Week 10: NWC Pick 'em

Time to get to work this weekend 'Cats!

Wildcat11 was on fire last weekend in hitting 7 out of 8 picks last week. My only letdown was that Oxy dropped an unconcevable game to Chapman. With that I pulled out in front with a now two point lead (48 for 62 overall: 77.4%) but the NWC pick 'em contest is still very tight. We have 5 games on the slate this week and you already know I have the 'Cats in one so WC11 is only going to be breaking down 4 picks. Some pretty tough games on the national scene while the NWC games should be a no-brainier.

Northwest Conference Games:

Willamette (6-2) over Lewis & Clark (4-3) (at Willamette): This should be a big measuring stick game for the Pioneers as they face one of the two best rush defenses in the NWC in Willamette. L&C's wunderkind, Keith Welch (who one NWC poster says is the best player in the NWC), is on the big stage here and should have the ball in his hands all game long for the Pioneers but Willamette just has too many weapons and if Speckman gets his kids ready to play they should take care of business here.

#21 Pacific Lutheran (6-1) over Pacific (0-7) (at Pacific): PLU's unorthodox passing attack should leave the Boxers gasping for air here. The Boxer's only hope in making this game respectful is PLU's trend of playing to the level of their competition (down for Hamline and UPS but up for CLU and Linfield) and being a much tougher home team than on the road. It doesn't matter though as PLU should just have way too much for Pacific to handle but I'm sure that Pacific will take the one or two things that go well for them and spin that into a huge "win" for them.

West Region Game of the Week:

#13 Wartburg (8-0) over #17 Central (8-1) (at Central): This is a biggie for not only the IIAC title chase and auto-bid but could have a large impact in the Pool C chase as well. A win by Wartburg pretty much seals the deal for the Knights to win the IIAC title and elminate Central from Pool C (Coe is sitting with one loss). If Central wins then the IIAC is in a three way tie (Coe-Wartburg-Central) and it just adds more contenders into Pool C. PLU will be watching this game very closely. I'm going to take the Knights, who have already won a huge road game at Coe, to roll into Pella and knock out the Dutch.

National Game of the Week:

#5 North Central (8-0) over #15 Wheaton (8-0) (at Wheaton): I would love to pick Wheaton here to defend the home turf and take out North Central and while both teams have offenses that average over 400 yards a game the NC defense has just been dominate all year long. While Wheaton can move the ball I think they don't have enough firepower to overcome the Cardinal.