FB: Northwest Conference

[onearmedscot]

First off, what a great day for football in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday!  The atmosphere was fantastic.

Secondly, a special thanks to WC11 and Mr. & Mrs. Coco for their generous hospitality during my stay.  Great to see old friends and catch up.

Thirdly, I had one of the bigger highlights in my D3 writing career happen last night.  I'm in Portland for a convention for my real job and went out to dinner with two friends from the industry from Jacksonville.

We went to Jake's on recommendation from Salim, our town car driver.  (It's the name of a strip club in Minnesota but a fine seafood joint in Portland)

We get seated and our waiter comes by to take our drink order.  He returns with the drinks and says to me, "I'm gonna throw a curve ball at you."

I said, "Ok, I'll hit it out of the park"

He says, "Are you a writer?"

It through me for a while because even though I've written for D3 since 02, I have never really considered myself a writer.

He says, "For that D3 stuff?"

All I could muster was a "Wow, this is crazy!"

Turns out he knew (maybe was his brother) the Bennett offensive lineman from Willamette last year who had spotted me when I walked in.  

I can only imagine my following if I wrote for ESPN.  Ha.

Thanks again for a great trip.

oAs.

[snoop dawg]

You talking about unruly Bearcat or Wildcat fans -- cuz they both have em?!

Take your pick.

[D O.C.]

By all means, leave that September 5th open on your family calendar for that Lewis and Clark - Principia game! "We're number 272!" "We're number 272!"

Famous last words, you folks, some day Lewis and Clark is going to be competent enough to knock some team out of the play off bid.

[George Thompson]

Linfield fans should not be rude or disparage opponents' fans on this board.   
WU won, fair and square.    You clearly out-coached and out-played Linfield.     

......just kick your own players and coaches in the butt...that's OK.   
You do your thing and we'll do ours and we'll all live in peace and groovy love!

Bluenote,

I am sorry if I offend you.   There is no shame in being out-coached or out-played.   It happens to the best of programs, occasionally.   Even Mount Union.    Linfield's superb record speaks for itself.

We will have our chance to get even with Willamette next year.

George

   

   

[snoop dawg]

It happened to the Buckeyes two years in a row in the national championship game.

[Foss]

By all means, leave that September 5th open on your family calendar for that Lewis and Clark - Principia game! "We're number 272!" "We're number 272!"

I will continue Surferdude's point:

Question: If A > B, then how bad must B be?

A= Struggling bigtime. Just about unable to continue at one point. Doesn't win for 3 years. Almost always loses by a tremendously large margin.

B= Believe it or not, worse than A. Actually, by 36 points, even when playing at home.

[BearcatFan]

Don't think this has been posted yet. Good news out of L&C land. They've already secured their schedule for next year, and it's their first 10 game schedule since the 90's. Wouldn't let me link it right to the release page, but it's the first article on their sports home page.

Pios Schedule Released

It also states the Pios are "anticipating their largest squad size in over a decade" in '09. 10 game schedules and increasing squad sizes are positive signs to the rest of the NWC that L&C is continuing to try and get their program going in the right direction, IMO.

Good news - it seemed to me that there was always more excitement for football at Riverdale games on Friday night at Griswold stadium than there was for Pios games on Saturdays. 

Of course, I've only been to one L&C game and about 4-5 Riverdale games.

It is good news that L&C is continuing to build their football program.  The NWC needs more competition and L&C has had some pretty good football teams in the past.

As for the enthusiasm of their fans -- I thought their fans at the WU-L&C game were awesome.  They cheered until the bitter end & then went out on the field and encouraged their team when it was over.  Not like some teams where only a shut-out is acceptable!!  Nothing wrong with the Pios fans -- they just need some size & strength--they move pretty fast already.

I think the NWC teams should play their 2nd string against L&C until their team gets built up.  100 guys against 40 just isn't fun!

Check out Griswold Stadium on a Friday night sometime and you'll see what I mean

As for playing 2nd string vs L&C, don't NWC teams do that already (and 3rd string?) and still win by 50+?

[BearcatFan]

First off, what a great day for football in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday!  The atmosphere was fantastic.

Secondly, a special thanks to WC11 and Mr. & Mrs. Coco for their generous hospitality during my stay.  Great to see old friends and catch up.

Thirdly, I had one of the bigger highlights in my D3 writing career happen last night.  I'm in Portland for a convention for my real job and went out to dinner with two friends from the industry from Jacksonville.

We went to Jake's on recommendation from Salim, our town car driver.  (It's the name of a strip club in Minnesota but a fine seafood joint in Portland)

We get seated and our waiter comes by to take our drink order.  He returns with the drinks and says to me, "I'm gonna throw a curve ball at you."

I said, "Ok, I'll hit it out of the park"

He says, "Are you a writer?"

It through me for a while because even though I've written for D3 since 02, I have never really considered myself a writer.

He says, "For that D3 stuff?"

All I could muster was a "Wow, this is crazy!"

Turns out he knew (maybe was his brother) the Bennett offensive lineman from Willamette last year who had spotted me when I walked in.  

I can only imagine my following if I wrote for ESPN.  Ha.

Thanks again for a great trip.

oAs.

Great story,oAs!

[Bearcat Press]

First off, what a great day for football in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday!  The atmosphere was fantastic.

Secondly, a special thanks to WC11 and Mr. & Mrs. Coco for their generous hospitality during my stay.  Great to see old friends and catch up.

Thirdly, I had one of the bigger highlights in my D3 writing career happen last night.  I'm in Portland for a convention for my real job and went out to dinner with two friends from the industry from Jacksonville.

We went to Jake's on recommendation from Salim, our town car driver.  (It's the name of a strip club in Minnesota but a fine seafood joint in Portland)

We get seated and our waiter comes by to take our drink order.  He returns with the drinks and says to me, "I'm gonna throw a curve ball at you."

I said, "Ok, I'll hit it out of the park"

He says, "Are you a writer?"

It through me for a while because even though I've written for D3 since 02, I have never really considered myself a writer.

He says, "For that D3 stuff?"

All I could muster was a "Wow, this is crazy!"

Turns out he knew (maybe was his brother) the Bennett offensive lineman from Willamette last year who had spotted me when I walked in.  

I can only imagine my following if I wrote for ESPN.  Ha.

Thanks again for a great trip.

oAs.

Glad you enjoyed Jake's.  I took my first date there.

Brandon Bennett is a great guy, and is actually helping coach Willamette's offensive line this year.  Mike Allegre did a great interview with him last week (linked below).  How weird would it be if he ended up on an Arena team with Brett Elliott?  I think that's something we could all cheer for!

http://www.willamette.edu/athletics/bsn/video/play/?video_id=59

[AllmyfriendsRpirates]

and I don't mean any of this as hostile or to offend the Rat fans/players

Anderson did not perform in McMinnville much like UPS Lee could not. Woo is the key, so it is written.

The difference between Anderson and Lee is that Lee got all his yards against second team defenses because UPS was usually out of the game by the second half. UPS kept giving him the ball even when the game was out of hand. Anderson on the other hand plays against first team defenses year long and if whitworth gets up they take him out. Lee carried UPS but took them nowhere. Anderson carries whitworth toward wins.

As for playing against Linfield (here it is kitties! A compliment!) Linfields D always plays  tough run defense regardless of who it is.

[D O.C.]

Thanks for the uplift.
I just can't name any Pirates born in the woods right now.

[bluenote]

Bluenote,
I am sorry if I offend you.   There is no shame in being out-coached or out-played.   

Well...you don't have to like...... say it so bluntly!   

[Foss]

I think that Anderson has been the offensive player of the year again so far. I think MonCat has a good point in that some of the Willamette candidates might be hurt a bit by the fact that they "share the wealth" so to speak with their impressive offensive numbers. True, the Wildcats pretty much shut Anderson down, but a single game against Linfield is just that - one performance. It shouldn't be the be all and end all. In almost all his other games, he has been very impressive. Against Willamette, for example - the best team in the league - he had 149 yards. He gets my vote.

[bbaddict]

I think that Anderson has been the offensive player of the year again so far. I think MonCat has a good point in that some of the Willamette candidates might be hurt a bit by the fact that they "share the wealth" so to speak with their impressive offensive numbers. True, the Wildcats pretty much shut Anderson down, but a single game against Linfield is just that - one performance. It shouldn't be the be all and end all. In almost all his other games, he has been very impressive. Against Willamette, for example - the best team in the league - he had 149 yards. He gets my vote.

Wow -- I really like the sound of that --"Willamette ... the best team in the league" ---just sort of rolls off your tongue doesn't it?  Now, they just need to finish it up!!  And, yes, I'm still up -- Pat said the regional rankings would be out on Wednesday.        (Besides, I'm on the West Coast.)

[Foss]

bbaddict,

Ha! Believe me, that's not easy for me to say.    But after last Saturday there isn't any denying it (this year anyway). I meant it more so to emphasize Anderson's performance being against a good team, but I can see where you would like hearing that regardless of the intent. I'm interested in seeing what the regional rankings look like, too.