FB: Northwest Conference

[Proud Papa Joe]

Home agian. 5 weekends and 5 games. Many miles and not alot of sleep. Loven every minute of it. Games are great win or loss.

Just got done reading. Alot of good post and alot of bearcats fans. Where have all you people been? I was on the north end and the bearcat kiddies were very loud. Alot of talk and most of it was bearable. Ride the waive while you can. Next year could be a completly different story. As for "baldy" hes not bad, just alittle loud. Great partys and nice to visit with everybody.

Gig- I am with you all the way. The team will regroup and the coaches will continue to coach. We have a great team and great organization. I for one Love Wildcat Football. See you all at the WOU game.

Go Cats

Pound the Rock

PPJ

[Gig Harbor Cat]

PPJ,
  Glad you made it home safe and sound.  I will be sure and get you the full report from Tacoma next week.
   I think we wore out at least one van in our time following the Cats when our son played.  We still get Christmas cards from the Safari Inn-- That cracks me up.

GHC

[bluenote]

All our boy's did yesterday was lose one game. Let it go and let's get ready for the road trip to UPS.

That loss pretty much knocked us out from any playoff consideration....Some people were hoping for a playoff appearance after a 2 year absence. That ain't happenin'.... This will be 3 years, but there's always next year!   

We still have some goals we can go for: Win at least 5 and keep the streak going. Try to beat WOU......and beat UPS and PLU to go 6-3 or 7-2. I rather doubt that a 7-2 team would have any shot at a Pool C slot, let alone 6-3.

Was glad to see that a team we beat earlier in the year (SOU) beat the #3 team in the nation (UMHB)...so what if they aren't at 100%....who is at this time of year and we weren't 100% when we played SOU either.....that was interesting.

[George Thompson]

That's precisely why I was urging the Bearcats to go for it on 4th and 1 early in the 2nd quarter. Leading 28-7 and almost into LC territory (I think they were on the 45) and averaging almost 10 yards per rush, it could have been a huge momentum boost that could carry them into halftime with *probably* a larger lead. Instead they punt and LC missed a FG, then scored on their next possession to make it 28-14.
[/quote]

Hello BearcatFan,

That game was going all WU's at that point in the 2nd qtr.   I would have gone for 1st down, too.

George

[bluenote]

That's precisely why I was urging the Bearcats to go for it on 4th and 1 early in the 2nd quarter. Leading 28-7 and almost into LC territory (I think they were on the 45) and averaging almost 10 yards per rush, it could have been a huge momentum boost that could carry them into halftime with *probably* a larger lead. Instead they punt and LC missed a FG, then scored on their next possession to make it 28-14.

We would have stuffed them on that play.....and had the ball closer to a TD for us. I think they made the right decision to punt....we should have blocked the punt though and ran it in for a TD, that would have been better yet.

[BearcatFan]

That's precisely why I was urging the Bearcats to go for it on 4th and 1 early in the 2nd quarter. Leading 28-7 and almost into LC territory (I think they were on the 45) and averaging almost 10 yards per rush, it could have been a huge momentum boost that could carry them into halftime with *probably* a larger lead. Instead they punt and LC missed a FG, then scored on their next possession to make it 28-14.

We would have stuffed them on that play.....and had the ball closer to a TD for us. I think they made the right decision to punt....we should have blocked the punt though and ran it in for a TD, that would have been better yet.

LC hadn't "stuffed them" at anytime up to that point - nothing they had done makes me think they would on that play.

Even if they would have, the WU Defense wasn't giving up many yards.  And LC didn't come close to blocking the punt.

Beside the fact that the odds are in your favor, going for it on 4th and 1 in that situation sends multiple messages from the coach to the team: To the offense - "I'm confident that you can gain 2 yards..." to the defense ... "Even if we don't convert, I believe you can stop the opposition's offense and keep them from scoring."

Psychologically, it's a "Win-Win" if you convert, and it's a "Win-Win" if you don't convert.

[Foss]

I think Speckman was looking at the risk/reward in that situation. Get the 1st down by going for it on 4th and you keep the ball at midfield. Nice, but not a game changer. However, if you get stuffed on 4th down, Linfield gets the ball in your territory, the crowd's fired up, and you risk losing some momentum. Punting the ball and making Linfield earn a score by putting together a long drive made sense.

Another couple of comments on Willamette. Someone earlier in the year mentioned their halftime adjustments had been great. That was true again against the 'Cats (who also made some nice adjustments to get back in the game). WU only had four pass attempts the entire first half. The second half they came out gunning, and it looked like it surprised our D. There weren't a ton of completions, but there were some key ones and #85 was having his way with our DBs at times. This in turn set up the run even more so, and the Bearcats ended up with numerous long runs in the 2nd half. Compared to previous Bearcat QBs in recent years, this guy can throw. Combine that with a deadly running game based on the uncommon "fly" and you have a team that is averaging over 43 points per game and is going to give any defense fits the rest of the year.

[MonroviaCat]

That's precisely why I was urging the Bearcats to go for it on 4th and 1 early in the 2nd quarter. Leading 28-7 and almost into LC territory (I think they were on the 45) and averaging almost 10 yards per rush, it could have been a huge momentum boost that could carry them into halftime with *probably* a larger lead. Instead they punt and LC missed a FG, then scored on their next possession to make it 28-14.

We would have stuffed them on that play.....and had the ball closer to a TD for us. I think they made the right decision to punt....we should have blocked the punt though and ran it in for a TD, that would have been better yet.

LC hadn't "stuffed them" at anytime up to that point - nothing they had done makes me think they would on that play.

Even if they would have, the WU Defense wasn't giving up many yards.  And LC didn't come close to blocking the punt.

Beside the fact that the odds are in your favor, going for it on 4th and 1 in that situation sends multiple messages from the coach to the team: To the offense - "I'm confident that you can gain 2 yards..." to the defense ... "Even if we don't convert, I believe you can stop the opposition's offense and keep them from scoring."

Psychologically, it's a "Win-Win" if you convert, and it's a "Win-Win" if you don't convert.

I agree with everything you said except that I would argue Linfield had indeed stuffed them on the 3rd and long play with the facemask.  That possession started well for Willamette but then it looked like the Cats D finally was able to drive the Bearcats back only to give them a fresh set of downs. 

[MonroviaCat]

I think Speckman was looking at the risk/reward in that situation. Get the 1st down by going for it on 4th and you keep the ball at midfield. Nice, but not a game changer. However, if you get stuffed on 4th down, Linfield gets the ball in your territory, the crowd's fired up, and you risk losing some momentum. Punting the ball and making Linfield earn a score by putting together a long drive made sense.

Another couple of comments on Willamette. Someone earlier in the year mentioned their halftime adjustments had been great. That was true again against the 'Cats (who also made some nice adjustments to get back in the game). WU only had four pass attempts the entire first half. The second half they came out gunning, and it looked like it surprised our D. There weren't a ton of completions, but there were some key ones and #85 was having his way with our DBs at times. This in turn set up the run even more so, and the Bearcats ended up with numerous long runs in the 2nd half. Compared to previous Bearcat QBs in recent years, this guy can throw. Combine that with a deadly running game based on the uncommon "fly" and you have a team that is averaging over 43 points per game and is going to give any defense fits the rest of the year.

Good Point Foss--Despite the score, the Cat D had a pretty good control of the the Bear Cat running game in the first half.  But once the passing game came into play it blew the Cat D apart.  It didn't hurt that the QB seemed very good at threading the needle and that the Cat's DBs didn't seem to see the ball coming....  There were at least a few big catches that should have been intercepted or broken up but weren't.....  If the Bearcats didn't have a good ability to throw they'd probably not be undefeated at this point.

[Bearcat Press]

sidenote...Willamette students as a whole were supportive of their team...however there were a number of individual WU students who were a-holes to Linfield fans (adults).  I guess they're not use to winning and showed a total lack of class.

I'll go out on a limb and say that there have probably been some Linfield students that haven't conducted themselves in a terribly "classy" way after beating Willamette before.  In fact, there are still some out there who can't get past the fact that their entire team was outscored by a girl over ten years ago.  I actually think "You're living in the past!" is somewhat apt.

Of course, these are isolated incidents.  A lot of people at WU (including myself) have good friends that go to Linfield, and I'd imagine it's vice-versa as well.

On a subject that's near and dear to my heart, the Oregonian actually wrote a story on the game and have an online photo gallery: http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2008/10/no_16_willamette_52_no_23_linf.html

As did the Statesman Journal: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081026/SPORTS/810260361&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

[criswyly]

Score 1 for Linfield graduate Amy Tan...her book being advertised here on D3football above.... Go Amy! Go Wildcats!

[BearcatFan]

Score 1 for Linfield graduate Amy Tan...her book being advertised here on D3football above.... Go Amy! Go Wildcats!

I guess I missed that ad in the rotation here, (so far) but I like her work. I'll look for it and click on the ad to help out D3Boards!

[buckj64]

so here is the conundrum, Momma doesn't get off until 3:00 on Saturday do I bring lil Buck to his first game all by myself? or do I wait until Mom can make it?

[Bearcat Press]

New rankings are out.  Bearcats up to #11, UMHB drops to #8, Occidental up to #20.  I'm not sure whether I should root for Cal Lutheran or Oxy next week.

[chewey]

Any chance the NWC gets two in this year?  I think the MIAC will definitely only have one, as will the WIAC.  I'm not so sure the IIAC will be able to get two in but I am admittedly not too familiar with them and have not really been following that league too closely.