FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[ecreddevils]

They may have a chip on their shoulder but I think Eureka in fourth is the right place. I know the NACC isn't the best of conferences but the Red Devils won literally the worst conference in D3 last year.

Yeah, I understand the UMAC gets no respect and does have a few bad teams, but I think the top of the that conference is on par with top NACC teams.  It will be interesting to see how how we fit in.  I think on paper we're a clear second place team at worst with a real chance to challenge Lakeland.

[Ryan Stoppable]

They may have a chip on their shoulder but I think Eureka in fourth is the right place. I know the NACC isn't the best of conferences but the Red Devils won literally the worst conference in D3 last year.

Yeah, I understand the UMAC gets no respect and does have a few bad teams, but I think the top of the that conference is on par with top NACC teams.  It will be interesting to see how how we fit in.  I think on paper we're a clear second place team at worst with a real chance to challenge Lakeland.

That first conference game against Aurora will be a good measuring stick. I feel like with the returning starters they have, a lot of the preseason rankings are selling the Spartans short. (They would have beaten LU last year if not for some last minute Whitley heroics.)

As far as Lakeland is concerned, we certainly are capable of the top spot again, but it will all depend on guys stepping up and filling the holes - and especially someone stepping up to be a viable starting QB.

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah, I understand the UMAC gets no respect and does have a few bad teams, but I think the top of the that conference is on par with top NACC teams. 

Well, we'll find out.

[Ryan Stoppable]

Week One scores:

Concordia Wisconsin 31
Finlandia 3

Eureka 49
Knox 24

Wisconsin Lutheran 30
Lake Forest 38

Aurora 7
St. Norbert 16

MacMurray 12
Rockford 35

Lakeland 26
Carroll 45

Beloit 10
Concordia Chicago 36

Benedictine 38
(ARV) Franklin 55

The Muskies did have a couple turnovers well in Carroll territory that they will rue, but it comes down to that completing barely a quarter of your passes will not cut it. Because of that (though not having Dezmon Eddie available didn't help matters either), they weren't able to string drives together and got hammered in time of possession, which led to the defense wearing down late. They definitely have some things to work on before Trine comes to town in 2 weeks.

A 4-4 week for the conference as a whole. Everyone except Lakeland will be back in action next week.

[ecreddevils]

Week One scores:


Eureka 49
Knox 24

Eureka ran over a team with 17 returning starters who beat them close at home last year.   The offense is as advertised, multiple scoring threats and a nationally prominent rusher in Reasonver.  The pleasant surprise was the defense. EC interior dominated the line of scrimmage and completely took Knox out of their game plan.

I don't know enough about the NACC to evaluate what some of these other losses mean, maybe we can't know.  My feeling is that EC will fit right in at the top this year and will be a very tough team to slow down.  Can't wait to see Aurora here.

[AndOne]

Week One scores:


Eureka 49
Knox 24

Eureka ran over a team with 17 returning starters who beat them close at home last year.   The offense is as advertised, multiple scoring threats and a nationally prominent rusher in Reasonver.  The pleasant surprise was the defense. EC interior dominated the line of scrimmage and completely took Knox out of their game plan.

I don't know enough about the NACC to evaluate what some of these other losses mean, maybe we can't know.  My feeling is that EC will fit right in at the top this year and will be a very tough team to slow down.  Can't wait to see Aurora here.

While Eureka may have dominated it's opening opponent, and keeping in mind you can only play who is on the schedule, lets also be mindful of the fact that Knox' record in this decade is a less than impressive 16-64 against mostly equally unimpressive competition. The last time they were over .500 was 2002! It might be prudent to wait a few games before turning the applause meter up to 10. 🤔

[AndOne]

Benedictine 38
(ARV) Franklin 55

Is BU ready for D2? 🙄

[Pat Coleman]

Benedictine 38
(ARV) Franklin 55

Is BU ready for D2? 🙄

They'll probably be better when they give out 24 football scholarships.

[AndOne]

Benedictine 38
(ARV) Franklin 55

Is BU ready for D2? 🙄

They'll probably be better when they give out 24 football scholarships.

Maybe then they won't be afraid to resume playing NCC again? 🏈  😉

[ecreddevils]

Week One scores:


Eureka 49
Knox 24

Eureka ran over a team with 17 returning starters who beat them close at home last year.   The offense is as advertised, multiple scoring threats and a nationally prominent rusher in Reasonver.  The pleasant surprise was the defense. EC interior dominated the line of scrimmage and completely took Knox out of their game plan.

I don't know enough about the NACC to evaluate what some of these other losses mean, maybe we can't know.  My feeling is that EC will fit right in at the top this year and will be a very tough team to slow down.  Can't wait to see Aurora here.

While Eureka may have dominated it's opening opponent, and keeping in mind you can only play who is on the schedule, lets also be mindful of the fact that Knox' record in this decade is a less than impressive 16-64 against mostly equally unimpressive competition. The last time they were over .500 was 2002! It might be prudent to wait a few games before turning the applause meter up to 10. 🤔

I won't argue that. 

This is the most interesting year in the last 25 years of EC football because the program is at its apex right now under Kurt Barth.  EC has gone from doormat to an extremely well-run program that made its first ever NCAA playoff trip last year. This conference transition is happening at just the right time because it gives fans a barometer of how far the program has come, just how good it is right now, and where it might go in the future. 

With a one game sample size it certainly looks like making the playoffs (and maybe the new turf and stadium lights) has paid dividends in bringing in impact recruits, something that is difficult when you're scraping to win 2-3 games a year on the shoddy field in the pre-Barth era. 

We'll know a lot more after the Aurora game in a few weeks.

[UWO Titan 78]

My son and I visited Eureka this summer on our tour of potential schools for him. We liked Eureka a lot. I really think the program is headed in the right direction. I'm really interested to see how they match-up with the other NACC schools this year, as several are on his potential list. I do think moving to the NACC will help them. It doesn't look like they have ventured out here to the NW Suburbs a lot in the past for recruiting, but it looks like they are going to make that more of a priority. They are a bit behind some of the other NACC schools and others we visited in terms of facilities, but the right coach can sway recruits regardless.

[Rhythm21]

2018 way-too-early first impressions:

-Aurora looks like it has a similar build as past years: A solid defense with apparent senior leadership and an average offense prone to making the careless mistake in tight games. Since Ponx has taken over, it appears finding that playmaking QB (Ala a Michael Whitley, Austin Damaschke, Mike Marotta, etc.) still eludes the Spartans. It's only the first game and it was a decent St. Norbert defense on the opposite side, but it appears that Zimbleman is another in a long line of game managers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if the offensive line and run game can gain some traction. However, I'd like to see Zimbleman take control of the offense going forward and have his teammates expecting to score on every drive rather than being afraid to make that costly mistake. He has the ability and just needs the confidence. Excited to see what they can get done against CCIW member Elmhurst.

-Benedictine is in rebuilding mode, new head coach, new QB, but the offense looked decent against Franklin (At least the passing game did). What concerns me is Franklin losing Chase Burton and Deontrez Alexander to graduation last year and still coming out and throwing 50+ on the board (300+ passing yards and 4 TDs through the air.) Maybe hearing that they will not get the NACC playoff bid regardless of their record has dimmed some of their motivation. Or maybe they already have one foot in D2. Maybe it's just the defense getting its bearings. Whichever it is, they're going to have to get it corrected fast if they want to play spoiler this year.

-Concordia Chicago is the most intriguing team to watch, in my opinion. They are young, very young, but they looked explosive on both offense and defense. Their roster is stacked with speedy weapons from both Florida and Texas, and Lance Moise gave us all a glimpse of what he is capable of with a 300+ yard performance that placed him on the D3Football.com Team of the Week. I would not be surprised to see them make that jump back to the top tier of the NACC this year.

-Concordia Wisconsin has Aaron Nixon back behind center and he played like he isn't going to take another snap for granted. Tenette is as explosive as he was his freshman year. This offense will go as far as those two can carry them. Hard to judge the defense based on Finlandia, but they were sharp in their assignments, allowing just 3 points. Will get a clearer picture of where this team is after week 3, when the Falcons take on Alma in the MIAA-NACC challenge.

-Eureka is that one unknown. I caught a little bit of their playoff game last year and they kept it tighter in the first half than I thought they would with an upper-echelon St. Thomas squad. Reasnover is a beast, no arguing that fact. The question will be do they have the talent in their offensive and defensive fronts to run and stop the run effectively against NACC opponents. Like most of you have already said, that Aurora game will answer more than a few questions about the NACC newcomers.

-Lakeland is primed to have a down-year. You don't just replace a Michael Whitley and run right through the NACC. I think the scheme of Lakeland's offense will have to rely more on a running game this season, but I think they have the backs to pull it off. Larry Rivers has first-team All NACC ability. The defense cannot rely on the offense putting up forty points a game anymore, though. They've been Lakeland's kryptonite for years and are going to need to figure it out this year in order to have any chance of staying atop the conference in 2018.

-Wisconsin Lutheran has won just one NACC title since the conference's inception in 2008 (And that title was split with both Lakeland and Benedictine; 2014.) They have a quarterback returning in Mathieson and it looks like he will be the focal point of the WLC offense. The WLC defense struggled against Lake Forest's passing game and wore down late against the LF run game. But WLC has been known to produce DE's worthy of the NACC Defensive Player of the Year Award and so let's see what adjustments are made against Lawrence Tech. A player to keep an eye on is Joe Styczynski, LB. A bit undersized but flies around the field.

-Rockford is turning back into the respectable football team it had once been prior to joining the NACC. They are not there just yet, but Lavar Johnson is a top 3 RB in the NACC and their mobile sophomore QB will give defenses a couple things to worry about. Defense took care of a subpar MacMurray offense. Don't know if they have the skilled guys in all the spots to finish in the top half of the conference, but there is some hope for this team if it catches a few breaks and stays healthy to shoot for .500.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, but these are the way-too-early impressions I was left with after week 1. The important thing is that we have the entire season in front of us, and I for one am excited to see how it all shakes out.

[Pat Coleman]

I mentioned this in the podcast, but Moise left the field with help after that final carry. He came in for one more carry after having been out for a while -- I wonder if someone missed a call to go into the game and Moise had to go in unexpectedly.

[Rhythm21]

I mentioned this in the podcast, but Moise left the field with help after that final carry. He came in for one more carry after having been out for a while -- I wonder if someone missed a call to go into the game and Moise had to go in unexpectedly.

Looked like he was cramping up a bit from what I saw; hopefully it's not too serious. But yeah, I can't imagine him being sent back out there as the first choice, given the score at the time.

[ecreddevils]

My son and I visited Eureka this summer on our tour of potential schools for him. We liked Eureka a lot. I really think the program is headed in the right direction. I'm really interested to see how they match-up with the other NACC schools this year, as several are on his potential list. I do think moving to the NACC will help them. It doesn't look like they have ventured out here to the NW Suburbs a lot in the past for recruiting, but it looks like they are going to make that more of a priority. They are a bit behind some of the other NACC schools and others we visited in terms of facilities, but the right coach can sway recruits regardless.

\

It's happening one piece at a time--new turf field, bleachers, lights. and now video highlight board.  Locker facilities aren't great, but winning overcomes that.  This year's roster looks like it's already benefited from that playoff appearance, lots of new threats and the best depth EC has ever had.