FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Langhorst_Ghost]

Saturday's Battle of the Birds will be available live (as are all EC home contests) on BluejayTV tomorrow from Langhorst at 2pm.

http://www.bluejaytv.com/

If you are headed to campus for the Homecoming festivities, bring an umbrella, T-Storms all day according to Tom Skilling.

[Gregory Sager]

It's behind the Tribune's paywall, but the feature story on the back page of today's sports section in the Colonel's Rag is about Mike Conway and the seemingly-impossible task that he's taken on at NPU. (Nice big color pic of Taylor Simental, T.D. Conway, and Tyler Krebs in their new home unis, too.) The headline of Philip Hersh's well-written piece is "Crazy about his job", and it's pretty apparent that the word "crazy" in the headline has a double meaning.

For those of you who aren't subscribers or who don't have access to a paper copy of the Trib, here's some quotes from the story:

* * *

Mike Conway met the players when he came to Chicago to interview for North Park University's head football coaching job in the winter. Soon after Conway had returned to his home in western Pennsylvania, convinced he wanted the job, one of the North Park players sent him a disturbing email.

The player said he and his teammates had looked at Conway's bio and impressive career resume and could not understand why he would come to a Division III program that last had a winning season in 1968 and had not won more than three of its 10 games in the previous 19 seasons.

And they weren't the only ones asking that question.

"A lot of people thought I was crazy taking the job," Conway said. "Some thought I was crazy even going out to visit."

* * *
Conway wanted to be a head coach again after 11 years as associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Division II California University of Pennsylvania. Before that, he had given up an assistant coaching position at Purdue to take the head coaching job at Olivet Nazarene University.

"People thought that was the craziest thing I had ever done. So I topped it," Conway said, laughing.

* * *

At 53, having been recruited as a coach for the first time, he decided to follow his heart and his faith rather than the well-meaning advice of those who said he shouldn't do it.

"I'm sure it was God leading me out here," he said.

* * *

So Conway moved his wife, Beth Ann, and two football-playing sons to Chicago in January and began trying to rebuild the confidence of young men badly beaten up mentally by losing but strong enough to stick it out through what had become thin and thin.

"You think, 'What's the point to keep going when you just keep getting knocked down and knocked down?' " said senior tri-captain Taylor Simental from De La Salle. "But the guys we have on this team make you want to push through. Eventually, it's going to break, and when it does, it will be incredible."

* * *

He [Conway] knows success won't come that quickly at North Park. He knows that it is hard for the older players as they plant the seeds for harvests that they won't be around to reap.

"I tell them all the time, 'Maybe you won't tangibly reach the benefits of the future, but you will know you were a huge part of it,' " Conway said.

* * *

"I expect us to become a greater and greater team every year, but in no way do I find myself regretting it's not happening for me now," said another tri-captain and senior, Tyler Krebs. "I know it is a process."

* * *

"In the first five minutes after we met him during the interview process, he made me and the rest of the guys want to put on pads and helmets and play right then," Simental said. "Within 10 minutes, you felt so deeply that he wanted to help us get out of this thing. You just knew how much he cared about us."

* * *

"In the past, when there was adversity, we didn't respond well," Krebs said. "On the sidelines, players were putting their heads between their legs, and coaches were not continuing to coach. I have not seen that once this season."

* * *

Before the season, Mike Conway discovered the school bookstore had no North Park football merchandise for sale and asked why.

"You start winning some games, and we'll get some football stuff," he was told.

"I don't know how many times I've heard, 'You've got your work cut out for you here [those were my exact words to him as well when we first met. - GS],' " Conway said. "At this point in my life, a challenge is something I'm really looking forward to. I'm not going to be discouraged or lose heart."

* * *

Great piece.

[AndOne]

A Naperville Sun article on this year's mostly rebuilt linebacking corps, and how it has been fashioned more on speed and the ability to read and react as opposed to solely on size/power. So far the results have been outstanding.
Middle backer Nick Slezak, who began his college career as a receiver, played free safety last year, and assumed his current leadership position only this season.
The ability to both recruit, and then to move versatile players around, plugging the right players into spots vacated by graduation and injury, is one of the reasons for the high degree of success the Cardinals have experienced over the past several years. 

http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/sports/fbl_ncc-NAP-10042013:article

[Pat Coleman]

This system is often refereed to as the "One-Loss Lottery" with more 9-1 squads than spaces available.

I have never heard this and Google has only heard of it once in 2000 and once in 2007:
[url="https://www.google.com/search?q="One-Loss+Lottery"&oq="One-Loss+Lottery""]https://www.google.com/search?q="One-Loss+Lottery"&oq="One-Loss+Lottery"[/url]

But I like the name and perhaps we should claim it.

Pat - You are more than welcome to it, but it's actually already yours  - first paragraph...http://d3football.com/playoffs/2012/bracket-released

Oh. Lotto, not lottery, didn't come up in the Google.

[kiko]

Given this particular thread's on-going conference status in the national picture debate, i found the most recent home page story a particularly relevant read...

Four teams with winning records and four games over .500 is actually a down season compared to what the CCIW, which starts conference play Saturday, normally does non-conference. Going 3-2 vs. the IIAC and 3-5 vs. the MIAA shows that the CCIW doesn't have its normal overall depth, but North Central went 3-0 by itself against WIAC teams. While the Cardinals chose to schedule up, Wheaton – perhaps tired of going 8-2 and missing the postseason – beat Benedictine, Albion and Luther by a combined 152-39 without going more than 10 miles from campus. Elmhurst, after an offseason of losses, is 1-2 and struggling as expected. Illinois Wesleyan's 14-7 home win against Hope either says a lot about what the 3-1 Flying Dutchmen have this season, or it says the CCIW isn't matching its usual standard of play

Interesting take from the D3.com team on the non-con scheduling choices from our DuPage County powers.  My big take-away - Wheaton's soft September will hurt them more than help them should they land on the bubble again in 2013 with one conference loss.  With the Cards sharpening their beaks in the WIAC, not only will the Thornies be better prepared both physically and mentally for the CCIW grind, they have earned themselves a mulligan with the selection commitee on their way to the playoffs should they stumble once in conference play.

I will quibble with the article in that I'm not sure I would call the teams North Central played this year 'scheduling up'.  Yes, they were WIAC schools, but they were not the upper echelon of that conference, and certainly weren't playoff-caliber teams.  It's more 'scheduling stronger than in recent years' than anything else.

It's better than what they have been doing in recent years, where there was typically one or two frosted morsels on the calendar (if that's the definition, then I suppose, yes, this was scheduling up...).  And it's about as strong of a schedule as I'd expect them to play given (1) the reticence of some schools to play them, and (2) the playoff structure and selection criteria.  I'd dearly love to see the Cards play the likes of Mount Union or Linfield on a regular basis as a measuring stick for what it takes to be the best, but there is simply no incentive to do so when one out-of-conference purple loss coupled with one in-conference loss can very likely leave you sitting on the sidelines come late November.

Back In The Day the Cardinal basketball team would tour around California in December and play a string of games against D2 opponents as preparation for the conference slate.  That clearly wouldn't make sense today in either sport.

If I recall correctly, we did discuss the weakness of the CCIW in general early in the season and I completely agree on the "playing up" of North Central. How about a Platteville, Osh, UWW, Franklin, or Mt. Union on the early season slate? Just one of them each season would be a nice change. Make it the third non-conference game. Linfield would cost too much. The Redlands trip cost quite a bit and had to be eliminated this year.

It really becomes a question of whether you are willing to upgrade the level of competition and risk a loss which, with Pool C berths at such a premium, puts you on an AQ-or-bust path.  Play Mount Union and increase the chances of not making the playoffs, or play random average team and maintain the original odds?  If the playoffs are your standard of excellence, the first scenario becomes a tougher sell.  But I definitely see the benefit of more aggressive scheduling.

(And I don't mean to put on my Cloak of Redbird Arrogance and imply that the other games are guaranteed victories.  They are anything but.  Just that signing up to play Mount Union or Whitewater carries different consequences than signing up to play a non-elite program.)

I was using Linfield as an example of a strong purple team and not as a 'let's travel!' example.  But I do think there is merit in scheduling a Redlands-type home-and-home series once every four-year cycle.  I think having done that made last year's playoff excursions to Cali and Linfield less foreign for the Cards, and there is no guarantee the NCAA won't put them on a plane again.  But it's easy for me to sit here and spend someone else's money.  Taking an armada the size of a football team on the road is, as you suggest, an expensive proposition.

[AndOne]

I costs a veritable fortune. When NCC played at Redlands a couple of years ago the tab was huge.
At least in the playoffs, the NCAA foots the bill. However, playoff teams are only permitted to take and dress 58 players at NCAA expense. This goes for both the visiting team and the home team. A team can take more than 58 players, but it has to pay for those in excess of 58. Also the "extra" players on either team cannot be in the team box on the sidelines during the game.

[NCF]

I costs a veritable fortune. When NCC played at Redlands a couple of years ago the tab was huge.
At least in the playoffs, the NCAA foots the bill. However, playoff teams are only permitted to take and dress 58 players at NCAA expense. This goes for both the visiting team and the home team. A team can take more than 58 players, but it has to pay for those in excess of 58. Also the "extra" players on either team cannot be in the team box on the sidelines during the game.

It was a nice trip, but there are good teams in the Midwest as well. My guess is as the number of at large bids decreases, you'll see fewer teams willing to truly "play up".  Hats off to Franklin, Wesley and others who take the chance and play tough competition right out of the gate.

[CardinalAlum]

A Naperville Sun article on this year's mostly rebuilt linebacking corps, and how it has been fashioned more on speed and the ability to read and react as opposed to solely on size/power. So far the results have been outstanding.
Middle backer Nick Slezak, who began his college career as a receiver, played free safety last year, and assumed his current leadership position only this season.
The ability to both recruit, and then to move versatile players around, plugging the right players into spots vacated by graduation and injury, is one of the reasons for the high degree of success the Cardinals have experienced over the past several years. 

http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/sports/fbl_ncc-NAP-10042013:article

Sorry, not buying in on this yet.  I have not been impressed with the LB play.  Making tackles after 8 yard runs doesn't impress me.  I stated previously that the run defense is a concern for me.  Here's hoping the LB's start making tackles in the holes and behind the LOS!   Starting today would be perfect!   

[oldnuthin]

A little something for your Saturday reading. Millikin upset IWU in 2009,  ball control and a staunch Defense are the ingredients for another upset today. Go Big Blue.

http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/dunning-leads-big-blue-into-cciw-showdown/article_bf4ab342-2d84-11e3-bec5-001a4bcf887a.html

[NCF]

A little something for your Saturday reading. Millikin upset IWU in 2009,  ball control and a staunch Defense are the ingredients for another upset today. Go Big Blue.

http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/dunning-leads-big-blue-into-cciw-showdown/article_bf4ab342-2d84-11e3-bec5-001a4bcf887a.html

Nice article and this game seems to usually be a good one. Good luck to Billy Chase (but not too much as a Millikin win would ruin my pick-ems ) a sr. LB and LS. He played youth football with my son.

[USee]

Wheaton's homecoming tilt with Augie is the most intriguing matchup of the CCIW openers today. This is far from a pushover as Augie is actually the 2nd best defense through 3 games yielding just 249 yds a game (IWU leads at 230 yds, Wheaton 3rd at 255 yds). Augie also has the #1 rush offense with 243 yds a game (Wheaton is 2nd at 228 yds).

When you can play defense and run the ball, you will have a chance in most games. Augie's scoring offense and defense is deceptive as to how good they are this year. This will be the best team Wheaton has played so far by a large margin so we will see just how good Wheaton is from today's game.

[markerickson]

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune has a half-page article regarding NPU football, written by Philip Hersch.  He defies the moratorium and mentions the conference losing streak.

[CardinalAlum]

Wheaton's homecoming tilt with Augie is the most intriguing matchup of the CCIW openers today. This is far from a pushover as Augie is actually the 2nd best defense through 3 games yielding just 249 yds a game (IWU leads at 230 yds, Wheaton 3rd at 255 yds). Augie also has the #1 rush offense with 243 yds a game (Wheaton is 2nd at 228 yds).

When you can play defense and run the ball, you will have a chance in most games. Augie's scoring offense and defense is deceptive as to how good they are this year. This will be the best team Wheaton has played so far by a large margin so we will see just how good Wheaton is from today's game.

It might be intriguing but i still say the Wheaties win this one by 20!   

[NCF]

Wheaton's homecoming tilt with Augie is the most intriguing matchup of the CCIW openers today. This is far from a pushover as Augie is actually the 2nd best defense through 3 games yielding just 249 yds a game (IWU leads at 230 yds, Wheaton 3rd at 255 yds). Augie also has the #1 rush offense with 243 yds a game (Wheaton is 2nd at 228 yds).

When you can play defense and run the ball, you will have a chance in most games. Augie's scoring offense and defense is deceptive as to how good they are this year. This will be the best team Wheaton has played so far by a large margin so we will see just how good Wheaton is from today's game.

I agree, wait, what did I just say, I agree with Usee Wheaties make a statement today.

[kiko]

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune has a half-page article regarding NPU football, written by Philip Hersch.  He defies the moratorium and mentions the conference losing streak.

I am sure Dennis fired off a letter to the Colonel admonishing him for the Tribune's transgression. 

Phil Hersch was apparently unaware that the streak is the CCIW equivalent of the fight club.