The Opening Kickoff
Hardin-Simmons will have its final game of the first trip through the American Southwest Conference Schedule with a 1 p.m. game at East Texas Baptist in Marshall. The Tigers are celebrating their homecoming this weekend. This will be the Cowboys' first game on the road in 42 days. The Cowboys opened the season on Sept. 6 at Chapman and have had four straight home games with an off week in between. It starts a stretch where it plays three out of four games on the road and all three of those games are conference opponents. The Cowboys won their fourth straight game against Mary Hardin-Baylor last weekend with a 34-7 victory at Shelton Stadium. The Cowboys have moved to No. 5 in the NPI rankings, which are the rankings used to create the field for the NCAA Playoffs. HSU was No. 2 in those rankings to start the playoffs last year and that secured them a bye and potential home games through the semifinals. HSU is looking for a third-straight American Southwest Conference title and a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Playoffs.   
 
Up Next
The Cowboys will return home for their fifth home game of the year, when they host Nelson University at 1 p.m.
 
In The Polls
Hardin-Simmons is back up to No. 7 in the D3football.com poll and still at No. 6 in the American Football Coaches Association ranking. HSU has been ranked for 108 straight weeks and in the top 10 for 70 of those weeks.
 
A Cowboy Win Would
? Be the 525th in school history.
? Be the 10th straight against East Texas Baptist.
? Give the Cowboys a winning record for the 12th straight year and the 33rd time in the last 34 years.
? Be the 113th in the Jesse Burleson era.
 
About ETBU
The Tigers started the season 4-0 but have dropped their first two conference games to move to 4-2 on the year. ETBU is averaging 32.5 points per game on the season and allowing 23.3. Running back Paul Woodard leads the American Southwest Conference in rushing at 120.2 yards per game. Quarterback Shai Markajani has thrown for 1,092 yards and 11 touchdowns with six interceptions on the year and has completed 70-of-138 passes. Kobe Chambers has 406 yards on 21 catches with seven of them being for touchdowns. Defensive end Dominick Williams is having a massive season. He leads the ASC with 52 tackles, 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. Cole Confessore leads the conference with two interceptions.
 
The Series With ETBU
HSU holds a 23-3 all-time record in the series with East Texas Baptist. HSU is 11-2 all-time in Marshall. The Cowboys are 12-2 against the Tigers under Jesse Burleson. They are 6-2 in Marshall over that span as well. HSU has won nine straight meetings against the Tigers.
 
Last Time Out
The Cowboys put together a complete game in a 34-7 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor. The defense limited the Crusaders to 183 yards of offense and just 45 yards on the ground on 27 carries. The offense was efficient as Kyle Brown went 15-of-20 for 136 yards and the Cowboys ran for 215 yards, with Noah Garcia producing 123 yards on the ground. Kaiden Roden led the defense with 12 tackles and recovered a fumble and Harrison Foster had a 65-yard interception return. ETBU fell behind 20-0 and lost 36-18 at Howard Payne.
 
Model of Consistency
The Cowboys have been one of the most consistent winning programs in the country, posting a winning record in 32 of the last 33 seasons. The next win will make it 33 of the last 34 years and 12 straight. The Cowboys also have the fifth-longest regular-season winning streak in the country in all levels of the NCAA.
 
Longest Active  Regular-Season Winning Streak
79          Mount Union  DIII
51          North Central DIII
29          DePauw            DIII
24          Kutztown          DII
22          Hardin-Simmons        DIII
 
Dominance By The Defense
The Cowboy defense had a dominating day against the Crusaders, allowing just 183 yards of offense. It was the fewest in a game in the series by UMHB and the 45 yards rushing tied a game last year as the fewest rushing yards allowed in the series. The defense ended the day with 11 pass break ups and six quarterback hurries, five of those by Matt Pascuzzi. The Crusaders did not score until the 1:33 mark and through three quarters UMHB had no points and just 83 yards of total offense. Mary Hardin-Baylor was only inside the Cowboys' 40-yard line on two drives the entire game, a turnover on downs in the second quarter and the touchdown late.

A Long Hard Rhode(n)
Junior linebacker Kaiden Roden was all over the field on Saturday and earned American Southwest Conference defensive player of the week honors. He had 12 tackles, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass. He had a pair of drive-stopping plays and is tied with Kade Sink for the HSU lead in drive-stoppers with five. This comes just three weeks after it looked like he might miss significant time with a knee injury. He ended up missing just a week and he almost looks like a transformer with the big knee brace and also an elbow brace. His ability to diagnose what the opponents' offense is trying to do and get the team around him in the right spots makes him one of the top defenders in the country. He was a preseason All-American and is a team captain.  
 
Stop Testing That Man
Senior safety Harrison Forster dropped what should have been an interception on a first down early in the fourth quarter, but three plays later on fourth down he made up for it as he stepped in front of a Seth Mouser pass intended for B.J. Stewart and showed off his track speed (he went to state twice in both the 300 and 110 hurdles at Sweetwater) to race 65 yards for a touchdown. He ranks fourth in the conference and second on the team with 34 tackles on the year.    It was Foster's fourth career interception and his third against Mary Hardin-Baylor. He has one in each of the three regular-season games he has played against the Crusaders.
 
Experienced Front
The Cowboy offensive line features four seniors and a junior up front and the group has now combined to start 75 games in their careers. Senior center Hayden Philpot has started 23 straight games, Senior guards Bode Walters and Garret Tittle have 16 straight starts and senior tackle Jaxon Lunsford has started 12 straight and has 15 starts in his career. Mike McAfee has started all five games this year at left tackle. They paved the way for 5.7 yards per play last week against Mary Hardin-Baylor, who relies heavily on its defense for success.
 
Take What They Give You
UMHB decided to keep two safeties back and limit the Cowboy deep passing game last week. They succeeded in that, but the Cowboys made them pay with the running and short passing game. Noah Garcia and Braylon Henry combined for 183 yards on the ground and also combined for six catches for 43 yards. Kyle Brown was an efficient 15-of-20 on the game for 132 yards. He also made some plays with his feet, which is not usually part of his repertoire. Brown had a couple of runs to pick up first downs and extend drives. 
 
Century Mark Again  
Noah Garcia had 123 yards rushing in the game, his second time rushing for 100 yards this season. He also has a 100-yard receiving game. He now has 2366 rushing yards for his career and 32 touchdowns on the ground. He is currently seventh on the career-rushing chart, passing Tommy Cupil last week. He is 113 yards behind Lance Moore for sixth. He is fifth on the rushing TD charts and needs three more to catch former backfield mate Colton Marshall for fifth. He can get to second with five more and is 13 away from Jaquan Hemphill's school mark of 46. His nine career 100-yard rushing games ranks seventh all-time at HSU. He also has 57 receptions for 550 yards in his career with four touchdowns. He leads the ASC and is 11th nationally with 164.2 all-purpose yards per game.   
 
Oh Henry
Sophomore running back Braylon Henry had 60 yards on Saturday and has 316 on the year. He is averaging 6.4 yards per carry and is a great compliment to Garcia. The Cowboys have had several times where both are in the game at the same time. Henry is sitting at 918 rushing yards for his career. He ranks fifth in the ASC in rushing.
 
Henderson Loves To Play UMHB
Sophomore safety Micah Henderson loves to play against UMHB. He had two interceptions against them last year returning one for a touchdown. On Saturday, he set a career high with nine tackles, had a forced fumble and broke up a pass. 
 
Space Eater
Junior Caden Sampson-Stuckey has been a space eater in the middle for the Cowboys at defensive tackle. He often takes on double teams in the three-man front but he still found his way to the quarterback on Saturday for a sack and had four tackles. He leads the defense with 2.5 sacks on the year and is playing most of the snaps at defensive tackle.
 
Just Kicking It
Junior kicker Pedro Altamirano has been a weapon all season for the Cowboys. He ranks second (one behind) nationally in touchbacks with 27. He has put 27 of his 39 kickoffs through the end zone. Last week, he put two of them into the Devo players who were 10 yards behind the end zone. He also has been consistent on field goals making six-of-seven including a 47-yarder. He is also  26-of-27 on PATs. His 8.8 points per game leads the kickers in the ASC. He ranks 14th nationally in field goal percentage and 16th in field goals per game. Sophomore punter Kaden Turner has been very good as well. He doesn't have enough attempts to qualify for the national rankings, but if he did, he would rank sixth nationally. He leads the ASC by 3.2 yards per kick. He averaged 49.3 yards per punt last week, including a career-best 68 yarder. He has put six of his 15 yards inside the 20 and two more snuck into the end zone for touchbacks.
 
Noteables
For the fourth time under Jesse Burleson, the Cowboys have started 5-0 and have for the second straight year...The 34-7 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor it marked the fourth straight regular-season win over the Crusaders. The 27-point margin of victory is tied for the second largest against Mary Hardin-Baylor, and the highest margin of victory for the Cowboys inside Shelton Stadium in the series.. Since 2011, this was the first time HSU had four straight home games... The interception return for a touchdown marked the third touchdown for the defense on the year. The unit ranks fourth nationally in defensive touchdowns.
 
Statistically Speaking
ASC
The Cowboys lead the conference in scoring offense (43.2) and scoring defense (17.4), total offense (457.4) and total defense (270.4), passing offense (268.4) and  passing defense (155.8)...Noah Garcia (81.8) is third, Braylon Henry (63.2) is tied for fourth and Ty Thompson (24.6) is ninth in rushing yards per game...Kyle Brown leads the league in passing at 243.3 yards per game and efficiency at 168.8...Wes Douglas leads the league with 81.8 yards per game receiving. Kris Sims, Noah Garcia and Dozie Ifeadi are all in the top 10...Pedrro Altamirano leads all kickers with 44 points and he is second overall in the league in scoring, Noah Garcia is third and Wes Douglas sixth...Brown leads the league in total offense at 244.8 per game and Garcia leads in all-purpose yards at 164.2 per contest...Altamirano leads the league with six field goals and Kaden Turner leads the league in punting at 43.7 per kick. 
Division III
HSU is 19th in blocked kicks with three..ranks fourth in defensive touchdowns with three...ranks fifth in fewest passes intercepted with one...ranks 12th in yards per completion at 25...ranks 14th in passing efficiency at 175.27...ranks 14th in scoring offense..is 26th in total offense...36th in total defense...is one of 16 unbeaten teams...Noah Garcia is 11th in all-purpose yards...Pedro Altamirano 14th in FG percentage and 16th in FGs per game...Kyle Brown is 23rd in pass per attempt.
 
 
 

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