FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[zorbadagreek]

I believe NCC will take it to the redmen. My games for the week
NCC 28 - Carthage 7
Auggie 49 - Elmhurst 14
Millikin 28 - NP 6
Wheaton 35 - Elmhurst 0

[79jaybird]

Zorba, you really think Elmhurst will get shut out by Wheaton?
Devildog, I could only imagine, but agree if you're out playing, the adrenaline and body heat counteract the frigid temps.
Elmhurst plays Wheaton and Augie plays IWU.  Carthage @ NCC in Naperville
Big4/ Little 4 in say from 1990-1999  was Augie, Millikin, IWU, Wheaton (big 4)
Elmhurst, NC, NPU, and Carthage (little 4)  and not in this order
Nowadays, big time contenders  Wheaton, Augie, NC, Carthage
Outside contenders Elmhurst Millikin
IWU, and NPU one is fading fast while the other is up and coming.
All in all the bottom line remains, this conference is stacked top to bottom with great talent and parity can be expected weekly.  Makes you proud to be associated with it.

[wheels81]

Jaybird,
I would say that Milikin is the only outsider "contender"  Elmhurst hasn't played anyone yet to get contender status.  Millikin remains in the top 5 because they have legimate chances of beating Augie and NC.  Elmhurst would have to be very lucky to even contend with Augie or NCC or Carthage. 
I don't want  to jinx Wheaton but if they play their game w/o costly redzone turnovers they should beat teams like Elmhurst handily (ie Greenville, Hope).  With the costly turnovers then they should still win but close like the Gustavus game. 
They outlasted a tough Millikin team, and look what happened when they threw 4 interceptions to to a good team, NCC,they lost, but still were contending down to the last 3 minutes.

[Augie6]

Jaybird,

I have to agree with bgbully about putting Elmhurst in the outside contender category.  I think it's great that they have started 5-0 for the first time in quite awhile, but I wouldn't consider any of the victories as "quality" wins.  IMO, they need to win at least one of their remaining games (which won't be easy) and keep a couple of the remaining games close, in order to say they are turning the corner.  If I were a betting man, I'd put money on Elmhurst not winning another game this season.  (But the reason I'm not a betting man is I've lost  too many times).  Hopefully, they prove me wrong as long as it's not against Augie.

[b_holmgren]

Question for the Wheaton faithful.. or anyone else who would care to take a shot... How good has Joe Chupp been so far? He's putting up the numbers, obviously, but is that a product of Jeremy having no one else to throw to? How is this new crop of receivers doing with the task of replacing Musso/Sinclair/Fenley?

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Congratulations Elmhurst on a .500 season, you won't win again.  You should think about bringing over Bill Lech from York high school to coach your team.

[wheels81]

Hey Brian,
Yes, Joe has been that good.  He would have been even better in Milikin if he hadn't fumbled.   He runs very good routes and doesn't give up on the ball.  The other two receivers that play Mele (sp) and Fossum are big targets, both around 6' 5" and offer a better target for fade routes in the endzone.  Also Matt Bradley, brother of Chad has seen some time and caught some clutch passes.  So Jeremy has many targets but blood is thicker than water and I think he has a better idea of where Joe will run and catch.

[zorbadagreek]

So at the halfway mark: Who are each teams mvp at this point?? My nominees:
Auggie - Roe
Wheaton - Jeremy Chupp
Carthage - T. Mengel or their entire defense, take your pick.
NP - Watts
Elmhurst - Luna
Millikin - Wallick
North Central - Spencer
Wesleyan - Kudyba
Are these pretty much on or did I overlook someone??

[zorbadagreek]

At the halfway mark, id have to give the MVP award to Roe! He is leading a great rushing offense and threw a td pass to beat the defending conference champs on the road!

[Mugsy]

At the halfway mark, id have to give the MVP award to Roe! He is leading a great rushing offense and threw a td pass to beat the defending conference champs on the road!

Not to take anything away from Roe and what he has accomplished in his career or this season, but I'd give the MVP for Augie to either their OLine or defense as unit.  The defense has been the difference for Augie so far this year, a la the Carthage game.

[Mugsy]

So at the halfway mark: Who are each teams mvp at this point?? My nominees:
Auggie - Roe
Wheaton - Jeremy Chupp
Carthage - T. Mengel or their entire defense, take your pick.
NP - Watts
Elmhurst - Luna
Millikin - Wallick
North Central - Spencer
Wesleyan - Kudyba
Are these pretty much on or did I overlook someone??

IMO...
Augie: Defense as unit... it has been the difference so far or Tom Anthony (7 Int's)
Wheaton: Joe Chupp (not Jeremy - 11 Int's so far), Andy Studebaker (7 sacks in replacement of Trey Andrews), or Jeff Grandy (makes plays game after game, game winning 4th down tackle against Millikin)
NCC: Kniss all the way... my pick for OPOY so far.
Carthage: haven't seen them play, but either the entire D or someone on the D.  Without their defense, Carthage is a VERY average team.

Can't speak intelligently about the rest of the teams.

[zorbadagreek]

Mugsy, Your right about Joe, I meant him too, not jeremy for wheaton. But I'll stick with Roe, Anthony is having a great year but a couple of those picks came against NP in a blow out!

[matblake]

I gotta go with either Joe Chupp or Studebaker for Wheaton.

Wallick a no brainer for Millikin

Kniss is definitely the OPOY to this point.  We saw what happened when he went down last year.

Seems like a defensive player should be for both Carthage and Augie.  However, it is hard to argue against Roe, especially because he passed for a touchdown!!! 

Haven't seen/heard enough about the other teams to know who to pick, although some good things have been said about Haehn from North Park.

[matblake]

What do you think the most likely upset would be this weekend?  Let's use the confidence rating like over on the pick em's board.  Rate them as 4 for most likely upset down to 1 as the least likely for an upset.

Elmhurst over Wheaton 4
Remember the Bluejays are undefeated in conference, the Thunder are not.  Despite that, I think the general consensus on the board is that Elmhurst would be the underdog in this game.
IWU over Augie  3 
I don't think that the Titans have shown they would be able to handle Augie, but a big win last week for the Vikings might spell let down
North Park over Millikin 2 
Millikin is strong with the run, we saw what the Augie running game did to the Chicago version of the Vikings
Carthage over NCC 1 
I don't think either team winning would be an upset, but I had to pick Carthage as the underdog simply because they have one loss.

[wheels81]

If I do understand your scoring I would do the following:

Carthage over NCC at #4 as the most likely "upset"
and the other 3 games as  #1 Meaning it ain't gonna happen no way no how in any of those games.