A Different Kind of Spring Football

The one good thing, at least football-wise, to come from this pandemic is that we seemingly have a never-ending football season that gave us Texas high school football in January for the first time and now the arrival of February football on the college level.

Many FCS schools (not the WAC-bound ACU Wildcats, who chose to play in the fall) will play for a championship this spring, but on the Division III level no national title will be earned. That doesn’t mean there is no D3 football, however, as the American Southwest Conference will play for a conference title this spring, giving us six week to check out Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne and McMurry.

ASC teams will play four games over five weeks of the “regular season” against their own division and then will face the team from the East that ended up the same seed as they did in the “playoffs” on March 13.

Howard Payne and McMurry are set for action this week — the War Hawks will host Sul Ross at 1 p.m. while the Yellow Jackets have a 1 p.m. date with Texas Lutheran at Gordon Wood Stadium. The Cowboys have a bye week in the first week, and will host Howard Payne February 13 at noon.

ASC West: Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne, McMurry, Sul Ross State, Texas Lutheran
ASC East: Belhaven, East Texas Baptist, Louisiana College, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Southwestern

HARDIN-SIMMONS

The Cowboys are the likely favorites to win the West as they get set for their tenth season under Jesse Burleson.

2/6 — OPEN
2/13 — Howard Payne, 12 p.m.
2/20 — at Sul Ross State, 1 p.m.
2/27 — at McMurry, 1 p.m.
3/6 — Texas Lutheran, 1 p.m.
3/13 — ASC Playoffs TBA

HOWARD PAYNE

The Yellow Jackets did not get to play season four under Braxton Harris, who left Brownwood in December to take a job as linebackers coach for FCS Campbell University. HPU alum Jason Bachtel is the new head man, and will have to get re-acclimated to Howard Payne football quickly to get the Yellow Jackets ready to take on TLU Saturday.

2/6 — Texas Lutheran
2/13 — at Hardin-Simmons
2/20 — McMurry
2/27 — OPEN
3/6 — at Sul Ross State
3/13 — ASC Playoffs TBA

McMURRY

McMurry returns to the field for year two under Jordan Neal at home Saturday against Sul Ross. The War Hawks have a ton of returning talent looking to help them rebound from a winless 2019 season.

2/6 — Sul Ross State
2/13 — at Texas Lutheran
2/20 — at Howard Payne
2/27 — Hardin-Simmons
3/6 — OPEN
3/13 — ASC Playoffs TBA

CISCO COLLEGE will also be playing this spring, but they do not hit the field until March 27 at home against New Mexico Military Institute.

3/27 — NMMI
4/3 — at Blinn
4/15 — Trinity Valley
4/24 — at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M
5/1 — Navarro
5/8 — at Kilgore
5/15 — at Tyler