FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[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.

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.

I'll second that New T! Just got caught up on the last few days of posts while at work.  Honestly, I was fighting back tears reading Greg's post, hoping none of my co-workers walked in to see me "glassy-eyed".  Fantastic stuff Greg and congrats to the NPU Vikes.

Thanks, thunderdog! Much appreciated.

[Gregory Sager]

One thing I'd like to add, although it may even have been discussed on the podcast:

Not to slight the North Park kids that were already there, but I think the Conway kids deserve some kudos for deciding to join their father in the ground-floor rebuilding project at NPU.  I've lived in Pittsburgh for a while now and heard of those kids while they were playing in high school.  They were both already on the team at Division II California (Pa), which is a pretty decent Division II team in a good league, and probably could have decided to stay there instead of going when their dad took the NPU job.  I'm sure that some kids would have said "Sorry, dad, but I'm going to stay here instead of moving halfway across the country to join a team that hasn't won a conference game in a decade."  Instead they saddled up and made the move with him.

Instead they're both on board and likely to play a tremendous part in resurrecting the NPU program, indeed they're already making quite an impact as the starting QB and WR.  Kinda cool, especially when I read Greg's comment that TD Conway and his father both seemed to genuinely care about the kids already on the team rather than viewing themselves as the saviors riding in to send these bums out and replace them with better players.  That's neat to see.

Very well put, ExTartanPlayer. While I am no real arbiter of what constitutes the difference between a D2 football player and a D3 football player, after having watched the Conway brothers for four games I am beginning to appreciate just how talented they are. They obviously weren't awarded D2 football scholarships just because their dad was the defensive coordinator. T.D. Conway is a star in the making at QB, and, while wide receiver is less of a high-profile position, Dakota Conway is unmistakeably a player who has a very high ceiling in his own right. They obviously have grown up with the benefits of being taught the sport by a dad who is a college coach and former professional player, but they're also physically talented and intelligent young men who have the necessary tools in and of themselves to excel as CCIW football players. And, yeah, they've totally bought in to being Vikings and have bonded with their teammates to the point where T.D. was practically beaming when he told me on the air how happy he was for the seniors, whom he called "my brothers" -- a pointed reference from a kid who has an actual flesh-and-blood brother on the team.

Mike Conway doesn't like individual statistics, because he resists talking about anything that puts a spotlight on a single player and takes it away from the team. But the Conway brothers have already made an impact upon the North Park record book. T.D. set a school record for most single-game completions in his very first outing as a Viking (37 vs. Hope), and he now has the first, seventh, and eleventh spots on the NPU single-game completions list after only four games played. He also has the thirteenth- and fourteenth-best games in NPU football history in terms of passing yardage. Dakota's twelve catches on Saturday puts him in a tie for sixth place on the single-game receptions list. Both of them will continue to write their names all over the North Park record book as their careers continue. They obviously benefit from NPU's switch from the triple option to the spread in terms of offense philosophies, but in large part that switch was made in order to accommodate their skills.

I am really looking forward to watching T.D. and Dakota develop and succeed as CCIW football players.

[AndOne]

New poll is out.

North Central remains #4 and loses one point from last week.

Wheaton up two spots to #13 and gains 40 points.  They leapfrog Pacific Lutheran, which lost, and Franklin, which lost 14 poll points after an 80-14 victory over HCAC cellar-dwellar Earlham.

Titans up 7 points in total and are now one point outside of the Top 25.  At the risk of stating the obvious, if IWU keeps winning, they will keep climbing.

-----

From my perspective way up here in the nosebleed section, North Central has not been playing like the #4 team in the country.  (And my loyalties are well-documented...)  AndOne documented some of the sloppiness that still needs to get sorted out.  Wheaton feels like they're in roughly the right place.  And I'd have the Titans around five or six spots higher.

But the powers-that-be would surely revoke my voting privileges when they discovered that my ballot also ranked North Park 25th for this week only in honor of their streakbusting prowess...

kiko---

When the Green Weenies down the now up and coming (eastern) Vikings this weekend, and halt the NPU winning streak, perhaps they will officially be moved up into the Top 25. However, what margin of victory might be required for such an uptick given that despite some sloppy play last Sat, NCC still downed last year's conference co-champs by 17 points and lost a point in the vote total?

[wabashcpa]

You really can't go wrong with a QB named T.D.!

[Gregory Sager]

I keep meaning to ask Mike Conway or his wife Beth Ann if their younger son's initials were a deliberate choice on their part. I mean, it does make complete sense that a football coach would have a son called T.D.

Congrats to NPU senior linebacker Bennett Dettlinger upon being named CCIW Defensive Player of the Week for his afternoon against Carthage that included twelve tackles, a fumble recovery, and a crucial interception in the waning minutes of the game. He's currently ranked second in the CCIW in tackles over the course of the first four games of the season. I was campaigning on the air on Saturday for him to win the award, and I am certainly glad to see that he got it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, Mrs. Y and I certainly thought about initials: out older son is DR B and the younger one is JR B!

Does Mike Conway have any more sons in the pipeline - would sure ease NPU's recruiting problems!

And belated congratulations to NPU - I really did think this would finally be the year, but you begged people to stuff a sock in it!

[AndOne]

Congrats to NPU senior linebacker Bennett Dettlinger upon being named CCIW Defensive Player of the Week for his afternoon against Carthage that included twelve tackles, a fumble recovery, and a crucial interception in the waning minutes of the game. He's currently ranked second in the CCIW in tackles over the course of the first four games of the season. I was campaigning on the air on Saturday for him to win the award, and I am certainly glad to see that he got it.

Damn, all those tackles, a fumble recovery, and a very timely INT. Sounds like a one man wrecking crew. 

Congrats also to IWU RB Devonte Jones (226 yds, nice) the offensive POW, and North Central's Nick Dace (NCC's all-time leading scorer) who took the special teams POW award.

[Gregory Sager]

Does Mike Conway have any more sons in the pipeline - would sure ease NPU's recruiting problems!

Nope. He and Beth Ann just have those two sons.

And belated congratulations to NPU - I really did think this would finally be the year, but you begged people to stuff a sock in it!

Yeah, I've been getting a lot of badinage over the past few days on this board about my plea for a moratorium regarding predictions of wins for NPU in conference play. None of those gibes were malicious, of course. But try to look at it from my point of view, Chuck, or from the point of view of other Vikings fans.

I know that there were well-meaning intentions from outsiders over the years whenever they cheerfully posted something along the lines of, "I think that this is the season that North Park is going to win a CCIW game!" The problems with that, however, were: a) there was never any indication that the person really knew what he or she was talking about at all, in the sense that there was never any sort of football-based evidence presented to back up his or her hypothesis; and b) all it did every year was pile even more misery on top of the already-excessive misery that the program had to endure when those predictions failed to come true.

North Park pulled a huge monkey off of its back on Saturday. But the end of the streak itself wasn't the only dorsal simian that was extracted by the win over Carthage; being an object of pity and/or well-meaning but unhelpful positive predictions was a burden as well that I'm happy to see lifted.

Also, as nice as the national spotlight was for a rather attention-starved school (our hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, does a feature story on NPU perhaps once a decade at best -- and that's not just including the sports teams), all of us who support the school and the football team know that it was a good spotlight for a bad reason. The attention never would've come North Park's way if it hadn't been for the magnitude of that losing streak -- which isn't even the worst losing streak under which the Vikings have to operate, by the way, as the 45 years without a winning football season is arguably worse than the 89 straight CCIW losses.

Let's be honest. That 89-game conference losing streak is what piqued the interest of Trib sports features writer Philip Hersh, vis-a-vis the seemingly-bizarre decision of a very experienced and highly-regarded college football coach to inherit that losing streak by accepting the NPU head coaching job, and the snapping of that streak a day after the article appeared is of course what drew everybody else's interest. (Mike Conway told Kevin Shepke this evening on npuweekly -- which is worth listening to, by the way, as you can hear my end-of-game call from Saturday, first in chipmunk form as Kevin messes around with the equipment and then in real form once he gets it straightened out -- that he called Hersh to thank him for the follow-up article in the Trib about NPU's win and said, "Are you going to take credit for the win because you put that article in the paper the day before?" To which Hersh replied, "If you're gonna give me credit, then I'm willing to accept it." )

All things considered, I'd rather have the program be anonymous and mediocre than to be nationally celebrated for ending gargantuan losing streaks. Attention is always nice for a program and a school that rarely gets any, of course, but it ought to be for the right reasons. "Anonymous and mediocre" would mean that the Vikings are winning CCIW football games with at least modest regularity, and winning football games is what this is all about -- not just winning one of them after thirteen years of not winning any at all.

[Gregory Sager]

Incidentally, in that npuweekly webcast from this afternoon to which I just linked, Mike Conway gave a shout-out to North Central head coach John Thorne not once, but twice. Thorne apparently sent Mike a heartfelt congratulatory e-mail this weekend, a pretty nice gesture from a coach whom he hasn't even had to meet as an opponent yet. I'm impressed by it as well.

[kiko]

New poll is out.

North Central remains #4 and loses one point from last week.

Wheaton up two spots to #13 and gains 40 points.  They leapfrog Pacific Lutheran, which lost, and Franklin, which lost 14 poll points after an 80-14 victory over HCAC cellar-dwellar Earlham.

Titans up 7 points in total and are now one point outside of the Top 25.  At the risk of stating the obvious, if IWU keeps winning, they will keep climbing.

-----

From my perspective way up here in the nosebleed section, North Central has not been playing like the #4 team in the country.  (And my loyalties are well-documented...)  AndOne documented some of the sloppiness that still needs to get sorted out.  Wheaton feels like they're in roughly the right place.  And I'd have the Titans around five or six spots higher.

But the powers-that-be would surely revoke my voting privileges when they discovered that my ballot also ranked North Park 25th for this week only in honor of their streakbusting prowess...

kiko---

When the Green Weenies down the now up and coming (eastern) Vikings this weekend, and halt the NPU winning streak, perhaps they will officially be moved up into the Top 25. However, what margin of victory might be required for such an uptick given that despite some sloppy play last Sat, NCC still downed last year's conference co-champs by 17 points and lost a point in the vote total?

I'm not really sure what your point is here.   One, we are talking about a single point among the 500-plus which the Redbirds collected... And two, absent losses or signature victories, there is typically little movement at the top of the poll as we get deeper into the season -- unlike at the bottom, where there will virtually always be more volatility.

Are you surprised that North Central dropped a point in the poll?

#1 Mount Union won by 51 points

#2 Linfield won 29-0 over what was at the time the 11th ranked team, and held them to 10 first downs and just over 200 yards of offense in the process.

#3 Mary Hardin Baylor won by 42 points

#5 Bethel won by 3 against an unbeaten and just-outside-the-top-25 Augsburg.  They led by 17 in the fourth before a couple of late TDs made it close.

#6 St. Thomas won by 59 points.

#7 Hobart led 34-0 at halftime, 41-0 after three, and won 41-7.

... And #4 North Central was tied at halftime against a team that had been struggling (what they did last year is irrelevant to this conversation), before pulling away for a 17-point win.

-----

I'm happy that the Cards won, and an away victory in the CCIW is always a welcome sight and should never ever be taken for granted.  But it's pretty clear to me which of these is the outlier among the top-ranked teams' results from this weekend.

[ExTartanPlayer]

New poll is out.

North Central remains #4 and loses one point from last week.

Wheaton up two spots to #13 and gains 40 points.  They leapfrog Pacific Lutheran, which lost, and Franklin, which lost 14 poll points after an 80-14 victory over HCAC cellar-dwellar Earlham.

Titans up 7 points in total and are now one point outside of the Top 25.  At the risk of stating the obvious, if IWU keeps winning, they will keep climbing.

-----

From my perspective way up here in the nosebleed section, North Central has not been playing like the #4 team in the country.  (And my loyalties are well-documented...)  AndOne documented some of the sloppiness that still needs to get sorted out.  Wheaton feels like they're in roughly the right place.  And I'd have the Titans around five or six spots higher.

But the powers-that-be would surely revoke my voting privileges when they discovered that my ballot also ranked North Park 25th for this week only in honor of their streakbusting prowess...

kiko---

When the Green Weenies down the now up and coming (eastern) Vikings this weekend, and halt the NPU winning streak, perhaps they will officially be moved up into the Top 25. However, what margin of victory might be required for such an uptick given that despite some sloppy play last Sat, NCC still downed last year's conference co-champs by 17 points and lost a point in the vote total?

I'm not really sure what your point is here.   One, we are talking about a single point among the 500-plus which the Redbirds collected... And two, absent losses or signature victories, there is typically little movement at the top of the poll as we get deeper into the season -- unlike at the bottom, where there will virtually always be more volatility.

Are you surprised that North Central dropped a point in the poll?

#1 Mount Union won by 51 points

#2 Linfield won 29-0 over what was at the time the 11th ranked team, and held them to 10 first downs and just over 200 yards of offense in the process.

#3 Mary Hardin Baylor won by 42 points

#5 Bethel won by 3 against an unbeaten and just-outside-the-top-25 Augsburg.  They led by 17 in the fourth before a couple of late TDs made it close.

#6 St. Thomas won by 59 points.

#7 Hobart led 34-0 at halftime, 41-0 after three, and won 41-7.

... And #4 North Central was tied at halftime against a team that had been struggling (what they did last year is irrelevant to this conversation), before pulling away for a 17-point win.

-----

I'm happy that the Cards won, and an away victory in the CCIW is always a welcome sight and should never ever be taken for granted.  But it's pretty clear to me which of these is the outlier among the top-ranked teams' results from this weekend.

Agreed. Elmhurst may have been last year's co-champ but they're this year's loser to Chicago and Trine.  If NCC had been tied with either of those teams at halftime, would you consider it a result befitting the 4th-ranked team in the nation?

NCC may well be a top-5 team, but Saturday's game against Elmhurst was not a top-5 caliber performance.  You certainly can get away with a clunker or two, but complaining about losing poll points on the heels of that performance seems like it should be the least of your concerns.

As a general point, I have to admit that I'm amused whenever anyone gets worked up about the d3 poll because it's irrelevant to postseason anyway. It's not like Division I where your place in the rankings affects your chances to play for the national title. Whether the d3football poll ranks you 4th or 7th or 11th, you still get the same chance to win it all as long as you get in.

[hazzben]

Check it out Greg.....

http://footballscoop.com/news/11099-this-program-got-their-first-conference-win-in-13-years-yesterday

Thanks for the link, BW. Interesting that this writer comes right out and declares the CCIW to be one of the top four leagues in D3 football, in light of the recent discussion that took place here.

First, congrats North Park. Exciting day! And fun to hear about the emotion of the players and coaches. That's one of the great things about sports.

I was struck by the comment in the article a well. But more that he called the CCIW one of the 'top four conferences in small college football.' Just what exactly is 'small college football?' Does the WIAC get excluded from this because of their size? Is this including NAIA & DII schools? Just a weird comment and strange way to phrase it. He's either not making a very accurate statement, implying DIII is a rung below NAIA or he's paying the CCIW one massive compliment. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

Check it out Greg.....

http://footballscoop.com/news/11099-this-program-got-their-first-conference-win-in-13-years-yesterday

Thanks for the link, BW. Interesting that this writer comes right out and declares the CCIW to be one of the top four leagues in D3 football, in light of the recent discussion that took place here.

First, congrats North Park. Exciting day! And fun to hear about the emotion of the players and coaches. That's one of the great things about sports.

I was struck by the comment in the article a well. But more that he called the CCIW one of the 'top four conferences in small college football.' Just what exactly is 'small college football?' Does the WIAC get excluded from this because of their size? Is this including NAIA & DII schools? Just a weird comment and strange way to phrase it. He's either not making a very accurate statement, implying DIII is a rung below NAIA or he's paying the CCIW one massive compliment. 

Most likely just an off-the-cuff remark.  Most non-D2 or D3 fans wouldn't really care anyway, to them anything that's not Division I - er, FBS - is lumped into one category.

[hazzben]

Check it out Greg.....

http://footballscoop.com/news/11099-this-program-got-their-first-conference-win-in-13-years-yesterday

Thanks for the link, BW. Interesting that this writer comes right out and declares the CCIW to be one of the top four leagues in D3 football, in light of the recent discussion that took place here.

First, congrats North Park. Exciting day! And fun to hear about the emotion of the players and coaches. That's one of the great things about sports.

I was struck by the comment in the article a well. But more that he called the CCIW one of the 'top four conferences in small college football.' Just what exactly is 'small college football?' Does the WIAC get excluded from this because of their size? Is this including NAIA & DII schools? Just a weird comment and strange way to phrase it. He's either not making a very accurate statement, implying DIII is a rung below NAIA or he's paying the CCIW one massive compliment. 

Most likely just an off-the-cuff remark.  Most non-D2 or D3 fans wouldn't really care anyway, to them anything that's not Division I - er, FBS - is lumped into one category.

If that's the case then he really gave the CCIW a compliment! Right up there with the Missouri Valley's of the world 

[USee]

New poll is out.

North Central remains #4 and loses one point from last week.

Wheaton up two spots to #13 and gains 40 points.  They leapfrog Pacific Lutheran, which lost, and Franklin, which lost 14 poll points after an 80-14 victory over HCAC cellar-dwellar Earlham.

Titans up 7 points in total and are now one point outside of the Top 25.  At the risk of stating the obvious, if IWU keeps winning, they will keep climbing.

-----

From my perspective way up here in the nosebleed section, North Central has not been playing like the #4 team in the country.  (And my loyalties are well-documented...)  AndOne documented some of the sloppiness that still needs to get sorted out.  Wheaton feels like they're in roughly the right place.  And I'd have the Titans around five or six spots higher.

But the powers-that-be would surely revoke my voting privileges when they discovered that my ballot also ranked North Park 25th for this week only in honor of their streakbusting prowess...

kiko---

When the Green Weenies down the now up and coming (eastern) Vikings this weekend, and halt the NPU winning streak, perhaps they will officially be moved up into the Top 25. However, what margin of victory might be required for such an uptick given that despite some sloppy play last Sat, NCC still downed last year's conference co-champs by 17 points and lost a point in the vote total?

I'm not really sure what your point is here.   One, we are talking about a single point among the 500-plus which the Redbirds collected... And two, absent losses or signature victories, there is typically little movement at the top of the poll as we get deeper into the season -- unlike at the bottom, where there will virtually always be more volatility.

Are you surprised that North Central dropped a point in the poll?

#1 Mount Union won by 51 points

#2 Linfield won 29-0 over what was at the time the 11th ranked team, and held them to 10 first downs and just over 200 yards of offense in the process.

#3 Mary Hardin Baylor won by 42 points

#5 Bethel won by 3 against an unbeaten and just-outside-the-top-25 Augsburg.  They led by 17 in the fourth before a couple of late TDs made it close.

#6 St. Thomas won by 59 points.

#7 Hobart led 34-0 at halftime, 41-0 after three, and won 41-7.

... And #4 North Central was tied at halftime against a team that had been struggling (what they did last year is irrelevant to this conversation), before pulling away for a 17-point win.

-----

I'm happy that the Cards won, and an away victory in the CCIW is always a welcome sight and should never ever be taken for granted.  But it's pretty clear to me which of these is the outlier among the top-ranked teams' results from this weekend.

Agreed. Elmhurst may have been last year's co-champ but they're this year's loser to Chicago and Trine.  If NCC had been tied with either of those teams at halftime, would you consider it a result befitting the 4th-ranked team in the nation?

NCC may well be a top-5 team, but Saturday's game against Elmhurst was not a top-5 caliber performance.  You certainly can get away with a clunker or two, but complaining about losing poll points on the heels of that performance seems like it should be the least of your concerns.

As a general point, I have to admit that I'm amused whenever anyone gets worked up about the d3 poll because it's irrelevant to postseason anyway. It's not like Division I where your place in the rankings affects your chances to play for the national title. Whether the d3football poll ranks you 4th or 7th or 11th, you still get the same chance to win it all as long as you get in.

I have no dog in this fight but I would say that St Thomas lost at home to an unranked team in St Johns and stayed in the top 10. That seems a lot more inconsistent to me than anything else I have seen, but I am fine with it. Many of these teams morph dramatically from games 1-4 to games 7-10. Winning tight contests against average teams is often part of the journey. Elmhurst last year was a play or 6 inches away from losing 2-3 games and then went to St Thomas and gave them the toughest test they had to that point.