What We Learned About Linfield in Week 2...

Linfield’s defense is for real:  Cal Lutheran returned all their offensive talent from last season’s team that dropped 47 points on the Wildcats in last season’s opener.  After giving up a touchdown on their first possession, Linfield’s defense took over the game.  Other than the 28-yard touchdown reception by Eric Rodgers at the end of the third quarter, Linfield’s defense spent the majority of the game pursuing the ball, preventing big plays, getting fourth-down stops, forcing punts, and getting two timely interceptions.  Considering that Cal Lutheran had one of the best offenses in the country and could only get 14 points on Linfield’s defense, the rest of the Northwest Conference will have many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to crack the Linfield defense.   

Linfield can officially run the ball:  While Saturday’s rushing total against Cal Lutheran wasn’t the highest rushing total by Linfield in the spread offense era, the 256 rushing yards they had on Saturday were perhaps the most impressive.  Josh Hill’s 164 yards was the best rushing performance by a Linfield player since Thomas Ford ran for 237 yards against Redlands in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Playoffs.  Their 5.8 yards per carry is also the highest that Linfield has had against a ranked team in the spread offense era.

The passing game needs work:  While everyone knew that the graduation of Aaron Boehme meant that the passing game wouldn’t be quite as explosive as the past two seasons, Saturday’s performance wasn’t quite what Linfield was hoping for.  Mickey Inns went 9-24 for 122 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions; the numbers were affected by inconsistent pass blocking, dropped passes, a couple bad throws, and Cal Lutheran’s skilled secondary.  It will take a higher pass completion percentage for Linfield to achieve their goal of a conference title.  However, I did say in my preseason conference predictions that Linfield’s Offense wouldn’t be totally smooth at the start of the season, and that their coaching staff would correct that over time; so far so good on my theory.           

An unbeaten season is no longer unreasonable:  Now that Linfield has won the super-tough match-up with Cal Lutheran, winning out on the rest of the schedule seems highly likely.  The conference opener against Willamette will be a tough game, but Willamette dropped their first two games of the season against Top-25 teams AT HOME, so Linfield has a good shot at winning if they bring their A-game.  There’s also a possibility that someone like Lewis & Clark or Pacific Lutheran might step up and give the Wildcats a tougher-than-expected game, but Linfield’s defense, as it showed against Cal Lutheran, is good enough to make up for whatever offensive shortcomings they may have on occasion.