The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Hellisan]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Wow, that's fascinating, thanks for the details. It's really cool to see your daughter improve like that, which is cool. I'm really glad you are focusing on a good coaching situation - it is probably the single most important thing. My daughter plays for the somewhat-famous Crossfire club up here in the Seattle area. She's on the U15 Select A team, which is theoretically a step down from RCL or ECNL. However, when we've played RCL teams, we've always won (to their embarassment) and the club won't let us play the premier teams from the same age group (I can't remember if we've played ECNL teams or not). This team is fantastic. When they were 12 we had parents of 16 year old boys come and watch and say "they play better than our teams do". We generally control 80-90% of the possession each game, never allow more than 1 goal, and mostly are fun to watch. My daughter went straight from recreational soccer right to this team, so she was out of her depth in year 1, but the coaches learned that she played much more confidently out of the back than she did at wing/FW. So now that's she's settled into a CDM/CB hybrid role (they run a sort of strange 3-5-2/4-4-2 hybrid) she's consistently starting and playing much more confidently. The coach is a 60+ year old woman with multiple sclerosis and her husband. She played college soccer but can barely move now. But this is her 3rd select team that she's taken from age ~8 through 18 (and probably her last). She's such a good coach and the girls are so loyal to her. It's a fantastic situation to land in. None of the families want to take the step to premier because the coach and team are so good and the extra cost, pressure, and time commitment don't really seem worth it.

That's absolutely crazy, man. They're amazing and probably SHOULD move up a level as a unit, lol. 80% to 90%? Do you have to console opponents and their parents after the match? WOW. We've had the occasional game like that over the year, usually early in a tournament, but not often.

Their coach sounds like an amazing teacher if she can teach them to play like that in her condition. Happy for your daughter to land in such a great situation. On the one hand running a system like that sounds so crazy, but on the other, little girls are VERY smart and if they're really into the game, you can teach them virtually anything. I think that may be where my daughter's team falls short right now and why a lot of them might get cut is, they don't take it super serious. The new coach, who doesn't let them cuss or even say the "clean" variants of cuss words or they have to run laps, was talking to them about requirements for team captain and I think what he doesn't know is none of them really want it. My daughter is probably the best candidate but she's the type to pick a "bestie" on the team and hibernate, having a lot less contact with the other girls. On the pitch she's the ringleader of the back 5 and very much in command, but you really can't give out a captainship to a player like that unless you have no better options. As for your daughter's team, I hope you'll give some updates here about their exploits over the coming years.

My daughter had an interesting weekend in Davis, she was asked to play with their 09 team because they didn't have enough players, so, being an October 30 2010 kid that's a decent challenge. She started the first game but they took her out I don't know, maybe 25 minutes in because they were getting everybody in and out with unlimited subs, then she never came off the field again until getting injured late in the last game of the weekend. She played great, made so many line-breaking passes and played lockdown D, but in that last game, a player that didn't look too spectacular early on (from PNW SC actually) just wore all of them down with her strength and pace and my daughter somehow landed on her shoulder and neck trying to keep her from scoring after she ran through another couple of their 09 girls. And she didn't succeed, so she got hurt physically and in pride at the same time, lol. She's alright, but what a humbling game. It got ugly after that as they scored 3 times late on us.

[studbucket]

Despite my daughter's team talent, they do tend to screw it up in cup finals. They'll beat a team 6-0 in group play then lose 1-0 in the final because they get all weird and in their head. Our best player is terrible at penalties because she missed one in a cup final 3 years ago.

That's one of the biggest areas for them to grow. They should be in a different league, but part of the downside of being part of a big club like Crossfire is the politics, so we're stuck with where they allow us to go.

Getting girls at your daughter's age to be actual leaders/captains is so hard. I coach middle school girls basketball and we did captains at 7th grade. It was OK, but I dropped the whole concept for 8th grade and it was actually an improvement culturally. I do like your daughter's coach focus on character: it's rare. I hope they can do well.

Congrats on playing up with 09, that's a big deal. It's hard to do that, especially at that age group where the 09 girls are women-sized and your daughter's age isn't necessarily.

[Hellisan]

[Hellisan]

Hawkeyes and Ducks for all the marbles

Unbeaten Iowa will face off against 10-3 Oregon and Heisman winner Isaac Harris to determine the champions of the 2023-2024 college football season. Oregon will be hoping that their impressive offensive line and running attack, combined with a capable passing attack, can get the job done against the #1 run defense and overall defense in the nation, in Iowa. Iowa will look to probe a defense that hasn't stood out against either the pass or the run, but have managed to be the 6th best team in the nation in turnover differential. The Ducks have the talent to give the Hawkeyes difficulty on both sides of the ball.






Butler still unable to go with hip flexor injury

Brandon Butler will end up missing the remainder of the season. The team has been hoping he could continue and continued to re-evaluate him as the season progressed, but unfortunately, the team will continue to be without arguably their best player and leader for the BCS National Championship.

[Hellisan]

Is D.J. Halloway About to Take S*&% Over Again?

The Hawkeyes have played their way into a chance at a third championship with J.D. Clark at the helm. D.J. Halloway still plays defense for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Therefore, it can reasonably be assumed that Halloway is about to do something big to help his team win a third championship. He always does. To wit:

2020/21 BCS Championship - Georgia 20, Iowa 41

Halloway pilfered three passes against Heisman Trophy winner Calvin Sanders (and his backup Isaac Fountain). Just like the last two times he has faced Nebraska, Halloway put the nail in the coffin with a late interception returned for a 53 yard touchdown against Georgia. His first interception of the game came with Iowa leading 17-13, when he mirrored DeMarcus Dukes in the end zone and pulled the ball out of his hands for the interception. His second was almost returned for a touchdown, but he stumbled and couldn't recover. Halloway was the defensive player of the game, earning his first title.

2021-22 BCS Championship - Oklahoma 32, Iowa 35

On defense, Halloway made 4 tackles. Not used on offense for much of the game, Clark broke glass and put Halloway in the game. With 2 seconds left and the Hawkeyes down 32-28, Halloway beat Odabiah Steele, arguably the best corner in the nation, for a touchdown in the back of the end zone to win his second BCS National Championship.

Maybe it's just chance and circumstance that Halloway has done so well in BCS Championship Games. But if he can do it again, he'll go down as an all-time Iowa legend.

[Careless Whisper]

Larry Legend was robbed! Harris had an incredible year to be fair, but not one worthy of the trophy when Lloyd led the charge all season. I remember disliking this game's bias when it came to dual-threat QBs for the Heisman, and it seems like it reared its ugly head again.

Speaking of award winners though, one guy that should have been in the Heisman race is that Maryland TE! To double as a lead RB while playing TE, it's very H-Back of the sim engine and really brings something I've never seen before in all of my years playing NCAA.

Really like the Holloway note and how he's shown the "clutch" gene previously in the national championship games. I'm feeling like this natty against Oregon could get ugly though - there's a talent gap and you've faced better teams in the Big Ten, and with it being Lloyd's last game and his Heisman robbery, I could see an epic final hurrah performance.

[Hellisan]

[Careless Whisper]

Look at "Big Play" Halloway coming up clutch once again! That certainly had the drama that I didn't expect, though I'm sure Lloyd's injury factored heavily into that. The Oregon ground game was unstoppable and really played into the only way that it could have won, IMO - but the Iowa defense was able to make the stops it needed to make late to give the offense a chance.

Joshua Mack had a star-making performance overall, but the poise he showed in the winning drive was that of legends. To come back from three straight incompletions and keep the game alive with a 4th and 10 conversion, then take off from there with a couple big plays as a redshirt freshman is special. It's hard to live up to the career that Eddie Allen had, but Mack could be on the right track.