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Friday, August 31, 2012

Linfield vs Menlo preview


            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.       

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Brand-new features!!!

Before I put out the Linfield-Menlo preview article later this week, I just want to announce two new additions to the blog for this 2012 season:

First off, I have put together a brand-new video where I give a short preview of all the games in the Northwest Conference that are not affiliated with Linfield in the current week of the season, and I give predictions on the games.

The other bit of news is for all the video game nerds out there who happen to be reading or following this blog.  Have you always wanted to play as any of the teams from the Northwest Conference on the NCAA football video game series?  Well now you can!  If you have a copy of NCAA Football 13, just go to Teambuilder and look up my gamer tag, InflictedBroly.  You will find the 2012 versions of all seven of the schools in the Northwest Conference:

-Linfield
-Whitworth
-Willamette
-Lewis & Clark
-Pacific Lutheran
-Pacific (OR)
-Pudget Sound

Link to Week 1 Predictions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wd96lIlX1U&feature=youtu.be 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Welcome To 2012!!

The end of the summer is approaching fast, and that means the start of another season of College Football!  The 2012 season is upon us, and a new season means new expectations.  For this reporter, 2011 was a great start to his sports journalism career, and he looks to keep it going as WildcatSpread40 enters its second year of football blogging.

To kick off the season appropriately, here's a link to my predictions for the Northwest Conference in the upcoming 2012 season.  You may be surprised by some of my picks, but you probably won't be surprised by others.  If you want to comment on my picks, feel free to leave a comment on the video or this blog article.

NWC predictions:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSCk4773KCU&feature=youtu.be

Pre-season polls:  http://www.d3football.com/top25/2012/preseason