Pirate Galaxy » ting pressure on Madrid.There is so

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- North Alabama couldnt physically prepare for the Kansas City weather conditions it faced Saturday in a 29-3 loss to Northwest Missouri in the NCAA Division II championship game. It just wasnt possible.The temperature registered at 13 degrees with a wind chill of minus-4 at kickoff. At the same time, at North Alabamas campus in Florence, just over 600 miles away, the temperature was 70 degrees.Its not like were going to have a big snow machine out on the practice football field, quarterback Jacob Tucker said. As far getting physically used to the elements, you just cant do it.Tucker said after hed get tackled, his hands would get wet, and then as he began calling the following play, his hands would start freezing.He didnt want to use the inclement weather as an excuse for his performance, but he couldnt come up with any other conclusions.It was something that I hadnt experienced before, Tucker said. It was a challenge for me and it was a challenge that I didnt step up to, because I made some bad throws because of it.Tucker completed 15 of 41 passes for 179 yards and threw one interception in the game.Several North Alabama players warmed up in sleeveless shirts. Others warmed up without leggings on. Regardless of the Lions attempted tactics to prepare for the cold, nothing seemed to work and Northwest Missouri State blew right through North Alabama.In Bobby Wallaces 28-year head coaching career, he couldnt come up with a game that had remotely similar conditions.I coached eight years at Temple and I never saw a game like this before, Wallace said. Two of the three championships in the 90s was cold. The first was cold and rainy and the other one was just cold but we werent playing in snow.Wide receiver Dre Hall, a Tennessee native, echoed both Tucker and Wallaces sentiments.He said he had difficulty in both timing and running his routes.It messed with us a little bit, Hall said. I remember coming off the sideline and everybody was thinking, `this snow is three inches thick. How are we going to run in it?Hall said he told his teammates that they had to pick their knees up. But even then, the receiving corps had difficulties.Not only did the receivers have a hard time running in the snow, North Alabamas ground game was dismal as well, only having 22 yards rushing through the entirety of the game.Tucker took the majority of the carries, 21 of 33, and only came away with 26 yards. Beasleys efforts on the ground didnt add much either, only having four carries for 29 yards.Wallace knew coming into the game that their rushing efforts werent going to match up evenly with Northwest Missouri.We tried to put a couple of guys back there, but neither one of them would be what you could call a 1,000-yard rusher, Wallace said. Our offensive line, we have some injuries this year and it was just a mismatch. Their defensive line is great. Its the best defensive line weve seen all year long. Wed just be running into (a) wall if we tried to run straight ahead.Even though North Alabama lost, Wallace was proud of his team and the effort his team gave.To be honest with you, I know that Im as proud of our group as they are over there with what theyve achieved, Wallace said. This group of seniors has won four conference championships, and thats never been done in the history of the conference, and played in the national championship game. If you think thats easy, its not. NFL Jerseys Wholesale . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinafactory.com/ . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. China Jerseys Chea .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. MADRID -- Playing at Camp Nou hasnt always been a pleasant experience for Barcelona this season.The Catalan club is used to thriving at the stadium no matter the opponent, but Saturdays heartbreaking draw against rival Real Madrid in the Spanish league was just the latest disappointing setback at home for the two-time defending champions.The late equalizer by Madrid defender Sergio Ramos handed Barcelona its third consecutive draw, and second in a row at Camp Nou. In seven home league matches this season, it won only three times and endured an embarrassing 2-1 loss to promoted Alaves in the third round.We are losing more points than usual at home, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. We are lacking strength at Camp Nou.Saturdays draw kept Barcelona six points behind leader Madrid after 14 rounds. The win would have cut the rivals lead to three points and put the Catalan club right back in the title hunt.We have to improve, especially at home, Luis Enrique said. We have to improve our numbers, because when playing in our stadium we are far from where we need to be if we want to win the league.Victory against Madrid also would have helped re-establish the teams confidence after an unusual sequence of disappointing results. Barcelona has won only two of its last seven matches in all competitions -- 2-0 at Celtic in the Champions League and 2-1 at Sevilla in the Spanish league. Among the setbacks was a 1-1 draw against third-division club Hercules in the Copa del Rey, when Luis Enrique rested his regular starters.The other home draws by Barcelona this season were against Malaga (0-0) and Atletico Madrid (1-1).ddddddddddddThe victories came against Real Betis (6-2), Deportivo La Coruna (4-0) and Granada (1-0), all teams that are near the bottom of the Spanish league standings.The draw against Madrid felt even more disappointing considering that Barcelona played well in the second half and had two great chances to put the game away, first through Neymar and then Lionel Messi. Both missed from close range.This can happen when you dont seal the victory when you have a chance, Barcelona forward Luis Suarez said. We have to find a way to show our strength when playing at home and keep putting pressure on Madrid.There is some reason for optimism thanks to the successful return of Andres Iniesta, who had been sidelined for more than a month because of a knee injury. The team improved significantly on Saturday after the star midfielder entered the match in the second half.Despite what happened in the end, we played well enough to win, Iniesta said. We played a great match.Barcelonas next home game is Tuesday against German side Borussia Moenchengladbach in the final round of the group stage of the Champions League. Barcelona has already secured first place in Group C, which also has Manchester City and Celtic.Its next Spanish league game is at Osasuna on Saturday.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni ' ' '