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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team has always circled the Hardin-Simmons game on the schedule and with good reason. The winner of the UMHB vs. Hardin-Simmons game has either won or shared every American Southwest Conference championship since the two teams began playing each other in 1998. A couple of weeks ago, this year's UMHB-HSU game was shaping up as a showdown between the #3 and #4 ranked teams in the country. That was before the Cowboys lost three straight games for the first time since restarting the football program in 1990. Now 3
rd-ranked UMHB will bring a 3-0 overall record and a 2-0 mark in ASC play into Saturday's game while the unranked Cowboys come in with a 1-3 overall record and an 0-2 mark in the ASC. The game between the two perennial ASC powers may have lost a little bit of luster as far as the national rankings are concerned, but don't try to tell the Cru coaches or players that the game has lost any meaning.
“There's no change at all for us, it's Hardin-Simmons week and nothing is different,” Cru head coach
Pete Fredenburg said. “This is always a big week for us and we have so much respect for their program. The records don't really matter this week, we shouldn't have any trouble getting ready for this ballgame.”
This will be the 15th overall meeting between the Cru and the Cowboys. UMHB has won the last seven games in a row against Hardin-Simmons and holds a 9-5 all-time advantage in the series. The Cru won both of last year's meetings, 20-18 in the regular season and 38-35 in week one of the NCAA Division III National Championships.
