FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

Da One · October 17, 2007, 12:14:49 PM

Where is the Talent?
I have been around the IBC for 9 years and over that time I have seen a dramatic decrease in the overall talent of the players. There are no Jamie Lee's, Frank Carter's, Jeremy Benson's, Mike Gardner's (to name a few) in this league anymore. I went to the AU-BU game and there wasn't one game breaker on either team. How can the coaches at the IBC compete in recruiting with the CCIW, WIAC, and IIAC. Those conferences provide in most cases, better facilities, better educations, real college environments, and a great competative balance. I know this is the last year for the IBC. The questions looms. Will the new leagues be any better? Or is this a lateral move for the IBC schools?

old 40 · October 17, 2007, 12:33:05 PM

Da One;

Good thoughts and very true. The CCIW and WIAC really have the advantage because they offer big school environment within a small school. I was at the LC-Cathage game and was very impressed with all the activitey that takes place pre-game, during the game and post game. Hundreds tailgating, Half time fireworks display, postgame tailgating and 4,000 loud and wild people in the stands.

Some of the IBFC teams have upgraded their stadiums but still lack the environment. The BU-LC game at Benedictine was very poorly attended by the BU homecoming crowd and they have the best stadium in the league.

This is why the CCIW and WIAC attrack the difference makers. Some of the IBFC schools have better tuition cost and some can get lower academic people in but in no way can they compete with the CCIW, WIAC for the difference makers. This is only my opinoin and I don't think I am to far off base on this subject.

The NAC will not be an upgrade from the IBFC as far as Football goes, IMO. However it will be a good all sport league.

old 40 · October 17, 2007, 01:08:49 PM

Some stats to think about for a couple of games this week. Pulled from NCAA stats and the Kickoff(Pat has broken down the scoring by conference and overall). If you did not get the kickoff this year do not miss it next year.

CUC@AU

AU Conference CUC

Points For 80 80
Points Against 44 Overall 89

Points For 100 136
Points Against 104 175

From The NCAA ststs Overall games as of 10-13-07.

Total Off. 261yds/game 299yds/game
Total Def. 269yds/game 347yds/game
Rush Off. 164yds/game 122yds/game
Rush Def. 126yds/game 217yds/game
Pass Off. 97yds/game 176yds/game
Scoring Off. 16.7points/game 19.4points/game
Scoring Def. 17.3points/game 25points/game
Turnover Margin 0 (0.9)
Punting 29yds/punt 24.9yds/punt

Everyone can draw your own conclusions from the above stats. To see more click on the NCAA sats on D3Football home page.

LC@CUW
CUW Conference LC
Points For 189 138
Points Against 0 55
Overall Games
Points For 231 168
Points Against 56 193

From the NCAA Stats site;

Overall Games

Total Off. 379yds/game 303yds/game
Total Def. 197yds/game 317yds/game
Rush Off. 252yds/game 108yds/game
Pass Off. 96yds/game 194yds/game
Scoring Off. 33points/game 24points/game
Scoring Def. 8points/game 27points/game
Punting 35.7yds/punt 31.6yds/punt
Turnover Margin +1 (11)

Make your own assumptions for this weeks game.

old 40 · October 17, 2007, 01:14:10 PM

Mistake on the CUW/LC stats. On the Total Defense I reversed the numbers. It should read as follows;

CUW 197yds/game
LC 317yds/game

Sorry.

ptownhero · October 17, 2007, 05:18:54 PM

The talent might be down a little bit, but im not sure you can measure talent in the IBC considering no team has won a playoff game yet. Their are still some pretty good players in the league. Just not enough of these players are on the same team. If Aurora had facilities like Benedictine, Aurora would win the conference hands down every year. Once Aurora decides they need a real football stadium and a field house they will be a great D3 team every year. The coaching staff is solid and they just need some facilities to turn this place around.

old 40 · October 17, 2007, 07:39:54 PM

ptownhero;
Good points. Lakeland is also in the same predictament, IMO. A new football stadium, turf and weight room would attract more athletes. Lakeland has made some movement to upgrade their facilities, weight room but lack a top notch stadium with turf. IMO, AU lacks all 3 and with the current administration philosophy I don't see improvement on the horizon, which is to bad. You are right ptownhero, they(AU) need facilities.

Look at CUW they have an state of the art weight room/cardio room and just put in turf, with a new stadium with track coming. Look on their school web site under future Athletic expansion to see their plans.The first school to have everything will take the leadership role of the NAC in Football.

Anyone else have thoughts? Gomer? TruCountry75?

FMR IBFC Champ · October 17, 2007, 09:52:04 PM

Quote from: old 40 on October 17, 2007, 07:39:54 PM
ptownhero;
Good points. Lakeland is also in the same predictament, IMO. A new football stadium, turf and weight room would attract more athletes. Lakeland has made some movement to upgrade their facilities, weight room but lack a top notch stadium with turf. IMO, AU lacks all 3 and with the current administration philosophy I don't see improvement on the horizon, which is to bad. You are right ptownhero, they(AU) need facilities.

Look at CUW they have an state of the art weight room/cardio room and just put in turf, with a new stadium with track coming. Look on their school web site under future Athletic expansion to see their plans.The first school to have everything will take the leadership role of the NAC in Football.

Anyone else have thoughts? Gomer? TruCountry75?

I don't totally disagree with that that statement but I look no further than 1 mile down in Jacksonville at Illinois College. For those who do not know about IC check out their muti-million dollar Bruner Center on their web site. They have not dominated anybody lately( or scheduled Mac for a football game). Facilities do not always translate in to wins, but I guess they can't hurt a team either. There are more components than facilties to dominating a conference year in an year out.

Gomer Pyle · October 18, 2007, 08:23:02 AM

IMO, I believe it`s easier to have everything when the program is a constant winner.. Just look around D-3 at some of the facilities that are out there. Mount Union comes to mind. Don`t forget well heeled Alumni.
AS far as the IBFC (and others) goes, football is a "tool" for enrollment
which translates into operational monies for that school. I`d venture to say capital improvements don`t include much football related stuff.
One of the biggest problems for the smaller colleges is enrollment and turn out at sports activities. Football in this case.
They would be hard pressed to have a state of the art football facility
with an enrollment of 498 at Greenville or 615 at Mac. Just examples .
Enrollment+winning program+Admin backing+ Well heeled Alumni+ community involvement = a better chance at a getting football facility.
One other key element..............this is D-3. Not D-1 where monies are funneled back to the football program to expand or do what ever is needed
to up-grade their program.
So I guess, hope for more but be thankful for what you have fits in here somewhere.

FalconsFootball · October 18, 2007, 09:02:30 AM

Da one, and others are right the talent level in the IBFC these days is in some cases pathetic. Half of these teams look like high school teams. It is really dissappointing to look at some of these teams and think "they represent this conference??? The conference some of us took great pride in playing in." It is a far cry from the old AU's and Mac's.

It is clearly a lateral move for the IBFC going to the NAC. Losing two reacently terrible teams in Mac and EC, and gaining to terrible teams in Wisconsin Lutheran and Rockford.

CUC is the only team making real upgrades in talent, but they still have a ways to go. CUW is a product of great coaching. They have remained fairly steady in talent but have lost considerable size.

LC has been pretty steady also for a few years, but look nothing like two to five years ago.

Its always been obvious that public school have an easier time recruiting because of tuition and state funding. It allows them to have great facilities and large enrollments. I don't believe they have a better education, however, they can offer more programs and resources.

Hopefully it is just a down period and these schools pick it up and we don't continue the trend of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer.

cudub · October 18, 2007, 11:06:02 AM

FalcsFB-
I pretty much agree with everything you just said. I would just like to point out the irony in referring to the private schools as the poor getting poorer. They got all of my money, they sure as hell better not be getting poorer. Sorry that just struck me as comical.

old 40 · October 18, 2007, 11:49:09 AM

Predictions for 10-20-07

GC@MAC, GC 56-7, To much GC QB, Mac's def. will have their hands full.

BU@Eureka, BU-10-7, Defenses will dominate the game. BU on a streak and it continues.

CUC@AU, AU21-20, The question for this game is how AU will bounce back. If they have their rushing game they will move the ball easily and score on big plays. If AU does not bounce back they will have big trouble with CUC. CUC has some Offensive athletes and will move the ball and score. AU must play physical.

LC@CUW, Upset special LC28-26, The only way for an upset is LC cannot have any turnovers or penalities that kill drives and play swarming defense (bend but not break). CUW on paper is the better team but in rival games you never know. They are similar to both UWW and UWO but do not have a QB with their skills. Their running attack is almost as good as the two state schools. A BIG challenge for the Fish.

FalconsFootball · October 18, 2007, 04:41:18 PM

Haha yeah I realized that as I typed it but wasn't really sure how else to say it. It does seem like an oxymoron, but I think at the collegiate level private schools really are the poor ones. Sure they charge upwards of 20,000 dollars a year in tuition, but that is because they don't get any help from the Government. If they decide to give out scholarships to kids it comes out of their pockets.

Don't get me wrong, they certainly aren't losing any money, but they are be forced to spend it on other projects. Funds are allocated in a totally different way at those schools. Go Falcons

Gomer Pyle · October 19, 2007, 07:47:26 AM

Saturday, Oct 20th.

(1) CU-C at Aurora: CU-C hasn`t had this many wins in some time and a win against Aurora would surly bring the Believers back form where ever they went. They, the Believers want to sing the fight song so badly but it`s not going to happen.
I just can`t bring myself to think Aurora can`t beat the Cougars, so with that being said and Aurora being at home, The Cougars get to hear AU
sing at the end of a close game.
(2) Greenville at MacMurray, the school of higher learning: Greenville has 1
conference win while Team MENSA, has a streak of their own on the line.
Playing at home (Mac) I`m thinking their streak will continue and Greenville gets to sing their fight song to Team MENSA.
(3) Benedictine at Eureka: BU should win this one but you never know
when playing against The Red Devils. I think they hang tough
but in the end, the Red Devil band relents and plays the BU fight song.
(4) The Baby Cheese Heads at the home of the Boys from Mequon:
This is the ............ALL IN Moment! Both teams put their 4-0 conference record in the middle of the field and who ever wins pretty much gets the spoils..........the Championship.
With this much on the line,fans and foe alike should see a good game.
LC is not the team of old but CU-W seems to have the horses needed
to finish the job. Plus, They have a decent FG kicker.
THe Boys from Mequon, playing in front of their fans will negate any noise from the bus load of cheese balls, who came to watch, and win in
convincing fashion.
Maddog will be there in spirit only as his schedule calls for him to pressure wash the loading dock at the old Tucker Plant.

ClassyCoach · October 19, 2007, 06:29:57 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edfdq-GpzAc

I think everybody should see this. MacMurray's Coaching at his finest.

cudub · October 19, 2007, 07:10:26 PM

That video and that attitude are EXACTLY why people on this board, and people around the conference talk crap about macmurray. You can talk all you want about how the grades are improving and the institution is becoming better, and that is all tremendous, because your right at this level the game is not the students entire life, they are there to get an education. But this is a football message board where football issues are discussed (usually), and when it comes to Highlanders football.....Well I can not respect that program or its coaches until they can prove themselves worthy of that respect.

FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

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