Click
here for this week's game notes in PDF.
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team finally gets to play its first home game of the 2010 season this Saturday and the stakes could not get much bigger for the home opener. The Cru, ranked 4
th in the country by the American Football Coaches Association, will host 8
th-ranked Hardin-Simmons University in a showdown of top ten teams when that game kicks off at 6:00 PM. UMHB is 2-0 overall and 1-0 in American Southwest Conference play, but the Cru has had to come from behind in both of those victory. The Cowboys are 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the ASC and Hardin-Simmons has knocked off a pair of top 20 teams in its last two games. The winner of the UMHB/Hardin-Simmons game has gone on to win at least a share of the ASC Championship every year since the Cru football program started in 1998. This is one of the biggest rivalry games in the conference and this year should be no exception. UMHB has won eight straight meetings with the Cowboys and has taken 10 of the last 11 after HSU won the first four games between the two teams. But after struggling at time the last two weeks, the Cru knows the challenge that lies ahead this weekend.
“We are tickled to be 2-0 right now, but we've got some things to address,” Cru head coach
Pete Fredenburg said. “You learn and grow from adversity and that's exactly what we need to do, to get better from our first two ball games. Our football team has to step up and really rise to the challenge and this would be a great week to do it. We've got to get the guys lined up in the right spots and get them ready to play against a really good football team.”
This will be the first night game between UMHB and Hardin-Simmons and will also be the first time the teams have played this early in the season. The Cru and Cowboys are playing for the 16th time overall, including three postseason meetings. HSU's last victory in the series came in Belton with a 49-22 victory in the 2004 regular season meeting at Tiger Field.
You can listen to the game on KTEM-AM 1400 in Temple. The UMHB athletic department will also provide live audio streaming, live video streaming and live statistics for the game. You can find all of those links on the UMHB athletic department web site at www.cruathletics.com.
