FB: Northwest Conference

[bluenote]

....
Actually, the Bearcats were not the team I expected them to be yesterday either.   But, then again, neither were the Wildcats.   With the way WU was playing you should've been cleaning our clocks, but only won by 10.   I'm not sure what happened to our team yesterday--no excuses, but Linfield better play better than that if they expect to make any kind of play-off run besides one & done.    Besides, you still have to get past Lewis & Clark, right???  Didn't someone say they're pretty hot this year?

Congrats to the Wildcats (through tightly clenched teeth ala 'chatter) on their win.  The Bearcat team that didn't show up could have made the game closer, but bbaddict, you're right, only a 10 point win by the now #5 team in the D3football.com top 25 poll over an unranked team with 2 losses at the time is underwhelming at best.  It may be time for the rest of the NWC to show that the current Wildcats can be taken down and the Pios may as well be the ones to start.   

If you watched the game...you know that Linfield pretty much manhandled Willamette the entire game other than one drive by the Bearcats. The end score could easily have been 34-10. LOL!    I didn't agree with taking a knee with 2 minutes left on the Bearcat 20....I would have prefered to punch in another touchdown or field goal and the fumble in the endzone by Linfield on the Bearcat 4 was very fortunate for Willamette.   

[Wildcat'64]

dc 1,

Nope the salmon are done for the year......it's now moose hunting season!  The tourists have headed back to the desert for warmer days and nights.  I'm headed south this weekend myself to catch the game at the Catdome.

[D O.C.]

WU #1 (Dominic David) returned to the field from the Linfield sideline and began to cross to the WU side when No. 7 deliberately bashed him.   It should have resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty but wasn't called.   I can cite other instances.

That kind of conduct set the tone for the game and it became ugly IMO. 

Naw naw naw....watch David trash talk to Hill when LINFIELD was stopped at the 2 yard line earlier in the game. THAT set the tone. Cite that instance, if you will.

desertcat1, you made me laugh again.  I'd forgotten about you and I standing by the CLU locker room door as they came out.

[Gig Harbor Cat]

BC Chatter,
   First of all #11 was taunting the Cat crowd in the north EZ.  Second he had a huge habit of taking plays off while Linfield was in the Red Zone.  It was a case of not walking your talk.  When his film is graded by his position coach, it won't be pretty.  As a coach, I just didn't like that style of playing ball.
   Oh and by the time we play the Pios, they will be out of it.  They have played a bunch of nobody teams so far.  We will crush them !!!  Phone it in.

GHC

[desertcat1]

Wildcat 64,

thanks for the fish report say hello to the boys at the Catdome . I will be one of those headin for the desert soon too... 
I 'm still in okie land with the twins(state fair tulsa) waitin for GHC and the G5 So we can head to Kanassss for the Nascar race Sunday..   Hope GHC will  hurry up? I heard that Doc needs to be bailed out in Sin City.. 
Go Cats
Go Big D

[Gig Harbor Cat]

Hey DC1,
  i will be heading to the Catdome this weekend,  As we are 2 time champs of the BWC golf Tourney, our team has to defend. 
  The next weekend I will fire up the G5 and head to the Sac area to get after the Salmon with my fishing buddies-- Cabin in the mountians, red meat, beer, tall stories  ie  the older we get the better we were.  What could go wrong !!!

Say hi to The Twins, you old dog.

Phone it in
Gig Harbor Cat

[desertcat1]

Hey GHC,

Good Luck on a three peeeeeet.. Keep your head down and elbows in .. (Just like i keep telling  the twins).. 

We are at the fair ( tulsa) but ,  will be watch en the game in kc this week..(nascar)     

Good luck with the salmon bring back a big one to smoke ..Looking forward to it in Nov...

How about that load of salt dumped on the barekitties last sat?
I hear things are going well so far this week.. 

Go Cats
Go Big D

[George Thompson]

   Oh and by the time we play the Pios, they will be out of it.  They have played a bunch of nobody teams so far.  We will crush them !!!  Phone it in.

GHC

Spot on, GHC.   All of this talk about a Linfield vs. L&C big game is way too premature.   PLU is still my bet for the Wildcats' toughest game.   And playing Whitworth in Spokane will be no picnic.   

All of L&C's remaining games will be tougher than anyone they have beaten so far.   Can they beat PLU up north?    I doubt it.

One game at a time, Wildcats.   GO CATS! GO!

George

[Jack Parkman]

Especially the called holding on 4th-and-3 (which, lets be honest, the refs weren't even sure about).

The one I didn't understand was the personal foul on the sack of the Willamette qb. All four of the Linfield defenders all held up, and released the guy after the whistle blew before he flopped to the ground, yet the penalty flag still came out. It's on video if anyone wants to see it...catdomealumni.com

I have seen a lot of comments on here regarding this play but am I the only one who feels that #41 obviously pushes the guy down while he is wrapped up?  Why else would he throw his hands up like he was innocent?

[d-train]

I have seen a lot of comments on here regarding this play but am I the only one who feels that #41 obviously pushes the guy down while he is wrapped up?  Why else would he throw his hands up like he was innocent?

No, Jack, you aren't the only one.  I watched the video a few times.  #23 and #9 were fine.  The QB did a serious bit of acting/flopping...but I think #41 probably still deserved that flag.  He extended his arms through the QB with an obvious (though fairly light) push after the whistle and right in front of the official.

[BearcatChatter]

Especially the called holding on 4th-and-3 (which, lets be honest, the refs weren't even sure about).

From what I understand, you can't tackle a receiver before he gets the ball or if the ball is on it's way, which is what happened. It was a screen pass to #7 who was tackled while the ball was in the air.

The one I didn't understand was the personal foul on the sack of the Willamette qb. All four of the Linfield defenders all held up, and released the guy after the whistle blew before he flopped to the ground, yet the penalty flag still came out. It's on video if anyone wants to see it...catdomealumni.com

Bluenote, from what I understand, such a penalty should have been called as PI, not holding. All the talk up in the box was to the effect that PI can't be applied when the play is completely behind the line of scrimmage (which it was). I'm not an expert on the details here, so if someone could inform me I'd appreciate it. All I know if that the refs conferred for quite awhile (and if i remember, it was a pretty late flag).

On that note, also addressing GHC, I think we all know that the WU-Linfield game brings out the best and worst emotions of the players and fans. I'm sorry to hear that #11 (Harmon Bruno) was acting that way towards your fans. The game got chippy pretty quickly, which took a lot away. I've never thought of Harmon as a guy who takes plays off (trust me, there are those guys on our team), but who's to say what happened.

If you watched the game...you know that Linfield pretty much manhandled Willamette the entire game other than one drive by the Bearcats. The end score could easily have been 34-10. LOL!

Bluenote, come on. If you ACTUALLY watched the game, you'd know that Linfield was by-in-large shut down by the Willamette D save the first drive of each half. Like I said, Inns' 329 passing was deceptive because your team dropped just as many balls as ours did. They were just as sloppy (if not more) with fumbles. I'll say this: Josh Hill stepped up in a really big way, and Inns got completions when he needed to. Also, our offense shot itself in the foot (dumb miscues and suspect playcalling) at the end of the day. Credit to your D for forcing 0-10 on third downs (I'm still shaking my head) but we also didn't put ourselves in the position to convert those very often.

Just as "easily" as the score could've been 34-10, it could have been 27-24, or any other score. Last year I would call a "manhandling." This year was simply Linfield making less untimely mistakes than Willamette.

[MonroviaCat]

Bluenote, come on. If you ACTUALLY watched the game, you'd know that Linfield was by-in-large shut down by the Willamette D save the first drive of each half.

If you look at the drive chart ( http://www.linfield.edu/sports/stats/fb/wu1001.htm#GAME.DRV ), you will see that is not entirely correct:

There was the 3rd drive the of first quarter that went for 73 yards and ended in a FG.
There was the 3rd drive of the 2nd quarter that went for 57 yards but ended in a fumble on the Willamette 23.
There was the 3rd drive of the 3rd quarter that went 75 yards but ended in the fumble into the endzone.
There was the 2nd drive of the 4th quarter that went for 65 yards and ended in a FG.

Linfield had two 3 and outs and only punted twice (Willamette punted 7 times including every drive of the first half with the exception of one that ended on a fumble and one that ended on the half).  Willamette only had 5 drives of more than 20 yards and only 2 that were greater than 35 (Linfield had 7).  Turnovers and dropped passes hurt both teams--I agree with that, but Linfield's D truly shut down Willamette for all but 20 minutes of the game while Willamette's D did nothing close to a "by-in-large shut down".

What was deceptive about Inns 329 yards passing is that he only threw one TD.  The game was definitely closer than it should have been.

[Bearcat Press]

Just as "easily" as the score could've been 34-10, it could have been 27-24, or any other score. Last year I would call a "manhandling." This year was simply Linfield making less untimely mistakes than Willamette.

I know it won't, but this statement really should end the discussion.  Say what you want about Linfield's defense (and I say it was outstanding), but the Wildcat offense couldn't put the game away until late in the fourth quarter.  Long drives mean nothing if they don't put points on the board.  Willamette's defense is bend-but-don't-break, and they executed that pretty well.

Saturday was a tough pill to swallow as a Bearcat fan, but, to paraphrase Dennis Green, we are who we thought we were: a good defensive team with a young, mildly dysfunctional offense.  Still, aside from Portland State , there's no excuse for this team not to win out.  None.

Good to have you back, GHC.

[MonroviaCat]

Long drives mean nothing if they don't put points on the board.  Willamette's defense is bend-but-don't-break, and they executed that pretty well.

I agree with the first sentence completely but those long drives were my evidence that Willamette's D did not "shut down" Linfield's offense as BearcatChatter tried to assert.  But whatever--I would expect Willamette to win-out (minus PSU) unless they penalize themselves like they did last weekend--I will be curious to see how you guys match up against some of the teams.  L&C will bring a potent offense and virtually no defense to match up against Willamette's potent defense and "young, mildly dysfunctional offense".  It could be interesting....

[BoBo]

si.com's Hot Clicks has THIS running as Sports Video of the Day. So, after checking out the LLOD, page down a bit for the video. Warning: might open old wounds for Linfield fans.