“We had five turnovers. We gave them two touchdowns. We gave up a fake punt. We gave up field position. And every once in a while, we just got whipped,” the coach said Monday during his weekly press conference. “We just got outplayed and outcoached. We didn’t do any of the things you need to do to win a ballgame.”
Fredenburg’s words painted a bleak but accurate picture of Saturday’s affair in Ashland, Ore.
The Crusaders (6-1) gave the ball away five times - the Raiders (3-5) recovered two fumbles in the end zone for touchdowns and turned one of three interceptions into another TD. UMHB committed 11 penalties, trailed in time of possession by more than a full quarter, was 1-of-9 on third-down conversions, started four drives from inside its 20-yard line and three from inside its 5, and failed to mount much of a pass rush, all while running 24 fewer plays than its opponent.
“I told our guys that I wanted to take responsibility for the loss,” Fredenburg said. “It was my job to get them prepared, and I didn’t.”
The Crusaders’ offense was shut out in the second half. They averaged only 1.8 yards per rushing attempt on first down in the opening 30 minutes and netted zero rushing yards on second down in the second half.
By the time it was over, UMHB had rushed for only 92 yards. It was just the fourth time in the history of the program and only the second since 1999 that the Crusaders were held to less than 100 yards on the ground.
“We know we haven’t played as well as we hoped, even before this last game,” Fredenburg said. “We kind of sensed this might be coming, so we have to address some things and so do our players.
“But we can’t let this hang over. We can’t let Southern Oregon beat us twice. We have to respond to it and we have to move on.”
Short end of the flag
UMHB was penalized 11 times for 115 yards, compared to only six times for 30 yards for SOU.
Two of the flags were pass interference calls deep in Crusaders territory that kept Raiders scoring drives alive, and another was a pass interference penalty that negated Bryson Tucker’s interception of SOU quarterback J.C. Hunsaker at the UMHB 17.
“I think pass interference is a judgement call and it can go either way so many times,” Fredenburg said. “For whatever reason, when (the officials) made a judgement decision, it didn’t go in our favor.”
Tailback carousel
There’s a decent chance that American Southwest Conference-leading UMHB (5-0 ASC) will start its sixth different tailback when it faces East Texas Baptist (4-3, 4-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Marshall.
Quincy Daniels and Matt Hurst started games before being lost to injuries. Roger Sanchez started the Oct. 11 game at Louisiana College but hasn’t had a carry since. Tommy Vadell moved from fullback for a one-game start at tailback the following week but is back to his original position. And linebacker-turned-tailback Nathan Meyer started against SOU but carried the ball only once - on UMHB’s second play from scrimmage.
This week’s starter could be freshman Josh Landrum, who had team-highs of 15 carries and 60 yards against the Raiders.
“We felt backed up an awful lot. It seemed like we were always stuck with field position that limited what we could do offensively,” Fredenburg said of Landrum’s heavier workload. “But we really have to establish a consistent running back. That has to be paramount to our plan.”
As of Monday, this week’s starter had not been named.
“We think Josh is talented and can do a lot of things and make people miss,” Fredenburg said of the 5-9, 175-pound Landrum. “We would like somebody with a little more size. But right now, Josh would be the guy.”
Injury bug bites defense
Junior weakside linebacker Jeremy Salinas - fifth on the team with 34 tackles, four for losses, and an interception - was to have undergone surgery Monday to repair a broken radius bone in his forearm. A timetable for his return has not been set.
“Jeremy’s going to have a plate and four screws put in his arm. He will be in a splint for two weeks, and then a cast,” Fredenburg said. “We’ll shuffle our linebackers. John Hamilton went in and played that spot on Saturday, along with Kristen Leverett.”
A slight dip
UMHB slipped from its No. 3 spot in the D3football.com Top 25, but it didn’t slide all the way out of the top 10.
The Crusaders fell to No. 8, and defending NCAA Division III champion Wisconsin-Whitewater - which suffered its first loss on Saturday - dropped from second to sixth. North Central (Ill.) is the new No. 2 behind top-ranked Mount Union (Ohio).
Two of UMHB’s fellow South Region members - Muhlenberg (Pa.) and Millsaps (Miss.) - are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. The first NCAA regional rankings of the season are due out this week.
