FB: Northwest Conference

[OregonCityCat99]

Great time on Saturday night..............along with getting soaked at the Rams/Seahawks game yesterday.

GHC-The Longies were once again fantastic and it was cool seeing TuxGuy.

The second season starts on Saturday.  Defense will prove to be up to the test once again.  Over the course of a season, starting field position can be huge.  Our Kick-Off Team has defintely set the table.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!

[AnotherJohnnie]

Beancounter just mentioned the many changes that the NWC went through in the transition from NAIA to NCAA.  He said he has come to like the DIII way of life, or something like that. 

Every year the DIII vs NAIA records are tracked, but the games are just a random sampling of a few teams.  I am curious to know if you think the quality of football has improved, gone down hill or stayed about the same since you moved. 

Also, did the NWC compete well at the national level in the NAIA?  I saw that you were DII before they combined divisions, but I don't know any more than that.

Thanks.

[BubRub]

Hi all,

Long time reader and NWC fan...first time poster!

My two cents on the Linfield Oxy matchup. Sure its lame that the NCAA took the easy way out and put these two teams together. However...I have to laugh and say Oxy its time to put up or shut up.

The only reason Oxy is in the bracket is #1 there decent performance in the playoffs last year and #2 the  SCIAC gets an automatic. There schedule was no better than Cal Lu...same week conference and in my mind Oxy proved nothing by beating Chapman, Lewis & Clark, and Colorado College (ooh, way to go). If the top three NWC teams play either Oxy schedule or Cal Lu schedule...they win by 40-60+ pts each game. Even UPS and PLU would have blown out most of those teams.

So Oxy (fans)...stop complaining. Your team has avoided competition long enough.

This games over after the first quarter.

BubRub

[coco]

Another Johnnie,

We were never DII, but Linfield did manage to hold our own in the NAIA, with 3 National Championships in the 1980s.

[AnotherJohnnie]

Sorry if I was not clear.  I was referring to the fact that Linfield was a DII NAIA team when there were two divisions, not that Linfield was ever a NCAA DII team. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986 - DIVISION II
Wisconsin-La Crosse 35, Hanover (Ind.) 33 (@ Hanover, Ind.)
Baker (Kan.) 49, Huron (S.D.) 20 (@ Lawrence, Kan.)
Carroll (Mont.) 21, Dickinson State (N.D.) 16 (@ Dickinson, N.D.)
Linfield (Ore.) 27, Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) 21, OT (@ Tacoma, Wash.)

Baker 16, Wisconsin-La Crosse 14 (@ La Crosse, Wis.)
Linfield 53, Carroll 7 (@ McMinnville, Ore.)

Linfield 17, Baker 0 (championship)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like the NAIA groups team to save travel expense as well.

[d-train]

Right, we were NAIA Division 2 back when there was such a thing. The NWC (or CFA to be more accurite) certainly enjoyed success there. As others have mentioned, Linfield won 3 titles ('82,'84,'86) and was runner-up once ('92). PLU earned 3 titles ('80,'87,'93) and 4 runner-up finishes ('83,'85,'91,'94). Also, Central Washington (a 'peer' program in those CFA years) was co-champ in '95, Western Washington was runner-up in '96, and Willamette was runner-up in '97. That's 14 out of 18 years ('80-'97) in which a national championship game contestant came from the Pacific Northwest. Of course, the Lutes and Wildcats have gone on to add D3 titles (just one each...for now).

[D O.C.]

Funny...we probably had to beat the second best team in the first round that year.

[AnotherJohnnie]

Has the quality of football/recruits changed noticably since the switch to DIII?  I tend to get the impression that things are fairly close, but I think some NAIA teams have gone DII as well, so I don't know which level is the closest to NAIA.

[Bubs1856]

AJ-

If I remember correctly...one of the main differences in NAIA and NCAA was the way in which a team was awarded a home playoff game.  I believe that the schools used to financially bid for home field...a financial guarantee to the NAIA.  This was commonly in Linfields favor.

[coco]

OK, AJ, I gotcha now. Yes, our conference has always been competitive, but the NAIA was even more cost-conscious than the NCAA, and we had to play PLU nearly every year in the first game of the playoffs even though our two teams were ranked very high.

IMO, being in D3 is a big improvement over the NAIA.

[coco]

The bidding for games is true as well. Linfield had to guarantee the NAIA a certain amount of money, as I recall, for the playoff games.

[AnotherJohnnie]

OK, AJ, I gotcha now. Yes, our conference has always been competitive, but the NAIA was even more cost-conscious than the NCAA, and we had to play PLU nearly every year in the first game of the playoffs even though our two teams were ranked very high.

IMO, being in D3 is a big improvement over the NAIA.

That makes sense.  I posted earlier today on the MIAC board  that in the most recent year that data is available for, 2002-2003, the DIII football championship tournament ran 715K in the red.  The NAIA doesn't have a cash cow basketball contract to cover that kind of a loss.

[cawcdad]

Here are some numbers to crunch on, no thanks to the Oxy SID. They had no season cumulative stats and I went through each game to get these. Had to go to the Claremont site to get Saturday's game. Anyway the # after any stats are national rankings through the games of November 5. The NCAA doesn't have rankings through this past weekend yet.

Occidental's opponents had a 30-45 record (.400). Linfield's opponents had a 27-48 record.(.360)

Now for stat comparisons:
Rushing:
Linfield O – 125.2 ypg  Oxy D – 160.4 ypg
Oxy O – 183.2 ypg  Linfield D – 73.5 ypg  #3 in nation

Passing:
Linfield O– 346.9 ypg #5   Oxy D – 214.1 
Oxy O – 300.9 ypg #22   Linfield D – 224.6
Linfield has 21 sacks on the season and only given up 3. Oxy has 23 sacks on the season but has given up 12

Scoring:
Linfield O – 49.4 ppg #1  Oxy D – 20.7 ppg
Oxy O – 41.2 ppg #13   Linfield D – 13.5 ppg #11

Total Offense:
Linfield O – 472.1 ypg #15  Oxy D – 374.5 ypg
Oxy 0 – 484.1 ypg  #14   Linfield D – 298.1 ypg

Turnover Margin Linfield +20  #1   Oxy +7

Both offenses put up very similar numbers, but it will be the Linfield D and the 12th man / home field and crowd that will make the difference in the Wildcat's win.

[D O.C.]

Nicely done Cdad, must have a nice breaktime there in NoCal.

I'll say it...
LINFIELD has kicked it up a notch in the last 5 years and the rest of the NWC has gone the other way.

[cawcdad]

Did all the research last night Dens. Posted today during my lunch.