Texas Football

Dave Campbell's annual bible of Texas Football hit the newsstands earlier this month, and with it comes the prediction of ETBU's football team finishing fifth in the American Southwest Conference.

The Tigers, who have finished 5-5 each of the last two seasons, are picked fifth behind Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons, Mississippi College and Louisiana College. Rounding out the bottom four behind ETBU are Sul Ross, Howard Payne, Texas Lutheran and McMurry.

It's going to be an interesting year in the ASC. ETBU is in its third year under Coach Mark Sartain and the Tigers will field one of their most experience teams in the history of the program in terms of upperclassman leadership. ETBU, which marks its 10th season of football since returning to the gridiron at the beginning of this decade (man how time flies by!), could have as many as 25-30 seniors on the field by the time the Tigers kick off the season Sept. 5 against Wisconsin-La Crosse. Another 30-40 players will be classified as juniors, giving ETBU between 60-70 players either in their junior or senior seasons once the roster is all sorted out.

McMurry is picked last in Texas Football, but the former Indians will be run by former D-1 coach and offensive guru Hal Mumme. Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons, as always, are the flag-bearers of the ASC entering the season and both those teams will be top-notch once again.

Spots 3-5 in the standings could probably be a coin toss at this point. The Tigers are in that group certainly, along with Mississippi College and Louisiana College. The Wildcats will be in a big year under head coach Dennis Dunn, their fourth under the former Shreveport Evangel coach. And the Choctaws will be better under head coach Norm Joseph after a couple of up-and-down years, with last year being down from the start with the injury loss of quarterback Adam Shaffer in the season opener.

It's going to be a fun year. The Tigers have adopted the slogan "Close and Overtake" as part of their motto, which can be found on the team's new shield logo unveiled on the football web page. Lights, again, will bring the first night games to campus this fall. And don't forget ETBU will be playing its first full 10-game schedule against D-III only competition this season.

Players arrive for fall workouts Aug. 15, and it will be here before you know it.