RAWRcap: Ohio State

Well, that was fun. Right? Wrong.

So we stumble forward with some new knowledge.

Boo Jackson + Phil Bates =/= Theo Scott

LaVon Brazill - Taylor Price = Tough Coverage

There are some positives to take out of the weekend. Our defense only allowed 158 yards on 41 carries. That's a lot of yardage, but only 3.9 yards a pop, well below OSU's average for the year. The offense is clearly going to struggle to put up points, but after three weeks the defense has some metal in its spine after all.

Ohio State has put the wood to three teams so far this year, and we won't be the last, but we stood tough, showed our teeth, and looked good doing it. A sad day indeed, but we will march on for Old Ohio, that's all we can do.

P.S. - He who played Rufus shouldn't have been removed from his role, he should be given a medal. That was a mauling Brutus will never forget.

Updates: In Which I Hypothesize Serial Killings

Pardon our rust while we yawn and stretch out after our hiatus. You see, RAWRCATZ!, if anything, enjoy a good nap. While slipping into a summer long coma was not in the cards, you'll forgive us if we take a little bit to get back into the face-clawing.

So, news of note since we've been AWOL:

- Taylor Price was drafted 90th overall by the New England Patriots after what is the culmination of one of the most decorated RAWRCATZ! careers of all time. He finishes 1st all time in receptions, 2nd in yards and 2nd in touchdowns. He'll probably displace Randy Moss as the go to guy in an offense that is full of them. By week 10 they'll be calling him "Touchdown Taylor Price" up in Beantown.


He'll look good in Foxborough, but not as good as he did rocking the dead sexy Green and White of his yesteryear.

- The mighty RAWRCATZ! basketball team won not only the MAC tournament title, but then eviscerated #3 seed Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Nobody gave the hardcourt RAWRCATZ! much of a chance, but a pregame speech by none other than Frank Solich (we presume) spurred our claw-toed brethren to victory over the HoLOLyas.

- However, with his spate of legal trouble we are not surprised that Armon Bassett not only declared, but stayed in the draft, despite the fact that Chad Ford had him rated as the 93rd best prospect in the draft. Lesson, oh mighty RAWRCATZ! - Don't punch bouncers in the face. A) They are paid to hit back B) You know someone is going to catch it on their cellphone C) RAWRCATZ! are better than this. We prefer to think that Mr. Bassett was tainted by his time spent at Indiana, and that the more distance he gains from the incident, the better off he will become.

- Sticking with the theme of bummers. Melvin Payne was suspended from the team in early June for reportedly breaking into a house and getting himself all cut up on a broken door. We wish to hold true to the old adage that all are innocent until proven guilty, and will reserve judgment until everything unfolds.


- Hey, let's end on a happy note, shall we? The Sporting News has named LaVon Brazill (the ball of dynamite seen above) to its 3rd team All-America. This is great news because you want to see RAWRCATZ! in these types of scenarios, and now I won't have to rip Phil Steele's heart out (2nd team AA from him) and send it to press release style to reporters like the Zodiac killer.

I know what you're wondering, and yes, I'm far too young to have actually been the Zodiac killer. Geesh, ye have little faith. Now shut up and get in the basement.

I Keep Bumping Into Days, and Waiting For Them to End.

Grad school, amongst other things, has a propensity for sticking daggers through fun. It lingers around corners and screams obscenities at your grandmother. It is not pleasant. If you are thinking of grad school, especially in English lit, I would dissuade you. Mostly because I hate competition, but also because it is a bitch-mother. When I started this blog back midway through last football season I had a plan that started with blogger and ended with world domination. Conquering the blogosphere in the name of RAWRCATZ! would be not only incredibly easy, but the apex of my life. I'm fairly sure that I had dreams where Frank Solich came to me and yelled, not because he was mad, but because he is one loud dude. He told me that my digital endeavor was an honorable one, and that I would one day establish myself in the pantheon of RAWRCATZian heroes. I'm also fairly sure that I was happy.

But then the pressures of my scholastic life intervened. As anyone who has typed in our web address hoping for an in depth look at our incredible MAC tourney run, and the culmination of our mighty RAWRCATZ! hoops force in their drubbing of Georgetown in the NCAA tourney has noticed, we were ominously silent. Fear not, your intrepid blogger took great joy in these moments. But he also had term papers to write, professors to coddle, and a pantheon of literature to overcome. Literature, not fat people or mother-in-laws (oddly enough), is the bane of all existence. And in the long run the weights of academia and the reality that I am not worthy to carry the e-Banner of Athens, forced me to reconsider the future of the site. And the future, it seems, has reached the fate of so many others in Blogfrica, it has come time to say goodbye.

I hope that all the RAWRCATZ! RAWRing across the countryside found a brief home at RAWRCATZRAWR! I know that exposing DeKalb as the post apocalyptic shitpit that it is, and watching Theo Scott make murder of MAC defenses has been the highlight of my e-Life, and will shine radiantly in my memories. And you can be damned sure that when I am filling out apps for my PhD that RAWRCATZRAWR! will be at the top of my list of accomplishments. No, don't look at my thesis, check out this blog I had. Yeah, I knew you'd let me in. It was only a matter of time.

But, my greatest hope is that King Solich would be proud. If he stopped by, on one of those sleepless nights where he is plotting the demise of yet another tasty MAC morsel, if he perused these pages, that he would be entertained. I know he wouldn't smile... Frank never smiles. But I hope that he would look upon the pages contained within and think, just for a second, that he doesn't want to kill me with that steely eyed glare of his. You know, the one that kills nations and Turner Gill's career with a single look. And though I will miss him most of all, I will also miss RAWRjuiceboxRAWR's immaculate photoshoppery (see above). I will miss our legion (read 3) of readers who read these rants, sent their emails, followed us on Twitter, and had words of encouragement. And I will miss having a place where RAWRCATZ! are in a perpetual state of RAWRing. Never have we RAWRed as proudly as we have this season, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have shared in the revelry with you.

So it is with a somber heart, and a hearty sigh, that I say farewell. Wherever you may roam, make sure you are RAWRing!

-RAWR CATZ

Post Season RAWRCATZ Brou-ha-ha

Some end of the season loveliness that we missed.

Congrats to the All-MAC RAWRCATZ!

First team:
Placekicker: Fort Knox Money Matt Weller
OLB: Lee Renfro
Kickoff Returner: Chris Garrett

Second Team:
WR: Taylor Price
WR: LaVon Brazill
ILB: Noah Keller
DB: Thad Turner
Punt Returner LaVon Brazill

Third Team:
OL: Joe Flading
OL: Chris Rogers
DL: Ernie Hodge
DB: Gerald Moore

In addition to these some RAWRCATZ! received some national attention:

Freshman All-American 2nd team - Matt Weller (collegefootballnews.com)
Freshman All-American 3rd team - Matt Weller (Phil Steele)
All-American 2nd Team Punt Returner - LaVon Brazill (Sporting News)
Freshman All-American - Gerald Moore (Sporting News)
Honorable Mention All-American - Noah Keller (Sports Illustrated)

And finally, which should come as no shock to anyone, in the world, ever:
Frank Solich - MAC Coach of the Year (Phil Steele)

This Phil Steele guy obviously knows who wears the pants in these parts.

Once again, congrats to all of the RAWRCATZ! who won awards after a fine season. Although, honestly, Noah Keller has 138 tackles and only gets an honorable mention? What's a RAWRCAT gotta do to get some love?

RAWRCATZ RAWRcap: Marshall

Stabbed in the back by the daggers of Loki we stumble home like a ragged hoard of punch-drunk vagrants. We, the destined RAWRCATZ! fall prey to the mightiest of pranksters, and find that magical first bowl win eludes us once more. The theory now becomes: The first bowl victory is the toughest, but after the first they come whenever called. USC got their 32nd bowl victory yesterday. I figure we can match that in the next 35 years. A legacy is hard to build, but once you lay that first layer of Legos the rest comes easy.

Notes:

The offense has looked brilliant in spots all year, but this sort of output was unforeseen. 12 yards rushing? Marshall's defense looked fast and effortless for much of the night. Kudos to an outgoing coaching staff for putting in the time to stifle the might RAWRCATZIAN attack.

Penalties make me want to take a nail gun to my sternum. Just brutal.

Now we turn to the recruiting trail where hopefully this year's success will produce the next batch of MAC East champion RAWRCATZ!

Chances of Oregon not beating OSU by more than Marshall beat us? Slim. We'll still be the best team in all of Ohio.

And now, to stop the bleeding - A musical interlude:

Big Business - Ayes Have It

Goddammit, it's not how we planned it.

RAWRCATZ RAWRcap: Temple

And in the end, there were the RAWRCATZ! standing steadfast against the breeze. The owl, now slain, lay flaccid, a carcass and nothing more.

Yeah, we get deep here. RAWRCATZ! can run however they want.

So the game became a laugher. Theo Scott played out of his mind, and the stingy RAWRCATZ! defense stood up to all the failing and falling owls could muster. If you had turned in a script about a football movie and this was the climax I would have returned it because there was no drama. If you had said, "Hey RAWRCATZRAWR! Solich and co. are going to dirty work Temple." I would have replied, "I want your sex," and shimmied to the left. We are RAWRCATZ! after all. And from time to time, we like to get down.

Some notes:

Theo Scott impresses us at RAWRCATZRAWR! more and more every week. Normally he is competent, accurate, and doesn't do enough stupid things to let the big plays work their magic. This week he WAS the big play. I don't if this can be said enough. He was dynamite. And by dynamite I mean, "BOOM THEO'D!"

Injuries. There were a truckload of them. None more serious than the status of LaVon Brazill and Theo Scott. Without those two the Chips present a much more formidable foe than before. The key will be getting these kids healthy before Saturday.

Matt Weller: RAWRCATZRAWR! has been singing his praises since day one, but he had an off game versus the Owls. We know he'll be called upon versus Central Michigan, he needs to bring that Fort Knox Money stylings that we've grown to expect. But don't worry, we're still fans.

Onward to Detroit RAWRCATZ! The jewel of the Midwest awaits your sultry snarl and your punishing claws of victory.

RAWRCATZ RAWRcap: NIU Huskies

So that was fun wasn't it? One more game to go, and let's face it, Temple isn't going to know what hit them. So a quick recap is in order.

So we knew Chandler Harnish could through the ball. And he did, right to Julian Posey. Harnish gave him the ammunition, but Posey's the one who fired the shots. A spectacular return for a TD that eventually sealed the deal on what was a close and hard fought game.

Theo Scott put together what could be the best game of his career. He was consistent and accurate, which is all we are expecting of him. The three TD passes don't come as a shock, but are simply an added bonus.

Matt Weller - a.k.a. Fort Knox Money was sound again. With the exception of the Cal Poly game this kid has been prolific. And we get him for 3 more years. That's like angels singing in the ears of Solich. Then again, they do that often.

Finally, RAWRCATZ! of the game - LaVon Brazill. The man with the exotic name comes up swinging and doesn't back down. Final statline: 1 rush for 11 yards. 5 rec. for 55 yards and 2 scores. 1/1 passing for 6 yards and a 91 yard punt return for a RAWRCATZ! TOUCHDOWN. Rumor has it that Frank Solich's words of advice were simply for LaVon to "get some." And some was gotten.

So with that we are 8-3, 6-1 and one game away from the MAC East title, and a Detroit showdown with CMU. If you think, for one second, that Frank isn't going to have this team firing on all cylinders for the Owls, then you'd be mistaken. And by mistaken, I mean dead. Frank knows where you live. He knows where everyone lives.

So before we turn our attention to Temple, who shall get their just deserts, we've got one last piece for Husky Hate Week '09. This one comes to you straight from gchat.

Brodie - Did you hear that Joe Novak read Bo Schembechler's first book, stole everything in it, and then sat at NIU for the rest of his life?
Rawr Catz - No, I didn't hear that.
Brodie - True story.
Rawr Catz - Well now Bo is banging Natalie Wood in the afterlife and Joe Novak is wondering how much mansauce he can dump in Jerry Kill's pedostache.
Brodie - Natalie Wood and Bea Arthur. Bea Arthur... yum.

Yeah, this just got personal.

RAWRCATZ RAWRCAP: Buffalo

It was a tale of two teams. Or, two RAWRCATZ! tails. We came out RAWRing, and looked to start the game off with a bang, but a Theo Scott fumble in the endzone stifled that dream. Still, we persevered and came back home to the lovely Athens with the victory.

We still control our own destiny. We still have a chance at RAWRCATZ! glory, and we still lead the charge with our heads high. And didn't Frank Solich look terrifying. Did you see the way the refs leaned away from him while he spit vitriol? Frank commands the loyalty of RAWRCATZ! nation, and we are menacing.

Key performers:

Theo Scott - Yes, he fumbled the ball into the endzone, and yes he threw a pick. But he also put up 22/28 for 221. He was steady and in control.

LaVon Brazill - When the man comes around, he scorches earth. Hopefully Brazill can keep this momentum up for the rest of the season and carry it through to 2010. Final stat line 10 receptions for 99 yards and a 48 yard TD pass.

Matt Weller - Like I said, this kid is Fort Knox Money. He proved it once again.

Clearly Frank's Mortal Kombat victory from earlier propelled us to new heights. We took the opening drive and stuffed it down their throats. Sure, it was upended, but the tide was set for the night as the RAWRCATZ! powered through BuffaLOLo all game.

Last night was a night where we stood tall on national television. We can be proud, and hopefully keep this going because the next two will be tough. Thankfully we now have almost 2 weeks to prepare for a Huskies team that will look to soil the glorious and sanctified lawn of Peden Stadium.

But until then we should savor this triumph, for it brings us one step closer to our goal of MAC champions.

Stand up and Cheer, for we are the RAWRCATZ!