Indeed, the proverbial 3 yards and a cloud of dust style of college football has gone the way of tear-away jerseys and bowl games without sponsors - relics of the past.
Multiple-receiver sets and the shotgun formation are all that’s seen on most Saturdays. Of the 31 NCAA football teams in the state of Texas, only five have rushed for more yards than they’ve thrown for this season.
One of those five is Mary Hardin-Baylor, which also calls plays at the line of scrimmage and utilizes the shotgun often. But that doesn’t mean Crusaders coach Pete Fredenburg has forgotten what it used to be like.
“I miss huddles, but that’ just the way that we are in today’s game,” Fredenburg said Monday during his weekly press conference. “Everything is done by spreading out the field, seeing how the defense is deployed, then letting the coaches make some calls.
“It’s been beneficial for us, but I think everybody kind of gets in a rut sometimes. We have about five different tempos we can utilize, even one where we can huddle. We just haven’t used it much.”
What separates UMHB from many teams is the Crusaders’ ability to operate a smash-mouth offensive style from a myriad of formations.
“I don’t ever want to do away with the physicality of the I-formation and the things that we feel give us an advantage,” Fredenburg said.
Tucker’s time
UMHB’s offense isn’t likely to change any time soon - not after the ninth-ranked Crusaders (7-1, 6-0 American Southwest Conference) got back on track in last Saturday’s 27-6 win at East Texas Baptist.
The difference in that game was junior Bryson Tucker, who started the day as the team’s leading tackler and ended it by becoming the sixth UMHB player to crest the 100-yard rushing mark in a game this season.
After the team’s top two tailbacks - Quincy Daniels and Matt Hurst - went down with injuries, the Crusaders went through a month-long revolving door of starters. Tucker, who made the move from weak safety, was the sixth starting tailback of the season.
After running for 138 yards and a touchdown on only 18 carries, he might be cemented in his new role.
“We kept hoping against hope that we could move somebody in at tailback and be fine,” Fredenburg said. “But in order to really move our offense well, you have to have a pretty special player there. I think Bryson Tucker is the guy.
“We knew he was fast, but we didn’t know that he had the vision that he does until he got in there. He has a real knack for finding the little seams that open up.”
Tucker will start Saturday, when UMHB can clinch a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs with a win at home against Howard Payne (2-6, 1-5).
Hurst, who had six carries against ETBU in his first game back from a shoulder injury, will also see time.
“We have always needed to have and have had two really good running backs each year,” Fredenburg said. “And I think we do now.”
Decision time
Daniels, a preseason All-American who suffered a torn ACL on the first offensive play of the second game, will learn this week whether or not he will play any more this season. If he doesn’t, the junior can petition the NCAA for a medical hardship and return next season with two years of eligibility remaining.
“In our long-range planning, this had been the week when we thought we would see what Quincy could do on the field,” Fredenburg said. “The (arthroscopic surgery) slowed us down some because of the swelling, but the swelling is moving out of his knee now.
“We’re probably going to have to make a decision pretty quickly. I think by the end of this week we will have made a decision.”
Conference honor
For the third time this season, UMHB sophomore kicker Alan Munoz was named as the ASC’s Special Teams Player of the Week.
Against ETBU, Munoz made two field goals, was 3-for-3 on extra points and had three touchbacks on kickoffs.
