Quote from: NCC2010 on December 16, 2025, 11:28:36 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on December 16, 2025, 08:41:29 AMLet's not forget the OL. I seem to recall some questions early in the season. They seem to be performing well.

Without a doubt, the biggest difference between the start of the season and now is the performance of the offensive line. They have gotten better and more cohesive as the season has progressed, which should be expected since they had four new starters to incorporate.

I still remember NCC not scoring on four straight tries from inside the 2-yard line against Carthage in their second game of the season.

Kudos to OC/offensive line coach Eric Stuedemann—he consistently develops top-tier offensive linemen.

We'll have a little something for NCC OL fans on the site tomorrow!

Quote from: art76 on December 15, 2025, 09:29:29 AMCongrats on Podcast #400! I couldn't tell because of editing, but it was made to sound like Greg didn't catch the line from Mary Poppins about one of your favorite things - but it made me chuckle.

Looking forward to many more...

Ha! I totally missed it. 

Quote from: CarollFan on December 12, 2025, 09:43:46 AMPredictions

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/quick-hits-playoffs-week15

Some people predicting Bethel to score 31 on NCC?

Bethel is really, really good offensively.  North Central is phenomenal on defense, as we know, but this one could absolutely turn into a track meet. 

Quote from: USee on December 06, 2025, 04:43:08 PMWheaton 49
DePauw 24

Wheaton 483 total yards. 190 rushing and 293 passing
Matt Crider 22 carries 120 yds
Mark Forcucci 16-27 293 yds 4 TD's
Peter Johanik 2.5 Sacks (including a strip sack that resulted in scoop and score)

190 on a team that had allowed 143 total in 11 games this year. Bravo.  Outstanding effort everywhere, but especially that side of the ball today for the Thunder. 

This is why I do not coach. 

Not too bad for a group of guys that were running away from the challenge.   

Quote from: bluestreak66 on December 04, 2025, 11:20:43 AM

Quote from: Crawford on December 03, 2025, 10:42:03 PMThe YouTube channel: The D3 Zone now has the JSU and Depauw playoff highlight uploaded.  Both schools look impressive.

I really can't wait for next season when Wash U joins. Between John Carroll, Wabash, DePauw, and Washington, I feel like the conference is going to be better than ever

There are going to be bangers dang near every week.  Plus it looks like the league is going to have everyone on bye the same week- everyone plays the one non-league plus 4 conference games, off the week of 10/10, then the back five.  Glorious. 

Quote from: hazzben on November 30, 2025, 04:52:44 PMDePauw strikes me as very similar to Wartburg. A great rush D, that hasn't faced an offense that is the combo of balanced and as good up front as Wheaton is. Wartburg's offense scored 17 (at "vaunted" Walton-Hoover) against a Coe squad that other Top 10 teams laid 50 on. They just weren't going to keep pace offensively and needed a defensive score and Wheaton with some redzone TO's. Better weather would have only helped Wheaton IMO.

DePauw run D was the perfect poison for UWW, who is totally one dimensional. Good neutralizing good. But Wheaton's best weapon is their passing efficiency and a mobile QB. That's what will open up the run game for them against DePauw. That and the weather can't be anything but better Saturday, which will only make the passing attack that much more potent.

I think this is a good take and I think Wheaton's success this weekend is pegged to how stubborn they're going to be and how many possessions they're going to throw away trying to run.  The temptation is to take DPU's rush D stats with a grain of salt because they played "only" in the NCAC. But this isn't your nephew's NCAC and that run D is legit.  My POV is that DPU went up to UWW five years ago, got walloped 45-0 and have spent the last five years getting iteratively better (successfully!) at the LOS, and now they're legitimately excellent where it counts.  Teams just don't by accident go up to UW-Whitewater and shove that team around in a game that was only going to be about who can shove who around better.  That should be validating regardless of how one might correct for the perceived level of competition in the NCAC. 

Teams that have had success against DPU have thrown.  JCU did the deed thanks to Semptimphelter & Montgomery. Denison nearly pulled it off by just not running at all period.  I think Wheaton can take advantage of Seth K./Juska/Titherington/Jewett with a high volume game from Forcucci. 

I think the most likely periods to check would be 2003-2004 when Wabash, Wittenberg, and Wooster were all very good- though Wabash was between playoff seasons right there and might not have been in the top 25.  2018-ish is another moment where we had Wabash + Witt in and around the top 25 and Denison was very good, but I'm not sure Denison cracked the top 25.  Probably, the best we've seen in the NCAC with respect to the top 25 is two ranked and one more in the ORV crowd. 

Quote from: that guy 31 on October 27, 2025, 05:07:05 PMI think playing so many repeat games is bad for the conference. It's been quite a while since I was a player but if I was being recruited and some schools were playing regular schedules and the others were playing 3 repeat games I feel like that would impact my decision. Just makes it seem small time. Just my opinion

I don't think anybody loves it, but the SCIAC has probably made the best of a terrible situation.  Divisions go away next year, so hopefully that's the end of that. 

It's hard to beat the Runner right at dusk. Palm trees, mountains, that perfect orange/pink afterglow in the sky, impeccable natural grass surface. Words don't really do it justice.

I probably don't have a good excuse for not having gone to La Verne yet.  I'll try to take care of that next season.  We'll see if coverage lets me get to Whittier next season or not, but I'll definitely go to the Whittier at APU game. 

Quote from: FCGrizzliesGrad on October 16, 2025, 05:44:09 PMWorking on it now. Had a very late submission this week.

My bad- sorry team.  I'm already in this week, though! 

Quote from: Dr. Acula on October 15, 2025, 01:18:56 PMHas Witt's roster size gone down dramatically from year to year of the Collins era?  I don't know the answer to that, but that would tell me more than their record in terms of the effectiveness of the facilities in drawing players.

Like a lot of institutions that are in Wittenberg's peer bucket, they've faced significantly decreased enrollment (down something like 25% or so in the last 10 years) and were recently given the "financially distressed" label by their accreditor.  Not insurmountable, but also not just a football problem there.  They're working through an enrollment slide across the board. 

Quote from: Crawford on October 10, 2025, 11:56:37 AM

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 10, 2025, 11:47:31 AM

Quote from: Crawford on October 09, 2025, 07:11:38 PMSpeaking of student athletes.  It was nice seeing the love the NCAC got in the new article: Ranking the conferences for 2025.  The NCAC jumped all the way to #12.  With WashU joining next year, the conference will not only have more quality football teams but strong academic possibilities too. Congratulations NCAC.

You're welcome 

👍. I heard Wabash joined the NCAC primarily because they were an excellent basketball conference. How has JCU been in men's basketball?

Excellent.

2024-25 (22-6, 15-3 OAC)
2023-24 (26-3, 17-1 OAC)
2022-23 (23-5, 16-2 OAC)

Quote from: Machiavelli on October 09, 2025, 12:15:14 PM

Quote from: UfanBill on October 09, 2025, 11:57:36 AMD3football's Greg Thomas has come out with his yearly Ranking of Conferences column and as we have been discussing the Liberty League has taken a nosedive. After ranking 6-8 the last few years and 8th last year guru Thomas now has the LL in 14th place.   This is understandable because league members have just not fared well in non conference games so far going 9-13. Thing is they're playing tougher foes...The E8 is ranked 6th.     

Without knowing the criteria, I'd go on a limb to say the Hilbert add contributes to this dip quite a bit.

All of the above. The bottom got heavier, and it's been a minute since the LL scored a big win.  They play a lot of higher profile games (I hope they don't stop doing this), those games just haven't gone the way of the LL recently. 

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 02:07:23 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on October 08, 2025, 01:39:49 PM

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 12:16:57 PMWho's column A? I owe you a beer! lol

It's me.

Negated by you're mentioning of Spotted Cow. Overrated beer! 

It was appropriate for the question!