FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[NCF]

I don't recall this being talked about much at the time, but I wonder if they had it to do over again, would NCC fly out to SoCal on Friday instead of on Saturday morning the day of the game?  They have locked up the conference AQ, so in the end it doesn't keep them from the playoffs, but could a win in that game help secure a higher seed possibly?  I understand there are costs associated with that kind of travel, but that seems like a hard way to establish a gameday rhythm by travelling on the day of the game instead of getting a night's sleep and going through a regular gameday routine.  Just a thought to ponder after the hoopla of yesterday has subsided.

they did leave on friday. i have some thoughts on the redlands game - but none should be posted. it could turn out to be a very valuable lesson learned heading into the post season.

[Pat Coleman]

Again... Pat, the #8 was based on your early evening posting prior to the final scores coming in from the west coast.  This morning, the NCC SOS jumped to #6 with the additional win.  I understand that the Redlands game counts in the North Central regional record and rankings.

Gotcha. I read your post as "the Redlands game doesn't count" which is a common mistake since NCC is in the North and Redlands the West.

[devildog29]

I don't recall this being talked about much at the time, but I wonder if they had it to do over again, would NCC fly out to SoCal on Friday instead of on Saturday morning the day of the game?  They have locked up the conference AQ, so in the end it doesn't keep them from the playoffs, but could a win in that game help secure a higher seed possibly?  I understand there are costs associated with that kind of travel, but that seems like a hard way to establish a gameday rhythm by travelling on the day of the game instead of getting a night's sleep and going through a regular gameday routine.  Just a thought to ponder after the hoopla of yesterday has subsided.

they did leave on friday. i have some thoughts on the redlands game - but none should be posted. it could turn out to be a very valuable lesson learned heading into the post season.

Hmm, I thought I remembered reading that they flew out early on Saturday morning for the game at the time, which I thought very odd. 

[devildog29]

I don't recall this being talked about much at the time, but I wonder if they had it to do over again, would NCC fly out to SoCal on Friday instead of on Saturday morning the day of the game?  They have locked up the conference AQ, so in the end it doesn't keep them from the playoffs, but could a win in that game help secure a higher seed possibly?  I understand there are costs associated with that kind of travel, but that seems like a hard way to establish a gameday rhythm by travelling on the day of the game instead of getting a night's sleep and going through a regular gameday routine.  Just a thought to ponder after the hoopla of yesterday has subsided.

they did leave on friday. i have some thoughts on the redlands game - but none should be posted. it could turn out to be a very valuable lesson learned heading into the post season.

Hmm, I thought I remembered reading that they flew out early on Saturday morning for the game at the time, which I thought very odd.

Looking back, I think I just misread a post.  On Friday, September 2, Stagg or Bust mentioned that the NCC caravan was heading to La-La land tomorrow (Sat. Sep 3).  I think I read that as the team was flying out on Saturday.  (In Gilda Radnor voice) "Nevermiiiind....."

[NCF]

I don't recall this being talked about much at the time, but I wonder if they had it to do over again, would NCC fly out to SoCal on Friday instead of on Saturday morning the day of the game?  They have locked up the conference AQ, so in the end it doesn't keep them from the playoffs, but could a win in that game help secure a higher seed possibly?  I understand there are costs associated with that kind of travel, but that seems like a hard way to establish a gameday rhythm by travelling on the day of the game instead of getting a night's sleep and going through a regular gameday routine.  Just a thought to ponder after the hoopla of yesterday has subsided.

they did leave on friday. i have some thoughts on the redlands game - but none should be posted. it could turn out to be a very valuable lesson learned heading into the post season.

Hmm, I thought I remembered reading that they flew out early on Saturday morning for the game at the time, which I thought very odd.

Looking back, I think I just misread a post.  On Friday, September 2, Stagg or Bust mentioned that the NCC caravan was heading to La-La land tomorrow (Sat. Sep 3).  I think I read that as the team was flying out on Saturday.  (In Gilda Radnor voice) "Nevermiiiind....."

the team left early friday. they did have a caravan going but i think they left friday also. some people left earlier in the week, but i'm not sure as we didn't go because of the cost.

[emma17]

UWW's corners don't give up 62 yd pass plays on 3rd and 21.

Maybe they haven't given up 62 yard passes on 3rd and 21, but the UWW corners have been vulnerable to big plays.

Austin Neu was 25-33 and 330 yards against UWW yesterday, including a 49 yard TD pass.

Now, the passing game isn't the strength of the NCC offense, but I think you're giving the UWW to much credit.

Gator you are right about long passes against UWW corners (safeties perhaps too)-it's happened quite a bit this season.  We may be seeing the development of a lock down type corner of late with UWW though.  Somebody mentioned Lane Olsen earlier, but he is graduated. 

I'd really like to see NCC vs Mt this year.  The defensive speed for NCC should match up well against Mt- you'd probably end up with a game featuring two of the fastest defenses in the country.  I can see NCC stopping the Mt run, then like the last few Stagg Bowls, it comes down to stopping Mt's passing game.     

[USee]

I think Garrett Meador continues to be the front runner for OPOY. He was responsible for 239 of Wheaton's 250 yards on Saturday throwing for 194 and he was the leading rusher with 45 yards. For the season he is completing 65% of his passes for 2,414 yards and 23 TDs with just 6 INT. He is averaging 268.2 yds per game.

Mark Hiben, the 6' 4" freshman reciever for Wheaton has had an awesome freshman year. He leads the conference in yds per game (90), TD's (8) and is second to teammate Teddy Watkins in receptions per game (5.43 to 6.00).  Against NCC he had 5 catches for 97 yds. Pretty impressive numbers for a freshman. I think he is a lock for 1st team All-CCIW.

[79jaybird]

Happy Monday, well uh, its happy for some folks across the nation on all levels. d1,2,3 etc.

First time Elmhurst has ever had back-to-back wins over Augie and only the 5th win ever. Without looking at a stat sheets it's something like 49-5-3 now.   Rock Island had been a taboo for the Jays for many years, so a big hats off to the kids for executing when they had to.

There's a new Augie in the conference and we all know it's red and white.  Thorne continues to show he wins wherever he goes.  I said it before and I will say it again,  NC will not be tested until the 3rd round of the playoffs at the earliest.

[matblake]

North Central continues to impress.  I was most impressed defensively.  Wheaton could do nothing.  NCC definitely is in a league of it's own right now. 

[NCF]

North Central continues to impress.  I was most impressed defensively.  Wheaton could do nothing.  NCC definitely is in a league of it's own right now.

The defense will be the key to their play-off run. They are the real deal. The three QB rotation looked good also. Will be interesting to see how that plays out over the course of the next few weeks.

[cardfan86]

As far as the postseason, here are my thoughts:

NCC will not lose to anyone outside of the purple powers. I have seen UWW and Mt Union play live close to 20 times in the postseason so I have a pretty good understanding of what they are about. I think North Central has a championship caliber defense. Teams are really going to struggle moving the ball and scoring points against them. They have a championship caliber special teams unit. Their kickers are very good and consistent, their talent on the coverage units is deep, fast and exceptional. Their running game is very good. They have big, athletic linememan and multiple powerful, fast backs. Their receiving corps is diverse and deep.

I think they have issues at the quarterback position. Contrary to what I have seen written on here, they are worse at qb than last year, not better. Tyler Dicken is going to be a great qb. He throws a great ball, is tall and strong and athletic. But right now he is a freshman and plays like one. He locks in on the primary receiver as soon as he takes the snap. He throws a great ball and, if his receiver is open or his receiver is a better athlete, he gets a completion. He just isn't yet anywhere near an Aaron Fanthorpe, Kam Kniss, Matt Blanchard, etc. Good defenses that can defend the run and read the qb's eyes will make it very difficult for NCC to score without big plays (which they are very capable of creating). I'll try and give a few examples shortly.

USee, I totally agree with you about Dicken. He will be a great QB at NCC he's just not quite there yet. This offense can be very difficult to pick up especially for a freshman and REALLY especially at the QB position. For the longer passing plays (ones that take more time to develop) there can be anywhere from 2-4 keys that the QB has to read before throwing the ball. I'm sure Jeff Thorne is trying to make it as easy as possible with more short pass calls (at least hoping so) and maybe only giving Dicken one key to read, hence "locking on." He will have to be able to read more of the defense when it comes to the playoffs.

[02 Warhawk]

Well, when you beat every team in the CCIW (one of the top 3 conferences in the country) by more than 20 pts, I don't think that can be considered close. NCC is on a completely different level than every other CCIW team. I would love to see a Redlands/NCC rematch but the game I want this year is NCC @ Mt Union. That is a very winnable game for NCC in my opinion and North Central is one of the better bets to break the Purple strangle hold in Salem. I am not saying I would place a big bet on that but it is plausible.

I might drive out to Alliance to see this one......god forbid Mount plays a good team in the playoffs before the semi-finals.

I thought NCC would have beaten Mount last season, many of us UWW fans all agree on that.

[emma17]

Well, when you beat every team in the CCIW (one of the top 3 conferences in the country) by more than 20 pts, I don't think that can be considered close. NCC is on a completely different level than every other CCIW team. I would love to see a Redlands/NCC rematch but the game I want this year is NCC @ Mt Union. That is a very winnable game for NCC in my opinion and North Central is one of the better bets to break the Purple strangle hold in Salem. I am not saying I would place a big bet on that but it is plausible.

I might drive out to Alliance to see this one......god forbid Mount plays a good team in the playoffs before the semi-finals.

I thought NCC would have beaten Mount last season, many of us UWW fans all agree on that.

I second that.  I don't know how Mt would have run the ball last year on the NCC D with the big nasty at MLB.  This year I'm not sure if the NCC run defense is as strong as last year (I'm sure someone will set me straight), but it's still very good.  IMO it comes down to whether NCC can score against a similarly good Mt defense.  A game worth driving to see.

[NCF]

Well, when you beat every team in the CCIW (one of the top 3 conferences in the country) by more than 20 pts, I don't think that can be considered close. NCC is on a completely different level than every other CCIW team. I would love to see a Redlands/NCC rematch but the game I want this year is NCC @ Mt Union. That is a very winnable game for NCC in my opinion and North Central is one of the better bets to break the Purple strangle hold in Salem. I am not saying I would place a big bet on that but it is plausible.

I might drive out to Alliance to see this one......god forbid Mount plays a good team in the playoffs before the semi-finals.

I thought NCC would have beaten Mount last season, many of us UWW fans all agree on that.

I second that.  I don't know how Mt would have run the ball last year on the NCC D with the big nasty at MLB.  This year I'm not sure if the NCC run defense is as strong as last year (I'm sure someone will set me straight), but it's still very good.  IMO it comes down to whether NCC can score against a similarly good Mt defense.  A game worth driving to see.

Just as good and getting better every week.

[USee]

Statistically the NCC D is not as good. (About 25 yds per game worse). The returning players along w the new guys are better but you cannot replace #40.  The conference is decidedly worse at running the ball as well so this D has not been tested on the ground like they will be in the playoffs.