Central Michigan Game 9/6 @ 7:00 pm

So, who is Central Michigan?

They have been an improving program over the last 6 years. Here are their unadjusted RPI ranks from 2007 on:

2007 208
2008 120
2009 49
2010 57
2011 50
2012 38

They play in the Mid-American Conference. They are one of those teams that ordinarily does more for your strength of schedule than their URPI rank would indicate. (This typically is true of the top teams from relatively weak conferences.) Here is how they ranked over this period in terms of RPI contribution to opponents' strengths of schedule:

2007 197
2008 66
2009 17
2010 23
2011 24
2012 38

To add to the RPI information, my RPI work suggests that the RPI overrates CM.

Last year, they were the Mid-American Conference champions. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Michigan 2-1. (Remember, it was Michigan that ousted the Pilots.)

Thus through last year, Central Michigan looked like a program definitely on the rise and a good team to play from an NCAA Tournament seeding/at large selection perspective.

But, is there any new information that might indicate otherwise? Very possibly. Last December, their coach left to take over as head coach at Cincinnati. He had been at Central Michigan for four years (2009-2012), two as an assistant and the last two as head coach. I'm guessing he was a significant part of the rise of the CM program. And, according to AllWhiteKit's Chris Henderson, they have lost eight of last year's starting players. He picks them to finish 6th in their conference.

This year, they are 0-2-1. The have losses to West Virginia 4-0 (which tied Penn State) and Pittsburgh 1-0 (which has a so-so record). They tied Detroit 1-1 (Detroit being better than you might think with a 2-1 loss to Cal and a 1-0 win over San Francisco).

So, to me, Central Michigan is going to be an unknown this year. Quite good results over the last few years, but recent events suggest they may not be as strong as those results ordinarily would indicate.

Go Pilots! I'm on the other side of the world until next weekend, so look forward to reading lucid and insightful reports from you all. I know that you can rise to the challenge!

Pouring rain in Portland at the moment (at least at my house). The current forecast is for a 20% chance of showers by game time. Rain or shine, I am looking forward to the game, hoping to catch at least some of the Wake-Washington game too.

Someone here pointed out that an earlier match was not noted in the Oregonian's "Events" list on the second page of the sports section.  Neither tonight's CMU match nor Sunday's v. Wake Forest are included in the paper today (the UW Merlo matches are missing as well).  I don't think the men's games last week were included either.  Who is dropping the ball here?  Has the UP athletic department not given the Oregonian the schedule?

I'm an old dedicated home delivery daily newspaper reader, but the Oregonian is making it easy for me to quit.

jc wrote:Someone here pointed out that an earlier match was not noted in the Oregonian's "Events" list on the second page of the sports section.  Neither tonight's CMU match nor Sunday's v. Wake Forest are included in the paper today (the UW Merlo matches are missing as well).  I don't think the men's games last week were included either.  Who is dropping the ball here?  Has the UP athletic department not given the Oregonian the schedule?

Hmm, interesting you would point the questioning finger at the UP Athletic Department…..

Took me a while, but I had a brief online chat with an Oregonian staffer a bit ago, and was told, “If the UP games were on TV or radio, they would be listed.  Due to space limitations, especially on Friday, we generally list only the events that are on TV or radio……but we do try to list all UP sporting events for the coming week in our Sunday sports section in The Week Ahead…..space permitting”

When asked why there was no mention of UP sports in last Sunday’s Week Ahead (a quick check revealed that UO football, OSU football, PSU football, Hillsboro Hops, Portland Timbers, and Portland Meadows were listed) she wrote, “Space and priorities, I guess….you’ll notice no colleges sports except football are listed.”

She had a good online laugh (emoticon) when I mentioned that some wonder if the UP SID is providing the Oregonian with enough information, “We receive tweets, emails, and texts from (UP) all the time….so we know what’s going on there.”

I am in no way defending the Oregonian or any other news outlet for their lack of UP coverage…..but the number of college athletics events involving Oregon and Southwest Washington schools this weekend is probably pretty large. Just involving UP there are men’s and women’s soccer games, men’s and women’s X-C meets, and a UP volleyball tournament in the Chiles Center.  I suggest that listing all college athletic activities in the Events section is unrealistic.

Hope to see you at tonight’s game…..I’m sure there will be a good crowd in spite of the weather and lack of Oregonian coverage.

Good win for Portland 1-0 though they outplayed CMU most of the game. Boon made the difference in the final ten minutes.

I could not go to the game tonight so I watched the stream. Good quality picture and very little buffering. We definitely have the best web feed of any school we have played. HOWEVER...the commentating continues to be horrid. Angela was totally out of it, even asking the clueless guy to repeat things. When there were subs going in and out they did not name the players consistently. They chatted about everything but the playing on the field. PLEASE FIND REAL COMMENTATORS!

The Oregonian manages to list High School games and there are way more high schools than colleges in Oregon.

It was a good win, but the inability to finish was frustrating. I am sure it was frustrating to the team as well. It was nice to see Sara Bindle on the field in the 2nd half, she has looked very good in practice lately.

There was a moment of silence before the game for a CMU player who died recently. Here is a link to an article about her and the accident: CMU player

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:So, who is Central Michigan?

UPSF.....excellent preview; thanks, it gave me a greater appreciation for tonight's game, and an appreciation for the CMU team.

Learning about the death and serious injury of the two Central Michigan players as we did before the game, it almost made me root for CMU to at least get a tie tonight, but fortunately it was a win for UP instead.

It was about as dominating as it gets for a 1-0 result, and sandwiched as it was between the huge effort at Stanford and the anticipation of Wake Forest, it was probably a better performance than we should have expected….despite the lack of finishing by the Pilots.

In a month’s time we’ll look back and say, “Oh yea, we played Central Michigan,” but it could have been, “Oh man, we let down after Stanford lost to Central Michigan….at home.”  

I’ll leave it to UPSF to figure out all the RPI ramifications, but IMO the win against Central Michigan could be another key onramp in the Pilots road to the postseason.

Did anyone else try the pulled pork at the new dub bus? It was pretty good. There were two choices for the kind of BBQ sauce available to put on your pork - North Carolina or Tarheel. The people working in the bus were oblivious to the irony when I mentioned it to them.

A_Fan wrote:Did anyone else try the pulled pork at the new dub bus?  It was pretty good.  There were two choices for the kind of BBQ sauce available to put on your pork - North Carolina or Tarheel.  The people working in the bus were oblivious to the irony when I mentioned it to them.

Did the two choices come out of the same bottle?

And were husky fans lined up in front of their food truck?

The sauces were in two large metal tubs, one was a lighter color sauce than the other.  Neither was Carolina Blue.

Did anyone find the fabulous story on the game in the Oregonian? If you blinked, you probably missed it.

I noticed the lack of coverage yesterday, too...  too bad.  

I would encourage everyone to let the Oregonian know about your disappointment in the lack of coverage, every time you notice it...  maybe the squeaky wheel will get some grease.  Silence just perpetuates their priorities!

jbeseda@oregonian.com
sprince@oregonian.com (Sports Editor)

PilotNut wrote:I noticed the lack of coverage yesterday, too...  too bad.  

I would encourage everyone to let the Oregonian know about your disappointment in the lack of coverage, every time you notice it...  maybe the squeaky wheel will get some grease.  Silence just perpetuates their priorities!

jbeseda@oregonian.com
sprince@oregonian.com (Sports Editor)

Done.

To me from Seth Prince of the Oregonian:

We plan to cover this afternoon's game.

Dan No Yell wrote:To me from Seth Prince of the Oregonian:

We plan to cover this afternoon's game.

Too late for me. We cancelled our home subscription last week. I can get as much Sports coverage of Pilot games with Street Roots, and my vendor will give me oral opinions on the matches.

With three day a week delivery coming up, it's just too little, too late.

Dan No Yell wrote:To me from Seth Prince of the Oregonian:

We plan to cover this afternoon's game.

Here in Vancouver, USA, we actually get pretty good coverage of Pilots sports.  The Columbian generally previews the women's home games, but doesn't write much about the results except to give the score.

From today's paper:

Pilots set to host Wake Forest today: The Nike Invitational women’s soccer event continues today at Merlo Field when the 15th-rankde Portland Pilots (3-0-1) face seventh-ranked Wake Forest (4-0-0) at 2:30p.m.

This the second game of a doubleheader as Washington (1-4-1) kicks off first against Central Michigan (0-3-1) at noon.

Ellen Parker scored the game-winner of an assist from Washougal grad Ellie Boon in the second half for the Pilots as they beat Central Michigan 1-0 on Friday night.  Wake Forest opened the Invite with a 1-0 win over Washington on Friday afternoon.

Yea, I know, The Columbian apparently added exhibition game results to each teams overall record, but at least there's coverage.

good to know. the 7-11 down the street sells 'em. maybe my home delivery guy does too.

A_Fan wrote:Did anyone else try the pulled pork at the new dub bus?

I too was curious about this Dub wagon, dubbed the Grub Dub, and started asking around, but just before I started to write something about it, KGW beat me to it......

http://www.kgw.com/news/business/RV-show-features-Ore-entrepreneurs-with-small-idea-223054101.html

Dub Bus is run by Bon Appetit, the on campus food service.

On sunday the sauces were Tarheel and Bourbon Molasses.
We tried both.
Tarheel was extremely sweet, and not at all vinegary. The color was not pleasant, a greenish yellow.
The bourbon molasses was a typical tomato based sauce, mildly sweet, mildly hot, not too bad.
The work study employees no nothing about their product.

They are clueless naming the cart and a sauce after UP rivals.
The only reason for eating there is because the hot dogs tend to be not quite warm.

Dan No Yell wrote:Dub Bus is run by Bon Appetit, the on campus food service.

........They are clueless naming the cart and a sauce after UP rivals.

Ha-ha, I think we should cut them a little slack....the cart is made by Dub Box USA, and I don't think there was any doubt from the Purple & White color, Portland Pilots emblazoned on each side, and the trademarked "P" on each side that it was not a rival cart.

As for the sauce....when I lived on North Carolina and tailgated with the "Dukies," they seemed to have no problem distinguishing Tar Heel Barbeque Sauce from their rival school....after all, if they were from North Carolina, they were Tar Heels.....of course a lot of them were from New York, but I'm not going to get in the debate about salsa that's, "Made in New York City?"

......oh, I forgot to mention, the Dub in Dub Box USA comes from the VW vans they convert to RV/Food Cart use....clever.  

I want some of those Hokie turkey legs.