FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunder38]

looking forward to a very physical game at McCully tomorrow afternoon.  Bethel impressed me the past two years but Wheaton has the line play this season to match that physicality.  I would expect that Wheaton would move primarily move to their 4-3 defense to try to slow down Flannery and make Bethel throw.  We saw Wheaton able throw last week with the wind playing a factor and Boyle was able to handle it for Coe but Aakre is no Brad Boyle so if Wheaton can stop the run it's going to be a long day for Aakre.

Good luck to the Thunder and the Cards tomorrow!!

[thunder38]

WETN live with the pregame show at 11:30 tomorrow morning.

[shepherd]

Something that might affect the game is Bethel has all but given up on extra points a few games ago and goes for two after a touchdown.

[nccfac]

Looking at how different rating methods rank teams, I ran across this one and I thought it was hilarious.
Where is Whitewater and MTU?
from:http://austinsportsstats.blogspot.com/

Colley Matrix Ratings
The Colley Matrix Ratings are great because they are mathematically sound and he even gives details on how the ratings work. They are not so good though, because they don't rank teams very well. He uses FBS games (and FCS vs FBS games in a weird way) only, but I've programmed his system and here's how the top 10 looks with all 730 teams:
1. Auburn
2. LSU
3. TCU
4. North Central
5. Boise St
6. Oregon
7. Stanford
8. St Thomas
9. Missouri
10. Wesley
Not only is LSU now ahead of TCU, but there are suddenly teams from other divisions like D3 St. Thomas up there. Does North Central deserve to be there? No, and this flaw severely limits the Colley Matrix method.

[thunder38]

that and as of about half an hour ago you can knock Boise out of there

[footballfan413]

Looking at how different rating methods rank teams, I ran across this one and I thought it was hilarious.
Where is Whitewater and MTU?
from:http://austinsportsstats.blogspot.com/

Colley Matrix Ratings
The Colley Matrix Ratings are great because they are mathematically sound and he even gives details on how the ratings work. They are not so good though, because they don't rank teams very well. He uses FBS games (and FCS vs FBS games in a weird way) only, but I've programmed his system and here's how the top 10 looks with all 730 teams:
1. Auburn
2. LSU
3. TCU
4. North Central
5. Boise St
6. Oregon
7. Stanford
8. St Thomas
9. Missouri
10. Wesley
Not only is LSU now ahead of TCU, but there are suddenly teams from other divisions like D3 St. Thomas up there. Does North Central deserve to be there? No, and this flaw severely limits the Colley Matrix method.

LOL, football math doesn't impress us much anymore..............

Good luck to the CCIW teams today.

[matblake]

2 big tests today.  Should be 2 very good games.  Keys IMO:  Wheaton cannot get out of the gate slow.  If Bethel gets a lead and has any success running the ball, Wheaton is going to be in trouble.   North Central has to score.  I think we know how the Cards defense will play,  but North Central has to get it done on offense.  Things will get tricky if the Polar Bears are able to score 17 points or more IMO.  Go CCIW! 

[HScoach]

'86 Augie game!!!!!!*@#$%**@#........where is my blood pressure medicine?? back to my anger managment class........

My 1st start ever as a way, way undersized sophomore LB replacing our team captain.  Big shoes to fill for sure...

So one going to start playing "Glory Days" by Springstein soon?

Ugh, don't want to think about our '86 game against Augie!!    .   OUCH!

What? Not quite an 18-17 affair determined on the last play of the game?  

I think it was 56-0.   UGLY!!

Yup... after 3 quarters.    28-0 after 1st quarter.   You guys did almost have 100 yards for the game though.  But who is bringing that up?

Scary good defenses back then for Augie.

Not sure how we got 100 yards!   They were awfully good and physical.

Umm... you didn't.  98 yards (39 rushing, 59 passing).  

Closest game Augie had in the playoffs was against Mount Union: 16-7.  Augie held Mount Union to 21 yards rushing and only 170 yards offense.  That hasn't happened too many times since, eh?  

All other playoff games were blowouts.

Not to toot our own horn too much, but Mt. Union was the number 1 offense in the country that season.  I think we had 3 or 4 INT's and 7 or 8 sacks.  We held Mt. Union to 15 yards of offense in the second half in their own stadium.  Very satisfying win.  

Then I will toot the horn for you.

Augustana 16, Mount Union 7 on November 29 in Alliance,
Ohio...

In what is certainly one of the best defensive team efforts in
Augustana history, the Vikings put a stranglehold on a Mount Union team
that was averaging 445.0 yards and 31.1 points per game. Instead, this
game belonged to the Augustana defense. With linemen Carlton Beasley,
Lynn Thomsen and Brian King each recording seven tackles, Mount Union
quarterback Scott Gindlesberger was under constant pressure. King,
Beasley and linebacker Mike Ricketts, who led all tacklers with eight, all
had two quarterback sacks. Mike Gray intercepted two passes and Kevin
Cmiel one. The secondary recorded a total of seven pass breakups and
Gindlesberger was limited to just 149 yards passing on 11 of 27. The
Purple Raiders only gained a net of 21 yards rushing for a total offense
of just 170 yards, way less than half their season average. In the
second half Mount Union ran just 24 plays for a total of 68 yards as
Augustana completely shut things down. The Purple Raiders took a 7-0
lead on a 15 yard pass from Gindlesberger to Bill Eyer early in the second
quarter. The Vikings tied the game on a one yard run by Brad Price with
just :33 left before halftime. In the second half Matt Krull, who had
missed two extra points a week earlier, kicked three field goals after
Augustana drives stalled inside the 20. Price gained 110 yards on 27
attempts and quarterback Greg Wallace completed seven of 12 passes
for 110 yards with five of those receptions going to Eric Welgat for 90
yards.

Those mid-80's Augie teams were a bear.  

Thought you might like a MUC/Augie recap from the 90's ( from mtunionfootball.com ):



The Purple Raiders opened the 1999 playoffs with a 42-33 victory over Augustana College at Mount Union Stadium.  The Raiders scored 42 points despite possessing the pigskin less than 12 minutes during the course of the game.  The Vikings rushed for 398 yards on 83 carries.  Augustana registered two late second quarter touchdowns to take a 21-13 halftime lead.  Mount Union's first half scores came on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Gary Smeck to Jason Richards and an eight-yard run of Chuck Moore.

    Mount Union knotted the score at 21-21 early in the third period on another Moore eight-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion pass from Smeck to tailback Dave Hassey.  The Raiders took a 28-21 lead as Moore scored his third touchdown on a 21-yard draw play.  Early in the fourth quarter the Vikings cut the Raider lead to 28-27.  However, Hassey returned the ensuing kickoff 90-yards and Mount Union led 35-27.

    Augustana came back at the 4:08 mark of the quarter as quarterback Tom Schmulbach scored from a yard out.  The two-point conversion, which would have tied the score, was stopped just short of the goal line as Raider linebacker Jason Sloan tackled Schmulbach on a quarterback keeper.  It took just three offensive plays for the Purple Raiders to put the game in the win column as Moore raced 46-yards untouched for his fourth touchdown of the afternoon and a 42-33 victory over the Vikings.  

[HScoach]

Or maybe not.

That was the weirdest game I can ever remember.  It was truly "whoever had ball last", though with polar opposite offenses.  Neither team could stop the other.

[robertgoulet]

Congrats to NCC on their 28-9 W over ONU.

Whitewater is up next.

[FormerCard]

Congrats to NCC on their victory today.  They played a good 2 1/2 quarters and really looked solid on both sides of the ball.  The 1st quarter and half were not pretty but the Cardinals were good enough to recover and thanks to a blocked punt really gathered momentum as the game progressed.  Final score was 28-9, but the last TD that came on a 30 yard pass as time expired that was meaningless (except to the Cardinals Defensive players).  NCC ran the ball VERY well today with both Kukoc and Tassio going over 100.  I am really looking forward to next weekends matchup.

Congrats to Wheaton on a great season as we were all pulling for you to make it to the next round.

[FormerCard]

Wenger was all over the field today.  I just saw he finished with 18 tackles (13 solos) and that is no joke.  The kid delivered some great hits today, sending ONU's RB#4 to the sidelines at least twice.

[usee]

Great battle in Wheaton today with two teams that are very evenly matched in my opinion. This is a game of inches and the reality is Bethel made 1 more play than the Thunder did. Both defenses were tremendous and even though Wheaton was outgained 318yds to 212, they actually held an advantage in yards pere play at 4.1 to 3.9. Wheaton's defense had to stop 81 plays vs only 51 for Bethel's defense that and a 37min to 22 min TOP were a big part of the difference as the Thunder simply ran out of magic. Bethel's D was as good as advertised and Jordan Roberts was limited in his ability to hurt them on the ground. His 3rd quarter fumble was a big difference and the other place the Thunder were hurt again was in penalties (7 times for 54 yds). Congrats to the Bethel Royals as they go on the road and make 1 more play than Wheaton did to come up with the victory.

Congrats as well to North Central for what sounds like a pretty dominant victory over ONU setting up the battle everyone wanted to see next week.

[hazzben]

Reviewing the season stats for Augie in 86'.
an incredible 63 takeaways in 13 games.  Astounding.

Opponents gouged the Augie defense for a whopping 0.8 yards per carry and 2 TD's for the season.

Astounding is right, mind boggling might be even more accurate!?! I can't even get my head around those defensive stats. Combine that with the way they pounded the football and you can see pretty quickly why they were so dominant!

[NCC tailgater]

Mugsy,

What happened to Wheaton today? Good win by NCC, on to the next higher ranked opponent that Wheaton didn't have to play!!!