FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lakeshore]

NPU will give CCIW teams problems with that offense.  It's perfect for the type of athlete the Vikings can recruit.  Undersized and maybe not as skilled as the rest of the league but effective in a system that's unique to prepare for.

Lots of frosh talk on here...When's the last time NCC featured a frosh tailback (Sulo maybe?) and Wheaton had two frosh score in their opener.  BTW Wheaton's QB Meador goes for well over 300 yards of offense and 6 td passes, 0 int (to six different receivers mind you...)?  whoa!  Wheaton always has success with great QB play.

No talk on here about Augie's surprising 0-2 start.  I'd love to hear thoughts coming from Rock Island.  Offense or defense subpar play?

Like I said this summer Elmhurst is the sleeper team and will get an upset win in league play this fall.  Lester has offense rolling early.

[Kovo]

Actually, I think that Steve Holden (NC's all team leading rusher) was featured as a freshman, and after his senior year Sulo was featured as a freshman. Without a doubt, Coach Thorne will go with players that he thinks can get he job done, freshman or not.

Congrats to the NPU guys.  Those kids (particularly the juniors and seniors), have been through a lot of misery.  It is nice to see them pick up some wins.  Hopefully, they can keep it going this week, and have a competive year in the CCIW.  I am one of those who thinks that having another competitive team in the league raises the level of play for everyone.

[NCF]

NPU will give CCIW teams problems with that offense.  It's perfect for the type of athlete the Vikings can recruit.  Undersized and maybe not as skilled as the rest of the league but effective in a system that's unique to prepare for.

Lots of frosh talk on here...When's the last time NCC featured a frosh tailback (Sulo maybe?) and Wheaton had two frosh score in their opener.  BTW Wheaton's QB Meador goes for well over 300 yards of offense and 6 td passes, 0 int (to six different receivers mind you...)?  whoa!  Wheaton always has success with great QB play.

No talk on here about Augie's surprising 0-2 start.  I'd love to hear thoughts coming from Rock Island.  Offense or defense subpar play?

Like I said this summer Elmhurst is the sleeper team and will get an upset win in league play this fall.  Lester has offense rolling early.

Remember it's still non-conference and when your team is up by 35 or more points, the young guys will get some playing time. Also, it's good to have more than one guy ready to go in with confidence, so I think you'll see a lot of freshman and sophomores(and other back-ups) in the NC line-up this week after the first half or so.

[New Tradition]

Actually, I think that Steve Holden (NC's all team leading rusher) was featured as a freshman, and after his senior year Sulo was featured as a freshman. Without a doubt, Coach Thorne will go with players that he thinks can get he job done, freshman or not.

Holden and Sulo both saw starting roles as Freshmen, though Holden's came after an injury to starter Rich Schutt in week 5 against North Park.  (First and second string QB's and starting RB were injured in that game!)  Despite only starting 5 games, Holden still managed to rush for over 1000 yards that season.  Sulo came in right as Holden left (2006), so there was no overlap between the #1 and #2 all time leading rushers at NCC.

[Kovo]

I think that the coaching staff at NC has really made an effort to develop depth the past few seasons, in light of some of the injury riddled years that we have had.  And, it is nice to see young guys make the most of their opportunities.  Without a doubt, there will be fewer opportunities available once conference play starts.


And to CI (if you didn't get a chance to listen)---I thought that the WONC broadcast was 100x better this week.  The improvement in the booth reflected the improvement of the team on the field.  With that said, there were still some glaring errors (like talking about the wrong Olivet as next week's opponent), but the play by play painted a much better picture of the action on the field.  I suspect that they will continue to get better, and look forward to listening again this week.

[Gregory Sager]

Gregory S:

Do you think that having the "bye" weekend so early in the season will be a detriment to NP?  I realize that "someone" i.e. some teams have to have their "bye" weekends early in the season, however, I personally prefer when those are at mid or late season.  The later dates for a break usually tend to be more needed for rest, recouping from injuries, staleness, etc.; conversely, it also seems to me that having the break early would have the possibility to derail some building confidence, etc.  Yet, again, obviously, every team can't have their "bye" later in the season.   I was just curious as to how you see this might affect NP after your observations/assessment of their first two wins.

I've always liked how Carthage has their schedule slated. They play their 3 non-conference games, then take the bye week before starting the CCIW portion of the schedule.

Six of the eight CCIW teams have opted for that schedule of three non-con games, then a bye week, then the seven CCIW games. The only two that didn't go that route are Wheaton (off the first Saturday, then ten consecutive Saturdays of football) and NPU (two non-con games, a bye week, then another non-con game and the seven CCIW games).

Congrats to the NPU guys.  Those kids (particularly the juniors and seniors), have been through a lot of misery.  It is nice to see them pick up some wins.  Hopefully, they can keep it going this week, and have a competive year in the CCIW.

NPU is off this week. Thanks for the sentiment, though.

[Stagg Again!!]

Freshman Ryan Kent TB from North Central went 9 caries for 176 yards with a long run of 75 yards.  Any comments from the North Central fans on your freshman TB?

Ryan Kent was one of the kids that I was alluding to in my June 4th post when I said, "I also expect to see at least a couple of the 2011 Recruits starting and a good number of them pushing their way into the rotation this fall -- IMO."  Ryan has good field awareness, great quickness, and appears to have break-away speed.  I believe that he was an honorable-mention All-Stater in Illinois from York H.S. in Elmhurst.  To reiterate my earlier point, I would expect him to continue to push his way into the rotation.  BTW, he has also been on the kick-off return team each of the first two games.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU will give CCIW teams problems with that offense.  It's perfect for the type of athlete the Vikings can recruit.  Undersized and maybe not as skilled as the rest of the league but effective in a system that's unique to prepare for.

It's true that the option is ideal for a program such as NPU's that has historically had trouble recruiting size, but it's not as though the current Vikings are without athletic skills. One thing that distinguishes this team from previous Vikings editions is the fact that it has several players who have outstanding speed. Tyler Krebs, Chris Broadway, and John Barnabee have been running right past Aurora and Benedictine defenders for the past two weeks; freshmen De'Marien Hampton (end) and Willie Sawyer (CB/PR) have outstanding speed as well, and we've seen what senior end/KR Sam Cochiaro (88-yard kickoff return for a TD this past Saturday) and junior CB/KR Cicero Porter (97-yard interception return for a TD last season) can do. And, pound for pound, I'll match the strength and toughness of undersized guys like senior RB Matt Hassan and senior DE Fred Flihan against anybody.

[Always.A.Titan]

Week 2 Players of the Week


http://cciw.org/news/2011/9/12/FB_0912113909.aspx

[Mugsy]

Gregory S:

Do you think that having the "bye" weekend so early in the season will be a detriment to NP?  I realize that "someone" i.e. some teams have to have their "bye" weekends early in the season, however, I personally prefer when those are at mid or late season.  The later dates for a break usually tend to be more needed for rest, recouping from injuries, staleness, etc.; conversely, it also seems to me that having the break early would have the possibility to derail some building confidence, etc.  Yet, again, obviously, every team can't have their "bye" later in the season.   I was just curious as to how you see this might affect NP after your observations/assessment of their first two wins.

I've always liked how Carthage has their schedule slated. They play their 3 non-conference games, then take the bye week before starting the CCIW portion of the schedule.

Six of the eight CCIW teams have opted for that schedule of three non-con games, then a bye week, then the seven CCIW games. The only two that didn't go that route are Wheaton (off the first Saturday, then ten consecutive Saturdays of football) and NPU (two non-con games, a bye week, then another non-con game and the seven CCIW games).

Starting in 2012, Wheaton will finally be following the 3 week non-conference schedule, followed by the bye week and then the CCIW schedule.

[cardinaldad]

People from York have nothing but GREAT things to say about Kent. I saw him play a couple of games at York last year. While he was very good, he looked exceptional on Saturday. He had NO problem adjusting to the speed of the college game. Hopefully he can continue that productivity. Now we'll have to work on getting Scott Skuteris' (sp?) little brother to come to NCC. He's quite a player also!

[cardinaldad]

Kovo86 - So I should listen to future broadcasts? I couldn't bring myself to listen on Saturday. I have been listening for many, many years and like CI, I too thought that last Saturday was the worst broadcast by WONC I ever heard. Glad to hear the rust was wire brushed off the microphone. Better football...........better broadcast. All is good with a win.

[Kovo]

Kovo86 - So I should listen to future broadcasts? I couldn't bring myself to listen on Saturday. I have been listening for many, many years and like CI, I too thought that last Saturday was the worst broadcast by WONC I ever heard. Glad to hear the rust was wire brushed off the microphone. Better football...........better broadcast. All is good with a win.

I will listen to them again.  In part, I am a captive audience since I live in Florida and can't bring myself to listen to the opposing team's broadcast (when I watch an opposing video feed I have to turn the sound off).  The bottom line is that they improved greatly in one week, and will continue to do so.  But no, don't expect the MNF crew just yet---there is still some work to be done, and I will be listening to it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU's stats through 2 games...

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/Football/FB2011/HTML/teamstat.htm?path=football

What jumps out at me here in the early going is the contribution IWU is getting from some "newcomers":


* T.J. Stinde (So - special teams last year) has rushed for 254 yard (5.1 per carry) with 2 TD's

* Tate Musselman (Jr transfer) has 166 receiving yards with 3 TD's

* Alex Garvey (So - injured last year) is averaging 49.4 yards per punt, and on kickoffs has opponents starting on the 23 on avg

* Tony Angelos (Fr) is 7-7 on PAT and 1-2 on FGA

(I mention the last two because of how much IWU has struggled in the kicking game in recent years.)


Stinde seems to have a very big upside.  As a senior at Lexington H.S., he set IHSA single season records for rushing yards (3325) and TDs (46).  If he is going to have a big year running the ball, it does a ton to anchor IWU's offense and buy time as soph QB Rob Gallik settles in.

I was at the game in Alma and was favorably impressed with both kickers (especially after the frustrations of recent years).

Garvey's punting average is greatly helped by one he got off from our 29 that rolled to the Alma 1!  (But his 'regular' punts were a legitimate 40-50 yards.)  On the other hand, his ko average is not helped by putting the first kickoff out-of-bounds!

The game ended up being MUCH scarier than I had anticipated.  Alma had first and goal at the four with under a minute to go and trailing by 8.  (And we all just KNEW that if they punched it in, they would also convert the two, and anything can happen in OT.)  Fortunately the defense came through with a strip; game over.

Alma has two offensive weapons that may carry them far in the MIAA.  6'6" WR Barak Henderson must have had 150+ yards in the first half; somehow we shut him down in the second.  RB Edward Mason is a BEAST!  He's listed as 235, but that is a joke - several parents and I independently came up with referring to him as The Fridge!  If he EVER went down on the first hit, I can't recall it.  (Ironically, it was he who fumbled away the chance of victory at the end.)

[Always.A.Titan]

It is great to see that IWU is finally able to consistently convert on PATs and FG attempts. That is something that has plagued them over the past 5 years or so since Mike Berry graduated. They have always had a good punter but scheme wise and long snapper wise, there were some question marks that lead to a lot of blocked punts and other problems.

After 2 games, the biggest question mark for IWU is still the offensive line. With a qb who is still inexperienced, the line will be relied upon to anchor the offense and establish a running game and protect the passer. I was not able to see the Alma game, but attended the Hope game. Giving up 5 sacks in 2 games isn't Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears bad, but it might not be the best sign given that the CCIW might have a few better defenses than Hope and Alma. Also, Stinde has been a beast, but at least in the Hope game, they manchild was breaking tackles behind the line on many of his attempts. IWU's success this year might come down to how the offensive line plays against the competition of the CCIW. We know the have the defense and the skill players on offense. Hopefully, they get better week in and week out.