FB: Northwest Conference

[MonroviaCat]

Cats drop 2 spots to #15 in the poll (not too bad) while the Rats dropped out completely.

[Pat Coleman]

PC-
Can you clarify why the NWC gets an auto bid starting next year?

Because you have seven football programs and will have finished the two-season waiting period.

[swede]

Were gonna have to put up with another McKecknie. Spoke with Brad's folks at the game and younger brother Brett is a Frehman but purple shirted due to an injury.

Tuxguy
E-mail me your address so I can get that marinade over to you.

[fredfalcon]

Just saw that PLU won big Saturday. So, how do they compare to last year's team?

UW-River Falls, 3-7 last season, is improved with a 54-14 win over Hope College (Michigan) and a competitive game vs Saint John's, Minnesota, yesterday, losing 21-10. The Falcons led 10-0 at half, on their own turf. But SJU's superior speed allowed them to get outside on the option several times in the second half, and their defense stepped up pressure on Falcon qb Storm Harmon.

Next Saturday's game, the fourth in the series w/PLU, will be the last i was told by Falcon coach John O'Grady--too expensive to travel that far.

[Pat Coleman]

54-24

[Tuxguy]

Took me awhile to regroup,

I still have questions about the WOU game, but will keep those to myself and the tailgate next week and not say on this board. ( for now)

I will say that I felt the Cats had a chance to win the game and were in a place to win the game all the way until the interception on the goal line. 1st and goal and we...........................................................................I said I would not say a thing.

Playing d2 and NAIA schools has to change, I'm just not sure what we can do? Right now they need us, and we need them to just get enough games in. Maybe the S, Cal  teams will start answering the phones,I see them playing L & C, U.P.S. and others, maybe they will answer one of our calls!

We will be ready for H-S, pay back is H=ll.  We will be ready!!

D.O.C. Sorry I missed your last call, was driving home and had the tunes on to loud I guess, not sure when the phone rang.

GO WILDCATS
LEAVE NO DOUBT

[bluenote]

....good thought TuxGuy....anyway, as far as playing other Divisions and all that... I've kind of changed my mind. I actually think it's good to play other divisions because you get a taste of that league/level and you can always win or loose/learn from it. And from what I've seen it really won't be effecting playoff selection after this year. The team that wants to make the playoffs just has to be the league champ!

[Ralph Turner]

Tuxguy,

As previously discussed on these boards, George Fox' and Pacific's adding football would improve the football in the NWC (IMHO).

[Wildcat'64]

Watching the video of the game it looks like a lot of Wildcat fans traveled to the game.  The announcer mentioned that there were 3,800 in attendance and it was a SRO crowd.  The WOU game always draws well according to their website as 4,100 is their all time high attendance and of course that game was also against the Cats.

WOU may drop the Cats before the Cats drop the Wolves.  They simply cannot make the Division II playoffs by scheduling Division III teams according to the way the way the regs read.  To schedule Linfield, Willamette and SOU they are almost out of the Division II playoff picture before their season gets underway.  They are trying to build their program, and are doing so fairly effectively in my opinion, they need to play at the Division II level.

I have mixed feelings about whether the Cats should continue to play a Division II school.  It's nice to have a clean record with nothing but wins by playing some patsy of a Division III school.  On the other hand, there is a long tradition, back to almost the beginning of football at Linfield of playing the Wolves in order to declare supremacy of football in the Willamette Valley.  I think there is definitely some benefit to play 'up a level' to give the Cats a tougher level of competition and in turn allow them to improve their skill set.  When you get to the playoffs you run into other teams that are sprinkled with Division II, NAIA and Division IAA players.  To have already played against a tougher level of competition during the season  may well have prepared you better for the playoffs.

Southern Oregon may be another tough game for the Cats this season as they played up a couple of levels and  played Idaho State, Division IAA.  Idaho State of course won easily but Southern did at least get some playing experience.  Southern also, with their increasing number of scholarships, has began to attract a higher skill set of players.  Their RB is a transfer from Washington State and their QB is a Division I transfer from California. 
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[wildcat11]

Tuxguy,

As previously discussed on these boards, George Fox' and Pacific's adding football would improve the football in the NWC (IMHO).

Ralph,

Don't bet on GFU adding football in the near feature...just don't see it happening.  Pacific seems serious but the Bruins have other things going on on that campus and football just isn't a priority.

Now about the game.....that 16-0 lead we spotted the Wolves killed us.  WOU is a good DII team and that is probably the best defensive/offensive line we'll see all year long.  It goes without saying but next week is giant for both HSU and Linfield.   

[DawgHeaven]

Linfield is in a tough spot as far as scheduling goes.  Only my Dawgs have the balls to schedule perennially ranked teams out of the NWC and Texas conference.  So who can they schedule, local d2 teams and maybe some Minnesota and Wisconsin teams.  One of the reasons that Redlands does not schedule the same team every year is that they like to have the boys travel to different parts of the country.  Believe me that getting waxed is not an issue or they would do like Oxy and schedule L&C, but we all know what happened last time.

[d-train]

Linfield is in a tough spot as far as scheduling goes.  Only my Dawgs have the balls to schedule perennially ranked teams out of the NWC and Texas conference.  So who can they schedule, local d2 teams and maybe some Minnesota and Wisconsin teams.  One of the reasons that Redlands does not schedule the same team every year is that they like to have the boys travel to different parts of the country.  Believe me that getting waxed is not an issue or they would do like Oxy and schedule L&C, but we all know what happened last time.

Doesn't sound like PLU and UW-RF plan to renew for two more years, so the Lutes might be calling Redlands as well. It's too bad the football-only D3 thing wasn't working out for EOU (and isn't attractive/possible for SOU and APU). At least with the auto-bid next year, a loss against WOU, SOU, or APU won't be as big a deal. Might be hard to get a Pool C bid...but at least the NWC winner will get a slot.

[Tuxguy]

Ralph,

As WC11 stated, don't hold your breath on George Fox , Pacific maybe.

I believe the only way Fox will bring in Football is if a donor demands that his money be spent on Football, and title 9 will eat up half of that.

I guess we can hope that Pacific is successful in bring back it's program and that L & C continues to make strides in the right direction. Only time will tell.

GO WILDCATS
LEAVE NO DOUBT

[OregonCityCat99]

Tux-- reading between the lines, I feel your pain too.

It's in the past, though, as a good test for our guys.  This week is HUGE!!

At least we got out of it injury-free......I think.

[spiritof86]

At hsu last year, Linfield made a few key mistakes that kept them from winning. Also, hsu's qb was excellent and always in control of the game. He is now gone. Their speed at running back persists, I am sure, but sloppy tackling more than anything contributed to the few long runs they had. Also, there will not be people pounding on empty drums everywhere. I am not sure what that will mean for the game, but it will make the viewing experience much more pleasurable.

I am encouraged by what I heard/saw via the computer last weekend...