FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

NPU played very young today. Although the Vikings actually outgained BU in total offense, it was one of those games where they moved the ball up and down the field well but had very little to show for it. T.D. Conway had a growing-pains type of day, throwing four interceptions, two of them pick-sixes. The Vikings also had lots of silly penalties again, finding ways to shoot themselves in the foot.

Benedictine did a nice job of controlling the clock with the ground game, and the two pick-sixes certainly didn't hurt the Bennie cause, either.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 66
Albion 0

This was one of those games that you point to if you believe that there should be a mercy rule in college football.

[blue_jays]

Wheaton 66
Albion 0

This was one of those games that you point to if you believe that there should be a mercy rule in college football.

That was the definition of a payback game after the head-scratching loss at Albion last year, which kept Wheaton out of the playoffs. The margin of victory reminded me of the North Central 83, North Park 7 game from 2009.

[iwu70]

Congrats to the Titans on win #2 of the season.  Truly sounds like a tale of two halves.  Good to see Stinde back and making a contribution, Bolden back in the defensive backfield, etc.  Devonte Jones another strong game.  Bye week now so everyone can practice well and get healthy, be ready for home opener in two weeks.  A long long CCIW season ahead.

IWU70

[hazzben]

My take is that the CCIW is a pretty solid conference top to bottom.  Obviously North Park is a little behind, but most of the conference is pretty solid.
Ohio (Well ah Mt. Union)
WIAC
CCIW
is how I would rank it.  The CCIW tends to squash teams from the NAC, MWC, old Illini-Badger, Iowa (Central might be an exception), etc.  so given their Midwest geography, I would say they are a lion and not a wildebeest.

I'd rank it this way:

WIAC/OAC- WIAC has the best depth. Case in point, I predict UWP will be a Top 5 caliber WIAC champ this year. OAC has the top team of the last 20 years.
MIAC - has very strong top half (middle teams are all very competitive) and always has a team (or two) that are a Final 4 or Stagg threat.
NWC - usually two really strong squads; Linfield could make the same argument as Wheaton (they only seem to lose to a team that ends up in the Stagg or Region finals, but they've also won the whole shebang)
CCIW

The thing that separates the the top 4 from the CCIW is that they each have at least one team who has made and won the Stagg. It's no small thing that the NWC, WIAC and MIAC teams are often lined up against each other in the blood bath that is the West Region.

I realize it has been a while, but Augustana of the CCIW not only has won the Stagg, they did it FOUR CONSECUTIVE YEARS (something not even The Machine has been able to do).

I'm not trying to diminish anything about the great Augustana run of the 80's. It was historic.

That said, it's also not very helpful in doing a recent Power Rankings. I took the discussion, I think correctly, to be a judgment of how the conferences have stacked up more recently. But if we're talking all time, Augustana's run certainly bolsters the CCIW's resume. And interestingly, I think you'd still be looking at a similar top group. The OAC, WIAC, MIAC, NWC and CCIW all have multiple National Champions they can point to.

[Kovo]

Wheaton 66
Albion 0

This was one of those games that you point to if you believe that there should be a mercy rule in college football.

That was the definition of a payback game after the head-scratching loss at Albion last year, which kept Wheaton out of the playoffs. The margin of victory reminded me of the North Central 83, North Park 7 game from 2009.

114 points in two non-conference games?!!  It looks like Wheaton will soon have a WIAC filled non-conference schedule in the very near future.

[NCF]

Wheaton 66
Albion 0

This was one of those games that you point to if you believe that there should be a mercy rule in college football.

That was the definition of a payback game after the head-scratching loss at Albion last year, which kept Wheaton out of the playoffs. The margin of victory reminded me of the North Central 83, North Park 7 game from 2009.

114 points in two non-conference games?!!  It looks like Wheaton will soon have a WIAC filled non-conference schedule in the very near future.

That would be a good move for them.

[Titan Q]

A couple articles on the IWU/Alma game...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/big-second-half-carries-iwu/article_79d2da82-1d90-11e3-a726-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.themorningsun.com/sports/20130914/alma-college-struggles-to-find-consistency-in-home-opening-loss-to-illinois-wesleyan


A few takeaways...

* After rushing for 135 yards @ Aurora, senior RB Devonte Jones went for 121 yards yesterday.  With T.J. Stinde only able to play limited snaps this year, the emergence of Jones is significant for the Titans.

* Senior RB T.J. Stinde made his 2013 debut, rushing 7 times for 55 yards and 2 TDs.  Stinde is definitely limited by injury, but he's a big factor when on the field.

* Sophomore WR Artie Checchin was IWU's receiving leader for the second straight week.  The WR corp of Alex Garvey/Tate Musselman/Artie Checchin is a really good one.

* IWU held Alma to 100 total yards and 5 first downs.  Alma did not have a first down in the 2nd half.  (Against #11 Heidelberg, Alma had 211 yards and 14 first downs.)

* Junior CB Tyrell Bolden returned yesterday after missing the opener and had an INT


IWU struggled offensively for a half yesterday but seems to have gotten things back in full gear in the second.  Still hard to know how good the Titans are since Aurora and Alma are not strong, but I think there are a lot of positives for IWU through two games.  I'm pretty confident the Titans are right there with North Central and Wheaton this year.

[AndOne]

North Central avenges last year's opening game loss by downing UW-LaCrosse 41-24 after a UWL TD with 1:17 left.
NCC had 37 1st downs compared with UWL's 15, and rolled up 674 yards of total offense while UWL gained a total of 264.

* Spencer Stanek with a fabulous overall game, hitting on 26 of 35 passes for 330 yards and a TD, and rushing for another 106 yards and 2 TDs.
* RBs Matt Randolph (80), Ryan Kent (76), and Oshayne Brown (54) combined for 210 yards.
* The Cards also had two 100 yard receivers in Peter Sorenson with 142, and Chad O'Kane with 105.
* The defense was led by Nick Slezak with 9 tackles.

* The 674 yards amassed by North Central against UW-L yesterday set a new all-time school record.
* With 5 extra points, Nick Dace became NCC's all-time leading scorer with 289 points.

Naperville Sun article on the game:

http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/sports/fbl_ncc-NAP-09152013:article

[NCF]

A couple articles on the IWU/Alma game...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/big-second-half-carries-iwu/article_79d2da82-1d90-11e3-a726-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.themorningsun.com/sports/20130914/alma-college-struggles-to-find-consistency-in-home-opening-loss-to-illinois-wesleyan


A few takeaways...

* After rushing for 135 yards @ Aurora, senior RB Devonte Jones went for 121 yards yesterday.  With T.J. Stinde only able to play limited snaps this year, the emergence of Jones is significant for the Titans.

* Senior RB T.J. Stinde made his 2013 debut, rushing 7 times for 55 yards and 2 TDs.  Stinde is definitely limited by injury, but he's a big factor when on the field.

* Sophomore WR Artie Checchin was IWU's receiving leader for the second straight week.  The WR corp of Alex Garvey/Tate Musselman/Artie Checchin is a really good one.

* IWU held Alma to 100 total yards and 5 first downs.  Alma did not have a first down in the 2nd half.  (Against #11 Heidelberg, Alma had 211 yards and 14 first downs.)

* Junior CB Tyrell Bolden returned yesterday after missing the opener and had an INT


IWU struggled offensively for a half yesterday but seems to have gotten things back in full gear in the second.  Still hard to know how good the Titans are since Aurora and Alma are not strong, but I think there are a lot of positives for IWU through two games.  I'm pretty confident the Titans are right there with North Central and Wheaton this year.

They should be as long as they don't have another first half like they did yesterday.

[NCF]

I see the Bears seem intent on giving this game to Minnesota! WTH!

[iwu70]

Agree with Q's takeaways from Saturday for our Titans.

Another would be how strong the defense played -- coming on stronger with key players returning.  Gonna be a very good unit by CCIW time.   NCC very impressive in their win on Saturday, vs. UW-L.  WC too, but that's not much of an opponent, it would appear.

Hope will be a good challenge at home for the Titans on the 28th.  This week = bye week.

IWU70

[USee]

Not much to say about the Thunder's 66-0 win over Albion. They really played well in all phases of the game against a team that was overmatched, without it's starting QB, and then just gave up. Zero turnovers for Wheaton. If I was picky (and I am) I could mention the Thunder's lack of a pass rush that concern's me or the 2 sacks they gave up. Suffice to say the Thunder are playing very well right now against inferior competition, which is all you can hope for.

[AndOne]

We fans of the various teams naturally and rightfully love to pump up our favorites at every opportunity. Several recent posts make this already known fact all that more evident. The assumed top 3 conference teams, NCC, WC, and IWU, all had decisive victories Saturday as expected. However, before any of us fans get TOO carried away, lets remember that in facing UW-L, Albion, and Alma, NCC, WC, and IWU respectively beat teams ranked 47, 104, and 210 by Kickoff. In other words the cardinal, orange, and green did only what was certainly expected.

In somewhat or a reach, I'll make the analogy of the NCC, WC, and IWU victories with the shortstop who makes all the routine, expected plays, but whose star status is defined by his ability to go deep in the hole and make to play to nail the runner at first. So far the expected Big 3 (I know fans of other teams might feel left out) have accomplished the expected. I sense future separation in the standings will largely be dependent on the various teams ability to make the difficult plays at the most opportune junctures of future contests--likely among themselves when the competition won't be ranked 47, 104, or 210. 

[USee]

I don't disagree at all. The only thing we can see based on limited data is relative strength of the conference as IWU, NPU and Millkin all play Hope and NPU/Wheaton played Benedictine. Based on the results I see I would think NPU has a chance to win a conference game this year against Millikin (some think Carthage).  The top 3 are doing what they are expected. Elmhurst is about what I thought at this point. I was mildly surprised Augie didn't make more of a game vs Central, it appears Augie won't be much better than they were a year ago.

I do think teams (similar to basketball) evolve significantly as the season progresses. In football, young players who get 3-4 games under their belt can make dramatic improvements in the second half of the year and chemistry between players can improve (or similarly deteriorate) creating surprises (See Wheaton last year). I think we are in for a very entertaining conference season. Unfortunately the non-conference schedule isn't very strong so the SOS numbers for the CCIW will reflect that. NCC helps the conference dramatically by playing 3 WIAC schools but Wheaton and IWU's schedule aren't additive IMO.