Wow, Carthage must have a great defense.  Amazing.  Looked at the stats, and I never would have thought they would have pulled that off.  I expected Carthage would run the ball more effectively.  In my book, carthage will always have a shot due to a defense like that.  However, their offense must not be that good.

Last year Carthage lost to Augie huge and ran the table.  What does it prove to beat Augie?  Augie DOES NOT PASS.  They grind it out straight ahead.  Carthage has amazing speed, but how much does that matter when you are getting hit straight in the mouth for 3 hours of football.  the only defensive speed that matters in a game like this is speed off the line and reaction to misdirection.  This is why I always liked the Crusader O- a far better overall test and a balance between the two.  Carthage will meet its test in the two other big conference opponents- Ncc and Wheaton.

Carthage will score on Augie's D, but will not stop the Augie run game.  This will be a higher scoring matter.

Good job NCC and Elmhurst.  Did carthage really move the ball and due to great field position, not show many yards?  Or did they not move the ball well either?  You're going to win if your defense doesn't give up points, but there's a good chance they will lose at some point this CCIW season due to their offense, especially if they turn it over.  I think Augie will handle them again for sure.  And we see what NPU is really made of.  I don't think Haehn is the best QB in the conference as someone was saying earlier, especially with that O-line.

Lakeland 12, No. 15 UW-Whitewater 73

Suuuuure, Carthage really deserves to be in the top 15!

To think Carthage is similar or better without Daunte and their QBs is pretty crazy.  I'm with Pat, even if he is usually wrong....

Some good insights.  I will say this, Benedictine is horrible.  Drawing any conclusions regarding NCC at this point is probably a waste of time.  I understand the need to get excited as well as worry, and I wasn't at the game, but I would assume it wasn't a game they were even up for in any sense of the word.  They'll be fine. 

I would not be excited about the victory vs. lakeland.  Carthage is supposed to be a top 15 team.  Yes, top 25 teams have scares, but I'm going to say carthage will have some trouble this year.  Besides, Lakeland had 5 Freshman on the field at one time in that game.

Interesting and insightful point from Mr. Jass, on the wristbands.  I would have never thought of or noted that.  I think you're right.  When I played, we had wristbands only for skill positions on offense, or for a recently moved or active player on either side of the ball.  From what I know of Augie's style, you'd figure they wouldn't want to have defenders in wristbands.  If they have good talent as you say, it must be due to the 5 defenses in 5 years.  Their head coach has  only been there 4 years, right?  I wonder why they can't find a scheme they like... I'd figure they feel like they need to change because they have no talent, but still, they've won.  It's an interesting chicken/egg thing.  Is their talent really good enough, or is it coaching?  Augie fans.. opinions?  Seems to me they must have talent on offense, and how often do you have good talent on offense but far less on defense in D3?  Really strange. 

Well, interesting.  Wesleyan getting blanked is not what I'd expected.  Carthage is about right.  Wheaton a little less than I thought.  Augie's D looks permeable.  Looks like an interesting year. 

It seems like maybe the CCIW is in a down year.  Anyone else feel the same way?

But I diverge from present day due to sheer of non-conference boredom. What is this from Hugh J about NCC stealing signals last year?  An interesting concept, but that doesn't change the fact that the Augie's offense got handled in that game.  Hugh, it looks from this week's scores that Augie's D might be in trouble without DeGeorge there... could it simply be talent? What do you think about Augie THIS year?

Must be a boring week.  Down to pressboxes.  Anyone up for ranking pressboxes in the conference? 

RedmenFB44,

That's about what I thought.  Good info.  Speculation is only speculation, but your team with its offensive weapons impressed me a lot, and I just think this year's team doesn't have quitre the same capability.  Who knows how far theyll develop, and who knows how far\ theyll go.  Ill I can say is it looks like the CCIW is up for grabs. 

Vike fans- good points.  One thing I would bet is that the championship teams had stability and knew what they were doing, but the Augie HC seems to go through defensive schemes pretty quick.  5 coordinators in 5 years?  How can a team live up to an 8 ppg benchmark with that?  From the stats I see the offense is dominant.  Like I said, I'd never want to play in that offense, but it's deadly.  The only thing I see that has really changed about Augie is the defense-- especially when they yield 200 RY vs a passing team. 

Will be interesting to see if they improve or have a real bad year.  I'll guess the offense is great but the defense is poor- the opposite of Carthage.

Hey, red men and women out there, do you guys really think this year's team has a chance to be as good as last years team?

Hmm.  That's interesting.  I figured they'd be sharp in the beginning of the year and wear out the way they seemed to have in the last couple.  I wonder if they'll start slow this year on defense and get better as it goes on... either way, I believe they have some challenges.  I thought the last couple years Augie was pretty good against the run.  Do you think I'm off base?  Am I missing something there?  Are they in trouble?

Yes, I screwed that up, but I like seeing more than a few posts at a time.  Really liked reading more than 15 per page.  I wanted to change my email address to a different one (not yahoo), and I typed in yahoo anyway... and screwed it all up... Anyhow, this is fine, but having to syphen through 15 pages can take more time than glancing through 1 page... especially with SBC.

This new board format is annoying.  That's another call I'll make while sticking by my prediction that Carthage is completely overrated.  A FRESHMAN QB PROVIDES SPARK AGAINST DOORMAT CARROL?!?!  C'mon.  The CCIW won't be as nice as Carroll was.  And another thing, Carthage had a rough game against Augie last year.  Should be a good match this year.  New D-coordinator at Augie and new QB at Carthage should be a match made in heaven... except wasn't that QB from Central a 1st year starter and completed 62%?

I just think both these teams won't pan out- one because the defense, and one because the offense.  Only Augie's not ranked in the top 15, and Carthage is. 

I still think Wheaton is the team to beat.

And I can't say for sure where Augie's defense has been in the past, but typically they don't allow 190 yards rushing to many teams, especially in week 1, at home vs. a "pretty good" team.  Did anyone see that game?