It’s a game full of interesting
storylines: The Spread versus the Fly;
two strong defenses and two prestigious coaches; two strong quarterbacks and
outstanding wide receivers on both sides of the ball.
While it doesn’t have
the national luster of last season’s match-up with Cal Lutheran, Linfield’s
season opener against Menlo College is nonetheless a high quality game between
two teams full of talent on both sides of the ball.
The Linfield
Wildcats are coming off a season in which they went 10-1, won the Northwest Conference
title for the third straight season, and made it to the NCAA playoffs for the
third straight before losing to Wesley 49-34 in the second round of the
playoffs. With so many key players
returning from last season, most notably the entire cast of offensive skill
players and the front seven on defense, the Wildcats most likely will have more
things figured out than they did at the start of last season.
“The depth factor
and experience factor of our overall group allows us to run at a pretty quick
level. When we came into camp, we put
the pedal down and went fast right away with many things,” Linfield coach
Joseph Smith said.
Leading the ‘Cat
attack in the 2012 season is none other than senior quarterback Mickey Inns, a
first team all-conference selection from 2011.
Inns is coming off one of the best seasons in Linfield history, where he
completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 2,855 yards and 31 touchdowns while
throwing only seven interceptions.
“I thought he
played exceptionally well down the stretch,” Smith said. “Leadership-wise, he’s taken on a bigger
mantle; he’s taken the lead in a lot of our team activities, organized out
whole-team meal, and those sorts of things. He is the guy, him and Josh Hill. If he plays well, we do well; if he doesn’t,
we struggle a little bit.”
Senior running
back Josh Hill returns after having a strong 2011 season where he ran for 942
yards and nine touchdowns with a 4.9 yard per carry average, which netted him
first team all-conference honors. Deidre
Weirsma and Lucas Jepson, two of the top three receivers from last season,
return to bolster the receiving core.
Weirsma had 54 receptions for 768 yards (both led the team) and five
touchdowns; Jepson had 35 receptions for 661 yards and a team-high nine
touchdowns, along with an astounding 18.9 yards per reception.
Linfield’s
defense enters the season looking to continue the dominant trend set by the units
of the last three seasons. While they
lost their entire secondary to graduation, the Wildcats return their entire
front seven from a defense that gave up 16.5 points and 319 yards per game
while forcing 26 turnovers and recording 47 sacks. Leading the defense is the pre-season All-American
senior defensive tackle Tyler Steele and linebacker Dominique Forrest.
“Our
defense wants to be a dominant defense every year,” Smith said. “Our goal is to minimize points, number one,
and that will always be the stat that we look at the most because that wins
games. You got to do that first by
minimizing big gains. If we can just
minimize the big gains and make them sustain drives, it’s hard to score. This offense is adept at chunking plays
together; it gets a lot of third-and-shorts, and a lot of third-and-mediums,
very few lost yardage plays. They’re a
very worthy opponent, and they’re gonna be tough, but our goal is to be very good
on defense.”
Menlo
is coming off a 28-13 win over University of British Columbia the previous weekend in new coach Mark
Speckman’s debut. Menlo put up 347 yards,
including 230 on the ground, the Oaks new Fly offense seems to have found new
life. Running back Thomas Reynolds
rushed for 90 yards on 16 carries, and wide receiver Michael Alexander ran the
ball 12 times for 84 yards and three touchdowns while also catching four passes
for another 38 yards. Wide receiver
Vincent Snyder added 56 yards and a touchdown on just two carries. Quarterback Matthias Pelasasa went 11-15 for
117 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. Needless to say, Menlo’s offense should give
the Wildcat defense a challenge right off the bat.
“They
were very conventional in the past; now it’s very unconventional,” Smith said. “It requires a great deal of specific work
for that style of offense. What you tend
to see defensively is very little transfer of what you do that week for any
other team. That’s why it’s always a
negative game from a defensive perspective, because it doesn’t help you a
lot. It’s unique, nobody likes defending
it, and we’re really excited that it’s out of our conference.”
While
Menlo’s defense allowed 13 points and 305 yards to University of British Columbia,
their documented athleticism matches up with Linfield’s offense, as indicated
by last season’s loss to Linfield in which they gave up 23 points and 299 yards
of offense, one of the few teams to hold Linfield under 400 yards last season.
“We
had a tough time. I thought they played
outstanding on defense. I think they’re
a very good defensive football team; what they didn’t have last year was any
kind of offense. It was just a matter of
playing the game out. Now it’s a whole
different situation because they’ll have a good offense. They’re a very dangerous team; they could
very well be the most talented football team that we play all season,” Smith said.
Keys to the Game For Linfield:
-Establish The Run: In last
season’s 23-6 win over Menlo, Linfield got away with being held to 44 yards
rushing for the game. In 2011, Linfield
was 5-0 when Josh Hill topped 100 yards for the game. If the Wildcats can establish a ground game
against Menlo’s athletic defense, the Linfield offense will have a chance to
put up impressive numbers.
-Avoid turnovers: One of the
few flaws in Linfield’s armor last season was a tendency to turn the ball over
on drives where they had established a rhythm and were in scoring position on
the drive, especially early in the season.
If Linfield can cash in on all their scoring opportunities, it will be
that much harder for Menlo to win.
-Stop The Run: As Menlo
showed in their season opener, the Fly offense has brought new life to their
running game. If Linfield can contain
the running game and make Menlo into a one-dimensional offense, it’ll help out
their new secondary.
Keys to the Game For Menlo:
-Stop The Run: Teams that
have beaten Linfield in the past three seasons were able to shut down Linfield’s
run game; Menlo was one of the few exceptions in last season’s loss to the
Wildcats. With that being said,
containing Linfield’s running game on Saturday would go a long way towards
helping Menlo win the game.
-Establish The Run: Menlo
showed in their season opener that they’re capable of putting up numbers in the
running game. If Menlo can establish a
running game against Linfield’s front seven, Menlo might be able to make some
plays through the air against Linfield’s brand-new secondary.
