FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

Congrats to North Central on a great season... can't help but wonder what could have been with a completely healthy team against Franklin though.  That's too bad. 

Also, I gotta congratulate Pokorny for breaking the Wheaton single season receiving TD's record.  What a stud, on and off the field!  He's also closing in on the receiving yards in a season record.

Given all the outstanding receivers Wheaton has had over the years, those single season records are significant.  Outstanding season for Pokorny.

[formerd3db]

I guess Franklin made some believers out of some people today.  NCC is an excellent team, and while some thought they had it made, Franklin proved once again that anything can happen in these playoffs.  From the feedback, it sounds like it was a great game to watch.  Congrats to both teams for fine seasons; obviously Franklin has a chance to continue.  As you all know, Wheaton now carries the hopes for the CCIW.   An impressive win for them today also.

[Joe Wally]

Congratulations to the Thunder.  Your players weren't bigger than ours, or faster than ours, they simply out executed us, in every aspect. 

Should be a tremendous game against the Grizzlies.

[KYGrizzly]

Just wanted to congratulate NCC on their season this year. I know how they feel after todays loss when I saw the same disappointment on Franklins coaches and players faces last year after their devasting loss to NCC.

Hope all the injuries to the NCC players today are not serious.

[wheels81]

Who said anything bad about going back to Indiana 

What a lovely state...Can't wait for the third game across the west border.  Looks like Wheaton will have their hands full  with a versatile potent qb in Rupp..  He alone probably accounted for almost 500 yards.  Maybe he's all runned out

[usee]

Congratulations to Wheaton who, like the basketball team, proved the selection committee right by advancing to the Final 8. This was Wheaton's most complete performance. They dominated both LOS start to finish. I was very surprised as I thought the Wheaton OLine would struggle against a disruptive Wabash front but they handled it very well today. Wabash is a good team and Wheaton dismantled them at their place today. That is what I would call the "anti-elmhurst" performance. As JayBird said, whatever Wheaton ate after that loss at Langhorst field, they better keep some in the kitchen.

Sorry to hear about the NCC defeat and the injuries. was looking forward to battling the school from Naperville again. I am not looking forward to battling Franklin and Chad Rupp, who appears to be a man among boys this post season. Playing at Franklin will be no easy task for the Thunder. If they can manage a win to get to the final 4, they will again have made it all the way to Alliance (presumably). It's always good to be in Alliance in December.

Congrats to the Little Giants who have a first class program from Coaches to players to fans. A great atmoshpere and a very successful program. The LG's will be making some noise for quite a while going forward.

[washdupcard]

Crap.  Tough break for the Cards today.  Great season.  Leaves one to wonder what would have happened but for injuries...but Franklin did have control of the game when everyone started dropping.

Congrats to Wheaton.  Wheaton has been there before they know what to do.

[thunderdog]

Great win for the Thunder today!  Having received a "new lease on life", the Thunder are playing LOOSE... with nothing to lose... keep it up... go tame the Grizzlies.

I listened to the Wheaton game on WETN (while painting), but I didn't realize it until halftime that Doug Rothschild was doing color for the game.  Was this his first time doing so? 
Let me first say, "Roth" might be the only one who can come close to (or dare I say, even surpass) the USee/Mugsy dynamic duo in terms of knowledge on the Wheaton Football program.  Whether it's history of coaches/players, or simply X's and O's, Roth sure knows his stuff.  I thought Roth did a terrific job adding insight between plays and also gave a nice halftime deposition on Studebaker's NFL journery thus far and the possibility of Ittersagen following a similar path.  I also know that Roth has done a ton of scouting for Wheaton throughout the years, especially for NON-CONFERENCE games, when limited film is provided.  Hopefully, WETN makes Roth a permanent addition to the broadcast.

After the Wheaton game, I turned on FM89 to listen to the NCC game.  As the game progressed and it became clear that Franklin would win, I was shocked at the way the play-by-play guy starting pointing fingers... mostly at Coach Thorne.  "In my 4 years, I've never seen a worse coached game by Coach Thorne." was his quote I believe, while citing a lack of adjustment made at halftime by the Cards.  Anyway...

Congrats to the Cards on a great season.  For Franklin to beat NCC in Naperville means one thing... Franklin is a great team.  Thunder vs Grizzlies should be a good one.  Go Wheaton!

[FormerCard]

Tough loss for the Cardinals today. 

The game started out very fast and North Central played well on offense in the 1st quarter.  They seemed faster than the Grizzlies in the beginning but as the game went on, Franklin appeared to take control and played very inspired football.  Injuries hurt the Cardinals today, but all in all, we were outplayed.  I was impressed with the way Kniss came in and led some drives in the 4th quarter.  He stepped in a played well, as it is never easy to lead a comeback, especially when Franklin was playing so well on D.

North Central could not get much pressure on Rupp and at times he had 5 seconds or more to find the open receiver.  He is way to good to give him that much time, he was extremely accurate. 
There were more than 3 plays when a receiver would sneak out to the short side of the field and when he caught the ball, there wasnt a defender within 10 yards of him.  Hats off to Franklin, they adjusted well and had a good game plan today.

It should be a good matchup down in Franklin next weekend.  Wheaton has a good defensive backfield and they will be playing a potent offense to say the least.  I am interested to see how Franklin handles a healthy Wheaton offense that at this point is clicking on all cylinders.

Good luck to Wheaton, as it feels like they are peaking at the right time.

Congratulations to the Cardinals on a great season and a 3rd consecutive CCIW championship.

I am very optimistic about the Cardinals prospects for next season.  It is always nice to return 8 All-Conference players.  You can expect alot of the same from Fanthorpe, Sulo, Sulo and Wenger.  I think Hlavac is just going to continue to get better (along with Johnston) and hopefully some of the other younger WR's will step up in the offseason.  We have alot of O and D lineman back which is always a key when a team is trying to establish itself as a dominant program.

Once again, great season for the Cardinals, as an alum, it was quite a treat.

[New Tradition]

Just got back from the NCC Franklin game.

Please, first allow me to congratulate the NCC players and coaches on having the best season in school history.  You played with speed, power and sportsmanship all season long and were a treat to watch.  Each year Coach Thorne and Co. one up themselves and keep taking the program to places that it has never been before.  I know that they will continue to do so as the years progress, they become better as coaches, and the talent improves.

Now, a few notes on the game to you Wheaties as you will be playing the Grizzlies next week:

I am sure that you have all heard about Rupp and the offense, so I won't harp too much on how awesome he is (best D3 QB I've ever seen in the short time that I have been following D3).  Rather, I'll tell you what I saw defensively from the Cards today and why it was unsuccessful.  For the most part, the Cards were 2 over the top and man underneath.  I don't think I ever saw them bring pressure; they just rushed their 3 down linemen.  Now, I understand what Wienke and Co. were trying to do here.  I believe that they were worried that if they did bring too much pressure, Rupp would find the zone vacated by the blitzing defender and attack it.  I believe that this is a fantastic strategy if you have 3 Studebakers rushing for you, however, the 3 NCC d-linemen were unable to get through the 5 Franklin o-lineman who had plenty of practice pass blocking all season long.  As a result, Rupp had a LONG time to sit in the pocket and wait for somebody to get open.  The DB's did a great job covering for a period of time at the start of each play, but eventually coverage will break down if you can't get pressure on the QB in a reasonable amount of time.  Also, as no one was assigned to watch the flats specifically, they were able to hit the RB on swings/flat routes all day and gained big yardage doing so.  If there is a weakness to this offense, it's that they START OUT as a 1 dimensional team.  They have no ground game at the start of the contest.  The ground game picks up eventually as the game progresses because they are able to loosen up the defense with their air attack.  Also, they had a bad gun snap and a fumbled QB/RB mesh that NCC weren't able to recover.

Defensively, I was impressed with their front 4, especially #13.  That kid is a hoss.  They did a nice job up front both against the run and the pass.  Sulo did have several nice runs before he got hurt, but there were also a few times where they were able to hold him to 2-3 yards.  I thought they did a very good job getting pressure and making the NCC Qb's uncomfortable, throw on the run, etc.

Overall, just a very big, physical team.  For the first time this season, I can honestly say that the Cards were out hit, and out physicaled.  The Thunder need to have a good week of practice, and really bring the wood next week, and execute if they want to make it to Alliance.

Congrats Cards!
Go Thunder!

[FormerCard]

On a selfish note, my brackets are screwed now.        not as much the NC loss, but Willamete and Millsaps let me down....even though they probably arent that concerned about my bracket

[DIIIinVA]

Congrats to the Thunder - I never expected that kind of final margin! Hopefully we'll match up well against Franklin.

[CardinalAlum]

I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am in todays game.  The Cards were completely outcoached.  Injuries my ass, it wouldn't have mattered.  We had no answer for Franklin's offense.  Injuries played a part, but in the end, we had no answer defensively for Rupp.   Coach Leonard is a great coach and a class act and won this game today.  This was the worst defensive game plan I have seen since Capital beat the crap out of us a couple of years ago!

[GRIZ_BACKER]

I agree FC would have probably won anyway, but had the QB been able to go, the drama may have lasted until the final tick. Fun game today.  Good crowd and lots of exciting action on both sides.  FC tailgate was again one of the best road tailgates you will see in D3 (IMO).

The FC defensive line came up big today as well as running by committee (146 yards on the ground today).

[themadswede]

Today's trivia (I think, maybe):

Which former Wheaton coach attended Franklin?