What We Learned About Linfield: Week 3...

I apologize for not posting this last week; I was swept up in work and couldn't find the time to get it done.  nevertheless, here is what we know about Linfield after three games:

Linfield's Defense Has Chinks:  While Linfield's defense still leads the NWC in tackles for loss and sacks, and is up there in turnovers forced and defensive touchdowns, their last two games against Hardin-Simmons and Cal Lutheran have shown that they have trouble stopping talented offenses, which doesn't seem to bode well for future match-ups with Willamette, Whitworth, and Lewis & Clark.  With that being said, there's a lot of season left for the defense to get better, and Linfield has an excellent coaching staff.

Linfield Still Hasn't Cleaned Up Their Game:  After three games, Linfield still has yet to clean up the slopiness that they showed against Menlo and Hardin-Simmons.  Against Cal Lutheran, Linfield had a season-high three turnovers, as well as 15 penalties for 142 yards.  While Linfield was able to pull off the victory on the road against Cal Lutheran, playing that sloppy on the road against someone like PLU or Lewis & Clark could prove costly down the road.

Despite The Mistakes, Linfield's Still Pretty Good:  We can talk all we want about all the mistakes that Linfield's making every week, and we can talk about all the vulnerabilities of Linfield's defense, but the fact of the matter is that even with these mistakes, Linfield went 3-0 against arguably the toughest non-conference schedule they ever had, and their offense is arguably among the nations toughest even with all the mistakes they've made in the first three games; Linfield is going to be a scary team when they get the sloppiness out of their game.    

Week 4 action...

I must apologize my audience for not posting much last week.  I was busy training for a new job that I got hired for, and it took up all my time last week.  As an apology present, I present to you three items of interest:  My analysis of Linfield's win over Cal Lutheran, the audio of Linfield's weekly football press conference from this week, and my predictions for the Northwest Conference in week 4.  I hope you enjoy everything!

Link to Linfield-Cal Lutheran Analysis:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T90k3SzkNSI

Link to boxscore:  http://www.linfield.edu/sports/stats/fb/clu0915.htm  

Link to Linfield Football Press Conference:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV1EGy15-O8&feature=youtu.be

Link to NWC Week 4 Predictions:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Webr04RYbD8  

What We Learned About Linfield: Week 2...

Linfield's offense is scary:  All the week 1 mistakes that haunted Linfield the week before were in display again last Saturday in the form of two missed field goals and two turnovers.  Despite this, the "Cat Attack put up 49 points and 563 yards of offense against Hardin-Simmons; how many teams do we know around the country who can put up numbers like that on an off-day?  The list is small, and the Linfield offense is on that list.

Passing game returns:  Much like 2011, Mickey Inns came back from an iffy opener to post impressive numbers in week 2.  After going 10-25 for 172 yards and two touchdowns against Menlo in the opener, Inns put on a n incredible display against Hardin-Simmons, going 26-41 for 309 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.  On the season, Inns has completed 54.5 percent of his passes for 481 yards with six touchdowns and only one interception.

Wildcat defense has chinks in the armor:  After a magnificent showing against Menlo, Linfield's defense showed some kinks in the armor against an offense that featured a strong running back and an explosive passing attack.  Of course, two late touchdown drives in garbage time padded the stats for Hardin-Simmons after the game was already over.  The Wildcat defense continued to make plays though, forcing three turnovers, blocking a field goal, and recording four tackles for loss.  Next weekend's match-up against Cal Lutheran will go a long way in showing how good Linfield's defense will be this season.

Linfield Blows Away Cowboys 49-35...

Unfortunately, I'm too busy this week with Job training to make my normal game articles and game previews.      Instead, I'll just give a link to my post-game analysis video, which does a fairly good job of summing up the game anyways.  Be sure to be tuned in later this week to see my preview video of Linfield's upcoming game against Hardin-Simmons.

Link to Linfield-Hardin-Simmons Analysis:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ian7-BaBEN0

Linfield vs Hardin-Simmons Preview...

Due to many changes in my personal life in the past week, I did not have the time to put together a preview article for the game.  Instead, I created a preview video.  What makes this video different from past preview videos is the inclusion of quotes by Linfield Head Coach Joseph Smith at Linfield's press conference on Tuesday.  With that, I bid you happy viewing!

Link to Preview Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpohvziay7I 

What We Learned About Linfield: Week 1

Linfield's defense didn't miss a beat:  After losing their entire secondary to graduation, a lot of people thought that Linfield's defense would not be as good as they had been the last three seasons, despite the fact that they returned their entire front seven.  After holding Menlo to nine points, 265 yards, forcing four turnovers, and scoring nine points themselves, Linfield's defense proved that they'll be taking no steps back in 2012.

Josh Hill is the X-factor of this offense:  In last season's win over Menlo, Linfield was held to 44 yards rushing, and Josh Hill was held to 39 yards on 13 carries.  On Saturday, Linfield ran for 170 yards, and Josh Hill ran for 113 yards on 18 carries.  Linfield is now 6-0 all-time when Josh Hill cracks 100 yards rushing.  Seems pretty safe to say that when Josh Hill has a big day, Linfield is nearly unbeatable.

The Wildcats have a lot of mistakes to clean up:  As big as Linfield's 30-9 win seemed, there were a lot of mistakes that Linfield can clean up that would make them even more dominant.  The Wildcats were penalized 10 times for 98 yards, including two roughing the punter calls; Linfield missed a 41-yard field goal attempt, and botched the snap on another.  Mickey Inns and the 'Cat attack had a tough time completing passes as Inns went 10-25 for 172 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.  All of this goes to show that when Linfield gets some kinks ironed out, they will be one of the scariest teams in the nation once again.

'Cats Slash Oaks 30-9...

                Despite the addition of the patented Fly Offense in the offseason and the advantage of having played a game beforehand, the Menlo Oaks could do no better against Linfield than in the previous season, thanks to a dominant defensive effort paired with timely offense by the Wildcats.

                The fifth-ranked Linfield Wildcats defeated the Menlo Oaks 30-9 at Maxwell Field on a sunny September afternoon in their 2012 season opener.  The win gives the Wildcats a 1-0 record on the season, while the loss dropped the Oaks to 1-1 on the season.

                The Linfield offense was hit-and-miss most of the day, managing to put together a couple scoring drives in the second quarter before the offense lost all momentum in the second half.  On the day, the “Cat attack gained 359 yards of offense and 20 first downs.  One positive aspect of the offense was their rushing total of 170 yards on the day after being held to 44 yards on the ground last season against the Oaks; Josh Hill led the way with 113 yards on 18 carries.

                “I would say that we had a better plan than last year,” Linfield coach Joseph Smith said, “we looked at that pretty closely, we did some technical things a little bit different.  Coach Hire did a great job of adjusting our schemes a little bit more to their specific defense.”   

Mickey Inns had an off-day passing, going 10-25 for 172 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.  Deidre Weirsma led the Wildcats with 49 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.  Lucas Jepson added 51 yards and a touchdown on two receptions.

“I think it’s a myriad of factors,” Smith said, “one being the timing factor, one being some technical things with how much air you wanna put under the ball, which increases the margin of error, and the other is that the plays themselves are low-percentage plays.”

The Menlo offense, despite a complete schematic overhaul from last season with the induction of the Fly offense, still could not crack the nut that is the Linfield defense.  Held to 265 yards on the day, the Oaks turned the ball over four times, including three lost fumbles, one of which was returned 87 yards by Linfield defensive end Matthew MaClanathan for a touchdown, and a safety.  Quarterback Matt Pelasasa went 9-15 for 118 yards with one interception while rushing the ball 27 times for 51 yards and one touchdown.  Wide receiver Michael Alexander led the Oaks with five receptions for 76 yards, and Running back Joey Evans added 51 yards rushing on 12 carries.

“At one point, the defense was winning 9-3; I told coach Vaughn that he gave up the win there,” Smith said with a chuckle, “That ‘s just an unbelievable performance to hold a team to very few points and then to score a little bit yourself; you’re gonna win every time.  I was real pleased with our defense; they had a dominating effort.”

The game started off very slowly for both teams.  While Linfield missed a 41-yard field goal attempt and botched another field goal attempt, Menlo kept fumbling the ball right back to the Wildcats, who finally capitalized when Inns hit Weirsma with a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 Linfield with 10:49 to go in the second quarter.  After forcing a three and out on Menlo’s next possession, Linfield put together a six play, 82 yard drive culminated by Inns’ 40-yard touchdown strike to Jepson to make it 14-0 Linfield with 6:03 to go in the second quarter.  A 13 play, 65 yard drive by Menlo ended with a 31-yard field goal, making it 14-3 Linfield with 0:37 left in the second quarter.

The second half saw a lot of action from the Wildcat defense.  After Linfield’s first drive of the half ended with a punt, a 51-yard punt by Linfield put Menlo at their own five yard line.  Two plays later, right after a Menlo timeout, Pelasasa recovered a fumble in the endzone, the safety making it 16-3 Linfield with 12:22 to go in the third quarter.  After a Menlo interception set the ball up at the Menlo 17-yard line, Josh Hill threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mickey Inns on a halfback toss to make the score 23-3 Linfield with 4:27 to go in the third quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, Menlo had a first-and-goal in the Linfield four yard line.  Two negative plays later, MaClanathan scooped up a fumble and returned it 79 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-3 with 12:46 to go in the game.  A four-yard touchdown run by Pelasasa made it 30-9 with 7:13 to play.

“He had a nice convey of blockers that went down there with them, and Tyler Robitaille was talking to him the whole time, kind of telling him when there was nobody or “another guy back here,” or “we got him,” kinda got air traffic control down the runway so to speak,” Smith said.         

Linfield’s next game is against Hardin-Simmons, who is coming off a 58-34 loss to Willamette University where they gave up 727 yards of total offense to the Bearcats.  Linfield last played Hardin-Simmons in 2009, when they opened up the season with a 37-22 victory over the Cowboys, who were ranked fourth in the nation at the time.

Menlo’s next game is against Pomona Pitzer, who is coming off the 0-9 campaign in 2011, on September 8.

Link to Postgame Analysis:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOcZyS457Gc

Link to Game Boxscore:  http://www.linfield.edu/sports/stats/fb/men0901.htm