FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[burly]

Just learned that one man died during the marathon today... horrible.  I saw one guy packed in ice and unresponsive.  Over 300 taken to the hospital and only 24K of the 45K runners completed the race.

That is horrible - sounds like the heat was brutal.  Congrats on finishing that is no easy task.

It seems like every year somebody unfortunately dies.  I ran the Chicago marathon a couple of years ago and a lady in her mid 30s, excellent health also died.  As it turned out, she was my cousin's soccer coach in high school.  Huge bummer...

[cardinaldad]

And, I'm going to say it ....... My heart goes out to the Cards. I know it's part of the game, but it is a darn shame that for two out of the past three years that one flag at the end of a game did and could potentially determine the outcome of the CCIW championship.

And again, what a GREAT game to spectate!!

I hate to see controversial flags at the end of games. I didn't see the hold but you could probably call holding on many plays. I think its not a good idea to put the outcome of the game on one flag. The refs seemed a little overwhelmed. It appeared to me they missed some calls throughout the game that affected both sides. At one point the head referee ordered Wheaton's linebacker, Toal, off the field for "a couple plays". No flag, no ejection. Just a "timeout" of sorts. That was extremely strange as NCC was driving at the time.

I was in the visitor stands and the extra player for Wheaton was probably about 3 yrd from the sideline when the ball was snapped for the final NCC play. He was definately still on the field but also in an area the officials may give some grace. They had a lot on their plate on that last play but if you are going to throw a flag for holding you better throw it for the 12th guy.

One thing is for certain, the officials were not very consistent. Its a shame their performance is a topic for discussion in such a great game.

Usee, I agree with you 99% on this. Great game! And I hate to see inconsistent officiating. It is a shame for it to occur in a game like this and be a topic if discussion. I agree, holding can probably be called on most plays. Officials will sometimes look the other way if it is not blatant, if it didn't have an impact on the play, or if the 0-lineman can conceal it well enough. . However, there is no "grace area" for 12 men on the field. There are either 12 men on the field or not. On the college level, that penalty will be called 99.99999999999999999999% of the time. I say 99.9999999% because it wasn't called Sat. This is not youth or freshman high school level football where the game is a learning experience and the officials can tell a player what he did wrong and flag him the next time.
For the most part, the officials let the teams play, as well they should. But, I have to ask, how many holding penalties were called in the game? When?
That is very interesting about Toal. I've never seen or heard of that. Are you sure he was taken out at the official's direction? Or, maybe did the coaches take him out to cool him off rather than get an unsportsmanlike penalty? Do you have any more information on why that occurred?

[cardinaldad]

And has anybody mentioned the extra 10-15 seconds North Central got when the scoreboard operator inexplicably stopped the clock after Fanthorpe's five yard scramble in the middle of the field on first down with about 1:20 left?

That's home cooking . The officials stopped the game and had them reset the clock.

[cardinaldad]

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.

ditto. glad you are alright!

[burly]

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 fear the Red Men might be ripe for picking. They are also experiencing serious medical issues again like last year with staph infection taking out some of their players. The offensive line is....... well......banged up and digging deep for depth. They did do all right this weekend with the run game, but most of that success was due to Andy Bures finding cracks to sprint through. The Red Men pass defense needs to tighten up and lock down.

After taking it from all angles for over two weeks for suggesting this possibility (NPU beating Carthage), it's really depends on if Carthage shows up to play.  This Redman can give any team in the conference a run - they managed to do what Augie couldn't do against IWU in many facets despite still losing.  

On the other hand, this may be a year of close losses for Carthage.  In the past, some of those teams have responded, 2003 to 2004 for example - Redman04 I assume you played on that team and may have insight on how this team is similiar/different to the 2003 team.  Usually, it's a strong class of Juniors that know they have something special, but are one year away from making it happen.

Anyway, I want to look at the stats again - crazy two weeks in D1 and D3 CCIW football.   Wheaton has earned the top spot, but there is still a lot of football to be played.

[cardinaldad]

I noticed Ittersagan was limping and was not in the game for some time. Any reports on his injury? By the way he returned those punts, it must not be too serious. I saw no limp then!!

[cardinaldad]

It appears that IWU is the real deal. Be aware CCIW!!!

[burly]

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 dropping Grossman and picking up Griese on your fantasy team!  Despite the INTs, Griese has actually put up some decent fantasy numbers these last two weeks - 286yards 2TDs 3INTs last week and 214yards 2TDs 1INT this week.

[burly]

It appears that IWU is the real deal. Be aware CCIW!!!

I'm feeling a little animosity over Saturday's game... did you mean beware Wheaton?

[cardinaldad]

No, not specifically. All teams remaining on IWU's schedule should beware.

[cardinaldad]

BP - Animosity over what?

[burly]

No, not specifically. All teams remaining on IWU's schedule should beware.

I agree with you.  Just testing the water - no animosity. 

[ncc58]

On the one punt that he didn't return, he caught the ball and slipped when he tried to cut. When he went to the sideline, the trainers seemed to focus on his left foot. After he seemed to be able to run in all directions without a problem, he was retaped and returned to the game.

I noticed Ittersagan was limping and was not in the game for some time. Any reports on his injury? By the way he returned those punts, it must not be too serious. I saw no limp then!!

[ncc58]

Let's ignore the officiating in the Wheaton-NCC game. There were several plays that really decided the game. Some were coaching decisions, others were just execution. Penalties did NCC in.

Two NCC turnovers by NCC in the red zone in the first half.

Failure by NCC twice in the first half to down the ball inside the 20 on punts - once from the Wheaton 40, the second one was from the Wheaton 38.

Holding on NCC WR - wiped out 20 yard gain by Sulo.

Offsides by NCC, and Wheaton scoring on the next play.

NCC Block in the back on a punt return, resulting in good field position for Wheaton on a change of possession.

On the game winning TD ... The whole game, NCC had blitzed at least one LB/DB. But  they must have expected Wheaton to be passing towards the sidelines and saving their remaining timeout. No one blitzed. The DBs stayed wide, the LBs dropped back. Norris had plenty of time and dropped the ball over the LBs. In hindsight, NCC should have continued to pressure the QB.

NCC Holding in the last drive.

NCC has played Wheaton pretty well in the last three seasons. If Wheaton is the best, the gap is narrowing but Wheaton still is better. They execute when they need to, NCC made too many mistakes on potential game changing plays.

[79jaybird]

CardinalDad,  stats don't always tell the tale and can be misleading. 
Augie will tell you that Elmhurst owned the first half but fell apart when it came time to convert opportunties into points.  Augie came alive in the 3rd quarter which was the decisive frame allowing Augie to pull away. 
Denial?  Hardly! Augie won this game because they executed and we didn't.. where's the denial?  We had our chances and that's all you can ask for on the road.  Hopefully next week we (that is Elmhurst) convert our opportunities so we don't end up on the wrong side at home.