2012 NWC Pick 'Em: Week 7

'Catdome Baby!!!!!!!!!!

Here we are in the middle of the season and it looks like Wildcat11 is playing out the string. I’m the equivalent of a one-legged duck at this point as I’m swimming around in a circle going nowhere fast.

Last week I went 4 for 6 but it might as well been 0 for 6 for my boner pick of the year in taking Puget Sound over Pacific. I must have been sniffing model airplane glue when I made that decision as I thought Pacific might be unfocused after handling the Loggers last season. What an idiot. As you know by now, Pacific hung the Loggers by their underwear from a flagpole in a 62-21 bloodletting.  Good lord that's terrible.

The other letdown of last week is that Concordia was *this close* to beating Bethel but their crazy finish (if you haven’t seen it, then you need to go check it out) snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory for me once again. I currently sit at 32 for 42 for an ugly 76.2% on the year. I might as well get an empty cardboard box and roll into the NWC pick ‘em page and start clearing out my desk for 2012. But momma Wildcat11 didn’t raise no quitter (unless you count the fact that I quit watching Leverage this season…that show has lost its mojo) so I’m going to fight the good fight.

LET’S DO THIS!

Northwest Conference Games:

Pacific Lutheran (2-2) over Pacific (2-3) (at Pacific): I truly believe that PLU is a top 25 quality team this year and is still in the NWC title hunt. I like their receivers and quarterback chemistry as they seem like a team that can hit the homerun at any moment. Pacific has to be feeling GREAT after last week’s pasting and should be fired up to host PLU. I think this will be competitive early but eventually the ‘Lutes are going to have too many weapons for the Boxers to contend with.

Willamette (5-0) over Lewis and Clark (4-1) (at Willamette): At this point I think it safe to say that Willamette is 100% legit this season. They’re major players in the NWC title race and have made a big splash with their revamped offense. To me, this is Willamette’s best shot to make noise before they have to build it back up again.  They’re starting and playing the most seniors in the conference by far (starting 15 seniors) while most of the conference is relatively young (even Linfield to some extent). Willamette’s a talented team that is going to eat up Lewis & Clark like a ham sandwich. This game isn’t going to be close.

West Region Games of the week:

#13 UW-Platteville (4-1) over #19 UW-Oshkosh (5-0) (at UWO): Man, I cannot remember the last time there has been a game this huge in the WIAC that didn’t involve Whitewater. I’ve been jocking Platteville all season long so why stop now? It’s simple, if Platteville loses they can kiss any post-season hopes goodbye but if Oshkosh drops the game on Saturday then they still have a shot in getting a piece of the WIAC title with Whitewater on the horizon. I’d love to watch this game as I think it’s going to be a down to the final moments type of contest.

National Game of the Week:

#4 St. Thomas (5-0) over #9 Bethel (5-0) (at UST): Oh this should be a fun one. Bethel has spent the past two weeks pulling rabbits out of their hat in two last moments wins. I think Bethel is overrated at #9. In fact, I think UST is way too high at #4 but that’s another discussion for another day. To me, Bethel’s luck runs out this weekend as I like UST to put Bethel on the skids. IMO, I think a one win team out of the WIAC or NWC will be a stronger Pool C representative than Bethel would be but there’s a lot of football to be played before we start having those conversations.