FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[hyrooster]

29 - 7 Wheaton  Start of 4th quarter.

Make that 26 - 7 end of 3rd and WC just kicked a FG with 12:43 left in 4th qtr to make it 29 - 7.

What happened to make it 20 to 13.  I was only gone for a couple of minutes?

I meant 29 - 13.

now 29 - 19. big TD run and pass by IWU. Both had missed extra points though. one by kick and other missed 2pt conversion.

[hyrooster]

IWU has ball on their own 22 with 6:22 left in 4th qtr.

[hyrooster]

IWU has ball on their own 22 with 6:22 left in 4th qtr.

]2:35 left in game WC intercepts IWU. it is pretty much over.

[Titan Q]

I watched most of the IWU/Wheaton game on WETN.  Two quick observations...

1) Wheaton is simply a better team than IWU, on both sides of the ball.

2) The Titans really made some huge mistakes today to prevent themselves from competing in this one.  The offside penalty on Wheaton's first drive (with the Thunder punting)...the Rooney interception soon after that...the illegal block on Lanter's kickoff runback...etc, etc.  This IWU team is not really setup to be able to come back from a large deficit...today, the Titans were just completely taken out of their offensive comfort zone by the scoreboard.


Wheaton looks like a dangerous team to me...the Thunder have a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball.

Great job by the WETN broadcast crew.

[hyrooster]

3rd qaurter scores
MU 24 Augie 21
EC 21 NP 0

[CardinalAlum]

NCC dominated Carthage tonight in impressive fashion.  Jones was pressured and hit all night and the Carthage offense got behind early and had to play catch up.  Great job by Coach Ponx and the defense.  The offense is getting better every week and Tassio is seeing a bigger role as the weeks go by.  Go Cardinals!  Beat Augie!!! 

[Stagg Again!!]

Fewest points scored by Carthage since 11/4/06 -- pre-Evan Jones era!!!  I have seen some good defense played over the years in the CCIW (mostly by WC, AC, and IWU), but aside from a blown coverage play that resulted in CC's only TD, the NCC DBs and LBs were on the CC WRs hips all night and the DL and LBs were in the backfield pressuring Jones and the RBs from the get-go.  NCC had 8 sacks and 10 TFLs, but it could have been more.  I am not sure how the rest of the stats look, but a stong CC offense got man-handled tonight.

I don't know much about what goes into the national polls but when I see:  1) St. Thomas beat a SJU team by one point in OT that UWEC had defeated by three (and NCC beat UWEC by two touchdowns); 2) I see MH-B and Wittenberg have to come from behind yet again to defeat another unranked team; 3) I see Coe struggle with unranked Dubuque; and a 4) I see a one loss Central team beat Cornell by about the same score as NCC did in the first game of the season, I start to wonder where NCC should be ranked.  Things that make you go hmmmm.

[usee]

Like playing Cornell and Olivet? Hmmmm

[Stagg Again!!]

Like playing Cornell and Olivet? Hmmmm

The two main differences are:  1) NCC didn't have to come from a big deficit late in the game against much weaker teams to lock down the win; and 2) NCC didn't give up a boat-load of points to much weaker competitors.  MH-B is giving up 29 points per game (to 0-4 UW-L; 3-2 McMurry; 4-1 H-S; and 1-3 Louisiana College) and Wittenberg has allowed 21 points per game the last two weeks while struggling to defeat 2-2 Oberlin and 2-2 Allegheny.

Don't get me wrong -- the season is long; the CCIW is a great conference; and I think there are two or three teams in the conference that could still knock off NCC (on any given Saturday).  All that said, I think that NCC and WC should be ranked quite a bit higher than they are.  I also think that AC should be getting more votes or be in the Top 25 given that their only loss was to #9 Central by 5 pts. with injuries in their backfield.

[Gregory Sager]

Very weird game at NPU yesterday. If you were just looking at the stat line, you'd never guess that it was a 45-0 game. NPU actually held the ball for quite a bit longer than Elmhurst, 33:22 to 26:38, and Elmhurst's total yardage and first down advantages were relatively modest, 323 to 244 and 17 to 16. It was a classic example of how deceptive statistics can really be.

North Park certainly had its chances in a scoreless first quarter. Elmhurst's first three possessions consisted of a pair of laughable punts in which the punter booted line drives right into the backsides of his blockers, resulting in net yardage of eight and negative ten yards, respectively, bookending a Bluejays fumble that was recovered by the Park. These three miscues left NPU with the ball in Elmhurst territory on each occasion, but the Vikings never cashed in on any of them.

Instead, it was Elmhurst that was the first team to take advantage of a mistake. The Bluejays punter finally got his act together on the third try and launched a 70-yarder that pinned NPU back on its own five. The Vikings fumbled on their first play, the 'jays recovered, Elmhurst's running back carried it in five yards for the quick score, and the Bluejays were off to the races.

The Vikings had looked strong on the line of scrimmage up to that point, but for the next two quarters the Bluejays' O-line absolutely blasted the Vikings off of the line of scrimmage, opening up holes that Elmhurst could've driven a truck through. Meanwhile, the Vikings just kept shooting themselves in the foot on offense, coughing up the ball three times on fumbles. This trend culminated in the third quarter, with NPU down 24-0 and still possessing enough time on the clock to make a game of it. The Vikings got the ball on their own 20, marched downfield to the Elmhurst one yard line, and on fourth and about a foot to go tried a QB keeper. It looked to a lot of people as though Tyler Krebs made it over the goal line, but the refs neither signaled a touchdown nor blew the whistle. Instead, someone stripped the ball from Krebs in the pile and an Elmhurst player came out of the pile with it and ran the other way 99 yards for a touchdown. Game over.

Just as Elmhurst won the battle in the trenches when the Bluejays had the ball, the visitors also dominated the line of scrimmage when NPU had the ball. The Vikings never really got the option working yesterday; they actually had more passing yards than rushing yards, never a good stat for an option team, and most of those passing yards came on two plays of 49 and 43 yards, respectively. I'd like to think that NPU's missing starting fullback Matt Hassan, who did not suit up, had something to do with the lack of a ground game, but the reality is that the O-line just didn't get any push.

Pretty disheartening Homecoming performance in front of a soaked crowd that, for a change, actually expected something substantial from an NPU football team that looked as though it was getting the hang of things over the past two games. Just goes to show what a vast difference there is between playing the likes of Benedictine and MacMurray and facing CCIW competition.

[Tailgater]

Congrats to NCC on their victory over Carthage. NCC was clearly the better team on the field and their players came to play and played hard at that. NCC's defense smothered the Red Men offense. I knew they would give Carthage problems, but they made it darn right difficult. Guess the Rd Men will have to right the ship at Homecoming next weekend. It's been over a month since they've played in Kenosha. A little home-cooking might do them some good after the disaster last night.

[Tailgater]

All good observations "Stagg or Bust". NCC handled UWEC last week because both their D and O-lines won the point of attach. The Carthage O-line is the question mark for their offense, but has improved each week. It's taken time for Carthage to get a running game going as evident from their #7 ranking in rushing, but then again running is not the focus of their attach.

Last season Mike Koenaman saw regular playing time with his older brother Jeff Koenaman who graduated this past May. Jeff was the Wisconsin Small College player-of-the-year and an All-American WR. I think you are thinking of Jeff's performance from last year. Don't fret about the mix-up. Mike is equally talented and is expected to break his brother's season completion record this season

Nice "catch" on the WR mix-up.  Jeff Koeneman and Nick Merchut were certainly very good last year.  It will be fun to watch Mike's progression this year to see if he can match his brother's level of productivity.  BTW, is Merchut still playing anywhere?  I had heard that he had a tryout with the Bears.  Funny you mentioned the point of attack as that was going to be my fourth key to the game (particularly relating to the NCC DBs and CC WRs) but I ran out of time before I had to make breakfast for the kids!

I can further update you on Nick Merchut's whereabouts as I ran into him at the game last night. Nick just signed with the Milwaukee Iron in the Arena Football league. I think he said they start play in March. Nice to see CCIW talent continue on at the professional level.

[hyrooster]

Thoughts about yesterday.
Great game by NCC's Defense - I was really surprised that with the clock running out they announced that Carthage was held to -36 yards rushing. A new school record.
Hayes and Garza are studs along with the other 6 D-Linemen that rotate with them.
They kicked a 49 yard FG, 1 yard short of school record.
The coaching staff is still wasting TO's, especially on special teams.
I wish they would stick with 1 QB. Let 1 get used to running the O all the time.
Crackel didn't look all that bad running the ball yesterday unlike last week when he looked like he had cement boots on.

Had to be a heart breaker at MU yesterday. The Big Blue were ready to go 4-0 but Augie made sure that didn't happen. I'd love to see a post from someone who was there.
Did MU get their new turf field?

Great post by Sager. It would've been great for the balance of the CCIW if NP had won and after reading his post you realize that both teams are still to be reckoned with.

And finally WC/IWU. Once again would like to see a more detailed post but it looks like all the posts on IWU graduating all their seniors is making 1 heckuva difference. I came in just past half it looked like WC was never in danger of losing the game.    

[Gregory Sager]

Great post by Sager. It would've been great for the balance of the CCIW if NP had won and after reading his post you realize that both teams are still to be reckoned with.

I wouldn't go that far. As I said, CCIW play proved to be too big a step up for NPU. Anyone who predicted a win for NPU on Saturday was jumping the gun a bit, as the Vikings are clearly still a work in progress. As I said last week, what I want to see is week-to-week improvement from the Vikings, positive spirits among the players, a minimum of injuries, sharpening skill at running the option, and, at season's end, continued good retention.

As far as breaking into the win column in CCIW play is concerned, or even being "reckoned with," NPU just isn't there yet -- and if I said otherwise I'd be a liar. As always, I'll give the usual disclaimer: I'd absolutely love it if the Vikings proved me wrong.

[Stagg Again!!]

Excellent news about Nick Merchut.  I know that there are at least two other CCIW alumns associated with the AFL.  Ron Selesky (NCC) is the Director of Player Personnel and Steve Thonn (WC) is the Head Coach & Director of Football Operations for the Cleveland Gladiators.  Is anyone aware of other CCIW players in the AFL?