FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

USee, you remember that game!  haha, yes Roach would wear that silly cowboy hat whether it was 90 degrees or 20 below.  Roach came to us from a smaller school in either North Dakota or South Dakota where I guess that type of wear is customary.  But at a suburban Chicago school like the CCIW, it looked funny and out of place.

[Tailgater]

Tailgater,

Where do you usually set up for your tailgates?  Some friends and I will also be doing a little pre-game tailgate on Saturday also.  We were planning on getting started around 10.  Do they give you any problems parking there that early or leaving the cars there through the game?

We set up at the edge of parking lot A (main lot by the field) in the practice field grass behind the stadium. Look for the 20' flag pole flying the Carthage flag, a red tent and enormous grill on a trailer (community grill). I'll be there along with many other fun loving tailgaters. My philosophy is the sooner you start the more time to indulge. The earlier you get there the least likely there will be parking issues. They have cracked down on parking without permits, but during family weekend it wasn't much of a  problem and I would think Homecoming would be a little more lax as well. See you there!

[irish21]

Joe...I think Patrick and the Grybash brothers are going up for the festivities tomorrow. He doesn't want to miss the crosstown classic tonight between Fremd and Palatine.

[redman04]

Joe...I think Patrick and the Grybash brothers are going up for the festivities tomorrow. He doesn't want to miss the crosstown classic tonight between Fremd and Palatine.

I'll give grybs a call and leave a message.  I have his number but not Pat's. Like I said We are planning to start the tailgate action around 10 am.  Should be a good time!

[CCIW]

I watched the MIAC St. Johns vs. Concordia of Moorhead game this past week.  These are two ranked teams and we all know the St. Johns story.  Maybe I saw both teams at less than peak performance, but I just could not see either of these teams getting through the CCIW with less than two losses.  But on the other hand, no CCIW team has done anything close to what St. Johns has done in the playoffs for a long, long time.

Anyone have any thoughts on this observation?     

[dansand]

CCIW,
I agree. As tough and deep as the league is, they still haven't advanced anyone past the quarterfinals since Augie's run in the '80s. I think until they can consistently advance teams deep into the playoffs and even make an occasional Stagg bowl appearance, it'll be considered a very good, but not great, conference.

[Mugsy]

dansand,

It is a "what if" scenario (and therefore pretty irrelevant), but if you take away Mount Union, which has surpassed what Augie did in the 80's, and I'd bet one of the CCIW champs over the past 10 years would have advanced to at least the semi's.

That said... the CCIW is a great conference, but needs some validation by getting deeper into the playoffs.  Last year was a step in the right direction to have 2 teams win at least one playoff game.  In general, I don't think a CCIW team will advance beyond MU until it is a strong defensively as offensively.  We'll see which team(s) represent this year...

[dansand]

Mugsy,
No question. Mt. Union has been a huge roadblock for a decade-and-a-half. But in that time, the CCIW's had eight shots at the Raiders and only one game was closer than 18 points. After five of those losses the Mount didn't go on to win the Stagg Bowl. You might be right that the CCIW would have gotten a team to the semi's if Mt. Union wasn't there, but the fact that they haven't really been all that competitive, even agianst the non-title Raider teams, makes that far from a certainty. In fairness, Wheaton's 42-21 loss in '02 was the closest game Mt. Union had in the playoffs that year.

[NCC_alum62]

NCC vs Elmhurst

14-14 start of second half

mistakes (pic and fumble hurting the cards today)

[Mugsy]

Mugsy,
No question. Mt. Union has been a huge roadblock for a decade-and-a-half. But in that time, the CCIW's had eight shots at the Raiders and only one game was closer than 18 points. After five of those losses the Mount didn't go on to win the Stagg Bowl. You might be right that the CCIW would have gotten a team to the semi's if Mt. Union wasn't there, but the fact that they haven't really been all that competitive, even agianst the non-title Raider teams, makes that far from a certainty. In fairness, Wheaton's 42-21 loss in '02 was the closest game Mt. Union had in the playoffs that year.

In that 42-21 game, Wheaton had more offense than Mount.  Difference of the game was a punt return for a TD, and a kick return to the 10 yard line.  Special teams are always huge.

[Mugsy]

Same-ole story so far this year...

Wheaton driving to run down the clock and add some points to the board, but... interception by Chupp returned 60+ yards for a TD.  IWU over Wheaton 16-14 with 10:27 to go in game.  Ugh!

Flubbed snap on PAT by IWU may play HUGE, as a FG will win it now.  Wheaton seems to be running the ball effectively.  Hope they just pound it and avoid the interceptions.

[Mugsy]

IWU marches down the field and scores... IWU 23 - Wheaton 14 with 3 minutes left.  IWU takes it to Wheaton today.  Wheaton O continues to struggle...

[dansand]

Mugsy,
Augie had a similar experience against Mt. Union in 1999.
They ran 91 plays to MUC's 33; had a 48:08 to 11:52 advantage in TOP; outgained them 447-293 (including 398-189 on the ground); but the Raiders scored quickly (obviously) on big plays the whole game, including a 90-yard KO return in the fourth quarter. Mt. Union won the game 42-33. Amazing and frustrating.
...Speaking of the Purple Raiders, unless I'm reading the scoreboard wrong, they went down to Ohio Northern today 21-14. Anybody got an Augie-Millikin score. I couldn't get their webcast to work.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The Mount did indeed fall 21-14 to Ohio Northern - Mount's first regular season loss in ELEVEN YEARS!!

[Mugsy]

Outside of a miracle (from the Wheaton standpoint), IWU's got it wrapped up in Bloomington.