FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

What happened to NPU? I was soooo disappointed with the outcome of their game vs. Millikin.

NPU is just plain worn out. I counted fourteen players standing on the sidelines in street clothes on Saturday afternoon. Attrition is a part of football, but when a team starts out the season with no depth, injuries hit a team that much harder. NPU was essentially playing Millikin even in the middle of the second quarter (NPU 8, MU 7), but then stalwart DT Luke Estes was knocked out of the game with an ankle injury. Immediately the Big Blue began running the ball right up the middle, and the Vikings proved incapable of stopping them. In the blink of an eye Millikin scored three touchdowns, went into halftime with a 28-8 lead, and that was all she wrote.

The Vikings are giving it all they've got, but they're running on fumes at this point. A lot of the better talent on both sides of the ball has now been knocked out of the lineup for the season, with nothing substantial left to replace it, and the loss of Estes -- who was playing at an All-CCIW-caliber level -- is catastrophic. I'm afraid that the final three games against Augustana, Carthage, and Illinois Wesleyan will be very, very ugly, and I cringe to think of what those final scores will look like.

Greg, you couldn't have slipped me a PM before the game with this info?!

Just went ahead and let me say 'NPU' on pickems - cruel, you are!

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, you couldn't have slipped me a PM before the game with this info?!

Just went ahead and let me say 'NPU' on pickems - cruel, you are!

If only I were that devious, Chuck. Truth is, I had no idea that the injury bug was this bad. I knew that NPU had lost some substantial players, especially in the Wheaton and North Central games, but seeing fourteen of them standing on the sidelines wearing warmups was a shock.

[cardinaldad]

Keep it up Cards... all the way to Salam...

As in Rashaan Salaam?

[Pat Coleman]

Ittersagen... 5 solo, 2 asst... for a pre-season POY in all of D3football. I'd say thats pretty obsolete. 1 punt return for 0 yrds... 3 KR for 60yds.... all pretty average no matter what program you play for. Ittersagen is a great player... just not this past week... truth hurts... sorry

Preseason player of the year according to whom?

[usee]

Ittersagen... 5 solo, 2 asst... for a pre-season POY in all of D3football. I'd say thats pretty obsolete. 1 punt return for 0 yrds... 3 KR for 60yds.... all pretty average no matter what program you play for. Ittersagen is a great player... just not this past week... truth hurts... sorry

So ittersagen's 7 tackles as a corner is pedestrian but Wenger's 9 as a middle linebacker are DPOY? What are you smoking?

And your punter, who was averaging 40 yds per punt had only 35.2 per punt. That probably had nothing to do with ittersagen either right? your credibility is diminishing with every post.

[usee]

Wheaton is at a critical point for their season this week. They can come back and prove they are a top 10 team by unloading on Elmhurst or they can let an insecure Bluejay team gain their confidence back at home and struggle the rest of the way. It is going to take a lot of focus to get back on track against an aggressive Elmhurst team at their place. They can make a statement by coming out these next 3 weeks and taking care of business. They still very much control their own destiny.

North Central gets to host IWU and Augie before finishing @Elmhurst. I would say they have some risk of a letdown performance vs the Titans and given IWU's strength at receiver I would bet there will be a lot of throwing on the perimeter after Coach Eash sees the Wheaton tape. I would look for NCC to win handily, however. Augie has been very surprising in 2 very strong road efforts @IWU and @ Carthage after getting beat pretty soundly at home v Wheaton.

I would expect Wheaton and NCC to win out but there are a few dangerous teams standing in the way of that prediction.

[RadioNotes]

All RED is not good for balanced reading!

A reminder to the CARD Fans...what makes this board fun
to read is the personality and wit of the posters.  It is NOT
generally acceptable to spend too much time gloating, or even
worse to be kicking a team or player when they are down. 

Good Sportsmanship please or we will be back
to the "how did I get all this bad karma" discussion!

If you want to be sarcastic they use smileys for no possible
misunderstandings...it is a fun board and usually very informative
too....sometimes even laugh out loud good!!   

[FormerCard]

Ittersagen... 5 solo, 2 asst... for a pre-season POY in all of D3football. I'd say thats pretty obsolete. 1 punt return for 0 yrds... 3 KR for 60yds.... all pretty average no matter what program you play for. Ittersagen is a great player... just not this past week... truth hurts... sorry

Preseason player of the year according to whom?

I saw the same article....could have been Lindys?  I cant recall.

[CardinalAlum]

Ittersagen... 5 solo, 2 asst... for a pre-season POY in all of D3football. I'd say thats pretty obsolete. 1 punt return for 0 yrds... 3 KR for 60yds.... all pretty average no matter what program you play for. Ittersagen is a great player... just not this past week... truth hurts... sorry

Preseason player of the year according to whom?

I saw the same article....could have been Lindys?  I cant recall.

You mean the Chili place?   http://www.lindyschili.com/   

[matblake]

Wheaton is at a critical point for their season this week. They can come back and prove they are a top 10 team by unloading on Elmhurst or they can let an insecure Bluejay team gain their confidence back at home and struggle the rest of the way. It is going to take a lot of focus to get back on track against an aggressive Elmhurst team at their place. They can make a statement by coming out these next 3 weeks and taking care of business. They still very much control their own destiny.

Agreed.  The prospect of going up to Carthage is scary.  As well as a good IWU offense.  The Wheaton safeties must elevate their play.  There is always the 1999 factor too.  The Bluejays should not be underestimated.  We'll see if Wheaton rises to the occaision, or is unable to get it done, similar to last year.  I hope to see a better result.

[usee]

Agreed.  The prospect of going up to Carthage is scary.  As well as a good IWU offense.  The Wheaton safeties must elevate their play.  There is always the 1999 factor too.  The Bluejays should not be underestimated.  We'll see if Wheaton rises to the occaision, or is unable to get it done, similar to last year.  I hope to see a better result.

At this point I think I'd rather play the Carthage in Kenosha where they lost to elmhurst and were dominated by Augie than the Carthage that beat IWU in Bloomington and took NCC to the wire in Naperville.  8)

Wheaton needs to play at a high level if they want to beat any of these teams and have a hope of the playoffs.

[CardinalAlum]

Congratulations to the #2 ranked North Central Cardinals!!!! You guys earned it, now keep it going!

NCC absolutely dominated wheaten on all three aspects of the game. Ittersigan(sp) was obsolete. For the exception of a few break downs in the secondary NC played a nearly perfect game. Shut down the run, applied pressure, created turnovers, and moved the ball up and down the field scoring 40+. Very impressed by the win. Janecek & Treglown came up with huge plays on defense the whole game. Fanthorpe looked crisp and kept his composure regardless of the 6'4 260 d-line hitting him every play.

On the way to the game I was listening to the broadcast on the radio.... not so good... broadcast kept coming in and out, announcers were terrible, announcing players on NC names wrong. One comment they made " a fade route is a jump ball".... was VERY disappointed in the "award winning" north central radio...

Keep it up Cards... all the way to Salam...

Please let me aplogize now for all of the uhhhh.....newbies that will come out of the woodwork!!  

Ittersagen was far from obsolete.  I guarantee you that Fanthorpe knew exactly where he was on EVERY play.   The "announcers" are students.  This is why NCC does receive all of the awards they do, because of the kind of experience students receive before they hit the working world.  They are far from perfect, but they try hard.  Before you start talking about "Salam" or anything regarding the playoffs, let's get through the rest of the CCIW schedule!  There are a couple of tough games coming up.

[CardinalAlum]

I like it better at the level you used to play at.   

This one gave me a good chuckle!  ESPECIALLY from the source!!

[DIIIinVA]

Following the CCIW season from afar, it was my impression that NC was probably 7-10 points better than Wheaton if all things were equal, and that in order to win Wheaton would need to play a nearly mistake-free game and win the turnover battle by at least a +2 margin.  That didn't happen, and a team that was already superior did what good teams do and made Wheaton pay for its less than stellar showing. 

I'd love to see both schools win out and the Thunder get an at-large playoff  bid.  But it doesn't look like they have much margin for error this year.  NC is clearly the best team in the conference but even if Wheaton is #2, it's not by much and they could lose to anyone on the remaining schedule.  If any of you make it down to Virginia for the Stagg Bowl (I keep waiting for the year a CCIW team gets by MU and makes it down here) let me know and I'll try to show you some southern hospitality.

[robertgoulet]

Great atmosphere tonight. I really enjoyed my spot in the Wheaton stands at the very top of the west side.

And Goulet was in the home stand.

Sure was. We started in the away side...but were sitting front row behind the bench (about 20 minutes before kickoff) and thought sitting high up in the home stands would be a better vantage point. Other than the wind blowing into our faces it was nice! NCC!