Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team will hit the road for the first time this season when the Cru travels to Seguin to take on Texas Lutheran University in a non-conference tilt on Saturday. That game is scheduled for a 6:00 PM kickoff at Bulldog Stadium on the TLU campus.
The Cru is coming off a 56-0 victory over Ohio Wesleyan in the season opener last Saturday at Crusader Stadium. UMHB posted a shutout in the season opener for the first time in 19 seasons of football and rolled up 610 yards of total offense with 404 of those coming on the ground. The Cru defense limited the Battling Bishops to 66 passing yards and 226 yards of total offense while forcing five turnovers. But UMHB was flagged for 15 penalties and was held scoreless in a sluggish second quarter. So it was a mixed bag in the first game of the year, and while the coaches were pleased to get the victory, the Cru is also looking for significant improvement in this week’s game.
“Texas Lutheran has a good football team and we know that we will get the absolute best effort they can give, because this is always a game they circle,” Cru Head Coach Pete Fredenburg said. “But, I think our team is really focused on us and trying to get better. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of things we need to do better than we did last Saturday. We have a lot of talented players and have a chance to be a really good football team, but we aren’t there yet.”
Texas Lutheran is coming off a 44-20 home loss to East Texas Baptist last Saturday. The Bulldogs fell behind 30-0 in the first half and could not dig their way out of that hole in the second half. The two teams will be meeting for the fourth time in the last three seasons and will be playing as non-conference opponents for the last time in the foreseeable future. TLU, a former American Southwest Conference member, will rejoin the ASC as an affiliate member for football next season when the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference ceases to sponsor football as a conference sport.
UMHB will enter the contest ranked #5 in the country by D3football.com. The Cru leads the all-time series with TLU 17-1 and has won the last 16 meetings between the two schools. The Bulldogs’ only victory in the series came in a 34-24 decision in Seguin in the 1999 season finale. TLU also has former UMHB players Braxton Harris and Mark Carey on its coaching staff.
Saturday’s game will also be broadcast live on K101.7 FM and through the station’s web site with the pre-game show starting at 5:30 PM. UMHB will provide live video streaming at the following link: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/. Texas Lutheran will also offer live statistics for the contest and you can find that link on www.cruathletics.com.
