FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[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.

don't get the Tribune, and the first I heard of the article was this morning at NPU.  Phil Hersch been with the Tribune for years, he even wrote about North Park's championship basketball teams in the late seventies.

It's called hyperbole, Dennis.  I am well aware of who Phil Hersch is and how long he has been with the Trib.  I've been reading his byline for longer than I care to admit.

[FishHack76]

Belated congrats to North Park. I saw the score then realized, "Oh wow the Streak is over!"

[USee]

Carthage and Millikin take notice-North Park is knockin' on the door and this could be the year they get one or two conference W's.

Man, I can't tell you how tired I am of seeing stuff like this.

Yes, Carthage and Millikin look bad this year, in what has shaped up to be a season in which the CCIW is extra-soggy on the bottom. And, yes, Olivet is a genuinely improved team from a year ago; the Comets team that NPU thumped in Michigan last season was almost completely made up of freshmen, but talented freshmen, most of whom stuck around and are now rounding into genuinely good football players.

But let's be realistic. NPU got outgained by about two to one yesterday. The Vikings' offense never really got untracked. And. although the defense did a great bend-but-don't-break job of holding down the Comets on the scoreboard, they got pretty banged up in the process -- and that's a serious concern for a defense that isn't loaded with depth and will probably be on the short end of time-of-possession in every CCIW game it plays (including against Carthage and Millikin). And, to be perfectly honest, what kept the game so close was Olivet's lack of discipline. The Comets are an underclassmen-dominated team, and it looked like it as far as penaties were concerned; 11 penalties for 157 yards, with several of those penalties being very costly on both sides of the ball for the Comets. Plus, NPU's lone touchdown was set up by an Olivet punt snap that sailed over the punter's head and gave the Vikes a gift-wrapped drive start at the Olivet 11.

The Vikings played with a lot of moxie yesterday, and had a legit chance to win it at the end. But they were still pretty badly outplayed by the Comets. And they will come limping into next Saturday's Homecoming game against Carthage with some pretty important players injured.

Every year people talk about how this will be the year that NPU gets a conference win. And every year I shake my head in disbelief, because they seem to make those comments without having actually seen the Vikings.

Nobody wants to see North Park win a CCIW football game more than yours truly. (Aside from the players and coaches, of course.) I think that that's pretty well established. But I'm being realistic. It's a banged-up 0-3 team that doesn't have much defensive depth, has a freshman QB and (mostly) underclassmen at the skill positions, and is still learning a new offense.

Can we please have a moratorium on the "NPU is gonna win a CCIW game this year" stuff for at least one week?

"Your Honor, I strenuously object!"....The irony of this post by GS is not lost on us less than a week later. You can't make this stuff up.

Congratulations to NPU nation on the next step in their program.

[Gregory Sager]

What a day. I'm still hoarse from shouting into my headset. I apologize to any listeners who had to turn the sound down on the webcast due to my shouting!

It was a sloppy Homecoming win for the Park, but it was just as magnificent as if the Vikings had played a picture-perfect game. In spite of the 78-minute lightning delay, in spite of 12 penalties for 116 yards, in spite of three turnovers, in spite of two missed extra points, and in spite of a couple of jumbo-sized kick returns by Carthage, North Park managed to snap that stupid streak today by sheer cussed determination. What the stats don't show is that senior WR John Barnabee's game-winning touchdown reception from T.D. Conway with four minutes and change remaining and the Vikings trailing by four points was completed at the five yard line. Barnabee was immediately hit by two Red Men, whom he then dragged into the end zone with him. As Mike Conway said in his postgame interview on the air, these NPU seniors have an incredible amount of fight in them. No way were they going to fall short today, and if it took absorbing two hits and dragging two men into the end zone with you, then so be it.

But this was not a fluke win. NPU outgained Carthage on the day by over 160 yards. The Vikes had twice as many first downs, won time of possession in spite of the fact that NPU's a passing team and CC is a running team, and took the ball away from Carthage five times -- none of those takeaways bigger than senior LB Bennett Dettlinger's interception at midfield with three and a half minutes remaining. I'm going to come out and say it: The Vikings, for all their faults, are a better football team than Carthage. And, yes, nobody is more surprised to see me typing those words than me.

Mike Conway was pretty emotional in that postgame interview. That says so much about him, because, heck, the man is 1-0 in his career as a CCIW coach. He bears no responsibility at all for any part of that 89-game debacle. He could've simply chose to look forward by shrugging off a losing streak that had nothing to do with him. But he cares so much about these upperclassmen -- kids that he inherited rather than recruited -- that he was pretty choked up about how much this win meant to them. T.D. Conway was, too. They really, really care about not making the seniors, especially, feel as though they're just steppingstones who will never see the Vikings reap the benefits of a turnaround. And, sure, I know that NPU will struggle throughout the rest of the CCIW slate. The next two weeks will see them take the field as massive underdogs against Wesleyan and North Central. Nevertheless, the upperclassmen, the seniors in particular, had their moment in the sun today on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

During that interview, as the NPU women's soccer team ran off the field when the heavens opened up again for a brief but intense shower, senior co-captain Tyler Krebs, who had apparently forgotten some item on the sidelines, ran back into the stadium by himself, still in uniform. He picked up whatever it was, ran back across the empty field, and raised his arms to the opened heavens in soaked exultation. Mike and I started laughing on the air. I don't think I've ever seen anybody over the age of five so incredibly happy to be running around outside in the rain. That moment of pure joy said it all.

[USee]

Wheaton 24 Augustana 15

The final score is not at all indicative of this game in Wheaton. The Thunder absolutely dominated Augie. The Vikings had 2 first downs and 57 yds at halftime and by the time the 4th quarter came around Wheaton held a 24-0 lead and Augie only had 93 yds of total offense. Wheaton gave up all of the 15 points in the final 1.49 of the game when their backups were playing.

The Wheaton defense was outstanding, as dominant as I have seen them in many years. Jordan Roberts had a rough first half but finished well(16-28 145 yds). The Thunder rushed for 239 yds and had 392 total yards.

Wheaton travels to Kenosha next week to play the Redmen.

[AndOne]

Just got home from a night of frolic in beautiful downtown NaPPerville, and read the news of NPU's epic victory.
It may have rained in the big city today, but the sun was evidently shining on the Vikings. Congrats to them. 

[bleedpurple]

What a day. I'm still hoarse from shouting into my headset. I apologize to any listeners who had to turn the sound down on the webcast due to my shouting!

It was a sloppy Homecoming win for the Park, but it was just as magnificent as if the Vikings had played a picture-perfect game. In spite of the 78-minute lightning delay, in spite of 12 penalties for 116 yards, in spite of three turnovers, in spite of two missed extra points, and in spite of a couple of jumbo-sized kick returns by Carthage, North Park managed to snap that stupid streak today by sheer cussed determination. What the stats don't show is that senior WR John Barnabee's game-winning touchdown reception from T.D. Conway with four minutes and change remaining and the Vikings trailing by four points was completed at the five yard line. Barnabee was immediately hit by two Red Men, whom he then dragged into the end zone with him. As Mike Conway said in his postgame interview on the air, these NPU seniors have an incredible amount of fight in them. No way were they going to fall short today, and if it took absorbing two hits and dragging two men into the end zone with you, then so be it.

But this was not a fluke win. NPU outgained Carthage on the day by over 160 yards. The Vikes had twice as many first downs, won time of possession in spite of the fact that NPU's a passing team and CC is a running team, and took the ball away from Carthage five times -- none of those takeaways bigger than senior LB Bennett Dettlinger's interception at midfield with three and a half minutes remaining. I'm going to come out and say it: The Vikings, for all their faults, are a better football team than Carthage. And, yes, nobody is more surprised to see me typing those words than me.

Mike Conway was pretty emotional in that postgame interview. That says so much about him, because, heck, the man is 1-0 in his career as a CCIW coach. He bears no responsibility at all for any part of that 89-game debacle. He could've simply chose to look forward by shrugging off a losing streak that had nothing to do with him. But he cares so much about these upperclassmen -- kids that he inherited rather than recruited -- that he was pretty choked up about how much this win meant to them. T.D. Conway was, too. They really, really care about not making the seniors, especially, feel as though they're just steppingstones who will never see the Vikings reap the benefits of a turnaround. And, sure, I know that NPU will struggle throughout the rest of the CCIW slate. The next two weeks will see them take the field as massive underdogs against Wesleyan and North Central. Nevertheless, the upperclassmen, the seniors in particular, had their moment in the sun today on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

During that interview, as the NPU women's soccer team ran off the field when the heavens opened up again for a brief but intense shower, senior co-captain Tyler Krebs, who had apparently forgotten some item on the sidelines, ran back into the stadium by himself, still in uniform. He picked up whatever it was, ran back across the empty field, and raised his arms to the opened heavens in soaked exultation. Mike and I started laughing on the air. I don't think I've ever seen anybody over the age of five so incredibly happy to be running around outside in the rain. That moment of pure joy said it all.

Thanks for capturing the emotion of the day and sharing it. Congratulations to all involved with North Park football!!!

[Stagg Again!!]

I've been quite busy this fall with family obligations and other commitments, but thought I would be remiss if I didn't pop onto the board and congratulate the Vikings East on their big win.  Over the past two years, I have seen improvement on the field.  It must be really sweet for the young North Park men to get this gorilla off of their backs.  Congratulations also goes out to the new coaching staff that is working so hard to instill a new winning attitude on the North Side.

[Titan Q]

A couple articles on the IWU @ Millikin game...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/jones-leads-iwu-to-victory-over-millikin/article_52cdee98-2e09-11e3-9595-0019bb2963f4.html

http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/late-mistakes-hurt-big-blue/article_a5ef680a-2e44-11e3-9cde-0019bb2963f4.html


I didn't see any of this game online since we were at the Illinois/Nebraska game, but from following on my phone, this one was very tight throughout.  The Titans took a 7-point lead with 10:27 to play in the 4th quarter on a 1-yard Devonte Jones TD run.  With about 5:00 to play, the Big Blue had the ball to the IWU 37 when QB Nick Pippin was intercepted by IWU's Paul Panno for a "pick 6."  That put IWU up 14 and ended up being the final margin.  The Titans also sealed the Hope game last weekend with a late-4th quarter interception.

Senior RB Devonte Jones led IWU to the win -- 35 rushes for 226 yards and 3 TDs.  What a game.  IWU QB Rob Gallik only had 18 pass attempts in this game.  He averaged 29 attempts per game coming in.  I'm not sure if the game plan was simply to run, or if there were weather issues, or what the deal was there.

IWU doesn't seem to be playing as well as North Central and Wheaton right now, but I still think the Titans will be right in the middle of the CCIW title picture.  IWU has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, and an exceptional level of senior leadership.  Add in the fact that those Wheaton and NCC games are in Bloomington, and I think the Titans have a good chance to get it done.

[New Tradition]

What a day. I'm still hoarse from shouting into my headset. I apologize to any listeners who had to turn the sound down on the webcast due to my shouting!

It was a sloppy Homecoming win for the Park, but it was just as magnificent as if the Vikings had played a picture-perfect game. In spite of the 78-minute lightning delay, in spite of 12 penalties for 116 yards, in spite of three turnovers, in spite of two missed extra points, and in spite of a couple of jumbo-sized kick returns by Carthage, North Park managed to snap that stupid streak today by sheer cussed determination. What the stats don't show is that senior WR John Barnabee's game-winning touchdown reception from T.D. Conway with four minutes and change remaining and the Vikings trailing by four points was completed at the five yard line. Barnabee was immediately hit by two Red Men, whom he then dragged into the end zone with him. As Mike Conway said in his postgame interview on the air, these NPU seniors have an incredible amount of fight in them. No way were they going to fall short today, and if it took absorbing two hits and dragging two men into the end zone with you, then so be it.

But this was not a fluke win. NPU outgained Carthage on the day by over 160 yards. The Vikes had twice as many first downs, won time of possession in spite of the fact that NPU's a passing team and CC is a running team, and took the ball away from Carthage five times -- none of those takeaways bigger than senior LB Bennett Dettlinger's interception at midfield with three and a half minutes remaining. I'm going to come out and say it: The Vikings, for all their faults, are a better football team than Carthage. And, yes, nobody is more surprised to see me typing those words than me.

Mike Conway was pretty emotional in that postgame interview. That says so much about him, because, heck, the man is 1-0 in his career as a CCIW coach. He bears no responsibility at all for any part of that 89-game debacle. He could've simply chose to look forward by shrugging off a losing streak that had nothing to do with him. But he cares so much about these upperclassmen -- kids that he inherited rather than recruited -- that he was pretty choked up about how much this win meant to them. T.D. Conway was, too. They really, really care about not making the seniors, especially, feel as though they're just steppingstones who will never see the Vikings reap the benefits of a turnaround. And, sure, I know that NPU will struggle throughout the rest of the CCIW slate. The next two weeks will see them take the field as massive underdogs against Wesleyan and North Central. Nevertheless, the upperclassmen, the seniors in particular, had their moment in the sun today on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

During that interview, as the NPU women's soccer team ran off the field when the heavens opened up again for a brief but intense shower, senior co-captain Tyler Krebs, who had apparently forgotten some item on the sidelines, ran back into the stadium by himself, still in uniform. He picked up whatever it was, ran back across the empty field, and raised his arms to the opened heavens in soaked exultation. Mike and I started laughing on the air. I don't think I've ever seen anybody over the age of five so incredibly happy to be running around outside in the rain. That moment of pure joy said it all.

It's no secret that everyone on the CCIW board is impressed with your writing, Greg, but you know someone is DAMN good when, through words in black and white, you can FEEL their emotion. Not just seeping through, mind you, but blasting you in the gut. I was really looking forward to reading your post after I saw the score. It's better than I could have hoped. Thanks so much for sharing and congrats again.

[Titan Q]

The attendance listed at Millikin yesterday for homecoming was 4000...impressive.   

[matblake]

Really awesome for NPU.  Great day for the CCIW's only urban campus.  While we all knew it would eventually happen, it was still a fist pump moment.  This is what is great about athletics.  The sheer joy of accomplishing something that you have really worked hard for. 

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, bleedpurple and New Tradition!

[badgerwarhawk]

Add me to the list of those who just stopped by to congratulate your North Park Vikings, Greg.  My friend mentioned the score when we were returning from LaCrosse and I immediately thought of you and how much you must have enjoyed being involved in the broadcast.   It was neat for your program and fantastic for your seniors.  Good luck the rest of the way.

[Pat Coleman]

North Park: Thanks for making Kickoff look good.