FB: Northwest Conference

[Las Vegas Wildcards]

Speaking of the Pioneers, are they finally receiving more support from the administration and community of Lewis & Clark? Has there been a significant attendance increase this season? If winning doesn't do the trick, I don't know what will.

[Bearcat Press]

Really good analysis, ExTartanPlayer.  We'll certainly know more when the Regional Rankings come out, but without even looking at Pool C this year, I have to think that an 8-1 L&C team with a loss to Linfield wouldn't get in.  Last year's PLU team was 8-1, had victories over a conference champion (CLU) and 7-3 Willamette, and still didn't make the cut.  Obviously, if L&C finishes 8-1 with the lone loss to Willamette (my ideal scenario, BTW ), then they get the autobid.

But as Keith McMillan said in the podcast today, the very fact that we're talking about Lewis & Clark playing meaningful games in November is incredible.

(One small sidenote, ETP: it's Will-am-ette, not William-ette.)

Quit smoking the crack pipe. Yes, L&C has improved but it's laughable to think that they would get a Pool C bid over an 8-1 Redlands squad with a regional win over a top 10 ranked team and a last second loss against another. Of course Redlands needs to take care of business against Whittier & Chapman in order for it to be a possibility and even then I'm not holding my breath.

I agree that one of us needs to put down the crack pipe.

[bluenote]

REgarding the L+C Willamette game....I haven't seen L+C defense so that's a question mark. I have seen Willamettes D and PLU's D. Between the 2 I'd say Willamette is better. So I think it's going to come down to which D can make more stops, so that favors Willamette? I have no idea! LOL!   

[bluenote]

Speaking of the Pioneers, are they finally receiving more support from the administration and community of Lewis & Clark? Has there been a significant attendance increase this season? If winning doesn't do the trick, I don't know what will.

I'm planning on going (while listening to the Wildcats via radio) so that should help with the attendance...

[river]

Really good analysis, ExTartanPlayer.  We'll certainly know more when the Regional Rankings come out, but without even looking at Pool C this year, I have to think that an 8-1 L&C team with a loss to Linfield wouldn't get in.  Last year's PLU team was 8-1, had victories over a conference champion (CLU) and 7-3 Willamette, and still didn't make the cut.  Obviously, if L&C finishes 8-1 with the lone loss to Willamette (my ideal scenario, BTW ), then they get the autobid.

But as Keith McMillan said in the podcast today, the very fact that we're talking about Lewis & Clark playing meaningful games in November is incredible.

(One small sidenote, ETP: it's Will-am-ette, not William-ette.)

The NWC is having a down year in terms of out of conference competition (10 losses by the 3rd thru 7th teams), but is doing well in terms of weaker teams improving their competitiveness (i.e., L&C, Pacific,  and even Puget Sound).  The Pios may be a year or two away, but I would not sell them short.  As they say, that's why they play the game.



P.S.  Willamette University is located in the Willamette Valley next to the Willamette River.   

[cat_fan_08]

Is Lewis and Clark for real? Have we really seen them be tested this year? While Willamette and Linfield play top 25 non-conference teams Lewis and Clark is playing Macalester.

[bbaddict]

Is Lewis and Clark for real? Have we really seen them be tested this year? While Willamette and Linfield play top 25 non-conference teams Lewis and Clark is playing Macalester.

Well, L&C did beat PLU @ home, who beat Menlo and only let them score 6 (sound familiar?) and PLU is usually pretty solid.  I hope you're right -- I'd like to see Willamette win the rest of our games.   Definitely will be interesting.

As for fan support -- the last time WU played at L&C, we went an hour early and still had to hike up the hill from the parking lot.   Not like the good old days when you could show up after the game started and park near the entrance.  And they certainly brought a lot of fans to WU last year.   Not sure about the administration thing but they have a bigger team so something must've changed.

BTW is it snowing in Spokane, yet? 

[river]

. . . .

BTW is it snowing in Spokane, yet?

Sat., Nov 5, Weather for Spokane

Rain/snow forecast for Sunday.  But then again  . . . .

[river]

Re: American Southwest Conference
« Reply #13221 on: Yesterday at 09:20:50 pm »
READERS POLL ON D3FOOTBALL.COM

Which west coast playoff scenario is most likely?

Cal Lutheran to Linfield, Redlands out (10) - 15%

Redlands at Cal Lu, L&C at Linfield (12) - 18%

Redlands at Cal Lu, some random team at Linfield (14) - 21%

Redlands at Cal Lu, ASC runner-up at Linfield (15) - 22%

Redlands at Cal Lu, Linfield at UMHB (15) - 22%

How likely of a possibility is this really??? I'm hoping NOT very. Because if the No.4 and No.5 teams are playing eachother first round there is a problem. What does everyone else think? Maybe I'm confused, does this mean they could be playing eachother in the FIRST ROUND? Or is it saying later in the playoffs?

  Re: American Southwest Conference
« Reply #13222 on: Yesterday at 09:45:22 pm »
Nope, we are saying first round and while I went into it in more detail in the podcast, envision a scenario where we have three West Coast teams (two in SoCal) and three Texas/"Southwest" teams.

Admittedly, ASC runner-up to Linfield made more sense, which is why I included it. But the nightmare scenario makes sense from a penny-pinching angle.

Interesting discussion on the ASC board about possible playoff pairings.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Is Lewis and Clark for real? Have we really seen them be tested this year? While Willamette and Linfield play top 25 non-conference teams Lewis and Clark is playing Macalester.

Check out my long-winded post on the last page...

Until last week, I would have said that they were a cute anomaly that was headed for 6-3.  They played their six "easiest" games to open the season, and I figured that PLU/Willamette would expose them as a mediocre team that was overachieving.  The win over PLU is our first indication that they might be more than that.

Are they "for real" - well, it really depends what you mean by "for real."  If you mean "are they a top 25 team" my answer is still no, unless they beat Willamette and give Linfield a decent game.  But, are they an above-average Division III team?  Yes, they probably are, and that in itself is a remarkable accomplishment given where that program was even two years ago.

[George Thompson]

Pat, does the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference participates in the playoffs?    They are a West Region conference and have an unbeaten team, St. Scholastica.

George

GO CATS! GO!

[ExTartanPlayer]

Pat, does the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference participates in the playoffs?    They are a West Region conference and have an unbeaten team, St. Scholastica.

The UMAC has not previously had an auto-bid, but I believe that this year they have a Pool A bid, which will go to St. Scholastica.

[Pat Coleman]

Yep, read our coverage on the site -- we referenced St. Scholastica winning the automatic bid, we've talked about them in the podcast several times and I've done two D3reports from Scholastica games, actually, among the 12 games I've been to this year.

[d-train]

Piece on L&C:

http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2011/10/small_college_football_patienc.html

[George Thompson]

Ex-Tartan Player and Pat,

Thanks for the info.   I devote modest time to D3 website, due to work and family activities.  Nor do I do the Podcasts because of time restraints.

This changes everything in the West region if St. Scholastica has an automatic bid.

George