Linfield takes one in the chin in 27-19 loss at Redlands

Saturday night was a rough one for the Linfield Wildcats as the Bulldogs finally got one on the ‘Cats. It was an ugly football game in many regards, but the bottom line is that Redlands earned that win with a physical defensive front, with speed and play making in their offensive skill ranks, and better special teams play.  That sentence I just wrote has been Linfield’s modern era formula for success and the Wildcats got beat at their own game down in SoCal.

What really sucks for Linfield is that the ‘Cats had a number of chances to stem Redlands’ momentum but kept have breakdowns or lapses at inopportune moment after moment.  It was wildly frustrating, from the first series brutally bad fumble call, to sailing a snap 30 yards over our QB’s head to set up a quick six for Redlands. The second half killer is that Linfield had two-point blank chances to change the flow of the game on what should have been a huge pick that was dropped.  The very next play Redlands punted, and Tyler Torgerson housed it for what looked like six but an unneeded block in the back at the start of the return erased that scored.  So instead of it being 20-16 early in the 4th, the Linfield offense was backed up to their own goal line, and four plays later, Redlands blocked a punt for TD instead. Just a killer 14-point swing sequence for Linfield.

Redlands did their fair share of stupid stuff too and adding to that might have been the worst officiated game I’ve seen with my own eyes. The officiating was bad both ways and I would spend much more time breaking down how shameful that crew was, but Linfield lost the game, and harping on that too much would come off like sour grapes and excuses.

The main reason why Linfield lost on Saturday night is that the Bulldogs were better in the trenches.  That is a hard thing to type but it’s the truth.  Linfield has always been the more physical team upfront in this series but not this time around. It was clearly apparent that Redlands has been spending the time the past couple of years in building to this and were able to harvest the fruits of their labor with their line play.

It was a cold bucket of water right to the face to have a SCIAC team take it to Linfield up front and I’m sure that the coaches are going to think long and hard about making sure this is an outlier moment and not something that will develop into a trend.

Saturday sucked but I would love to get another crack at this Redlands team in the post-season.  The ‘Cats had some critical failures on Saturday night. Most of these issues are fixable issues that would allow Linfield to see another outcome if these two teams crossed paths again but the path to get there is long and narrow.

It’s playoff mode for Linfield right now.  If this team aspires to getting back into the NCAA’s, it starts with all eyes on NWC play and starting off on Pacific.  The ‘Cats have a laundry list of issues they have to address and clean up, but I know this staff well enough to know that this team is going to be dangerous as we move along in 2019.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Passing attack:  The ‘Cats have a dangerous passing game, and when provided protection, Smith and company can deliver. 24 of 36 for 274 yards and a touchdown is a productive night. The chemistry is there with Smith and his receivers and this is where the offense is going to hang their hat this season.

3rd down Defense: Statistically, the ‘Cats defense was outstanding here in holding Redlands to 3 of 13 on 3rd down. It’s just that 1 of those 3 was a critical conversion on 3rd and 10 that allowed Redlands to extend a drive that wound up resulting in Redland’s longest drive of the night (I’m still kicking rocks over of that one).

Battling:  When Redlands blocked that punt to go up 27-9 early in the 4th quarter, lesser teams and players would have folded.  Instead, Linfield kept the pressure on and kept battling.  In fact, Linfield played their way right into giving themselves a shot in the lasting moments of the contest. That shows character and heart for a program that’s not in that situation very often.

Field Goal Kicking: 2 for 2 in this department. I put our special teams in the bad category below (rightfully so) but it was good to see that Linfield does have the ability to lean on getting 3 consistently on drives that stall out.

The Bad

Negative Rushing Attack: -37 yards. Must be a record for the worse statistical rushing game in program history.  Yeah, the big snap over the head accounted for a big chunk of the negative yards but if you went just off our primary RB’s (Artie Johnson) numbers, the ‘Cats were only able to pick up 28 net positive yards rushing the football.  Terrible. That may sound harsh, but the staff/players know that is not going to get it done. Credit Redlands defensive front for dominating the LOS but the ‘Cats have to make significant improvements running the ball in NWC play.  Eventually, we’re going to run into a bad weather game, and if we can’t pass the ball, then we’re going to get into a dogfight with a lesser team.

Tackling:  There were several times that Linfield called the right defense, put guys in the right place, and our tackling failed which allowed Redlands to pick up additional yardage, or at critical moments, allowed the QB to extend the play and convert.  Tip your hat to Redlands because they have talented skill guys but if Linfield’s defense is going to reach their potential the effort on tackling must be better than Saturday night.

Special Teams:  I was going to only type special team’s protection but had to add the whole group with that blown TD punt return chance.  The thing that killed me on the danger punt block is it just wasn’t one Bulldog that made the block but there was nearly three Bulldogs that were right there on top of Ramos. Regardless, having a PAT blocked, the blown touchdown, and the block against for touchdown were huge negative components for Linfield.

Pass Pro:  Holy smokes, there were at least 6-8 instances of Redlands having a free blitzer off the edge getting shots off at our quarterbacks. I know that the fumble call on the opening drive was total crap but it wouldn’t have happened if some picked up the blitz off the edge.  Redlands got way too much pressure on Smith and Linfield made it too easy.  But Redland was able to pin their ears back because there was zero threat from Linfield to rush the ball. If Linfield is going to hang their offensive hat on throwing the ball, the ‘Cats need improvement in cleaning up assignments in protection.

Giving up the outside edges: I don’t know if this was a matter of technique, assignment execution, or underestimating their speed at RB (which was dang good), but Linfield’s defense was gashed a number of times on the outside edges of the defense and it killed Linfield at the worst times.

Penalties: The penalties were abysmal for both teams (that crew shouldn’t be allowed to ref my daughter’s 3rd grade soccer games) so it’s hard to vent too much here.  If there’s any take away, I
hope this prepares this team with the ability to adjust quicker to how the official’s crew is calling it. 

The Ugly

Redland’s Post Game Celebration: After the game the teams went to their respective sides of the field for the post game talk.  Saturday night was their Head Coach’s 200th career win and they opened a live mic for their college President (might have been a former President) to address the crowd.  Rightfully so, the guy was excited and called it the best night in program history, etc, etc.  Then their head coach got on the mic and talked about the big win, etc, etc.  Nothing they said was bad, and I’m not upset they did that.  They won, they get to celebrate, but it was a bitter pill and a big ass reminder that beating Linfield is a HUGE deal to other programs.  It should be, as the ‘Cats have been the D3 bully on the block for 20 years. Every team is going to be hyped, break out new wrinkles, do whatever they can to achieve the feeling that Redlands was swimming in after downing Linfield.  I hope the feeling of sitting there in silence listening to those speeches stick with this group as they move forward the rest of the season. We’ve got work to do.