FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[maddog8]

Hello football fans, well here we gob Although Lakeland has a lot to fill, Coach "Z" recruits well.  Lakeland on O will be tough to stop. IU said it Wilk will fill the void very well in place of Maiuri, McAurther White could be the most explosive receiver  the conference has seen. He has that much potential, remember he play D-1 football at No. Ill before transfering to Lakeland. And lets not forget the pain train Busha (Wagner and Nitchke (Hornes). But truthfully CUW hands down has the best D-Line this coinference will face. Langston is Conference player of the year. Allen runner up for CUW's D-line. Lakeland still best O-line with CUW almost even in this cat. Alot of you guys have Mac way to low in your standings they will fight greenville for 3rd spot. Personally I am glad Lakeland has Greenville first after there tough pre-season schedule they should fair well against a tough Greenville D.  Overall they have one of the best D-s in the conference. Wilk will dominate at QB just watch!

[Genius]

McAurther white is a very explosive reciever. However he dropped more balls than anyone i saw play in the conference. It is probably why he wasn't 1st team all conference last year. I'm from the northern part of illinois and i got to see him in high school at Zion Benton. He may have went to NIU but he wasn't a scholarship player out of high school. CUW has the best wr in the conference easily. Then the kid from Mac.
I'd put White as 4th or 5th with #11 from greenville. If he had better hands white would be the best in the conference.

[Gomer Pyle]

Maddog:  Nice to see an un-biased opinion. No not yours, the one by Genius!   
     

[Gomer Pyle]

  Mac gets to play THE #14 RANKED TEAM IN D-3 this saturady, 9/2 on their home field. Do you think the "home crowd" will help, make no difference,
  will they even fill the seats?
   Does Mac have enough "team" to play Augustana play for play?
   For Augustana to stay at #14 or move up they`ll have to whip Mac like a
    rented mule and you can bet that`s exactly what they will do.
  Augustana will show Mac why they are ranked that high and Mac will wish
   they were already in that "other" conference.
   Augustana gets the "W" and Mac gets the "whipping."
   
   
   
   

[Gomer Pyle]

  Lakeland College gets to play UW-Whitewater the #2 team ranked team
  in D-3 this saturday at Whitewater and it`s a night game.
  Got to give Lakeland credit for scheduling  one of the best teams in D-3
  but you can bet lakeland will be UW-WW`s rented mule at this game.
  If Whitewater has any aspirations about finishing the year on top and playing for a National Championship then the road to that goal starts
  with the dismantling of Lakeland.
  Some have said LC has the next AJ Hawk as a LB plus the best WR in the IBC well that may be how they see it (which is ok) but the fact remains Whitewater is going to demonstrate to all why they are ranked #2 in D-3.
   UW-WW gets the "W" .  Lakeland still complaining about something.   
 
   
 
 

[79jaybird]

Doctor Swole,  are you implying that Carthage is a better team than North Central and Elmhurst?  I would put NC/EC/Carthage all in the same group as even.  So I am surprised IBC would drop Carthage.  To get better, you have to play better teams, so inserting NPU just didn't make any sense IMO.
If IBC was to join the CCIW, yes they would get their lunch handed to them the first couple of years, however-  They would also have an easier time recruiting and getting people to look at IBC, because of their upgrades in the athletic conference.  The CCIW is well recognized as one of the best D-3 conferences in all sports, and would help IBC in every regard, if they were to change.  Case in point, it probably will never happen, so this is kind of "besides the point."
Gomer-- While I agree with most of your comments,  I do think each and every team has a chance.  I think Augie and UWW will come out with victories, but I think the Augie/Lakeland game will be closer than what people might envision.
Anybody know where to get the probable starters for Benedictine?  Their website is not the greatest in finding out info. for this weekend's game.

[Doctor Swole]

79,

The post was not to imply that Carthage is a better team than North Central and Elmhurst...it was simply to inform that Benedictine has been kicked around by Carthage for the last few years ever since dropping University of Chicago for them (why, I couldn't tell you).

I wouldn't put Elmhurst in the same group as North Central and Carthage though, but that's a whole different argument which I don't care to delve into.

Here's the reasoning: BU and North Central every year is inevitable. The two schools are down the street...so it's going to happen.

Elmhurst is also "somewhat" of a local game. It's what? A 20 minute ride tops? Even if EC/BU doesn't have a rivalry...the fact that the neighborhoods are close makes it one.

Carthage is the odd man out. But even if Carthage and Elmhurst were the same distance...I would certainly rather play Elmhurst considering Carthage's history and most importantly, recent history. Benedictine figured....ok....we're getting our heads kicked in by the top-middle half of the CCIW, let's go to the bottom...maybe we'll win a game.

And "to get better, you have to play better teams" isn't always true. You've been listening to too many pep talks from coaches. Now, when you are an already established "good" team, playing "good" teams like you makes you better than playing bad teams. That's not the case with Benedictine. They are not "good" anymore. Therefore, they should play as many games against teams that are on their level. When they win those, then they should step up the competition. They stand much more of a chance against North Park than Carthage.

And to your final comment regarding BU...you're right, they'll never be in the CCIW. It just won't happen.

Let's play the Devil's advocate and say BU did join the CCIW...I can't see it doing anything for recruiting. Why would you want to a join a team who loses their conference games by 30-40 points? Especially when you have North Central down the block and Elmhurst down 294. At least in the IBC there are teams like CURF, Eureka, Greenville, and MAC that are beatable every year. In the CCIW....the only beatable team every year is North Park.

[baseman201]

Yeah,

Lakeland will probably get a butt kicking and 1/2.  Remember last year, I think the score was what? 73-12?  And yet Lakeland won the conference (which shows the quality of the IBC)

I give them credit for their scheduling as well.  But you never know what is going to happen.

You know the saying, any given...........Saturday.

Good luck to Lakeland though nonetheless.

[79jaybird]

Doctor Swole-- I did see some of the scores the last few times between Carthage/Benedictine.. and yes they weren't very close.
I will have you know 2 of the last 3 Elmhurst/North Central games were decided in the final 5 minutes of the game.  I think the majority of the CCIW posters (over on other board) would put NC/EC/Carthage/(this year) Wheaton/Millikin in the same group.
I agree that the neighborhood and proximity makes these rivals worthwhile.  We know at this current moment, Benedictine is not very good.  I disagree though that playing other mediocre teams (just to get the W) is going to make you better.  If crummy team A plays crummy teams B and C their first 2 weeks of the season, how does crummy team A improve? They might be 2-0 but when they play a decent Team D, they will still get flattened.
I did play and have heard the pep talks , but I have also experienced it at Elmhurst.  I played on some pretty poor teams there, but we still played competition that was better than us, to see where we had to be.
I hope IBC improves and gets better. 

[Doctor Swole]

Bird,

Well...I'm not comparing North Central and Elmhurst. They are pretty equal teams for the most part...especially with Radtke and Spencer gone now. But like I said, BU would never drop North Central.

But still...I'd rather play Elmhurst than Carthage. Even if the CCIW has Carthage finishing 3rd...I'm sure Benedictine didn't base it on that. They based it on how the teams have been over the past few years...and Carthage has been better than Elmhurst.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the other point. I still believe that if a team is getting smoked by the same team every year...dial it down a notch. Losing by 40 points doesn't make you better. North Park is a better opponent for Benedictine than Carthage. You could probably say "Well, losing to Carthage big will prepare them better for Conc-Wisc, Lakeland, etc. but I don't believe that. I really don't believe you learn anything when you lose by 40 points, other than the fact that you don't belong on the field with that opponent...and that has been the case with Benedictine and Carthage games lately.

NPU/Benedictine will be a close game. Benedictine will actually be making themselves better for conference because they'll be in tight situations where they will actually have to think....and the coordinators will have to think...about which plays to run. That will help them. What's there to think about when you're down 4 TD's? Umm...let's air it out. Or umm...let's just run the clock out and run plays. You don't learn anything from getting crushed (unless it's  a once in a season thing...we'll call it a wakeup call). Getting crushed 3-4 times in a season isn't a wakeup call.

Elmhurst and NC will destroy BU as it is...why not have some momentum going into conference by getting a close win against NP...or even a close loss...rather than losing by 5 TD's to a team that will have their starters pulled midway through the 3rd?

Just my 2 cents.

[79jaybird]

DoctorSwole--  Agreed.   Carthage the last few seasons has been a better team overall than EC. Benedictine/North Park will be an interesting game.  Two teams with similar storylines.  North Park is in search of their first CCIW win in 5 years, so you see they too have their problems competing.

[one_timer]

As you can tell from my account name, I want to post just one item in my tenure on this board.  I am struck by the intensity and the interest from all of you that follow such teams as CURF, Benedictine, etc.   I think the list goes on...

Now to the purpose of my post.  I first met Coach Conwell when he was coaching at Carthage.  I kept in touch with him as he moved to CURF, and now I understand he is an assistant at Benedictine.  I found him to be a fair and honest person, who always worked hard no matter where he was at.  I don't know all of the details about his situation at CURF, but I do know that he returned quickly following significant surgery with the intent of trying to make the best of a not very good situation that was dumped on him when he got the head job.  That being said, he has since left CURF (or CURF left him), and knowing Coach Conwell as I do, I am sure that he wishes the current players only the best. 

I have read a number of somewhat disparaging comments about Coach Conwell on this board.  It seems like a number of them have been made and continue to be made by current or former players at CURF.  I don't want to name names, but if the shoe fits...I guess I would have to say to those players that find Coach Conwell an easy target for their lack of interest in the off-season conditioning program, or their non-involvement in the weight program, or just their not taking any responsibility for their actions, to wait a while until you have done something significant in your life before you find the time to criticize others.  Graduating from college does not qualify you to judge someone who has worked his whole life in the coaching profession for far less money while putting in more time at his job than I'll wager you do/receive at your job (probably not the best grammar, but I'll bet you get the idea). 

By all means, spend your energies talking about the year that CURF or Carthage or Elmhurst has had, but leave Coach Conwell and all the other coaches you want to criticize out of it.  If you get the chance, why don't you just say 'thank you?'

I didn't mean to preach, but take it from someone in his 60's who has both played on coached on the college level, Coach Conwell is a fine human being, and if you really feel the need to criticize someone, you ought to look elsewhere, because Coach Conwell is way out of your league.  I would probably wager most of what I got that none of you making the negative comments about Coach Conwell would ever say anything negative to his face.  Grow up, and recognize that life isn't always a bowl of cherries.  Sometimes life is a bitch, but learn to take responsibility for your actions.

That being said - it's a great time of year...start of college football.  Did not want to preach, but wanted to say this for a long time.

[FormerCard]

My prayers and thoughts go out the family and teammates at AU of Sean Elliot.  That is a tragic situation no matter how it is looked at.

[FalconsFootball]

Congrats to CUW sticking it to Carthage in their pre-season scrimmage.  Keep working hard CUW. Good luck to all my boys.

[79jaybird]

FalcsFB-- I think CUW has the possibility of having a great year.  From what I have heard (now this is 3rd party), they really handed Carthage their lunch. Yes it is a srimmage and Pre-Season, but still  I heard CUW was able to move the ball up and down the field with ease.
One-Timer-- Whoa!!   Easy their fella.  Your post is Pro-Conwell.  I am Pro-Conwell also and have had great talks with him in the past.  However, there is always two sides to every story.  I think he is a great person.  Great coach?  I have my thoughts, you have yours, and every other player is going to have his or hers, etc.
IMO, I don't think the criticism, comments, and views about Conwell are at all badgering or degrading to Coach Conwell.