FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Son of Tailgater]

New poll is out.  Positions of Wheaton and NCC unchanged, though Wheaton has slightly more breathing room over Wesley: Wheaton dropped one point, but Wesley dropped 11 points.  NCC remains #14, but gained 32 points, while #13 Otterbein gained only 11, and leads NCC by only 5.

A curiosity in the ORV's: IWU rose from 5 to 18 points (expected), but Carthage ROSE from 2 points to 17!  Did some voters go dyslexic on the score??!

The only reasoning I can't think of for that would be that quite a few teams in the ORV's lost really really badly. No clue though, it has to be an error. Good find!

[Gregory Sager]

There was a front-page story in last week's issue of NPU's student newspaper, the North Park Press, that'll give you some indication of what I just posted about. The story's headline is "Coach Davis: Public Enemy #1".

[Scotdog82]

Augie/Elmhurst

Could be summed up in a couple words for EC-  Missed opportunities.  Elmhurst had plenty of opportunities to win this game.  Holding Augie to 7 and then 14 points a half, the offense needs to reciprocate.  We dropped a sure TD at the 5 yd line when it was 7-3 and then missed an Int by the DE which would have been 7 when (I believe) it was 14-3.
Eventually any defense is going to crack when they are on the field THAT LONG a time. 
This is the first time all year I have seen dropped balls (our receivers had a horrible day), which cost us 14 points and many 3rd down conversions.

It was not as much Augie beat us  as we beat ourselves with poor execution.

Augustana gave up a total of 187 yards.  Perhaps the defense should get a little credit for helping "you" beat yourselves...

[CardinalAlum]

Ok, so my world that once revolved around NCC football is now filled with Saturdays and Sundays of travel football and soccer with my two youngest kids.  I have not seen an NCC game yet so I can't give much of an opinion other than the score of the Millikin game was a shocker to me.    Obviously, some people have stepped up and have done their best to fill the voids that the injuries to Sulo and Wenger caused.  The difference in NCC now from a few years back is depth.  Injuries would have buried a Cardinal team in the past, but they have better people on the roster all the way up and down and it makes a huge difference.  As Usee, Mugsy and others have stated, you can't win in this league playing freshmen at key spots.  Will be starting to engage a little more and hopfully I can add a little more to this board than I have been able to at this point.  Wash'dup Card is back from his honeymoon and has nothing to do except keep his wife happy and get back into Cardinal football!! 

[Mugsy]

Ok, so my world that once revolved around NCC football is now filled with Saturdays and Sundays of travel football and soccer with my two youngest kids.  I have not seen an NCC game yet so I can't give much of an opinion other than the score of the Millikin game was a shocker to me.    Obviously, some people have stepped up and have done their best to fill the voids that the injuries to Sulo and Wenger caused.  The difference in NCC now from a few years back is depth.  Injuries would have buried a Cardinal team in the past, but they have better people on the roster all the way up and down and it makes a huge difference.  As Usee, Mugsy and others have stated, you can't win in this league playing freshmen at key spots.  Will be starting to engage a little more and hopfully I can add a little more to this board than I have been able to at this point.  Wash'dup Card is back from his honeymoon and has nothing to do except keep his wife happy and get back into Cardinal football!! 

Rats!  It has been more enjoyable in here lately with less NCC talk.   

Welcome back... I guess.   

[New Tradition]

the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance

Love it! K+

[AndOne]

Ok, so my world that once revolved around NCC football is now filled with Saturdays and Sundays of travel football and soccer with my two youngest kids.  I have not seen an NCC game yet so I can't give much of an opinion other than the score of the Millikin game was a shocker to me.    Obviously, some people have stepped up and have done their best to fill the voids that the injuries to Sulo and Wenger caused.  The difference in NCC now from a few years back is depth.  Injuries would have buried a Cardinal team in the past, but they have better people on the roster all the way up and down and it makes a huge difference.  As Usee, Mugsy and others have stated, you can't win in this league playing freshmen at key spots.  Will be starting to engage a little more and hopfully I can add a little more to this board than I have been able to at this point.  Wash'dup Card is back from his honeymoon and has nothing to do except keep his wife happy and get back into Cardinal football!! 

Don't know if this is typical within the CCIW, but I believe only 7 freshmen are on the NCC travel team, and the majority of them probably don't see a whole lot of action.

[Son of Tailgater]

Ok, so my world that once revolved around NCC football is now filled with Saturdays and Sundays of travel football and soccer with my two youngest kids.  I have not seen an NCC game yet so I can't give much of an opinion other than the score of the Millikin game was a shocker to me.    Obviously, some people have stepped up and have done their best to fill the voids that the injuries to Sulo and Wenger caused.  The difference in NCC now from a few years back is depth.  Injuries would have buried a Cardinal team in the past, but they have better people on the roster all the way up and down and it makes a huge difference.  As Usee, Mugsy and others have stated, you can't win in this league playing freshmen at key spots.  Will be starting to engage a little more and hopfully I can add a little more to this board than I have been able to at this point.  Wash'dup Card is back from his honeymoon and has nothing to do except keep his wife happy and get back into Cardinal football!! 

Don't know if this is typical within the CCIW, but I believe only 7 freshmen are on the NCC travel team, and the majority of them probably don't see a whole lot of action.

It is not rare for freshman to be on the travel team but more rare for a team to have Freshman starters. A lot of the Freshman that travel have special teams roles or are 2nd and 3rd stringers. High school to college football is quite a jump with strength, speed and extra 12 minutes in the games. It takes a pretty gifted athlete to adjust to that or to already have the strength and speed needed to be effective at the college level.

I traveled my freshman year and played maybe 5-10 plays the whole year. My role was to back up the entire o-line as we only traveled 2-3 back up players.

I am assuming that NCC has some very capable "back-ups" and by back-ups I mean these are probably guys that would be able to start at a lot of other schools in D3. It just so happens that they backing up Sulo and Wenger. The reputation that NCC has developed over the past few years has definitely brought them some quality talent from all over. This allows for them to keep moving forward without having key injuries take them out of games/ the season.

[devildog29]

Since it's slow going around here, the Pantagraph article on the 102nd matchup between IWU and Millikin.

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/article_690fc4a2-b3af-11de-b74a-001cc4c03286.html

[Mugsy]

One area of the Wheaton/Augie game that I'm interested to see and may prove to be a problem for Wheaton is the run defense.  Teams like Bethel and Hope had some success running the ball.  That may be in part due to Wheaton still getting familiar and comfortable with the 3-4 scheme as opposed to the 4-3 used in the past.  It was also impacted by Nick Theobald having a minor injury and missing a game - not having a 6'5" 285lbs, senior nose guard will make a difference.  I believe Nick is health now. 

Teams that use a "North/South" running attack seem to have a bit more success against the 3-4 (which is geared towards stopping the spread attack).

That said in years past Coach Swider has often used a specific defensive package only for Augie week.  In the late 80's Wheaton implemented and used the 46 defense almost exlusively for Augie.  Will Wheaton come out in their 3-4 base package or will Coach Swider & staff come out with something different?

I'm also a bit nervious about the problems Wheaton has had in the kicking game - primarily extra points and FG.  This is the kind of game that a missed extra point could cost the game. 

Should be an exciting game with a huge Wheaton homecoming crowd.  Looking forward to seeing a bunch of my former teammates for our 20th reunion - hard to believe how fast time flys.

[Son of Tailgater]

One area of the Wheaton/Augie game that I'm interested to see and may prove to be a problem for Wheaton is the run defense.  Teams like Bethel and Hope had some success running the ball.  That may be in part due to Wheaton still getting familiar and comfortable with the 3-4 scheme as opposed to the 4-3 used in the past.  It was also impacted by Nick Theobald having a minor injury and missing a game - not having a 6'5" 285lbs, senior nose guard will make a difference.  I believe Nick is health now. 

Teams that use a "North/South" running attack seem to have a bit more success against the 3-4 (which is geared towards stopping the spread attack).

That said in years past Coach Swider has often used a specific defensive package only for Augie week.  In the late 80's Wheaton implemented and used the 46 defense almost exlusively for Augie.  Will Wheaton come out in their 3-4 base package or will Coach Swider & staff come out with something different?

I'm also a bit nervious about the problems Wheaton has had in the kicking game - primarily extra points and FG.  This is the kind of game that a missed extra point could cost the game. 

Should be an exciting game with a huge Wheaton homecoming crowd.  Looking forward to seeing a bunch of my former teammates for our 20th reunion - hard to believe how fast time flys.

I think Wheaton has to get away from the 3-4 to have success against Augie. If they do stick with the 3-4 I think you would have suspect they will be blitzing on every play for gap control.


I have two more weeks of youth football and then I will finally be able to attend some CCIW games. 

[Son of Tailgater]

There was a front-page story in last week's issue of NPU's student newspaper, the North Park Press, that'll give you some indication of what I just posted about. The story's headline is "Coach Davis: Public Enemy #1".

This is a great article! +K as soon as I make 75 more posts!!

[Mugsy]

One area of the Wheaton/Augie game that I'm interested to see and may prove to be a problem for Wheaton is the run defense.  Teams like Bethel and Hope had some success running the ball.  That may be in part due to Wheaton still getting familiar and comfortable with the 3-4 scheme as opposed to the 4-3 used in the past.  It was also impacted by Nick Theobald having a minor injury and missing a game - not having a 6'5" 285lbs, senior nose guard will make a difference.  I believe Nick is health now. 

Teams that use a "North/South" running attack seem to have a bit more success against the 3-4 (which is geared towards stopping the spread attack).

That said in years past Coach Swider has often used a specific defensive package only for Augie week.  In the late 80's Wheaton implemented and used the 46 defense almost exlusively for Augie.  Will Wheaton come out in their 3-4 base package or will Coach Swider & staff come out with something different?

I'm also a bit nervious about the problems Wheaton has had in the kicking game - primarily extra points and FG.  This is the kind of game that a missed extra point could cost the game. 

Should be an exciting game with a huge Wheaton homecoming crowd.  Looking forward to seeing a bunch of my former teammates for our 20th reunion - hard to believe how fast time flys.

I think Wheaton has to get away from the 3-4 to have success against Augie. If they do stick with the 3-4 I think you would have suspect they will be blitzing on every play for gap control.


I have two more weeks of youth football and then I will finally be able to attend some CCIW games. 

I'd be very surprised if Wheaton comes out in a 3-4 on Saturday, but I have virtually nothing to base this on other than opinion.

[lakeshore]

Wheaton played the 3-4 extremely well against NPU's double wing offense on Saturday although the differences in personnel will be less significant against Augie.

Wheaton's QB Norris is special and will give the Augie D problems.

I hope Coach P knows whats he's doing taking one of our few CCIW caliber players in Shelby Wood off the field.  In the blink of an eye NCC could hang 60 on us. 

[lakeshore]

There was a front-page story in last week's issue of NPU's student newspaper, the North Park Press, that'll give you some indication of what I just posted about. The story's headline is "Coach Davis: Public Enemy #1".

This is a great article! +K as soon as I make 75 more posts!!

I spoke with Joe after the game on Sat and it was not surprising to see numerous NPU players come up and greet him positively with a big hug.  He had nothing but outstanding things to say about Pethtel, the football staff and his experience at North Park.  Showed a lot of class and we wish him the best.