The Opening Kickoff
Hardin-Simmons will travel to Belton for a 1 p.m. game against Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Cowboys are 8-0 on the year and 4-0 in American Southwest Conference action and can claim their third straight ASC outright title with a win on Saturday. The Cowboys have won four straight regular-season games against the Crusaders. This marks every year that either HSU or UMHB has won at least a share of the ASC title since the Crusaders joined the league in 1998. UMHB is 5-3 on the year and 3-1 in league play. HSU won the first meeting 38-7 in Abilene on Oct. 11. UMHB's starting quarterback Kirkland Michaux did not play in that meeting and the Crusaders are battling for their postseason life. They currently sit outside the cut line in the NPI rankings that select the field. They must beat the Cowboys by 21 points and HSU has to lose next week against East Texas Baptist to have any shot at the ASC automatic berth into the NCAA Playoffs. In the first meeting, the Cowboys held the Crusaders to 183 yards of total offense and to just 27 yards rushing in the game. Noah Garcia had a pair of rushing touchdowns, Braylon Henry adding a rushing score and Pedro Altamirano hit a pair of field goals. Harrison Forster put the game on ice with a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. UMHB's lone score came with 1:33 to play in the game.
 
Up Next
The Cowboys will close out the regular season with a Senior Day game against East Texas Baptist at 1 p.m. The senior day ceremony has been recorded and will be played at halftime on the video board. The seniors will also lineup with the captains prior to the game.
 
In The Polls
Hardin-Simmons stayed at No. 5 in the American Football Coaches Association poll and moved up a spot to No. 5 in the D3football.com poll. UMHB is receiving votes but not in the top 25 in either poll. The Cowboys are No. 6 in this week's NPI ranking with the NCAA. UMHB is No. 67 in this week's NPI. HSU has been ranked for 111 straight weeks and in the top 10 for 73 of those weeks.
 
A Cowboy Win Would
? Be the 528th in school history.
? Would mark just the seventh time in school history to start 9-0 (1940, 1946, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2024 and 2025).
? Would be the 24th straight ASC win  (the HSU record is 34).
? Would be the 26th straight regular-season win (the HSU record is 29).
? Be the 116th in the Jesse Burleson era.
 
About Mary Hardin-Baylor
The Crusaders are playing their best ball of the season, winning three straight since the loss to HSU. They beat ETBU 62-14 last week. This is their fourth straight home game. Quarterback Kirkland Micheaux has completed 113-of-180 passes for 1,396 yards and 11 touchdowns with just three interceptions on the year. Kamerin Ferguson and Asa Osbourn give them a two-headed rushing attack. Ferguson has 462 yards and five touchdowns and Osbourn has 410 yards and six scores. B.J. Stewart is an all-purpose threat. He has 50 catches for 575 yards and nine receiving TDs. He also averages 14.9 yards per punt return with a touchdown and 45.1 yards per kick return and also has a touchdown. J.J. Davis leads the defense with 55 tackles. Gaige Sanders and Brandon McGruder have four sacks each and DeMarion Morris and Samuel Steffe each have a pair of interceptions.  
 
The Series With Mary Hardin-Baylor
UMHB leads the all-time series between the two teams 25-10 on the field. HSU has won four of the last five meetings. In Belton, UMHB has a 13-4 all-time lead.  HSU won 44-21 at UMHB last season, which snapped a 12-game losing streak in Belton. 
 
Garcia Has Monster Game At HPU
Senior running back Noah Garcia had one of his best days as a Cowboy as he rushed for 124 yards and four touchdowns and added 83 receiving yards with another touchdown. He had a 74-yard receiving touchdown and TD runs of 46, 22, 13 and seven yards. The game pushed him up several all-time charts. He is now second all-time at HSU with 38 rushing touchdowns as he passed Lance Moore, Colton Marshall and Quinton Jones last week. He is eight behind Jaquan Hemphill. He also moved to fourth on the career rushing chart with 2,633 yards. For his career, he also has 68 catches for 745 and six touchdowns. He moved up to seventh nationally in all-purpose yards per game with 168.3 per contest.
 
500 Again
The Cowboy offense recorded its fourth game over 500 yards of total offense this season with 517 at Howard Payne. They had 505 at Chapman, 708 against Howard Payne the first time and 685 against Nelson. HSU ranks 13th nationally with 488.6 yards per game and ranks 10th at 46.5 points per game. HSU is 27th in rushing in the country at 212.8 yards per game and 35th in passing at 275.9. The Cowboys are one of just three teams nationally in the top 35 in both categories, joining Hope (25, rushing and 24 passing) and UW-River Falls (15, rushing and 4th passing) .
 
Stop The Run First
HSU has done a great job against the run with four straight opponents posting less than 100 yards. The Cowboys have allowed under 100 yards five times on the year. They have allowed just three rushes over 20 yards this season and in six of the eight games they have not allowed a 20-yard run. Opponents are averaging just 3.1 yards per carry this season and the defense allows just 4.4 yards per play.
 
Pick Time, Part Deaux
Sophomore safety Micah Henderson recorded the lone turnover of the game on Saturday when he had an interception. It was his second straight game with an interception and the fourth of his career.  He had two in the game in Belton last year.
 
Block That Kick
The Cowboys are ninth nationally with five blocked kicks on the year. Harrison Foster had a blocked field goal last week against Howard Payne. Keyon House has a pair of blocked kicks, Mark Champion and Wes Douglas also have a block this year.
 
Keeping Them Clean
The offensive line continued its strong play on Saturday. The unit helped lead the charge for 292 yards on the ground, a new season high. On the year, the offensive line has helped create six games where the offense has over 200-yard plus rushing performance. Saturday was the second game they did not allow a sack.
 
Home Game
The Cowboys have a pair of varsity players from the Brownwood area. Offensive lineman Brandon Still played at Brownwood high school and got in the game Saturday. Guy Powell is from Bangs and he scored a touchdown in the contest Saturday. He finished the game with six carries for 48 yards.
 
Controlling The Scoring Area
Success in the red zone is a calling card for the Cowboy offense. On Saturday, they were a perfect six for six inside the 20-yard line. On the year, they have 34 scores in 41 attempts. Defensively, the Cowboys have allowed a touchdown on just 8-of-15 opponent red zone trips.
 
Fast Starts
Starting fast has been something the offense has done this year. In six of the eight games, they scored double digits in the opening 15 minutes. On the flip side, the Cowboy defense has held opponents scoreless five times and given up just 13 total points in the first quarter.
 
In The Backfield
The Cowboy defense had three sacks against Howard Payne, with Demonte Carter, Matt Pascuzzi, and Kade Sink all getting in on the action. In total, the HSU had 10 tackles for loss. Kaiden Roden, Carter and Christian Ashe led the way with two each.
 
1K
Sophomore running back Braylon Henry went over the 1,000-yard mark for his career. He has 452 yards and four touchdowns on the year. For his career, he has 1,016 yards and 13 touchdowns and averages 5.8 yards per carry. He had 68 yards on eight carries last week with a touchdown.
 
Brown Continues To Lead The Way
Kyle Brown had another solid outing going, 19-of-26 for 225 yards and two scores and he also made plays with his feet getting out of pressure situations. He has now completed 298-of-442 passes for 4,222 yards and 40 touchdowns with just six interceptions. He also has four rushing touchdowns. He is putting himself in some rarefied air in the Cowboy program. He has the best percentage among quarterbacks, and his 18 wins as a starter are tied for third all-time.
 
Winning Percentage by Starting QBs at HSU

Players	Wins	Losses	Games	Pct.
Kyle Brown	17	1	18	.947
Brad Boyd	12	1	13	.923
Travis Jones	12	2	14	.857
Kyle Jones	17	3	20	.850
Jordan Neal	28	5	33	.848
Ryan Breton	17	4	21	.809
Bill Poe	17	4	21	.809
Dustin Proctor	16	4	20	.800
Gaylon Glynn	16	4	20	.800
Ty Hooper	10	3	13	.769

 
Wins As The Starter

Jordan Neal	28
Justin Feaster	24
Kyle Brown	18
Kevin Beam	18
Kyle Jones	17
Ryan Breton	17
Bill Poe	17
Dustin Proctor	16
Gaylon Glynn	16
Todd Bauman	16
Tom Enloe	16

 
When The Lights Shine The Brightest
Harrison Foster, in four career games against Mary Hardin-Baylor, has 27 tackles and three interceptions. In the first game this year, he returned the interception 65 yards for a touchdown. In the first game against the Crusaders this year, Noah Garcia had 123 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. In five career games against UMHB, he has seven touchdowns and two games with over 100 yards rushing. Kyle Brown, in his four career games against UMHB, has 729 yards through the air and five total touchdowns.
 
Kicking Weapons
Pedro Altamirano has become a true weapon for the Cowboys not only as a placekicker but on kickoffs as well. He is second nationally with 46 touchbacks. He is 8-of-10 on field goals with a long of 47 and is 44-of-46 on PATs. Kaden Turner has only been called on to punt 23 times but is averaging 43.1 yards per kick with four over 50 and six inside the 20. He also has a rushing, throwing and receiving two-point conversion.   
 
Noteables
For the third time under Jesse Burleson and the second-straight year, the Cowboys have started 8-0...The Cowboys are looking for their fifth straight regular-season win against UMHB and are looking for back-to-back wins in Belton for just the second time in the series. They won in 1998 and 2000... With a win, it would be the ninth nine-win season under Jesse Burleson since 2015. The only full season without nine wins was 2019, with eight wins.
 
 

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