2017 NWC Pick ‘Em Contest: Week 2

Everyone celebrate, football is back!

The NWC pick ‘em post is back! I actually don’t have that much time to type the lead for the picks today as I’m gearing up to head to SoCal so I’m going to have to keep it short and sweet.  First, I have no idea where (509)Rat is.  If any year that you would think (509) would want to be taking part of the pick ‘em post you would think it would be this year with how good Whitworth could be in 2017.  He could still pop up out of his mom’s basement so I won’t give up hope yet.

Things in the NWC went pretty much how I thought they would last week but were surprised by a few of the developments.  One being the Whitworth defense who clobbered the Dutch offense.  The previous year, Central’s offense went wild on Whit so while I wasn’t shocked to see the Rats offense go off it was the defense the Rats staff had to be most pleased with out of that game.  George Fox asserted themselves very well on the road vs UW-Platteville.  In fact, Fox made a huge comeback and took a late 4^th quarter lead before the Pioneers kicked a late field goal to win. That’s just further evidence that GFU is going to be a contender this season during their peak 4^th year back.  Not surprised by Puget Sound dropped to a mid-level La Verne team and Pacific had a varsity warm up game against some team that most NWC teams play as a JV contest but we’ll find out a little about them this week on the road.

Onto the pick!!!!

Northwest Conference Games of the Week.

#24 Whitworth (1-0) over Whittier (0-0) (at Whit):  So yeah, Whitworth had about as good of debut as you can to start the season.  The Rats went to Central and put on a historical beat down of a proud Dutch program.  The thing item that jumped out to me wasn’t the huge offensive output but the defense locking up Central. If Whitworth’s defense can bring that each week, then the Rats are a very serious contender for the NWC championship this year.  About this game, Whittier is terrible and Whitworth is going to steamroll them.

Dubuque (1-0) over Pacific (0-0) (at Dubuque): This is the fourth year in a row these two teams will hook up and the previous three games have been decided by a total of 12 points, all victories by Dubuque. Whatever it is these two teams love playing tight ball games but the Spartans seem to have the Boxers numbers.  I’m going to give the edge once again to Dubuque who have a victory under their belt against a traditionally sold Bethel team out of the MIAC and Pacific will have a new QB getting his feet wet.  I think the Boxers will play tough but Dubuque should earn it with a solid win.

Puget Sound (0-1) over Occidental (0-0) (at UPS): Holy cow the Occidental program is a hot mess. Another head coach left their program after short 4 year stay and they decided to hire a new coach just about 5 weeks ago.  They have 52 players on their current roster and could be headed towards an incredibly bad season.  Oxy is just what the Loggers needed after dropping their opener last week at La Verne.  Heck, maybe the Loggers will even rush for over a hundred yards as a team this weekend.

Claremont-Mudd-Script (0-0) over Lewis & Clark (0-0) (at L&C): The Pioneers are going to be a better football team this year.  They are returning the bulk of their roster from last year’s team and that experience will pay off.  I’m not sure how many wins will be on the Pioneers schedule this year but L&C is going to be more competitive.  Coming to town is a CMS team coming off of back-to-back 7-2 seasons and is expected to be in the mix for the SCIAC title hunt.  If L&C knocked off CMS that would be considered a sizable upset but I don’t see that happening.  The Stags should be good enough to leave the smoke filled Pacific Northwest win the victory.

Pacific Lutheran (0-0) over Cal Lutheran (0-0) (at CLU): This should be a very intriguing football game.  CLU or as the now just “CL” after the college dropped the “U” from their branding because since Notre Dame and Southern California can be recognized with the U, well so can Cal Lutheran.  I’m not sure what to expect out of CLU or even out of the PLU offense at the start of the year.  It just seems that CLU has made a habit of dropping early season games over the past four years and I think PLU’s defense will carry the day for the Lute victory.

Wildcat11’s NWC Week 2 Power Rankings:

1    1. Linfield – Until someone proves it, the ‘Cats reign supreme.

2    2. Whitworth – The Rats were impressive in week 1.  Very impressive.

3    3.      George Fox – Great showing in a tight loss for GFU out at UW-Platt.

4    4.      PLU – The Lutes secondary is going to be fantastic this season. QB play is the key.

5    5.      Pacific – Boxers got a warm up in beating up some JV NCAA team last week.

6    6.      Willamette – Think their QB is an upgrade over last year but the defense could be bad.

7    7.      UPS – Could move up a few spots in the polls as the year moves along.  Maybe, but doubt it.

8    8.      L&C – I think this is the year they get a win and maybe even an NWC win as well?