‘Cats win!!! Linfield soars to a 38-9 thumping of Whitworth in ‘Catdome.

#2 JD Lasswell had two huge TD grabs for Linfield including this 65 yard yard strike in the 2nd qt.

Photo Courtsey of Brad Thompson: View Brad's Linfield Photos Here.

In a recent Whitworth coaches radio show, the host, Bob Castle, talked about a conversation between Castle and Whitworth head coach Rod Sandberg where Coach Sandberg stated he has seen the gap between Linfield and Whitworth “narrowed”. Coach Sandberg’s reply to Castle was, “this team has big goals and it’s beyond just Linfield.” You know, there’s nothing wrong with an NWC team having goals going “beyond Linfield” and, that’s cool. However, the only thing I saw narrowing about Linfield and Whitworth this past Saturday was the distance between Linfield’s defense to where Pirate QB Ian Kolste was setting up in the pocket.

After two weeks of having to digest and mull over a tough 24-3 defeat of Mary Hardin-Baylor, it was gut-check time for the 2017 Linfield Wildcats and our guys responded with a thunderous route of a high flying and highly confident, Whitworth Pirates. You could tell early in the day when players were doing their individual walk about on the field, before the gates open to fans, that the Pirate players were feeling themselves, and they had every reason to be, they were 3-0 with statistically two of the best units in Division III.  Confidence had to be skyrocketing for the Pirates about this being the year Whitworth would knock off the ‘Cats.  Linfield however had different plans. We’ve talked about it over and over again how this Linfield roster is extremely talented and it’s just a matter of when they start putting it together. Whitworth, found that out first hand on Saturday, that Linfield has a brute force defense and an offense that is growing before our eyes.

For Linfield, the story of the game was pressure.  Linfield brought it in spades as the ‘Cats were able to harass, knock down, sack, and made Whitworth QB Ian Kolste about as comfortable as if Kolste had a sharp rock in his shoe.  Along with the pressure, I cannot state enough how well the Linfield defensive backs played.  The ‘Cats defensive backs blanketed a fantastic Whitworth receiver corps like a snuggie in December. The result was Linfield only yielding three field goals to Whitworth and keeping the Pirates out of the end zone for the first time since True Religion jeans were still a thing.

How many times do I have to tell NWC coordinators, run crossing routs against the 'Cats at your OWN RISK. pic.twitter.com/GHnP3QKicg

— Catdomealumni.com (@catdomealumni) October 1, 2017

Flipping it over to the Linfield offense and we’re seeing growth. The game started off slow for the Wildcat offense but the ‘Cats finally hit that big play that has been teasing the fans over the past two games. Once Linfield broke that seal, the ‘Cats offense stared to find their footing in establishing their rushing attack that would set up more deep ball strike opportunities.  It was encouraging to see Chidubem Nnoli emerge as the ‘Cats featured back with the Sophomore breaking the 100 yard mark with 139 yards on 18 carries behind an offensive line that will only continue to solidify.

However, the offense still has plenty to work on but Saturday was encouraging and it feels like slowly the offensive identity for Linfield is emerging.

Moving forward, this victory is huge.  The ‘Cats fate is clearly in their own hands but Linfield will be sorely mistaken if they think they can coast the rest of the way.  There are challengers down the road that are going to be coming at the ‘Cats with both barrels and this Linfield team isn’t good enough yet to just roll the football out between the lines and think that is enough. I hope that lesson in 2014 that Willamette gave the ‘Cats is still fresh in the programs minds about sleep walking against anybody that lines up across from you.  Speaking of Willamette. We’ll be headed to the ‘Catdome Capitol this weekend to once again battle the Bearcats. Keep it rolling ‘Cats!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Ready to Play: No doubt about it but this group was ready to go.  At the beginning of the season it seems that some of the older players, but with less game experience, were a little hesitant to be heard too much.  But this Saturday was different. You’re starting to see new players, along with this strong senior class, take a more active role with leadership and setting the tone for this team.  For the players on the 2017 roster, it’s becoming more and more “their” team and that is only going to lead to better results.

Delivering the pressure: The ‘Cats defensive front brought the heat early and it set the tone for the rest of the game. Whitworth did throw the ball 60 times so there were plenty of moments when Kolste had a clean pocket but he was uncomfortable from the start as Linfield was able to get hits on the Whitworth gun slinger and move him off his spots.

Linfield's @me_llamo_jake with the big 5 yard Pick 6 in the 3rd quarter vs Whitworth today. #Catdome pic.twitter.com/mgg4BddcFh

— Catdomealumni.com (@catdomealumni) October 1, 2017

Feeling the Rushing Attack: As the game moved along the ‘Cats offensive line started to wear on the Whitworth front seven and the ‘Cats rushing attack took control of the game. Linfield’s offensive line had a good day in the office with getting on bodies and creating space for the ‘Cats running back to churn out the yardage.  Saturday also produced the ‘Cats first 100 yard rusher in the season in Nnoli and I feel this aspect of the ‘Cats game will only grow over the next six games.

Blanket Coverage: Our defensive backs were nails on Saturday. They were on the hip of a very good group of receivers the whole game and racked up 9 pass break-ups and 3 picks in what turned out to be a coming out party for this unit. They played a big time game.

#37 Marquis Perrilliat had one of Linfield's 3 interceptions in the win for 'Cats.

Photo Courtsey of Brad Thompson: View Brad's Photos Here.

Hitting the Big Plays: The ‘Cats only connected on 10 passes but they also averaged 23.4 yard per pass. We have guys that can fly down the field and that big play element to compliment the rushing attack finally emerged against Whitworth.  Fowler hit on 4 passing plays of 20 yards or more (63, 22, 37, and 42) and the home run ball was critical in this win over Whitworth.

3rd and 4th down defense: Whitworth came in the game in converting on 3rd down 57.8% of the time and would be a huge down towards the outcome of this game. Well, between the ‘Cats physicality up front and tight coverage the ‘Cats held Whitworth to a 35.2% conversion rate.  To go along with this, Linfield also turned away Whitworth twice on 4th down including a huge red zone stop late in the first half.

The Bad

Kickoff Coverage:  I wouldn’t put this in the “bad” category but the “still needs to be sharpened up” group. The ‘Cats coverage on 5 out of the 7 kickoffs was pretty darn good but the ‘Cats still have some growing to do as Whitworth was able to leak out on back-to-back returns and give the Rats offense solid starting position at their own 40 yard line. I probably wouldn’t even write about this if not for the TD return by UMHB two weeks ago.

Penalties: I love the aggressive nature of our team so penalties are going to happen.  That is part of the life but giving Whitworth 6 first downs on the 12 penalties for 93 yards is too many.  ‘Cats need to tighten this up moving forward.

Red Zone Turnover: Nitpicking here as the red zone turnover worked out for the ‘Cats with Jake
Reimer getting the 4 yard pick six, but the ‘Cats can’t have fumbles in the red zone with our specialized personnel groups.  Ball security is always a top offensive priority but especially when you’re sniffing pay dirt.

The Ugly

Whitworth offensive starters in on last series. This is not an “ugly” but more of a head scratcher.  The Whitworth coaching staff decided to run out their offensive starters down 29 point with 2:25 left and I was left curious on why risk the franchise QB to further damage when the game was salted away.  On top of that, with a 2nd and goal with 23 seconds left the Rats even called a timeout.  That’s not against the rules but makes you say “hmmmmm” when you try to punch in a late TD with your ones against another team’s back-ups.  The result was one more hit for Kolste to take and one more fitting forced turnover caused by the ‘Cats defense.

Game highlights by Linfield Athletics: