FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Always.A.Titan]

Since I am outside the loop on the NCAC/Wabash side of things, can anyone give a quick comparison of the 09 team to this years team? I have read a lot of banter and just want to get a feel of it from the NCAC  perspective.

[BayernFan]

Wabash have been crushed by MUC and UWW in the past.  They got beat by Capital at home by 4 points in '05.

They got rolled by Wheaton in '08 and barely lost to IWU in '09.

Wabash may have its best team since 2002, when they scored the most points against MUC than any other team did in those playoffs.

But it is now time for the Little Giants to take that next step.

Beat NCC at home this weekend.  A tall order, to be sure.  But doable.

I say they do it.  They are stout against the run.    And Chase can take over a game.

[BashDad]

Since I am outside the loop on the NCAC/Wabash side of things, can anyone give a quick comparison of the 09 team to this years team? I have read a lot of banter and just want to get a feel of it from the NCAC  perspective.

Better defense, worse offense, better special teams.

[bashbrother]

Post from Mugsy on CCIW board... worth a re-post here.

North Central vs. Wabash game capsule

Records:
   North Central:   10-1
   Wabash:           11-0

Statistical Category	North Central	Wabash	Comment
Offense Scoring	45.1	34.4
Defense Scoring	11.1	10.9
Off Pass Efficiency	145.3	144.7
Off Pass Completion %	53.0	53.6
Off Pass YPG	173.0	183.7
Off Pass TD's	20	20
Off INT's	4	5
Def Pass Efficiency	85.7	96.1
Def Pass Completion %	49.1	54.7
Def Pass YPG	156.4	181.9
Pass TD's Allowed	7	8
Def INT's	22	14
Kick Return Ave	19.4	19.8
Punt Return Ave	14.4	22.4
Punting	39.2	37.9	North Central 37 punts, Wabash 54
Off Rush YPG	288.6	178.3
Off Yards Per Carry	7.0	4.1
Off Rush TD's	36	21
Def Rush YPG	103.1	61.0
Def Yards Per Carry	2.9	2.1
Def Rush TD's Allowed	8	6
Total Offense	461.6	362.0
Total Defense	259.5	242.9
Sacks By	36	27
Sacks Allowed	13	24	North Central: 236 pass attempts, Wabash: 248
1st Downs	231	205
1st Downs Allowed	170	154
Penalty YPG	65.3	64.8
Red Zone Offense	78.9	77.0	North Central 37 TDs, 8 FG's : Wabash 29 TDs, 5 FG's
Red Zone Defense	63.6	65.0
Off 3rd Down Conv %	35.3	39.0
Opp 3rd Down Conv %	26.9	28.0
Field Goals	13 of 19	5 of 10
PAT's	61 of 65	45 of 50
Time of Pos	29:16	31:16

Other notable stats:
Wabash allowing 1 sack for every 10.3 pass attempts, NCC getting 1 sack for every 9.1 opponent pass attempts
NCC has 3 punt returns for TD's, Wabash has 4
NCC has 6 INT's returned for TD's, Wabash has 4
Wabash has blocked 3 punts

Notable Players:
Rushing           Team   Att    Net  Ave  TD  Long   Avg/G
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kukuc, Nick      NCC    122 1088  8.9   10    69      98.9
Tassio, Jordan   NCC   134   803  6.0     8    80      73.0
Boettcher, Mike NCC     63   486  7.7     6    48      44.2
Crackel, Brad    NCC     37   322  8.7     2    73      35.8
Kent, Ryan       NCC     30    258 8.6     4    75       51.6
Vann Hunt       WAB   146    686  4.7    4    57       62.4
Tyler Holmes    WAB    99    479  4.8    4    23       43.5
Chase Belton    WAB  128    454  3.5    9    47       41.3

QB Comparison:
Passing          Team     Effic   Cmp-Att-Int  Pct    Yards  TD  Long     Avg/G
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dicken, Tyler   NCC    144.3    79-154-2    51.3   1321  11     68      120.1
Crackel, Brad   NCC    131.8     41-73-2    56.2     469    6     37        52.1
Chase Belton   WAB    146.9 127-232-5    54.7   1880   20     61      170.9

Top Receivers:
Receiving            Team    No.  Yards  Avg TD  Long   Avg/G
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Horn     WAB     46     689  15.0   7     61     62.6
Wes Chamblee     WAB    44      658  15.0   8     55     59.8
James Kraus        WAB    12      241  20.1   2     54     21.9
Sean Hildebrand   WAB     9      167  18.6   0     38     15.2
Fiedorowicz, Kyle NCC     23      343  14.9   8    49      34.3
Antonacci, Joe     NCC     17      172  10.1   1     21     15.6
Hicks, Nick          NCC     13      189  14.5   0     28     21.0
Haan, Alex          NCC     11      185  16.8   5     86     18.5
Kabba, Bai          NCC     10      319  31.9   3     68     45.6
Slezak, Nick        NCC     10      111  11.1   0     19     12.3
Rezac, Ryne        NCC      9       109  12.1   0    18        9.9
Tassio, Jordan     NCC      9       100  11.1   0    21        9.1
Stolzenburg, Jeff NCC      8       190  23.8   1    40      19.0

[bashbrother]

Wes, Wes and more Wes

http://youtu.be/GviKHTtXfyc  * Wabash College record

http://youtu.be/mww6288FCz8

http://youtu.be/Wvtilh3w2K8  Worth another watch

[BashBacker#16]

Where is Wally Wabash???  This has to be his longest streak of non-posts...  Dude - what gives?

Bashbro - good stuff man.  #84 isn't bad but it's not the CCIW.  If he played in the CCIW, I bet he would just be a special teams guy, maybe a gunner on punt.     I wonder if he would make the travel squad.  HaHa

When are the NCAC awards announced?  This week right?

[bashbrother]

When are the NCAC awards announced?  This week right?

I keep checking.....I bet it is Thursday or Friday.

[smedindy]

He hasn't tweeted since the 19th. But a tweet says he's out with his better half's family in DC. She probably hid his laptop.

[The_Bishop]

Wes, Wes and more Wes

http://youtu.be/GviKHTtXfyc  * Wabash College record

http://youtu.be/mww6288FCz8

http://youtu.be/Wvtilh3w2K8  Worth another watch

Good Lord, are those in real time?

[Li'l Giant]

Where is Wally Wabash???  This has to be his longest streak of non-posts...  Dude - what gives?

He hasn't tweeted since the 19th. But a tweet says he's out with his better half's family in DC. She probably hid his laptop.

Yeah. He's in DC for the holiday week. Haven't heard from him since Saturday.

[wally_wabash]

Call off the search party, fellas.  I'm alive and well out here in the nation's capital doing holiday stuff.  Haven't had much time to chime in, but I have been following along.  Good, good stuff on the board this week. 

I've been quiet on this week's game because, well, I'm just excited to see how it plays out.  As BashDad so awesomely noted, this is a measuring stick game for the program.  Wabash has stood in the doorway of the "next level" a few times in last 9 years and didn't quite get their foot inside.  Saturday is the next opportunity and I can't wait to see how it plays out. 

I'm not going to spend a lot of time breaking this down and breaking that down...people far more qualified than I have done that already.  I don't know who is going to win on Saturday.  I know that Wabash is going to play a fantastic game.  I know that Wabash is playing against a fantastic team.  I believe Wabash can win this game.  I also believe that Wabash can play well and not win.  These are the things that become possible when you have two good teams on the same field.  This right here is the game we've been wating to see Wabash play since 2009.  I just can't wait to watch it (yes, on the stream...I won't be back in the heartland  yet on Saturday). 

WAF!

[nike]

I am sure I speak for many NCAC followers and certainly folks on this board in not only wanting, but expecting a Wabash  victory. It has been fun to get to know Wabash people and the Wabash culture.  I even know a few Wabash grads and a couple DePauw folks.
Every Wabash person I have seen recently has red on somewhere. And says Wabash.

[ncc58]

Bashdad,

No one who follows the CCIW or NCC said anything about triple TD favorites.  I put the line at NCC -12, which I think is about right. Hazzbeen called It -20.5 and you'll notice he is a Bethel fan from the MIAC.

Your comments about Wes remind me of 2008 when Pete Ittersagen was the best special teams player in the universe (and he is in the NFL). He absolutely dominated the post season winning games @Wabash, and @Franklin. we played @Mt Union and they kicked to him every time. Their superior speed on special teams negated the obvious advantage. NCC has an outspoken policy of not playing starters on special teams and they have still ranked at the top of the conference in most categories. I agree with you that they will likely kick to Wes. This will be an interesting story line to follow Saturday.

The best point you make is the road vs home stat. I completely agree this is the wildcard. Most teams don't play as well on the road as they do at home. If there is another Redlands type game out there for NCC it will be on the road at a place like Wabash.

This is the part that worries me the most about this game. NCC's coverage units have been  spotty in the games that I have seen this year. The returners seemed to always be just 1 man away from breaking one.

That was very apparent in the Wheaton game.  2 kickoffs were returned to the 50 and as you said were one man away from a return for TD.  <sigh>... not that it would have mattered.   

As shown in the stats that Mugsy has provided, NCC has punted 37 times. Only 13 have been returned for a total of 36 yards.

[USee]

And order was restored to the boards with the return of Wally Wabash!!

Some excellent, rational banter so far this week. Unfortunately, the booby prize to  the winner of this game is  participation  in the irrational banter starting next week.

[Always.A.Titan]

Bashdad,

No one who follows the CCIW or NCC said anything about triple TD favorites.  I put the line at NCC -12, which I think is about right. Hazzbeen called It -20.5 and you'll notice he is a Bethel fan from the MIAC.

Your comments about Wes remind me of 2008 when Pete Ittersagen was the best special teams player in the universe (and he is in the NFL). He absolutely dominated the post season winning games @Wabash, and @Franklin. we played @Mt Union and they kicked to him every time. Their superior speed on special teams negated the obvious advantage. NCC has an outspoken policy of not playing starters on special teams and they have still ranked at the top of the conference in most categories. I agree with you that they will likely kick to Wes. This will be an interesting story line to follow Saturday.

The best point you make is the road vs home stat. I completely agree this is the wildcard. Most teams don't play as well on the road as they do at home. If there is another Redlands type game out there for NCC it will be on the road at a place like Wabash.

This is the part that worries me the most about this game. NCC's coverage units have been  spotty in the games that I have seen this year. The returners seemed to always be just 1 man away from breaking one.

That was very apparent in the Wheaton game.  2 kickoffs were returned to the 50 and as you said were one man away from a return for TD.  <sigh>... not that it would have mattered.   

As shown in the stats that Mugsy has provided, NCC has punted 37 times. Only 13 have been returned for a total of 36 yards.

It only takes 1 return to change a game. Ask Devin "Any Time" Hester. I am not saying Wes Chamblee is Devin Hester, but he is darn good. And, I am guessing if it required special attention 2 years ago, it requires special attention this week.