Half Way Point

First of all, thanks to everyone who asked about last week’s missing post. Truth is, I wrote three of them and didn’t like any of ‘em. Since I’m not forced by anyone other than myself to post by a deadline, I just let it roll rather than post something lousy.

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The Surge had a big game this weekend, against probably our toughest regular season opponent, the Central Cal War Angels. We’d never faced them until 2013, when they rather rudely bounced us out of the playoffs (they weren’t really rude about it, they just beat our butts). We got a measure of revenge last year, but they were tough, physical games. This year, they’d outscored their opponents 190-6 in going 3-0. OK, so they hadn’t played anyone, but still…..On film they looked like they added some athletes on defense in particular, and they were more diverse on offense than in the past.

It was no real surprise to me that we only led 21-19 at half. Kudos to their DC, Jeff King for showing us something we absolutely hadn’t prepared for on defense and making our OL meetings between series actually mean something. They’ve got a couple of very skilled DL as well….#50 Aspen Marshall and #55 Jeanette Jimenez are both excellent players, and give us fits each time we play. Moving #45 LaStar Brown over to LB full time also didn’t so us any favors.

Having said all that, we were able to go on a 35-7 run in the second half to put things away. Unfortunately, the War Angels suffered a couple of injuries on offense that definitely altered their plans – I hope both players are doing well. But this win was the first of the season that was truly satisfying. Games like this, especially in the first half, are the types of games we signed up to play.

I wish I could say the same about our next couple of games, but I’m afraid they won’t be that way. I’m actually wondering if one or either of them will even happen. And this isn’t a case of wanting to simply dismiss an opponent, but rather a case of just stating how different the levels of competition are in the women’s game. It’s just a fact.

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It appears that the Midwest area of the American Conference is pretty much settled. The Dallas Elite, after beating up on Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, followed by KC beating St. Louis last week, looks to be the clear favorite there. It certainly simplifies our scouting a bit.

Seattle is still definitely the one to keep an eye on in the Northwest. They’re being bullies up there!

In the East, as most of you know, DC beat Boston two weeks ago, in Boston. I’ll be looking forward to the rematch in DC to see if there is a New World Order now or if it was just a hiccup for Boston.

However, in the East, I firmly believe it will be Chicago’s year. Although I do think they lost a bit at QB with retirement, I also believe that Coach Konecki is building his offense around his strengths. I actually haven’t watched any of their film yet, but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t using Cassey Brick the same way he used JJ Javelet in 2013. Maybe I can watch some of their stuff over the next couple of weeks.

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I’ve been watching a lot of stuff from Ohio State. I’m a big fan of Urban Meyer’s…been stealing his stuff ever since he was at Bowling Green! I just found out that on my men’s team I’ll have a different backup QB than who I thought I was going to have. I’m excited about that, as there is a lot of stuff I wanted to do in the run game that my starter doesn’t really care for. The new backup will also be a starting WR, so there are some definite wildcat possibilities now, along with a package from our normal offense that I can install. It’s nice to have flexibility in your system so that you can simply switch your playcall mix instead of changing your entire offense. Plus, now I won’t have someone sitting the bench complaining about playing time. One less distraction…..

One other new thing for me with the Bears is going into a season knowing only one of my OL. All the other guys, I’d never even heard their names before! They’ve all played collegiately, so at least I know they’ve been somewhat coached up, and most likely have at least a passing familiarity with the things I want to run, but it is just odd to go into practice not really knowing what they do best.

OK, that’s it for now…..