FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

I think IWU will win this saturday, but they have to be sharp, and bring their A game.  Aurora is having a ceremony inaugurating their new field and is expecting to have a big turnout.  This is going to be an inspired Spartan team.  I don't think the Spartans have the physical strength to match IWU, but the Titans can't waltz into Aurora and think they will walk away with a win.

Mugsy, I love that photo from the WC/BU game.  I saw that one and laughed, because it was the same thing in Olivet.  OC's Pat Clasgens' first carry he stepped down and splash right at the 20 yd line.

This is going to be the last North Central/Benedictine game for awhile.  With the recent uprise of North Central, Benedictine is going to be looking for a new opponent in 2009. 

[NCC.2008]

I don't think IWU has anything to worry about with Aurora. Although they are getting a new stadium it doesn't mean that their football team is going to be any better. I'm predicting Ladd throws for at least 4 td's in this game.

[NCC.2008]

Mugsy,
I agree with you on the conditions of the new style turf vs. natural grass fields. A storm half the size of this past weekends would have made a natural grass field almost impossible to play on.

[W.Sobchak]

Turf and sod can both be great surfaces provided adequate drainage.  I'm not sure too many d3 schools have the money to create a natural grass field that would hold up under last weekend's conditions.  Even pro fields get tore up in bad conditions...see Pittsburgh and New England.  Most of the newer artificial fields now-a-days have fantastic drainage.  Judging by those pictures, NCC's field looked to hold up just fine.  It's only a matter of time until all of the CCIW will have Fieldturf.

[CardinalAlum]

Which school(s) don't have turf yet?  I know that NCC, Carthage, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Augie and North Park definitely do.  IWU and Millikin are the two I'm not sure about.

[usee]

Which school(s) don't have turf yet?  I know that NCC, Carthage, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Augie and North Park definitely do.  IWU and Millikin are the two I'm not sure about.

and those are the two with natural grass.

[W.Sobchak]

I don't see Coach Eash putting in turf anytime soon.  He's very traditional...IWU didn't have lights until just a few years ago.  The IWU field has been re-sodded about every 3 years for the last 15, I think.  I'm not sure how much that cost would outweigh the cost of new turf.

[washdupcard]

As to the field conditions....

I think the problem with Wheaton's drainage vs. NCC's field may be the fact that Wheaton's field sits at a lesser elevation related to its surroundings...(like the train tracks, the street, etc.)  If the ground was saturated all around the field and most of the run off from the intense rain was moving toward the field that would likely account for the standing water (excepting of course the torrid pace of the rain).

NCC on the other hand is situated close to the DuPage river and most of the run off / drainage has a place to go other than into the ground directly below the field.  I'm no engineer...but I play one on T.V. and this explanation seems reasonable.

[W.Sobchak]

Sold me!  You must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[cardinaldad]

Since I wasn't at either game, what were the conditions like at North Central?  The photos I looked at here: http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=2238 looks like the field was in less waterlogged conditions than just up the road in Wheaton.

That surprised me when I read about the standing water at Wheaton.  I know it rained a lot but there was no standing water on the field at NCC.

I was on the field and was very surprised to see only a couple of very small standing puddles of water along the sideline, under the benches. I didn't see any standing water on the field. I was very surprised at how good the condition of the playing field. The engineers that NCC chose must have done their job. Seriously, that was a heck of a lot of water for any surface to shed! Wet is better to play on than slop mud.

[cardinaldad]

Which school(s) don't have turf yet?  I know that NCC, Carthage, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Augie and North Park definitely do.  IWU and Millikin are the two I'm not sure about.

and those are the two with natural grass.

They don't need artificial turf because they are in the south and don't have the harsh weather we do up north.

[goldenboy]

Maybe if you want to know why Wienke (I believe this is the correct spelling) was removed, replaced by Lester, and then
brought back again, you should go to the source - Coach Thorne could answer those questions so you guys don't have to guess at the answer.  Or better yet, go to the players - they'll tell you!

GoldenBoy

[Gregory Sager]

As to the field conditions....

I think the problem with Wheaton's drainage vs. NCC's field may be the fact that Wheaton's field sits at a lesser elevation related to its surroundings...(like the train tracks, the street, etc.)  If the ground was saturated all around the field and most of the run off from the intense rain was moving toward the field that would likely account for the standing water (excepting of course the torrid pace of the rain).

NCC on the other hand is situated close to the DuPage river and most of the run off / drainage has a place to go other than into the ground directly below the field.  I'm no engineer...but I play one on T.V. and this explanation seems reasonable.

I think that you hit the nail on the head. Since I'm familiar with McCully Field's layout, the same thought occurred to me when I saw the picture from the Bethel @ Wheaton game. North Park's Hedstrand Field only had standing water in the deep left corner of the north end zone during Saturday's Rose-Hulman @ NPU game; the rest of the field drained beautifully, despite the fact that the rain never let up except for about a five-minute stretch in the middle of the second quarter and another five-minute stretch during halftime -- and for much of the game it was coming down in sheets. I'm pretty sure NPU got as much, if not more, rain than did anyone else on Saturday, including Wheaton. I attribute the fact that there was no standing water on the field to: a) an excellent job by the people who installed Hedstrand Field's Field Turf and its underlying drainage system; and b) the fact that Holmgren Athletic Complex sits on high ground with a river to the south and a canal to the east to take all the runoff.

(The downside is that NPU loses more game equipment every year -- baseballs, soccer balls, etc. -- than anyone else in the league due to their being kicked or hit into the North Branch or the North Shore Channel. They both flow so fast that nobody's going to go into the water and fetch the balls.)

[usee]

I think that's right. The Billy Graham Center parking lot, which is across the street from E McCully, was closed and had 4ft of water in it.

[CardinalAlum]

Maybe if you want to know why Wienke (I believe this is the correct spelling) was removed, replaced by Lester, and then
brought back again, you should go to the source - Coach Thorne could answer those questions so you guys don't have to guess at the answer.  Or better yet, go to the players - they'll tell you!

GoldenBoy

Thanks Mrs. Wienke! (glad you spelled your own name correctly)