FB: Northwest Conference

[hatchetman75]

Maybe the loggers should have saved some of those points for Whitworth at the end of the year...

That'll be a tough one, but the Loggers played well the last two times they went down to Spokane. I know a couple of the kids are from that area and are looking forward to playing for their families.

Should be a good one.

[Gig Harbor Cat]

Congrats to the Cats

Its always great to be a Cat in Lute country !!!! Life is good

PHONE IT IN Cats in a Rout--As Called

  See you all at the Rat Killing

    GHC

[wyd]

Congrats Cats,

There isn't much to say about the new lutes.  Scott has done a really bad job "remodeling" his fathers house.  There is much work to be done in order to restore the team and build better support.   It starts by connecting the team to campus.  Until that happens, I can't imagine much progress being made.  I have advocated a stadium on campus for years, but for some reason, I can't tell if any effort is being put forth on a facilities upgrade.  It is hard to imagine things getting any worse than they are now.

[Foss]

Nice job Cats!

Gee, Matthews, then Elliott, and now Scharer. Where do we find these guys? I believe Sharer has thrown 3, 3, 5, and 4 TD passes in his 4 games. Also, a field goal kicker nailing 40 yarders is pretty sweet, as well. Has a Linfield kicker ever hit 3 40+ yarders in one game before?

I see Ragan got the start at RB. At 210 pounds, he's a lot harder to bring down then some of our smaller backs. He's averaging over 8 yards/carry the last two games.

A couple of people have asked if Linfield has ever defeated PLU 5 straight times. I checked the Linfield records and the answer is yes. The 'Cats won 6 straight from 1970-1976. Still, 5 straight is pretty amazing.

I am wondering if 12 turnovers in a NWC game is a record, or close to it? Are the Lutes approaching some kind of season record? In listening to the Lute posters, seems they have had a lot of turnovers in just about all of their games this year.

PLU, hopefully you guys are still just going through some adjustment pains. I hope things get turned around for you up there.

[Gig Harbor Cat]

Wyd  Dee  Sko,
  The Lute program looks to be in trouble.  What is interesting to me is the amount of press and stuff on Frosty on the Lute site.  Granted he ran a great program, but how on earth do you expect the new coach-program to evolve with that kind of frickin shadow over it.   Your coach showed his play calling to be similar to the good old days especially on 4th down, but the magic just isnt there.  .  Late in the Cat game it was 44-7 and could have been much worse.  Your boys need to break the OLD mold to move on or their Afterglow will continue to be pretty dim.

    GHC

[MonroviaCat]

GHC is correct, it could have been much worse.  Props to the Cats kicker for his 5 FG but imagine if the Cats could have finished some or all of those drives.  Heck, if instead of 5 FGs we had 5 TDs, the score would have been 20 pts higher (64-21).  I guess that is something to sort of be proud of for the Lute fans; they managed to hold the Cats on those 5 occassions to only a FG.... 

And for the Cats, as nice as the offense was they do continue to stall in or near the redzone which is an area for improvement (keep in mind the Rats lead the conference in redzone D and the Cats are 2nd to last in Redzone O <though I suspect this is do in part to having the 2nd least amount of rezone chances since theyscore from outside the zone on big plays often>).  Gotta be able to finish drives this week against Menlo so that we don't make the games closer than they need to be.   Bring on the Oaks---I think they proved that they can be pretty tough by holding the Rats to only 26 pts and 316 yds of offense <with only one turnover to help them>. 

Go CATS!

[MonroviaCat]

Cawcdad--since you're our resident Menlo expert---what do you think about them?  From what I could gather from the stats, it looks like their offense slightly favors the run over the pass but neither is that strong.  Their players on offense seem small to me (a lot of 5'7-5'10 guys) which I assume means they try to win with quickness.  Defensively, they have more size and have been more effective.  What else can you tell us?

[cawcdad]

Whitworth at Menlo Photographs
Some thoughts and on the game. Whitworth was obviously the better team, but they still looked beatable to me. Maybe it was the fact that it was a quite warm day. I have seen Whitworth twice now at Menlo and both times they came a way with wins but struggled in Atherton.

Menlo seemed to be able to run the ball against the Pirates, and the Oaks have just an average running game at best. The Pirates red zone offense sputtered, having to settle for field goals twice. The Whit D came up big at the end of the half stopping Menlo at the one. If, and I know if is a big word, the Oaks score and with the start of the second half the way it was, the Rats would have found themselves down 14 - 10. Their game turning TD on the INT for a touch was tipped. If not it is a completion for the Oaks and a first down. But, that is was good teams do. Also Whitworth only scored two offensive TDs.

Joel Clark looked good, but not what I was expecting with all the hoopla on this board. Maybe just an off day. Michael Allan is the real deal. He impressed me. He has impressd others too. The 49ers had a scout at the game.

There has been much talk about the Whitworth - Linfield game and that even if Linfield wins, the Pirates should be ok for the playoffs. But Whit would still have to play UPS in the last game of the season. With UPS, despite the two meltdown losses seems to be improved. The Pirates had a game yesterday. Had the ball for 43 minutes and only beat PLU 19 - 7. Look for that last game to be a close one.

[cawcdad]

MCat, Menlo does try to balance their offense. They use two QBs. Greg Parker who is a better athlete and scrambler, but makes some unwise decisioins. The other, Adam Hazel, throws a much nicer ball, a drop back passer. They use a number of small RBs who are quick but really do not have breakway speed.  I think the Oaks TE is the second best in the NWC. He is a good sized kid with good hands and blocks well.

Defensively, they stop the run pretty well. Their D line is big and quick, but their secondary is small and young. Linebackers are so-so. If their line doesn't sack you, (they were leading the NWC in sacks) they give up some big plays.

The Oaks kick returner was leading all D-III in kick returns yards, just ahead of Masters. He is good. The Rats and Lutes both tried kicking away from him and Menlo used a couple of lineup tactics to not let teams know where he would be so he would get the ball.

[D O.C.]

From the NWC website record book:

Had intercepted.....       
                              5      Lewis & Clark at Whitworth (10/14/06)
                              4      Pacific Lutheran vs Whitworth (10/07/06)
                              4      Pacific Lutheran vs Linfield (10/21/06)
                              4      Linfield at Pacific Lutheran (10/21/06)

Those Whitworth caretakers of the site are right on it.

[George Thompson]

Western Region Playoff Predictions

Having studied the West region teams for the past few weeks, the playoffs are definitely taking shape.    Here are my predictions of the NCAA  West seedings:

1.   UW - Whitewater:    So far, no one has come close to them, and they appear to be getting better.    Will have three home playoff games, at least.    Should finish 10-0

2.   St. John's:  Still unbeaten.  Have looked vulnerable at times.    But, they are St. John's.   Likely to have two home playoff games.    Should finish 10-0

3.   Occidental:   Also, still unbeaten.  Rolling over everybody so far.   Likely to have one home playoff game.    Should finish 9-0

4.    Central:    Unbeaten, but has not overwhelmed most teams.   Tough league though.    One home playoff game.    Should finish 10-0

Next four: (alphabetical order).    None of these teams will likely have a home playoff game.   Makes it tough to go far.

Linfield:    Getting better every week.   Can be a real spoiler.    Appears capable of  contending  with the above teams.    But, must beat Whitworth to even make the playoffs.   Should finish 7-2

St. Norbert:    Scores lots of points; gives up some, too.    From a weaker league.   Should finish 10-0

U.W. - LaCrosse:   Good team; tough league.    Should finish 8-1

Whitworth:   If they beat Linfield, they could take the #4 seed away from Central.     Should make the playoffs even with a loss to Linfield.    Should finish 9-1


Playoff games:

1st round:
      1.   St. Norbert at UW - Whitewater.    Winner plays next game winner.

      2.   Linfield at Central

      3.   U.W. - LaCrosse at St. John's.   Winner plays next game winner.

      4.   Whitworth at Occidental.

Linfield and Whitworth could easily be flipped here.    This assumes Linfield beats Whitworth.     Of course, this is all academic if any of these 8 teams lose and/or Whitworth beats Linfield.

It is hard to imagine that the NWC could have no playoff games at home.  Yet, if Linfield beats Whitworth, that is the most likely result.   It would be hard for the NCAA to give Linfield a home game with two losses, when there would be 5 unbeaten teams in the West.

Yet, the way this Linfield team is now playing, they could still surprise some other teams in the playoffs.   Of course, the Wildcats must win  three more league games, including Whitworth.

Just food for thought and discussion.

GO CATS! GO!

[MonroviaCat]

Nice anaylysis George.   It will be interesting to see if  UWW is going to win out.  They are a very good team but have lost one of their star players and have a big game ahead of them with Mary Hardin Baylor, who since their first week loss, have really improved and could give Whitewater a run for their money.  St. Johns also has two pretty good oponent left in Bethel and St. Thomas---they should win but as we know, conference play has a high degree of unpredicatbility with rivalries and the fact that each team knows the other very well.  I think Oxy has the easiest path though Cal Lutheran will try to give them some trouble.  Central should win out too though Coe could be a present a challenge for them.  I take it back, St. Norbert looks to have the easiest path!  Also, I think Wartburg could still make it if they win out and any of these other teams lose (especially the Cats).  Also, I forget, with the playoffs will the west region for sure have 8 teams or could the NCAA move teams from other regions (e.g. south to west) if they feel those teams are more qualified? 

[Foss]

MC, I know coco has some Wartburg friends that visit this board, and so I felt I should mention the following. I don't think Wartburg has to necessarily hope the teams mentioned have to lose in order to get in. They are currently 6-1 and favored to win out, which means they could go 9-1. They just defeated a team that was ranked in the top 25, and now the Knights find themselves at #23 in the latest D3football poll. Their only loss was in overtime on the road to #12 Central. IMO, they would have a good shot at making the playoffs. The committee could always ship a team out of the West to a different region if there ends up being more than 8 teams selected.

[MonroviaCat]

Yeah, Wartburg could win-out and go instead of Linfield or Whitworth (especially if the Cats beat Whitworth).  I would think that St. Norbert (if they remain undfeated) might have an argument over Wartburg though (and of course St. Johns, Oxy, UWW, and Central if they remain undfeated should go over Wartburg).  The NWC could actually not send a team, in theory, if the Cats beat the Rats......always interesting isn't it?  BUT, we are way ahead of ourselves.  Still have 3 games left (for Linfield that is) before we can worry about any possible play-off scenarios.  I think the one game at a time, this week is the next round of the playoffs, etc. philosophy should serve us well!

[Foss]

Yep, all that really matters right now is the Menlo game.