FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[old 40]

Caught the BU and NCC game Sat. night. North Central is a very good team. BU never had a chance. NCC has superior talent in all positions. If I was BU I would drop them for a more competitive opponent that is closer to BU's level. NCC is way over their level.

Did anyone see the AU-MacMurray game? I can't beleive it was that close. I will catch the IWU game this Sat.

Congrats to CUC, they are 2-0. Maybe it's their year.

Good job by CUW also against Valpo. I really thought thyey could get Valpo. This Sat. will be a tough game (Wheaton).

Any word on Lakeland, CUW or BU?

[au dad]

I was at the AU game... http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/sports/1768119,2_2_AU13_SPARTANS_S1-090913.article


Gotta say Coach Duncan is totally right on about this one!!!

[muzzman]

Looks like Concordia IL is making some noise as well as Wisc Lutheran I think it will be a real dog fight this year in the NAC.
AU on the road to IL Weslyan should be a good game with the AU offense starting to come together.

[old 40]

Congrats to AU and CUC for being 2-0 and leading the NAC in non-conference victories. 4 NAC teams against the CCIW this week. Look for CCIW domination. BU has a chance against North Park.

Week 3 guesses.

CUC at Olivet- big game for the cougers. This game will see where they are physically against a physical team. Olivet over CUC 31-24.

Macalaster(MN) over MBBC- 31-6

Alma rocks Rockford 28-7

WLC gets first win at St. Scholastica WLC38-SSC27

AU at IWU CCIW continues domination of NAC IWU34- AU10

CUW at Wheaton, Ouch, Wheaton 51-CUW 6

Lakeland at Carthage, close last year but in 2009 another Ouch for LC. Carthage 42- LC 34.

NPU at BU. BU gets a close win over the CCIW school. BU14-North Park13

Good luck to everyones team. Next week is a bye week before the conference chase starts. Look out for BU, WLC and CUC. IMHO they are out to make the top 3.

[WLCALUM83]

WLCALUM83's guesses:

Olivet
Macalester
Alma
WLC
IL Wes
Wheaton-IL
Lakeland
Benedictine-IL

[muzzman]

Congrats to AU and CUC for being 2-0 and leading the NAC in non-conference victories. 4 NAC teams against the CCIW this week. Look for CCIW domination. BU has a chance against North Park.

Week 3 guesses.

CUC at Olivet- big game for the cougers. This game will see where they are physically against a physical team. Olivet over CUC 31-24.

Macalaster(MN) over MBBC- 31-6

Alma rocks Rockford 28-7

WLC gets first win at St. Scholastica WLC38-SSC27

AU at IWU CCIW continues domination of NAC IWU34- AU10

CUW at Wheaton, Ouch, Wheaton 51-CUW 6

Lakeland at Carthage, close last year but in 2009 another Ouch for LC. Carthage 42- LC 34.

NPU at BU. BU gets a close win over the CCIW school. BU14-North Park13

Good luck to everyones team. Next week is a bye week before the conference chase starts. Look out for BU, WLC and CUC. IMHO they are out to make the top 3.

AU will show up to make it close, otherwise good to see the NAC earn some respect with their non conferance wins!

[WLCALUM83]

Final just in:  WLC 27, St. Scholastica 13.

WLC-Muldrow & Hairl both over 100 yds rushing on the day per St. Scholastica live stats

St. Scholastica QB Thiry had a hot throwing hand for a while in the 2nd half.

[WLCALUM83]

Other finals:  CUC 12, Olivet 7
                      Benedictine 27, North Park 17
                      Alma 51, Rockford 3 (Ouch!)
                     

[baseman201]

I think CUC just proved they are a contender this year.

Awesome to see them finally coming around and being competitive

Watch out NAC

[fishguy]

Wesleyan 52, Aurora 6 (IWU had 566 yards)
Carthage 50, Lakeland 34 (Carthage had over 600 yards)
Wheaton 54, CUW 3 (Wheaton had 544 yards)

The league is not very good this year, so yes CUC might have a chance. The winner of this league is going to get absolutely blasted in the playoffs.

[WLCALUM83]

Another final:  Macalester 52, Maranatha Baptist 12.

A further note on the now- 3 and 0 Cougars:

WLC gets Concordia-Chicago after the bye week. Last year the Warriors beat that squad just before it got hot. This gridiron rivalry has the potential to be just as interesting as both men's and women's hoops rivalries have been.

[formerd3db]

Other finals:  CUC 12, Olivet 7
                      Benedictine 27, North Park 17
                      Alma 51, Rockford 3 (Ouch!)
                     

Final just in:  WLC 27, St. Scholastica 13.

WLC-Muldrow & Hairl both over 100 yds rushing on the day per St. Scholastica live stats

St. Scholastica QB Thiry had a hot throwing hand for a while in the 2nd half.

I think CUC just proved they are a contender this year.

Awesome to see them finally coming around and being competitive

Watch out NAC

WLCALUM:
Good to see your WLC won yesterday.  We miss your contributions on our board, although I see Hope has scheduled WLC for next year in 2010 and 2011 for non-conference games.  Take care and talk to you later.

baseman:
I was surprised by the CUC/Olivet score as well.  As you say, it appears CUC is improving; Olivet appears to be sliding.  As some of the newer programs in your conference improve, so will the competitiveness level.  It is good to see that, although admittedly, I have to agree that both the NAC and the MIAA will have a tough time in the playoffs regardless of who represents both leagues.  That's just the reality of the situation at present.  But...we're always looking forward!!!

[RFMichigan]

I was able to take in the CUC-Olivet yesterday on a beautiful afternoon for college football. Here are a few notes on the game (and CUC's program):

1) After last year's 59-0 pounding, it's possible that OC took CUC lightly. However, CUC made the most of the opportunities that were presented them, such as . . .

2) When you turn the ball over 6 times (as Olivet did) you are certainly helping out your opponent. However, on the four interceptions, CUC was able to put pressure on the OC QB AND the CUC DBs had excellent coverage.

3) When this offense is clicking it is fun to watch (and probably play!) CUC has a QB who has played in this system for three years and a herd of receivers who can catch the ball.  While they take a number of sacks, the threat of the big play is always there.

4) Although I'm not sure that CUC is on the level of "physical play" of the MIAA (or even traditionally "physical" NAC) teams yet, the team I saw yesterday was totally different than the one I saw last year in terms of physicality and toughness. During the last third of the game CUC was just running the ball right at OC with some success. (What a difference a year of experience, weight room work, etc. makes. ) Plus, the coordinator used blitzes effectively to offset certain physical mismatches they may have had on defense.

5) Something that CUC has struggled with for, oh, the last 20 or so years, has been they had to rely on 10+ freshman to start on either side of the ball each year. Then the turnover from year to year was so great that they basically had to start all over again from year to year. CUC finally has a program with upperclassmen in their core (which any college program needs to succeed) who are more mature physically and in terms of "college football experience". It's still an ongoing process for them and certainly not a finished product by any means, but they seem to pointed in the right direction.

6) Is CUC a contender in the NAC? As I'm sure their coaches are preaching to their players, they need to just take each game as it comes. I'm excited to see how the NAC conference games shake out, but you still have to go through the Auroras, the CUWs, the Lakelands, and the BUs of the world. If you want to be a contender you have to cut down on mistakes (penalties, turnovers, mised asignments,etc.) and CUC had plenty of those themselves yesterday - many which killed scoring opportunities.  (A penalty on a beautiful throw-and -atch which nullified a long TD pass, two interceptions when the ball was inside the OC 15, and a missed FG after having a 1st and goal late in the game, among others.)

All in all, I was pretty proud after the game. Plus, the players I had a chance to talk to after the game were ULTRA respectful and personable - a  nice representation of the school.

[old 40]

Congrats to CUC, BU and WLC for their wins. Looks like CUC is the team to beat this year. Good for them.

BU was the only winner in the 4 battles against the CCIW.

I caught the AU game and was shocked at what the team looks like this year from last year. I really thought they would go undefeated. IWU is better than last year IMHO. AU's tailback did not get much blocking from his line. If they correct that then he will run for big yards again in the NAC. Potential to be OPOY.

IMHO, CUW will bounce back with a vengence, since their opponents that beat them in Non conference was 8-1. They played tough competition, should pay off for them.

Anyone see the LC-Carthage game or the BU and NPU games. Curious as to the story line from those games.

[NuTS]

Statistically, the Carthage / Lakeland game wasn't as close as it appeared from the stands.  Lakeland ran the opening kickoff back for a TD and Carthage then scored quickly on their first possesion making it 7-7 before 2 minutes had been played.  Lakeland later ran an interception back for a TD and mistakes by Carthage and special teams play set up some of their other points.  So even though the score was close for most of the game (in fact Lakeland led much of the time) you can see it wasn't necessarily their offensive production that generated their 34 points.

Lakeland is (as usual) an emotional team.  Which is good when things are going your way but unfortunately also affects you negatively when the chips are down.  Carthage IMHO has a great QB but he is a bit of a gun slinger (reminded me of Farve, high risk/high reward). He threw into double coverage (often successfully) and often haphazardly threw it up for grabs when scrambling which LC took advantage of at times.  I also think that CC just does some goofy stuff that they just don't need to do.  They have some excellent potential (particularly in the passing game) but need to develop their run game and get back to basic fundamental football.

I don't think that either team has a particularly good defense but both showed some potential, just not consistantly.  The line play was equal between the teams but both need some work.  I wasn't impressed with the run game for either team.

I really enjoyed the game because it was competitive and close until CC pulled away at the end.  It was good to see a NAC team hang with a CCIW school after hearing some of the scores from other games between the conferences.