FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[HughJass]

oh warren...you just dont worry your pretty little head who I am. 

[couchqb]

This new board format is annoying.  That's another call I'll make while sticking by my prediction that Carthage is completely overrated.  A FRESHMAN QB PROVIDES SPARK AGAINST DOORMAT CARROL?!?!  C'mon.  The CCIW won't be as nice as Carroll was.  And another thing, Carthage had a rough game against Augie last year.  Should be a good match this year.  New D-coordinator at Augie and new QB at Carthage should be a match made in heaven... except wasn't that QB from Central a 1st year starter and completed 62%?

I just think both these teams won't pan out- one because the defense, and one because the offense.  Only Augie's not ranked in the top 15, and Carthage is. 

I still think Wheaton is the team to beat.

And I can't say for sure where Augie's defense has been in the past, but typically they don't allow 190 yards rushing to many teams, especially in week 1, at home vs. a "pretty good" team.  Did anyone see that game?

[Pat Coleman]

Is that annoying because it took you four failed tries to get in? You should have kept your e-mail address current. Hard to activate when you're trying to activate with an old address.

[couchqb]

Yes, I screwed that up, but I like seeing more than a few posts at a time.  Really liked reading more than 15 per page.  I wanted to change my email address to a different one (not yahoo), and I typed in yahoo anyway... and screwed it all up... Anyhow, this is fine, but having to syphen through 15 pages can take more time than glancing through 1 page... especially with SBC.

[BashDad]

Mugsy, diehardfan, usee:

The scrimmage Saturday at Wheaton was seen as a big positive by the large number of Wabash fans who made the trip.  Going in, one of our biggest questions had to do with how well we could move the ball (both on the ground and in the air) against your large and experienced Thunder defense.  I was pleased with that result, particularly with our ability to open running lanes for DJ Brown, a talented but untested RB.  This also benefited our short passing game on the outside.  The Wheaton defense made some nice adjustments, bringing more pressure as the scrimmage went on.  Still, we felt good about our offense--even though we would liked to have scored when we were on your 1 yd line in the fourth quarter!  Your defense really came through there--followed by the offensive ability to move the ball out close to mid-field right after that.

Chupp was fine for you guys--of course you already knew that he would be.  He really scrambled well and made plays against our strong defense--we were never able to consistently shut down his movement behind the line of scrimmage.   Chupp's ability to find the seams on our secondary with medium passes to the outside led to your first and only touchdown during the second quarter and brought us back down to earth--and sent us into halftime with the 10-10 tie.    

Mugsy, you and usee were saying you had talent, but questions at RB.  I thought that #3 (I had no program showing Wheaton's roster) was very strong in the first half.  He's short, but slippery with his slashing running style  and our Oline and LB's were having trouble picking him up and containing him.  He, and the super hard-running backs in the second half (even though some of our 1st team D sat out much of the half) seemed to me to show great promise for the Wheaton running attack.   I would be interested to know how the Wheaton fans saw this?

I'm not sure that the questions you had, or that we had, relating to the secondaries, got any clear answers.  Chupp threw well (no numbers), to receivers who were all too open at times from our perspective.  But Harbaugh also
had success in the first half against your db's--9 of 13 for nice yardage.  I guess this aspect of our defenses will need to firm-up early in the season if either team is to be really successful.  Again, I would be interested in hearing impressions from the Wheaton side.

Thanks for the nice time--all the Wheaton folks I met and talked with were great.  I had never visited the Wheaton campus before.  It is a beautiful campus and very nicely kept.  I was impressed.

Good luck to Wheaton this coming weekend and through the season.  Maybe we can meet in the play-offs? That would be great!   Both teams, however, will need to concentrate on business to get that far.  

Thanks for a good time.    

[irish21]

Hey DarrinC...when did Brother Rice move to Florida? O'Boyle is from Chicago.

[vikes35]

I know this is late about Augie's game on Saturday but I was just able to get my computer back online out at school. I am going to have to agree with most of the Augie posters that the defense is going to be a problem once again in 2005. They had a very hard time stopping the run and they once again played a read and react pass defense that gave up some timely plays to Central. The defense couldn't be classified as bad, but their clutch defense and their lack of stops when it mattered late in the game shows me that the Augie defense doesn't have the confidence to put games away right now. Maybe as they get some experience they will get better, but right now it doesn't look good. The only good thing I can say about it is that at least it was only the first game, we have a lot of time to get better.

With that being said about our defense I thought that the offense did a great job. 329 on the ground as was said shows that the Wing-T is in mid season form. Guzman's performance was outstanding (30 cars 220 yards, which in an option is amazing) and his ability to run up the middle showed that the O line is playing well also. I think that the offense is going to have to carry the team right now, and from what I saw I think that they will be able to pull it off more than once.

Also congrats to both Millikin and Carthage on good non-conf wins. 

[vikes35]

couchqb,

I was at that game and watching our run defense was making me sick. The RB for Central after the first quarter was getting 6 to 7 yards per carry. Our head coach, I believe, is calling the defensive plays but it seemed very similar to Degeorge's defense. Back to the game though, it seemed like the Dutch lineman were getting away with some holding (one play I remember our DL #78 had his jersey so tied up you could not see the 8 until he tugged his jersey back into place) but the back was also very shifty and made quite a few quick moves on our LB's. I would have to say that over the last 4 game dating back to the Elmhurst game and even the Millikin game our run defense has been average to  below average. Hope that helps explain why Augie gave up so many yards to a "so-so" offense.

[couchqb]

Hmm.  That's interesting.  I figured they'd be sharp in the beginning of the year and wear out the way they seemed to have in the last couple.  I wonder if they'll start slow this year on defense and get better as it goes on... either way, I believe they have some challenges.  I thought the last couple years Augie was pretty good against the run.  Do you think I'm off base?  Am I missing something there?  Are they in trouble?

[vikes35]

couchqb,

This is just my opinion on the situation but I would have to say that for most of the last season and 1 game this season the run defense has been average at best (other Augie posters help me out if you disagree). The defense has had its moments and has played some solid games, but not anything that I would call dominant such as the teams of the 80's giving up 5 or 6 points a game like we have talked about before.

I think that one of the main reasons why the defense is going to get better as the year goes on is experience. The defense is the side of the ball that lost the bulk of the starters and as this new unit gets more experience they are going to play better, I think that fatigue will have less to do with their performance than will experience. It will be interesting to tell, but that is what I am thinking after week 1.

[HughJass]

Vikes35,

last season there were a slough of new guys that were newcomers.  The whole defensive line was new, and there were a lot of new guys in the LB and DB ranks.  They did get a little better as the year went on but by the end of the season obviously that wasnt the case.  How can this season be any different?

[Redmen96]

I know Rowan had 600 and something yards but only scored 21 pts and W & J won their game 42 -0.  How does this justify Rowan going from being ranked 7 and moving up to 6 and W & J dropping to 7th.  In my book winning 42 zip is a good case to keep your spot.   

[DarrinC]

Irish,
My bad, I must be confusing him with another freshman quarterback at Carthage. I stand... I mean... sit corrected.

He did run around really well. Almost reminded me of another talented qb from Carthage's past. Way too soon to make an comparisons like that though.

I guess my whole point is, they showed me something positive last weekend. I believe that their coaching staff has some real tools to work with.

Go Redmen!

[Redmen96]

Billy
  You aren't talking about Jeff Tess are you?

  Just kidding 

Reidy

[couchqb]

Hey, red men and women out there, do you guys really think this year's team has a chance to be as good as last years team?