Great Googily Moogily - I've seen some bad officiating, but this weeks game takes the cake. I will say that they were equally bad for both teams - but there is no excuse for what we all saw on the field on Saturday. It was almost as depressing as as the stairway to nowhere that is the visitors side of MoSo's stadium. But it was a beautiful day for football. I think I actually got a little bit of a sunburn - which is a great thing for Oct 20th!
I wanted to send a shout out to the Hampton Hawks. It was a tough year, but it was a building year. And you got better each week. That hard work will pay off dividends in the future. Even the almighty Bearcats went 0-11 in Tjeerdsma's first year. We all know how that ended up. Follow the advice that Brady Bolles gave you earlier in the year - focus on your effort and your attitude and the results will follow.
Last Weeks Recap:
Well, it wasn’t a stomping. But NW did win by 24. And it would have been 31, but MoSo scored on the second string D. And NW escaped without too many injuries. I think Petroff sustained a concussion – not sure how long he will be out. I’ve also heard that Young has some sort of strain in his shoulders and will be out the next two week more than likely. I thought that I saw that Hummel came out with a shoulder injury as well. I noticed and DJ didn’t play in the second half. My guess is that that is just to give him some rest. Anyone that has seen him run off the field, can see that he’s hurting. Other than those, NW came out of the game relatively healthy – unlike last year!
I really am not sure how that Southern team beat MoWest, who then pounded Pitt State. It does not make sense to me. Their QB was horrible at pitching the football. I think the NW D had something to do with that. The Bearcats made sure that if the QB was going to run with the ball, he was going to get hit – whether or not he still had the ball. I think that got into his head at times. But the overall speed of the NW D was able to eliminate much of the threat of the triple option. If MoSo had had any kind of passing game (their QB completed 3 passed, two to NW and 1 to his own guy for 5 yards) they could be dangerous. They were able to gain a lot of yards on the ground – 253 the most by far that NW has given up. But like I mentioned they only had 5 yards thru the air. The majority of those yards came off of 5 plays – those 5 plays were for 20 or more yards and totaled 147 yards.
I don’t know why, but it whenever NW plays MoSo it feels like they should blow them out of the water. But they don’t. Granted NW scored on every possession except like 3 or 4. So that should be really good. But I always feel frustrated coming out of Joplin. Maybe it’s just that long drive that puts me in a bad mood. I don’t know. I do know that I thought that this was Trevor Adams best game to date. I thought that he looked confident and didn’t make any bonehead throws. MSSU’s defense had something to do with that – but overall I would have to give credit to TA. He did a great job of spreading the ball around. Nine different players registered at least one reception – and none got more than 5 catches on the day. That is a good job of spreading the ball. They also tried once or maybe twice with having two QB’s in there. That hasn’t worked out yet this year, but I think that it will eventually.
This Weeks MatchUp:
NW faces the Ichabods this week. The Bods are one of the remaining teams with only 1 loss on their record. But in this new watered down MIAA - that really isn't saying a whole lot - especially when their loss was to UCO and they had to score on their last drive last week against Lindenwood to escape with a win. I think its safe to say that the Ichabods are not the power that they once were. But - the Ichabods ALWAYS play the Bearcats tough. The two teams match up very well, and that usually means that its going to be a defensive battle. Plus with it being Washburn's homecoming - you know that they are going to be fired up!
The Bods have not played the toughest schedule.Despite their easy schedule, they haven't been lighting up the scoreboard. In fact nothing about this team impresses me or scares me - and THAT scares me. Because I know that its Washburn and with the exception of last year, they always play with NW. If its possible to have a two week trap games, this might be it as the team might be looking forward to MoWest. But I doubt that they are. They know that they are pretty much in a fight for the playoffs every week - if they win, the hope is still alive, if they don't - odds are they won't make the playoffs. Statistically speaking - Washburns strength on D is their pass D. But I think that that stat is bloated because they really haven't faced any good passing teams. On offense, I would like to see something very similar to last week. Good QB play, good playcalling, spreading the ball around a lot. I would also like to see JF3 go over 100 yards. I've got him sitting on my bench in Fantasy Football - and we all know how that works!
Unlike the MoSo Lions, the Ichabods will be able to pass the ball - to someone on their own team. Dane Simoneau is gone, he has been replaced with Sophmore Mitch Buhler. Buhler is not a threat to run - so far on the year he has -10 yards on 18 attempts - 8 of which were sacks. Buhler is also completing just under 52% of his passes, and has 5 interceptions so far. My guess is that those numbers aren't going too get any better after this game.
My head tells me that this game is going to be a blowout - but my gut says that its going to be close. So which should I go with? Screw it, I'm saying NW 35 Ickybods 17
Should of gone with your gut, or your head. Which one was the blow out?
ReplyDeleteI want to add that I really enjoy your blog. Im a Bearcat living in Florida that can't go the games and lives on the message boards trying to soak up every minute of the season. It just isn't the same listening to the visitors broadcast on B2TV (the central game suuucked). And KNIM doesn't match up to the play. Anyway, keep up the good work.