FB: Northwest Conference

[criswyly]

okay, d-train is right, but I always have been known to laugh at my own jokes. lol

[criswyly]

Never again, hope to die, stick a thousand footballs in my eye.

[OzJohnnie]

Heh.  Wow.

Jail the Liberty League. 

[D O.C.]

Alrighty then!
We got that poly-sci out of our system.
May the ball bounce your way this season - except when you face the Cardinal and Purple.

[bleedpurple]

So if one were insisting on some tyrannical allegiance to definitions, I guess one would call the NCAA a "league", Division III a "division" and the conferences a "conference".  But I don't think anyone will be jailed over usage so it's probably safe to play around with that a little.

How did light-hearted banter turn into mentions of tyranny and incarceration? 

Because poor Oz lives amongst real life tyranny and incarceration in a society quickly gone full blown Marxist.

Crikey!

Oi!

Not exactly sure what Crikey or Oi mean, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6E_aEa9nm0

I didn't say it was bulldust. 

Now you're rubbing it in. No clue. 

[d-train]

I didn't say it was bulldust. 

Now you're rubbing it in. No clue. 

1) Fine red dust, found in desert regions of Australia
2) (slang) bull___; rubbish; nonsense; blatantly false statements

[d-train]

Alrighty then!
We got that poly-sci out of our system.
May the ball bounce your way this season - except when you face the Cardinal and Purple.

Don't be a wanker, Dens 

...my work is quiet on Fridays (obviously).

[Yamhill Valley ‘15]

Back to football...

What are we expecting from the 'Cats this year?
It's been six years since the the 'Cats have made it to the quarter finals. Does this team have the guys to play with the MHBs and big boys in the Midwest or is the team a tier below, competing for a conference title and playing even with the SoCal champs?

As for today, I think it'll be a tough one. Not playing a real game in over a year and a half I expect emotions to be high causing some unforced mistakes. Hopefully the 'Cats won't dig them selves in a whole and will settle down in the second half to take care of business.

[D O.C.]

It's been so long I've forgotten my game day routine

[George Thompson]

Back to football...

What are we expecting from the 'Cats this year?
It's been six years since the the 'Cats have made it to the quarter finals. Does this team have the guys to play with the MHBs and big boys in the Midwest or is the team a tier below, competing for a conference title and playing even with the SoCal champs?

We had some VERY strong teams, even by Linfield standards, from 2010-2015.   Only some key playoffs injuries stopped us from reaching the Stagg Bowl.    Hard to know what to expect this year.  The win yesterday had so many Fr and Sophs playing.   Offense was both brilliant and stumbled at times.    Defense worries me.   Simon Fraser was not a strong team.    In my 60+ years watching football, I don't think I have seen a college team drop so many punts and kickoffs as they did.    Fundamental mistakes.   

Redlands next week really worries me.   It will be a very tough test for our young team.

George
GO CATS! GO!

[MonroviaCat]

Back to football...

What are we expecting from the 'Cats this year?
It's been six years since the the 'Cats have made it to the quarter finals. Does this team have the guys to play with the MHBs and big boys in the Midwest or is the team a tier below, competing for a conference title and playing even with the SoCal champs?

We had some VERY strong teams, even by Linfield standards, from 2010-2015.   Only some key playoffs injuries stopped us from reaching the Stagg Bowl.    Hard to know what to expect this year.  The win yesterday had so many Fr and Sophs playing.   Offense was both brilliant and stumbled at times.    Defense worries me.   Simon Fraser was not a strong team.    In my 60+ years watching football, I don't think I have seen a college team drop so many punts and kickoffs as they did.    Fundamental mistakes.   

Redlands next week really worries me.   It will be a very tough test for our young team.

George
GO CATS! GO!

Curious what it is that worries you about the defense?  -11 yards rushing allowed.  7-points allowed by the starting defense?  I thought the D looked pretty darn good.  And while I agree that SF wasn't a great team, they still had some big athletic dudes allowing them to break off a few big plays.  That being said, they only had 4 drives that were more than 5 plays the entire game.  So honestly, I am curious what you saw in the D that made you concerned? 

I do agree that Redlands will be a challenge---probably the best team we will play this year (outside of the playoffs).

[wildcat11]

Linfield was down two of their biggest home run hitters (Colton Smith, Zack Young) on offense yesterday too.....but there is still a tremendous amount of offensive pop and Wyatt Smith has total command of the offense.

I think that NWC teams are going to struggle mightily running the damn ball on this defensive front.  Lots of good DT depth/size upfront for the 'Cats.

I agree that Redlands is going to be a huge test down in the Runner. 

[wildcat11]

Some general NWC thoughts after week 2:

Pacific had the week off but what I saw in week 1, the Boxers are going to be a tough out and should manhandle the lower half of the conference.

For a team that played 4 spring football games, the Pirates still seems to be trying to find themselves after two close games.

Puget Sound's defense is downright terrible.  The Loggers continue to be an abysmal road team but have been much tougher at home.

L&C - Will have to watch the game later.  Claremont is a solid program but I'm sure the Pios were expecting to be in that game at the end.

Willamette - Good for them.  They being coached well and their Sr QB is running the offense well.  Not sure if they'll get many wins.

PLU - The biggest red flags were the spring in getting thumped by Puget Sound twice.  That administration should have NEVER gone outside the Westering Coaching Tree when they sent Scott packing.

Fox - Will be a steady upper half team that plays tough defense but they don't have the offensive weapons.

[Andy Jamison - Walla Walla Wildcat]

Jim Good and I were at Linfield the exact same years... 1990-93.  He was our starting tailback our senior year and had excellent straightline speed.  One of the fastest guys on the team along with Carl Davison and Gary McGarvie.  Good to see him coaching and one of the situations where I will root for him except when he plays Linfield. 

Was very pleased with what I saw on the field on Saturday.  The D looked sharp and the offense looked to have a lot of guys with great hands... RB's looked good and the QB was on the money with a lot of his throws.  Redlands will be a huge test as I was looking at the stats from last time we played down there in 2019 and we ran for negative yards and dealt with their D in our backfield all game. 

Our kicker looks to be a weapon... knock on wood.  Great to see the distance and height on kick-offs as it wasn't all that long ago when that was an issue.  Do wonder what the punter is doing with the change to the rugby style approach... If I recall he was knocking the heck out of the ball using the normal style in 2019.

Does anyone know what is wrong with the White Hat's mic? 

Go Cats!

[olddog]

What about UR is a big test? LF could have put 100 on SF. LF just took down a D2 team and ranked #11. UR is not ranked and beat the lower half of the NWC.
I would have LF a 10 point favorite. UR weakest link on D is their DB's, UR has never been able to run the ball on LF. The only thing we have that will give LF some fits is our QB. He is very mobile and more accurate than 2019. However UR O line is the weak link on O, they have been rotating guys start a freshman. The big and slow, a formula that does not bode well against LF's 2 deep front.