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Make no mistake, Lindenwood is an MIAA team to its core. I, personally, wish we could march Abe and Talequaw down to the river and ship them south on a leaky boat, then beg Woody to come back home to the MIAA. Does any one doubt how much greater the league would be could that trade-off be accomplished? Since I still consider them part of the MIAA, I have been watching Woody all year. I could not believe they lost those games early in the season. It seemed that fundamentally something was missing early on for they never once looked that bad while still in the MIAA. Maybe it was because they were feeling just homeless and home-sick. Then something happened. It was during the shootout with McKendree. I fully expected yet another Elwood collapse to a vastly inferior team and yet, guess what? Something snapped. Something clicked. Cade Brister stepped up and when he did the entire team did too. From that time to this Lindenwood has been a different team; a confident team, an exciting team, an explosive team, a team that believes in themselves to the bone; a team that now expects to win every game.
Saturday. Better believe this is Woody's biggest game in school history, and not because it is a PO game, either. In the five or so times Lindenwood has played NW they have been humiliated each and every time. For a proud program this was devastating. Not even the beating by the FCS big dog, Eastern Washington, was as humiliating as that which the Bearcats dished out. Saturday. The clock strikes One. For Lindy, the hour of revenge has come. And the timing is perfect. Lindenwood is rising like a rocket. Northwest is falling like a box of rocks.
That beating the Lopers gave NW was a confidence crusher. That loss proved what many wearers of the Green and many throughout the MIAA already sensed--the team was a Paper Bearcat living on past glory. Some fools might have pretended that the Kearney loss was a fluke, an anomaly, and that the Bearcats were back on track over the next two weeks when they beat the two MIAA cellar-dwelling slugs, the "Byes", by a cumulative total of 135-9. But few were fooled. Over the past years, NW has slipped greatly; it has become just too static, too tame, too lame, too predictable, too unimaginative, too vulnerable. Such nothingness might have worked in the past when NW had 3-deep talent galore and could with rock-steady sameness win and win. This team I saw Saturday ain't that. The vaunted defense is very, very mediocre, by old NW standards. The offense is simply tedious, time-killing, numbing, and virtually non-existent; just boring stuff that puts even faithful fans to sleep in one quarter flat.
Game Prediction: When Cade Brister isn't throwing darts, he is running wild. When they fall behind early, no way can NW match the Lion's energy and talent to catch up. One of the scores below, within a point or two, will be the correct one Saturday:
a) Lindenwood 19
NW 0
b) Lindenwood 24
NW 3
c) Lindenwood 37
NW 6
BTW--Lindenwood's last game in the MIAA was also their best win in the MIAA. As a fit way of saying "Good-bye" to the league that treated them so rudely, the Little Lindy Lions upset a talented gang of Western thugs in the Jo. Thus, Saturday in the Ville, Lindenwood will aptly realize a two-game win streak against the MIAA.
PS--Mel, if you are reading this, good. But in all due respect, get off your old, soft ass and do that which you were born to do, i.e. COACH! Do not give me that standard, stale line about being "too old." You have 5-10 more good-to-great years left in you, and in your heart you know it; we all know it. That incredible football legend you built from the ground up, with your own hands, is on the verge of disintegrating right before your eyes. Mel, with your years of experience and knowledge, the Bearcats need you back! As the Greatest of all Bearcats, Mel, it is your duty!
Saturday. Better believe this is Woody's biggest game in school history, and not because it is a PO game, either. In the five or so times Lindenwood has played NW they have been humiliated each and every time. For a proud program this was devastating. Not even the beating by the FCS big dog, Eastern Washington, was as humiliating as that which the Bearcats dished out. Saturday. The clock strikes One. For Lindy, the hour of revenge has come. And the timing is perfect. Lindenwood is rising like a rocket. Northwest is falling like a box of rocks.
That beating the Lopers gave NW was a confidence crusher. That loss proved what many wearers of the Green and many throughout the MIAA already sensed--the team was a Paper Bearcat living on past glory. Some fools might have pretended that the Kearney loss was a fluke, an anomaly, and that the Bearcats were back on track over the next two weeks when they beat the two MIAA cellar-dwelling slugs, the "Byes", by a cumulative total of 135-9. But few were fooled. Over the past years, NW has slipped greatly; it has become just too static, too tame, too lame, too predictable, too unimaginative, too vulnerable. Such nothingness might have worked in the past when NW had 3-deep talent galore and could with rock-steady sameness win and win. This team I saw Saturday ain't that. The vaunted defense is very, very mediocre, by old NW standards. The offense is simply tedious, time-killing, numbing, and virtually non-existent; just boring stuff that puts even faithful fans to sleep in one quarter flat.
Game Prediction: When Cade Brister isn't throwing darts, he is running wild. When they fall behind early, no way can NW match the Lion's energy and talent to catch up. One of the scores below, within a point or two, will be the correct one Saturday:
a) Lindenwood 19
NW 0
b) Lindenwood 24
NW 3
c) Lindenwood 37
NW 6
BTW--Lindenwood's last game in the MIAA was also their best win in the MIAA. As a fit way of saying "Good-bye" to the league that treated them so rudely, the Little Lindy Lions upset a talented gang of Western thugs in the Jo. Thus, Saturday in the Ville, Lindenwood will aptly realize a two-game win streak against the MIAA.
PS--Mel, if you are reading this, good. But in all due respect, get off your old, soft ass and do that which you were born to do, i.e. COACH! Do not give me that standard, stale line about being "too old." You have 5-10 more good-to-great years left in you, and in your heart you know it; we all know it. That incredible football legend you built from the ground up, with your own hands, is on the verge of disintegrating right before your eyes. Mel, with your years of experience and knowledge, the Bearcats need you back! As the Greatest of all Bearcats, Mel, it is your duty!
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