Congrats to WW on another dominating win.  Keep rolling!

Marotta definately had a great year statiscally, but I saw him miss a lot of throws.  I am not taking anything away from him because he did do great, but then you come to the argument about stats and who is a "product" of their offense.  

I think last years Heisman race is a perfect example.  Bradford and great stats, but as a the true best player in college football, who was better than Tebow?  

Who do you think a d-cooridinator has more trouble preparing for?  Who scares a defense more?  How many times has Tebow escaped certain doom and made a rediculous play.  This year he has struggled after his concussion.  On 4th and 3 who would you rather have?

Just some thoughts to get the board going.  Congrats to all those who received conference honors.  

I think Copeland should have been at the top for player of the year.  He struggled with injury early, what were his final stats?

Any other ideas? 

I think this conference has traditionally had some very good skill players, many of which could play at any number of schools around the country. 

I beleive the biggest disparity comes in the trenches.  WW and Mount U and other top programs have the size as well.  They also have numbers, which means depth.

The NAC right now is a small conference both in size of players and size of teams overall.  I think there are some good talented players in some positions around the conference, but I nobody has all the factors needed to compete nationally at this time.

Hopefully recruiting continues to pick up over all and the NAC can make some waves in the future.

It's going to take a lot of heart this weekend, play with intesity every play.  If your technique and assignments are sound hopefully the game will be somewhat respectable. 

I have watched LC on film and they do a lot of blitzing and try to confuse offenses, or get to them before they can make anything happen.  However, they run themselves out of plays and can sometimes overpursue. 

I don't think that will be the problem this weekend.  I think WW will pick up the blitzes, forcing LC's secondary to cover for too long, and they will give up some big plays. 

Then there are always screen passes.  I think LC will make a few plays on D but not get much on O.

WW 59-3

As always, I want to see the rep for this conference do well in the playoffs, but this will not be the year.  

LC lost to those two playoff teams by just over 3 touchdowns each.  

As a player, I have faced Zebrowski's offenses, and agree they are predictable.  But when you have the horses, it is still hard to stop.

CUW is a classic example, we had one of the most predictable offenses in the conference, teams would literally call out our plays before the snap.  However most teamns could not stop us anyways, thanks to the rediculous talent on that side of the ball.  

I wish LC the best of luck, play hard and enjoy it, you never know if you'll have another chance at this great experience!

I wouldn't necessarily say the conference is down this year.  I do believe that AU, CUW, and LC are not as good as they have been in the past few years.  However, the usual lower ranked teams have gotten better i.e. CUC, WLC.  BU was once very good as well; lately they have been kind of hovering around the middle, but are now back near the top. 

That being said, it is hard to say the conference is down when some of the traditionally weaker teams are getting better.  That makes for more parity, and hopefully a stronger overall conference in the future.  Just because some of the traditionally stronger teams are struggling doesn't mean everything is worse. 

Believe me, it is hard to watch CUW right now, but in the long run this is the best thing for the conference.  The more good teams there are, the more recruits each school will bring in, the stronger the conference overall. 

Good Luck, God Bless!

Seniors Make of the Most of this game!

Is WLC's starting QB back this week?

I think AU's defense will have to win this one for them, I thought their offense looked pretty sloppy and unorganized the few times I have seen them play.  They looked much better last year. 

If WLC's QB is playing I think they will keep this one close until the end but won't be able to pull it off. 

Should be a great game though.

I am really looking forward to the Clash of the Concordias (first time that description has probably been used in a long time) in the NAC this weekend. 

CUC arguably has the best offense in the conference, especially when they are clicking. 

With CUW's "big play" defense it looks to be an interesting matchup.  Although many times when you are a "big play" defense that means you also give up big plays, which is what CUC is good at.

CUW will have to control the ball to win this one I beleive.

Good luck to all this weekend!

Can't wait, should be a good game. 

It is unfortunate to see what is happening around CUW.  I have only seen a limitied number of games and it seems they cannot get over the injury bug and their youth.  I have not heard many good things at all about the new batch of players that have come in.  For some reason there is a real sense of entitlement going on, and that is really disappointing.  It's something usually trumped by a strong group of upperclassmen, I am just affraid it is too late for them to step up.  There has been a strong football culture at CUW for a while now and it would be a shame to see it fizzle out.  LETS GO FALCONS!

As of right now we are about to head into training camp from which final cuts will be made; then they will post the roster.  But its looking pretty good on the depth chart for some guys.  Muiari (spelling?)old QB from LC and an old LB and DL from LC as well.  From CUW there is George Carpenter, Rick Hutchins and Evan Janousky, all DB's and Bobby Langston DL from CUW.  They are all doing really well and are expected to have an ecxellent chance of making the team of only 21 roster spots. 

There is a new expansion arena football team in Milwuakee called the Bonecrushers coached by Gilbert Brown, the ex-packer.  It looks as if there will be some old players from CUW and LC on the team.  Its pretty bizarre.

I think CUW can win (bias aside) but just like others have said, they would have to play ABSOLOUTLY MISTAKE FREE FOOTBALL.

Offensively -

No turn overs

No Drive stalling or ending penalties ie. holdings, delay of game (something we have always had a problem with)

And we must get the talented recievers involved early, be two dimensional keep the defense guessing, pass on first down occasionally.  NO PLAY ACTION ON 3rd AND LONG!!!!

Defensively

No plays over 20 yards

Bend but don't break

Force THEM to pass by geting them in third and long situation

Hopefully it will be a good game, it will be nice to see a good non-conference opponent.  Congratulations to Bethel on  great year!  I look forward to seeing this game.

The unfortunate thing is, is that was the type of football played in this conference for in the years leading up to the last couple.  Even last year CUW had a great competative team beating Simpson and North Central. 

It is the desparity between the good and bad teams that has made this conference weak

Beating teams by 30 - 70 points on a regular basis does nothing for you.  As any coach will tell you competition is what makes you better.  Every player knows that.  If you have someone pushing you hard at your position, or on the other side of the ball, whether it is practice or a game, it makes you compete which makes you better.  Half of the teams in this conference don't require you to compete because they are terrible. You simply show up and you can practically win at some places.  I hate that about this conference, that is why it is weak, lack of competition, or at least good competition. 

Thanks Pat.

What I Know,

I totally agree upsets can happen and I did agree with you.  I guess my point was just to give credit where credit is due.  Just like GC sticking it to my beloved Falcons.

I commented about where I played because you said that EC upset me.   I am not apart of the Cougar program, and therefor not a part of that upset.

I am not disagreeing that BU is on the upswing at all I just think (from seeing both teams play)  talent wise that CUC has the edge  IMO.  Skewed or not.  BU has always had great facilities and I always loved playing there; but so does CUC.  I actually liked BU grass field better but the new stadium is much much nicer.