Quote from: USee on June 30, 2017, 12:14:33 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on June 29, 2017, 10:32:42 AM

Quote from: markerickson on June 28, 2017, 11:20:11 PM
Re: Devin, I have been flummoxed for three years that the Vikings did not send Devin on a fly or post 35+ yards downfield at least three times per game.

We've had this conversation before, Mark. Childress went downfield all the time, definitely more than three times per game.

Quote from: markerickson on June 28, 2017, 11:20:11 PMUse Childress in the same manner that the Vikes used Moss during his early years.  If the Chicago Vikes use Childress in the manner I envision he is league MVP, which will polish his rough diamond into another NFL look.

Devin Childress isn't playing next year, Mark. His career is over. That's what the previous conversation was about.

So you're saying there's a chance!

+1 Karma

Thanks Greg.  My son played for Coach Rucks from '08 thru '11 and Carthage was always around .500 in his years there.  Great experience and wouldn't trade it f or anything.  In those 4 years Carthage just couldn't beat Augie, Wheaton or North Central. 

So I've watched from afar has Coach Yeager puts his stamp on this program.  Last year they started to show improvement and that has carried over to this season.  If they take care of business the next couple of weeks, Kenosha will be rocking with North Central coming to town.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 19, 2016, 01:36:38 AM

Quote from: 79jaybird on October 18, 2016, 03:53:29 PM
Don't you love it when some flavor-of-the-year team, usually having their first really good year in awhile, gets off to a halfway decent start and suddenly their fans all want to know why they're not getting any poll respect?

Let's be fair, Mark. Your use of the plural "their fans" is not warranted here, as the only Carthage fan who has raised this complaint is HoosierRedMan ... and he's already conceded the point after ETP's painstaking explanation as to why Carthage wasn't getting any poll love. In fact, as somebody already pointed out in this room a few weeks ago, the Carthage contingent that used to regularly post here has largely been AWOL since the program went south at the end of the Rucks era a few years ago. HoosierRedMan is the first active Carthage poster that we've had in this room since the beginning of November last season.

No offense meant to HRM, who deserves kudos for filling Carthage's posting void, but one poster does not equal an entire fanbase.

Not sure this a complement as the lone RedMen poster or not.   

Quote from: ExTartanPlayer on October 17, 2016, 05:00:35 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on October 17, 2016, 03:29:11 PM

Quote from: HoosierRedMan on October 17, 2016, 02:40:13 PM

Quote from: New Tradition on October 16, 2016, 08:41:19 PM
New poll out. NCC remains 6th but is only 5 points out of 5th. Wheaton drops 1 spot from 11th to 12th.

Any thoughts on why a 5-1 Carthage team isn't getting any recognition in the poll.

There are 64 zero or one loss teams, not to mention a handful of strong two-loss teams in the E8, NJAC, IIAC, MIAC, and WIAC.  That's a lot of teams for just 25 open spots.

Don't you love it when some flavor-of-the-year team, usually having their first really good year in awhile, gets off to a halfway decent start and suddenly their fans all want to know why they're not getting any poll respect?

Yes, at 5-1, Carthage looks pretty good.  But remember, in Division III with 240ish teams, the top 25 is the top 10 percent of the division, unlike FBS where the "top 25" is only the top 20ish percent; the playoffs will include several teams NOT ranked in the top 25 at season's end.  Carthage appears to be at best the third-best team in their conference, with several close wins against not-in-the-top-25 teams, and while the CCIW is a good conference that certainly might have three top 25 teams in a good year, Carthage's overall profile is not there right now.  I know people get all sensitive about this stuff, and start to use crazy leaps of logic (no offense to Mr. Ypsi, but I once remember him defending his decision to keep Illinois Wesleyan in the top 25 after an early loss to Simpson because he thought "Simpson was probably a top 50 team") and we're all homers for our own team.  But let's take a look and see how much meat is on this particular bone.

Beating Bethel on the road is a pretty good win most years...but Bethel is currently 3-4, and Carthage needed overtime to close the deal.  Three other teams have beaten Bethel without going to overtime this year; Concordia-Moorhead currently is receiving just five votes, despite CM's loss [23-20 vs St. Thomas] being better than Carthage's loss.  Dubuque is currently receiving just three votes.  An overtime win over Bethel isn't going to get you ranked this year without more meat.

Playing Wheaton close is good...except that now we know Wheaton is "only" the second-best team in the CCIW.  It's still a very good result.  It's also still a loss, and lots of teams can claim a "close loss" against a middle-of-the-top-25 team.

Beating Augie by 3 points and Elmhurst by 9 are decent results, but not fabulous.  Augie is 2-5 with a blowout loss to the third best team in the IIAC.  Elmhurst lost to Olivet.  Neither of these carries the sort of cachet that gets you ranked.

Basically, Carthage has a classic "pretty good" team resume.  Not a top-25 resume.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's just funny to see fans of mediocre teams off to their first 5-1 start wondering when the top 25 votes will start rolling in, kind of like when the perennial high-school underachievers win three straight to start the season and the town denizens start talking state title.  If they want to wear the big-boy pants, they'll have another shot to prove it when they play North Central.

All good points on where the RedMen are right now.  They just need to keep playing well. 

Quote from: New Tradition on October 16, 2016, 08:41:19 PM
New poll out. NCC remains 6th but is only 5 points out of 5th. Wheaton drops 1 spot from 11th to 12th.

Any thoughts on why a 5-1 Carthage team isn't getting any recognition in the poll.

Coach Rucks was a class act.  I am glad that my son had the opportunity to play for him.

RIP Tim Rucks.

Quote from: USee on November 16, 2014, 05:01:01 PM
I was actually pretty impressed with the personnel Carthage has on their team. Their QB is pretty effective and they have some defensive players who are very good athletes. Also a fairly young team, Carthage is another CCIW team that is improving, despite a tough year.

Overall, having seen all the CCIW teams, it makes sense the conference struggled in non conference play. I think all the top teams had large senior classes (24 for NCC, 29 for Wheaton and 32 for IWU). All of these teams started a lot of underclassmen. In addition, Carthage, NPU, and Augie are pretty young overall. All of these teams played better as the season wore on. I expect the CCIW to be much better overall next season.

Glad to hear Carthage is improving.  Hopefully, the underclassmen stay in school and continue to play for Carthage.  With my son, now coaching on Friday nights, it tough to get to Kenosha for a game.  Let's see if the RedMen can get back above .500 next year.

Quote from: 79jaybird on October 07, 2014, 08:58:34 AM
Good points Augie6-  For the record, I was not comparing the current regime to Reade.  Very few coaches (in any league/sport) can be put on the same level as Reade's success.  I had mentioned the Schmulbach era which was late 90's, not 80's.  So please don't take me the wrong way.  As you and Greg pointed out, I did omit Barnes so my bad on that part.  The simple point that I was trying to make, and Augie6 agreed with, is that the complexion of Augie is different today, which has been making it difficult to keep Augie perennially in the top 3.

As for the current team,  Elmhurst @ Carthage is going to be an interesting game on many fronts.  It's Carthage's HC so one can expect a large, spirited group on hand.  Always used to love to play teams on their HC and if/when you win,  spoil their festivities.      I think EC/Car are pretty even in many levels and have a bunch of guys looking to get better and prove themselves.

I agree 79.  Both teams have something to prove.  I was shocked to say the least that the Red Men went to Bloomington and came out with a win.  I was expecting another long CCIW season for them, and getting the win last weekend should be a big confidence boost.  I believe that Carthage is still working to over come the coaching change for Coach Rucks to Coach Yeager.  With an all new staff, this might have hurt their recruiting and their are just staring to get their "own kids", not Coach Rucks kids, but I am only speculating on this point. 

Quote from: Gregory Sager on August 07, 2014, 07:10:55 PM

Quote from: HoosierRedMan on August 07, 2014, 09:33:31 AM
It is looking like another long year in Kenosha.  Only 6 Seniors on the roster with an incoming class of 86 Freshmen.
I believe it is hard to win in the CCIW without good Senior and Junior leadership. IMHO

Eighty-six freshmen? Holy crap.

I wonder what the retention rate on those 86 guys is going to be.

I was thinking the same thing.  Hopefully at least half are back next season.   

It is looking like another long year in Kenosha.  Only 6 Seniors on the roster with an incoming class of 86 Freshmen.
I believe it is hard to win in the CCIW without good Senior and Junior leadership. IMHO

Quote from: 79jaybird on June 09, 2014, 12:43:51 PM
Mike Heffernan and Glen Brittich promoted to new coaching roles within Elmhurst staff. Don't know Glen as well as I do Mike, but Heff is a great person and was a great leader as a player for the Jays.

Glen recruited my son to Carthage and I was always impressed with him as a person and coach.  I'm glad to see him doing well at Elmhurst.

Quote from: Son of Tailgater on October 28, 2013, 10:20:38 AM
Congrats to the NPU faithful on the win this weekend. This of course is going to have a lot of conversation and is well deserved. IWU winning at home against weekend was not a shocker to me but is going to set the stage for an excellent game next week at NCC. Elmhurst and Millikin.....well somebody had to win but I am still in shock that Elmhurst isn't at least competing in the top 4 this year.

I did finally attend a CCIW game finally this year and went to the NCC homecoming game vs my Alma-Mater Carthage. Disappointed is the best word to describe what I saw sitting on the Carthage sideline on Saturday The 72-20 score was nothing of what the game could and should have been as I left at halftime when the score was 55-0.

The disappointing word to describe Carthage is not that I expected them to win but it was that Carthage didn't seem to want to be there. There was no emotion, no leaders (both coaches and players) and everyone was simply going through the motions. The lack of pride, bringing up your teammates (heck I'd even go for yelling at your teammates) and wanting to improve just wasn't there.

Carthage is at the lowest point that I have seen them since I started following and playing for them in 2002. I don't have the answers but there needs to be drastic changes to the attitudes and mind sets of the Carthage football program. Have some pride these last three games and work hard on building for the future. Remember in 2003 we were 3-7 and in 2004 we went 11-2.

Very disheartening to hear your report SoT.  My son played from '08 thru '11 and they always played hard.  Just couldn't seem to beat the top conference teams, but with Evan Jones they were in all their games.

It's hard to figure out why they have fallen so far.  The facilities are top notch, so why can they not get talent to Kenosha seems strange.  With Coach Rucks retiring and the new staff taking over, do you think that is what might have hurt the type of player now going to Carthage? 

They way they seem to be playing right now, just going through the motions as you described, I would not be bit surprised if they finished 1-9.

Two weeks and no new posts.  Sure can tell it's the summertime.

Looks like Carthage is now looking for a new head football coach.  Don't know if this is health related but I wish Coach Rucks good luck with his new responsibilities. 

http://athletics.carthage.edu/news/2012/11/19/Football_1119122533.aspx

It has been a very long time since Carthage won a game in Rock Island.  It goes back to 1970 when Art Keller was still coach, and 42 years is a heck of a long time.  There was a 7-7 tie in 1974, but since then Augie beats Carthage when they play in Rock Island.

Last year Carthage gave it away and you have to wonder if the long streak is in the back of the boys minds.  Coach Rucks won't be on the sidelines and I wonder how the team will play?  Will the RedMen win one for Coach Rucks?