Tiger Bites: ETBU vs. Hardin-Simmons

Some personal notes/tidbits from the history of the ETBU vs. Hardin-Simmons football series:

-- The Cowboys have never scored less than 20 points in a game against the Tigers. That would be less than 21 points in a game, but HSU didn't get to get the now-infamous extra point in overtime back in 2003, a point that helped the Tigers get the ASC's automatic playoff bid under the old three-way tie system of point differential. (I guess our HSU Baptist brethren will always have bad blood toward us for that... even though it was just playing by the rules as they were written at the time, good or bad). For the record, the tiebreaker rule was changed after that season.

-- There haven't been many years in the rivalry where I can honestly, truly say I thought ETBU had the better team. One of those was that 2003 game, although HSU was certainly a stout bunch back then. I think last year's game in Ornelas Stadium was also a free-for-all, and the Cowboys simply made more plays on both sides of the ball to get the win.

-- Other than that 2003 overtime classic, none of the games in Abilene have been remotely close. The Cowboys put up a very easy-seeming 69 on us back in 2001, and the lowest point total HSU has put up in the other games was 31 back in 2005.

-- Over the years I think most ETBU followers and fans have grown to respect the Cowboys simply because Hardin-Simmons wins every year. I mean, last year was considered a bad year for them and they lost two conference games. That's it. You have to respect a bunch that never ever expects to lose...because that means they don't do it very often.

-- My most meaningful personal memory over the last eight years of this series is, ironically, a game I wasn't even attending. During Hardin-Simmons week in 2003, I had to undergo emergency surgery (I had a "ripe gallbladder that had gone bad) and I was forced to stay home and listen to the game on the radio. There I was, lying up in bed, listening to a bedside clock radio and trying not to get too excited as to rip the stitches out of my gut. The Tigers and Cowboys didn't do me any favors that day, and at the end of it I felt even sicker after HSU had pulled out that 20-14 overtime win. Never in my mind did I ever consider that ETBU would get a second shot at the postseason later, until Coach Harris pointed out the tiebreaker situation going into the UMHB game. Knowing those rules gave our coaches a definite plan going into the UMHB game a couple weeks later, something I'll probably touch on when the Cru visits ETBU in a few weeks.

Looking back, I will agree that yes, the situation and the rules totally wouldn't have been even considered remotely fair had the shoe been on the other foot, but playing by them shouldn't be considered wrong by anyone either. Luck of the draw had us playing UMHB later than HSU, and we had the luxury of playing by the tiebreaker rules. And we all finished 8-1 in the conference, something I don't really honestly think will ever happen again. Those were three very good football teams at ETBU, HSU and UMHB that year -- quite frankly, every one of them should have gotten into the playoffs. The team that upset us that year in the second round -- Lycoming -- would not have finished in the top three of our conference.

See you Saturday.