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Litaker's Fan Blog: Week 9 - This Week's Prize: #1 Seed

This Week's Prize -  #1 Seed
by Steve Litaker

Sure, there’s still a month left in the season after this weeks games, but the winner of the Turfcats–Swashbucklers game will more than likely carry the #1 seed into the SIFL playoffs.  Both teams go into this game with only one loss and there’s a good chance the winner will end the regular season with only one.

The first meeting between the T-Cats and `Bucs was played in Austin with the Turfcats breaking the Swashbucklers' 20 game win streak by defeating them 56-53.  Austin would love nothing more than to also break the `Bucs home win streak, but it won’t come easy. The Swashbucklers have a reputation of dominating opponents at home and draw a sizeable crowd in the Lake Charles Civic Center.

After losing their first game of the season the Turfcats have gone on to winning their last five in a row with improvement in all aspects of the game.  QB Deron Ellis has thrown five interceptions all season, four in the first game and only one in the last five games. Ellis also leads the league in rushing with 41.7 YPG.

What happened to the Swashbucklers in their last game? Have they slipped or did the Acadiana Mudbugs figure them out defensively? The `Bucs came into the league as the team to chase, now nine weeks into the season there’s some film to watch and design game plans around.  Yeah, Louisiana won the game 27-21 but needed some luck to bring the “W” back home. They only averaged 3.1 yards per offensive play for a total of 136 net yards, 22 rushing.

The Mudbugs had ten more offensive plays than the `Bucs, fewer penalties (5 versus 9 for the `Bucs), and time of possession went to Acadiana by ten minutes.  Louisiana needed a 4th down stop with under a minute to play to seal the victory.  The Swashbucklers only had the ball for just under four minutes of the 4th quarter and no score.  There were only 7 points scored in the entire second half!  The `Bucs were only 2 of 9 on 3rd down and 0-1 on 4th down.  They did score on 4 out of 5 Red Zone possessions though. Louisiana missed three field goals and one PAT. Once again I have to ask myself, did the Swashbucklers just have an off day or is the Mudbugs defense really that good?

This Monday's game could come down to sacks and turnovers.  While both the Turfcats and Swashbucklers are near the top of most stat categories, the 'Bucs dominate these two. Louisiana has given up only 3 sacks while burying the opposing QB’s 18 times for an astounding +15. John Paul "Fluffy" Jones has 7 himself! While the Turfcats have given up 9 sacks and got 15 for a plus 6.  In the turnover category the T-cats are a +5 while the 'Bucs are a +11. Louisiana has 18 interceptions of the year!

Austin knows how to score as they lead the league with a 52.2 per game average, and Darrick Wallace always lights it up on special teams (he had 212 All-Purpose yards last week).  The T-Cats also struggle on kick coverage themselves as one of the Crunch players turned in a 174 All-Purpose yardage game with 123 of them on returns. Granted, they did get 12 attempts on returns while the T-cats only got 4.

Sure, the team with the most points wins, but I don’t think the win will be credited to a powerful offense for either team. This game will probably be won on the defensive side of the ball and most importantly the line play. The unheralded guys in the trenches beating their helmets against each other all night will determine the sacks and turnovers that decide the game.

Being a road game usually means being glued to the Twitter updates and spending the night in nervous anticipation. Not this week! All Swashbuckler games have a live feed over the net and it’s free. It'll be linked up here on Turfcats.com on Monday night.

I know what I’ll be doing Monday night, how about YOU?

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