2 years ago, Bloomsburg and California (PA) met in the Super Regional 1 finals. Unfortunately, bad officiating and a costly end of game fumble by then QB Dan LaTorre cost the Huskies the game and ultimately a spot in the Final 4. Suffice to say, the California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans are not one of my favorite teams in college football. Now the playoff rematch is in the 1st round of the 2010 playoffs coming up in just a few short hours. It will be played on campus in California, PA, which just to make things confusing, is located in Washington County. As a reference, Washington County is the southwest neighbor of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located.
Despite being trounced by Mercyhurst last week, I did not expect Bloomsburg to drop all the way to the 6th seed in Super Regional 1, especially seeing as they were for sure the #1 seed had they won that game. But that is the reality of a college football playoff where there are so few games to go by.
During last week's PSAC title game against Mercyhurst, Bloomsburg suffered quite a few set backs. They lost their leading wide receiver to a broken collarbone. The leading RB in the D2 nation, Franklyn Quiteh, is questionable with a knee injury he suffered in that very same game. Those are two key parts to an offense that thrives on running the ball. Bloomsburg QB Pat Carey's arm seemed to be getting fatigued at the end of the game last week as he needed to throw a lot to catch up to Mercyhurst without the benefit of Quiteh in the backfield. The total number of passes Carey threw in that game was in the 30s. So, yeah, running the ball is integral to the success of Bloomsburg. Carey is an efficient QB, but he does not have the ability to win games throwing lots of passes. A problem with this: Cal (PA) boasts one of the best running defenses in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference this season (yes, 2 teams from the same conference can play each other in the 1st round here).
While Bloomsburg is normally very solid defensively as well, they got torched last week by Mercyhurst for 56 points. Seriously, the Redskins looked competent next to the shitshow Bloomsburg put on last week. The Huskies thrive on the turnover, and that is something they were unable to generate against Mercyhurst. I am afraid that they will need to force some turnovers against the Vulcans in this game if they want to have a chance at winning it, as frankly, I don't see the offense running up and down the field like they did 2 weeks ago against Kutztown.
Guys to look for on the Cal side of the ball: QB Josh Portis is coming off a career high 5 TD game against Cheyney (although truth be told, most middle school football teams are capable of that very same feat) and WR Chedrick Cherry has played very well as of late.
If the series history between these 2 teams indicate anything, this one is going to be a good one. This will be the 6th meeting in the last 5 years for California (PA) and Bloomsburg, including the playoff game in 2008, with 4 of the last 5 games being decided by single digits. While I won't go on the record with any predictions, I will tell you that I will be posting constant updates on this game (and random score updates of the other D2 playoff games) at Keith's Sports Journal, whether it be in the open thread or in the live blog should he start it early. A webcast of the game will be available here, although I am not sure if this will be free or PPV. If it is PPV and more than $10, I will listen to the free Bloomsburg radio stream. The winner of this game will travel to Erie, PA next Saturday to take on the #2 seeded Mercyhurst Lakers. GO HUSKIES!!!
(Friendly reminder: On Sunday night, the URL of this blog is changing to http://comeback-complete.blogspot.com. Prepare your bookmarks.)
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