FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Tailgater]

Congrats Mugsy on FINISHING! I don't care how you got there. You have my admiration for all the hard work you did training and the never quit attitude while difficult circumstances surrounded you. +K for you, a hardy hand shack and a pat on the back.

[Titan Q]

The start of this Bears game is making me ill.

[Tailgater]

Looks like it might be another year where Brad Maynard earns the Bears MVP

[Titan Q]

I know Rex Grossman is a mental midget and all, but I hope everyone begging for Griese is happy with a quarterback who cannot throw the ball (typically a skill important to a starting quarterback in the NFL).

[usee]

I know Rex Grossman is a mental midget and all, but I hope everyone begging for Griese is happy with a quarterback who cannot throw the ball (typically a skill important to a starting quarterback in the NFL).

amen to that! this is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for"

[New Tradition]

New rankings posted.  Wheaton sits tight at number 5, NCC takes a massive hit, now only receiving 4 votes.  With such a strong showing against the number 5 team in the nation, I thought it actually might increase the Cardinal's ranking.  I'm kind of surprised that they went down as much as they did.  Pat, any insight as to why NCC would fall so far after a game like that?

[79jaybird]

The Augie/Elmhurst game can be summed up by 2 things  Execution  and the Red Zone conversions.  This game was 0-0 for all but the 2-3 minutes of the first half.  Elmhurst had 4 golden chances to score in the Redzone and moved the ball well against Augie.  However a missed FG, turnover on downs, etc. they ended up 0/4 at the half.  After the fumbled punt Augie had 1 chance in the redzone and converted it 1/1  to make it 7-0 at the half.  I could see from above that the wind was sucked right out of the Bluejays staring at a 7-0 deficit instead of 0-0 (or could easily have been 7-10 to 0 EC).  
Case in point, Augie executed when they had to and Elmhurst did not.

The Elmhurst defense played extremely well and gave the Jays numerous opportunities to seize the game early.  Given the weather conditions and the strength of Augie's Offense, they played well and cannot be expected to be unstoppable all game long.

One thing that is puzzling to me and IMO a cause for concern, is how Elmhurst lined up in the second half.  They basically went with an empty backfield which is a clear sign they are abandoning the run.  As a former defenseman and as the current d knows, an empty backfield is a sign to drop back in pass coverage.  This puts added pressure on your O-Line and QB to execute.  I could see Augie jumping up on the receivers and grabbing the momentum in the second half.

Hopefully the Jays can get back on the winning track for Homecoming next weekend.  Should be a great "Bird  Bowl" battle with EC/NC.

The Bears?  Well, as a Bears' fan I am sick of John Madden and Al Michaels talking 240 about Brett Favre.  There ARE other players and non-Green Bay fans listening.  Hopefully the Bears can come from behind.

Mugsy, congratulations on your accomplishment and feel proud of yourself.  Right now I am at 10-12 miles, so hopefully in a few years we could run the next marathon together?  

[79jaybird]

Both North Central and Elmhurst took major hits, playing very good, playoff conditioned teams?  I'm with New Tradition Pat, how come such a big drop?  I can understand dropping a few slots, but that many?  What do you think?

So Wheaton is obviously sitting pretty right now and IWU is the current surprise.  Second place right now is up for grabs.  Pretty exciting conference race.. should be fun.

[Tailgater]

I know Rex Grossman is a mental midget and all, but I hope everyone begging for Griese is happy with a quarterback who cannot throw the ball (typically a skill important to a starting quarterback in the NFL).

Gotta love that Griese. More TDs thrown and less INTs then Favre and the Bears win their 4th in a row at Greenbay  OK he's still inadequate.

[cardinaldad]

I am back from Naperville. First off I have to say congrats to North Central for how they played. for most of the game they made the catches, runs and tackles they needed to make. They had a great plan and executed it extremely well. Up until about the end of the 3rd quarter NCC had won every phase of the game. The Thunder had missed tackles, couldn't get off blocks, lost the battle at the LOS and generally was the inferior team. I was very impressed with how hard the Cardinal played. Fanthorpe created a lot of problems for the Thunder and the NCC secondary had great coverage. I think the NCC linebackers, particularly Wenger, are beastly and athletic.

I know what its like to be on the losing side of a game like this and its no fun. It is too bad one team had to lose tonight because that was a classic battle with 2 very good teams leaving it all on the field.

Winning on the road in the CCIW is never easy.

I concur Usee. Couldn't have said it better myself!

[cardinaldad]

Way too much excitement in Naperville tonight.  North Central earned my respect.  I still think Wheaton is definitely the better football team, but not by as much as I thought.  The North Central defense really impressed me tonight as did Fanthorpe with his mobility in the pocket.  Wheaton's offense really stepped it up in the second half and it took Norris awhile, but he finally found his rhythm and hopefully that will carry over to next week, because it looks like the success of this offense is going to hinge on quarterback play.  The defense did a great job all night, especially in the red zone, and considering how long they were on the field.  North Central came away with 3 points in their first three red zone opportunities.  If Wheaton doesn't make those stops, the game would've been over by halftime.  They did struggle again stopping the quarterback on the run, but they shut down Sulo in the second half.  I am concerned about the Studebaker injury, though I haven't heard anything about the severity of the inury, just that it was an ankle.  Finally, you have to give credit to Pete Ittersagen for coming up with two big punt returns in the fourth quarter.  Without the field position he gave them, I'm not sure they would've been able to pull it out.  All in all, not the most encouraging night for the Thunder, but we escaped with a victory and kept the bell, so I guess its a pretty good night nonetheless.  Should be a great game against Augie next week!

Thunderstones - You can THINK that Wheaton is the better team. They are a great team. But, you can't say "definitley" the better team. Look at the stats man! Wheaton won because they made the plays when they had to. That's a sign of a great team. After that GREAT game, no one can say that either yeam is DEFINITELY better.

[cardinaldad]

I will add that both NCC and Wheaton seemed to have settled on 1 quarterback. Fanthorpe for NCC took all the snaps and I thought he did a great job managing the game. he took some monster hits and stayed in there to throw the ball. the 60 yd td was a lot poise because he got killed as he threw it. he also made some big plays, particularly on 3rd downs.

For the Thunder, they appear set on Sean Norris as the trigger man and he made many plays with both his feet and his arm. I like the choices as norris made several plays by turning bad plays into good plays.

Norris is definitely a playmaker.  The INTs and slow start worry me though, he can't do that against Augie and expect to win.

Fanthorpe really impressed me with his mobility too, but like Norris he made a few poor decisions and his interceptions were both very costly and may in fact have cost NC the game.  He has lucky not to have a couple more picked off too.

Agreed, Usee and Thunderstones! Norris could have had another pick or two also.

[cardinaldad]

Augustana rushed for 470 yards on 77 carries vs elmhurst. Augie also had the ball for 44 out of 60 minutes. Thats a lot of possession time

The Augie/Elmhurst game can be summed up by 2 things  Execution  and the Red Zone conversions.  This game was 0-0 for all but the 2-3 minutes of the first half.  Elmhurst had 4 golden chances to score in the Redzone and moved the ball well against Augie.  However a missed FG, turnover on downs, etc. they ended up 0/4 at the half.  After the fumbled punt Augie had 1 chance in the redzone and converted it 1/1  to make it 7-0 at the half.  I could see from above that the wind was sucked right out of the Bluejays staring at a 7-0 deficit instead of 0-0 (or could easily have been 7-10 to 0 EC).  
Case in point, Augie executed when they had to and Elmhurst did not.

The Elmhurst defense played extremely well and gave the Jays numerous opportunities to seize the game early.  Given the weather conditions and the strength of Augie's Offense, they played well and cannot be expected to be unstoppable all game long.

One thing that is puzzling to me and IMO a cause for concern, is how Elmhurst lined up in the second half.  They basically went with an empty backfield which is a clear sign they are abandoning the run.  As a former defenseman and as the current d knows, an empty backfield is a sign to drop back in pass coverage.  This puts added pressure on your O-Line and QB to execute.  I could see Augie jumping up on the receivers and grabbing the momentum in the second half.

Hopefully the Jays can get back on the winning track for Homecoming next weekend.  Should be a great "Bird  Bowl" battle with EC/NC.

The Bears?  Well, as a Bears' fan I am sick of John Madden and Al Michaels talking 240 about Brett Favre.  There ARE other players and non-Green Bay fans listening.  Hopefully the Bears can come from behind.

Mugsy, congratulations on your accomplishment and feel proud of yourself.  Right now I am at 10-12 miles, so hopefully in a few years we could run the next marathon together?  

Jaybird - I wasn't at the Elmhurst game, you were, but with the stats that I am seeing, it sounds like you are in denial. Sounds like Augie dominated all game long.

[cardinaldad]

I was sitting at the top of the stadium so I had a clear view of what happened.

It's impossible to say whether the 4th down pass was incomplete, but I'm assuming it was. Immediately though, John Thorne began to argue. And if you have ever talked to him, he does not lose his cool indiscriminately. After a brief argument, he began to argue with another official. He got in the face of the official and then walked away for a few minutes. Then, a second coach began to argue with the same official in the same manner. Then, he walked away. Then, the 3rd coach got into the official's face. And this official threw his flag - which was probably the only call he made all day.

I did not see when the flag for the holding call came out. But the Referee was standing next to the flag - it was his call. I only hope the holding obvious and blatant and paramount to the result of the play since it was the first call on an interior offensive lineman for holding in the game.

I, too, saw what happened at the Cardinal bench. Midwestfb, that is a very accurate description of what happened. I agree with you on the holding call. I spoke with a former player and while he hated to admit it, he said he saw the hold. Film will tell!

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage now becomes a team looking to be a spoiler in the CCIW and I do believe they have the capability of doing so. This is a good team even though their conference record shows no success to date. It's off to North Park next week (oh-oh) and I'm looking to see Carthage take out their frustration on the Vikes.

Given how the first two weeks of the CCIW portion of the season have shaken out, I'm sure that NPU is looking to take out a little frustration as well. The Vikes have moved the ball quite well against both NCC and Millikin, but somehow managed to shoot themselves in the foot time after time with turnovers, while the defense has tended to surrender the big play (particularly in the running game). I'm not changing my mind on this game -- I still see Carthage as the favorite, and would be very surprised to see NPU pull off the win -- but my first inclination is to suspect that the Vikings will give the Red Men a better game of it than they did in last season's pitiful 52-7 contest.

That's why I say Oh-Oh. Carthage is certainly down after their disappointing start in conference play while NP is showing marked improvement.

I dunno, Tailgater ... I don't see this as "uh-oh" territory for Carthage. Yes, I think that NPU will close that gap from last season against Carthage, but it's a 45-point gap. That's a lot to close. I don't see NPU closing all 45 of it in only a one-season swing, no matter how banged up the Red Men happen to be at the moment.

I'm hoping NPU ends up within 20 points of Carthage when the gun sounds next Saturday. That will be real progress for the Vikings, and I'll be happy with it.