity, considering the longtime ASC rivals met three times during the 2024 season alone, and will face off twice during this year’s regular season. 

Incredibly, since the Larry Harmon era began in Belton in 2022, UMHB and HSU have battled five times. But it goes one step further. Four of those games have been played in Abilene, with UMHB going 2-2 against the Cowboys as the road team. The road atmosphere won’t intimidate The Cru, who notably won inside this exact same stadium last November in the second round of the NCAA playoffs as part of their dramatic run to the national quarterfinals. 

But it goes without saying that this is an HSU squad to be taken seriously, one that returns several starters on both sides of the ball from last years’ 10-1 campaign. Ranked No. 6 in the AFCA Poll and No. 9 in D3football.com’s Top 25, HSU is undefeated and averaging 45.5 points per game, the ninth-most in Division III. With the Cowboys’ dominant 69-14 win over Howard Payne in last week’s ASC opener, HSU enters Saturday’s showdown tied atop the ASC standings with UMHB, as both sit at 1-0 in the four-team league. 

Our game preview will come on Friday, adding more insight and thoughts to this individual matchup. But what should you know about UMHB’s Week 5 opponent? Glad you asked. Here’s a look at the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys. 

A second-straight 4-0 start hasn’t been without its hurdles

With UMHB taking down ETBU a week ago, HSU is the ASC’s lone remaining undefeated team, opening with four straight wins for the second year in a row. But the path to getting there hasn’t been entirely smooth; the Cowboys have been forced to climb some hills and traverse through a couple valleys along the way.

The campaign began with a trip out west, facing a Chapman squad that is now tied for the lead in the SCIAC. The 37-30 win in Orange, California saw HSU go to halftime tied at 10-10, before the offense kicked into gear and put up a 20-point third quarter. And even then, they had to hold off a late charge from Chapman in the game’s final minutes. 

Then came the annual crosstown rivalry with McMurry, a 24-19 win that once again defied every projection and turned out to be a down-to-the-wire finish. The offense went dormant over the final two quarters after going up 24-6, allowing the Warhawks to pull back within reach. Twice McMurry took possession trailing by just one score, but in both cases, the HSU defense held them off, securing the win. 

Even the seemingly one-sided 52-17 win over Louisiana Christian took overcoming an early hurdle, as the offense went three-and-out in each of its first two possessions. Of course, they then found the end zone on four of the next six, more than making up for the slow start. And that win remains notable, considering LCU is an NAIA scholarship program, and one currently receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 thanks to its 4-2 start. 

In each of those three non-conference games, HSU seemed to reveal two things: the Cowboys aren’t unbeatable—they have areas of weakness on both sides of the ball like anyone else—but they’re also experienced enough to be able to do what’s necessary to get the win (and in some cases, entirely pull away) when it’s all said and done. There is not a whole lot of visible panic from this team when faced with adverse situations. And that counts for a lot, especially as a team gets deeper into the season. 

That said, they didn’t have any reason to tap into that poise a week ago in the 69-14 win over Howard Payne. In front of a homecoming crowd, the Cowboys posted their best offensive output since 2019, improving to 12-3 in conference openers under head coach Jesse Burleson. 

Brown ranks amongst the best QBs in the nation

UMHB’s defense has gone toe-to-toe with a few play-making, experienced quarterbacks already this season. But HSU’s Kyle Brown is playing on another level in his second year as the Cowboys’ starter after transferring in from D2 West Texas A&M. Through four games, the Cedar Park native ranks 13th in the nation in yards per completion (15.8) and leads the ASC in virtually every passing category by a considerable amount, including yards per game (270.0), efficiency (175.5), and touchdowns (11). 

Quarterbacking one of the highest-scoring offenses in Division III, Brown’s arm strength and accuracy on deep routes has been revealed time and time again this fall, completing a pass of at least 50 yards in each of HSU’s first four games. After struggling in the second half of the Cowboys’ narrow win over McMurry—one in which he completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes for only the second time in an HSU uniform—Brown has turned in back-to-back solid stat lines, taking a step forward as ASC play gets going. In those two wins over Louisiana College and Howard Payne, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal caller went 42-of-62 passing for 610 yards, 8 TDs, and 0 interceptions. 

But beyond the raw numbers alone, Brown’s presence as a tough matchup for opposing defenses seems to trace back to the intangibles. His awareness in the pocket makes him difficult to put pressure on. He has shown mobility on dropbacks, allowing him to escape the pass rush, roll out, and extend the play when needed, often opening up receivers downfield with those extra few seconds. And then there’s the chemistry with his go-to receivers, Wes Douglas and Kris Sims, a key aspect of the scouting report on Brown, who is completing 61.8% of his passes this season. 

Needless to say, Brown enters Week 5 with plenty of momentum, coming off a 310-yard passing performance that earned him ASC Offensive Player of the Week honors. 

“He was Kyle,” Burleson said in Wednesday’s HSU coaches show. “We knew he’d be able to do those things. We had a good plan going into it, and he was able to execute them like we thought.”

Third-down execution is key for the Cowboy offense

HSU has long taken pride in its approach when faced with third-down, and for the most part, it’s been a consistent strength for the Cowboy offense. Despite struggling on third down against McMurry and Louisiana Christian, HSU has shown improvement, and enters Saturday’s matchup ranked 19th in the country in its conversion rate (51.9%). That percentage rose immensely with the Cowboys picking up the first down on 11 of their 15 third downs against HPU, a season-high for an offense that was also 10-of-15 in the win at Chapman. 

Historically, third-down success has been indicative of HSU’s overall offensive performance, especially in seasons like this one, where Cowboys have a strong balance between the run game and passing attack. In Burleson’s 15 years as head coach, HSU is a perfect 54-0 when converting on at least 50 percent of its third downs. 

What makes HSU so good in those specific situations? There are a variety of factors, but as UMHB will see Saturday, the threat posed by both the receiving corps and rushing attack seems to have plenty to do with it. The Cowboys tend to throw it on third down more often than they run it, but defenses are still kept in limbo because the run threat is always present. Against HPU, Guy Powell ran for a 22-yard touchdown on a 3rd & 3, but in the same situation earlier in the contest—facing 3rd & 3—Brown opted to throw it, finding Dozie Ifeadi for a 90-yard touchdown, which tied for the longest play in program history. That exact dynamic illustrates the tough decisions opposing defensive coordinators face when matching up with HSU on third down, and plays into the Cowboys’ ability to extend drives that way. 

Stopping ‘em right away

Flip the conversation to the HSU defense, a unit that leads the ASC in passing defense (160.3) and has held each of its last three opponents to fewer than 20 points. The Cowboys have allowed multiple touchdowns in all four of its games, but the one thing they haven’t done is surrender those scoring drives right off the bat. This is a defense that consistently opens halves with a stop, providing early momentum. In fact, HSU has not allowed a touchdown to open a half—first or second—at any point this season. The only points the Cowboys have allowed in one of those instances was a field goal on McMurry’s first drive of the game in Week 2. And as far as second halves go, the Cowboys carry a 25-game streak of forcing a punt or turnover on the opening defensive series of the third quarter, a streak that dates back to Week 2 of the 2022 season. 

Why is this significant? With the strength of the HSU offense, situations where the defense gets that first stop and gives the ball back to the offense have the potential to impact overall outcomes (the same is true when the offense gets the ball first and scores on its opening drive). Against both Chapman and HPU, HSU scored on each of its first three drives of the second half, causing a significant swing in the Cowboys’ favor while the defense kept the clamps on. When you consider that HSU is also 89-12 under Burleson when scoring first, the impact of a stop-and-score (or score-and-stop) carries some added weight, whether it comes in the first or second half. 

HSU’s leading tackler is an FBS transfer

This is a defense that returned its leading tackler (LB Kaiden Roden), one of its two leaders in interceptions (S Harrison Foster), and a total of seven starters heading into 2025. But through four games, the Cowboys’ leader in tackles, tackles for loss, and sacks is a newcomer: North Texas transfer Kade Sink. 

Sink’s impact has been immediate for HSU, starting with his four solo tackles in the Chapman win. The ASC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 22 for his 15-tackle performance against Louisiana College, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound linebacker has seamlessly filled the void left behind by Charlie Patterson, who graduated after tallying 14.0 TFL a year ago. To this point, the Friendswood, Texas product has 32.0 total tackles, the third-most in the ASC, and 5.5 TFL, the second-most in the ASC. 

Sink, who spent two seasons at UNT (but did not see game action for the Mean Green), is emerging as an anchor in the center of this defense, and could be the biggest individual challenger to UMHB’s ability to run the ball on Saturday. He has tallied at least 1.0 TFL in each of the last three weeks and at the midpoint of the season, seems to be the frontrunner in the “ASC Newcomer of the Year” conversation. 

Saturday’s Top 25 showdown kicks off in Abilene at 1 p.m. CT. True To The Cru will have boots on the ground for the matchup, so stay tuned for coverage across TrueToTheCru.com and our social media accounts on X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.