FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

From the Augie website preview of this evening's game, "[North Park] will be looking for their first win ever in Rock Island. Augustana holds a 49-2 edge in the all-time series between the teams and has won 41 consecutive meetings."

Another streak is history.

[iwu70]

Who would have thunk it -- NPU at 2-2 in league play, tied for third place with Augie, and ahead of Elmhurst, Millikin and Carthage.  If they keep playing like this, they could go 4-3 in conference play and have a winning CCIW season.  It's possible.  My hat is off to them.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

Anyone KNOW for sure: Stinde's TD that iced the game, was that a Plan B back-up before Gallik is sacked, or was that a 'fake out' 'Gallik is passing, no he's pitching'.  The downfield blocking was so excellent that I suspect the latter, but I couldn't decide for sure.  Whichever, it was a thing of beauty, and I'm PM'ing Pat for 'Play of the Week' consideration.

As others have said, it was designed.  Norm Eash talked about that play call by IWU's offensive coordinator Billy Dicken in his WJBC postgame interview...

http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3911&f=2023843

[Titan Q]

Final from Rock Island, according to Live Stats: North Park 45, Augie 35. 

Holy smokes.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Final from Rock Island, according to Live Stats: North Park 45, Augie 35. 

Holy smokes.

WOW.  Break up the east Vikings!  Greg must be grinning ear-to-ear!

Greg, from now on, your pleas to NEVER talk about NPU winning a conference game this year will be met with guffaws.  The Conway era has arrived!

[AndOne]

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?

Eat those words Sager!         

And enjoy your dinner!         

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Final from Rock Island, according to Live Stats: North Park 45, Augie 35. 

Holy smokes.

And the veil of the temple was rent

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 45
Augie 35

Box score

T.D Conway: 17-33-1, 345 yds, 3 TDs
Marquis Magwood: 33 rushes for 167 yds & 3 TDs
Dakota Conway: 8 catches for 146 yds & 2 TDs
Cody Hood: 3 catches for 136 yds & 1 TD

What an incredible game ... and, as Mr. B pointed out, I had to miss the whole thing, because I was pulling PA announcer duties at Hedstrand Field for the two NCC @ NPU soccer matches. We were keeping track of live stats from Rock Island up in the press box, and I would periodically update the crowd over the PA. Every time that I did, the whole crowd would go "Ooooh!" in disbelief -- even the North Central fans.

The Vikings put up some jaw-dropping numbers today, considering that Augustana, while no heavyweight this season, actually had what looked like a pretty good defense coming into this game. The Doggies had been giving up an average of 304 yards of total offense per game. NPU topped that by 200 yards tonight. Eyewitness reports tell me that T.D. Conway was poised, accurate, and smart in the pocket the whole game. He's rapidly developing into a pretty special QB. And, while Dakota Conway is already enough of a known commodity that other teams are keying on him, freshman Cody Hood's big day adds yet another name to North Park's very solid corps of underclassmen receivers. And with freshman RB Marquis Magwood finally having the breakout game that NPU fans have been expecting from him, this is turning out to be a very impressive crop of newbie skill-position players that the new NPU coaching staff brought in this season.

The defense wasn't quite as tight -- Eric Chandler and Sam Frasco had big rushing days for Augie -- but it made some big stops. The Vikings actually ended the game with a goal-line stand, stopping Augie twice at the one-yard line in the waning seconds of the game.

People may scoff at me for saying this, but in its own way this may be an even bigger win for North Park football than the one three weeks ago over Carthage. Yes, the Vikings got a big monkey off of their backs by snapping the 13-season CCIW losing streak that day, but there were some awfully large dorsal simians that were extracted tonight as well:

* First CCIW road win since 2000
* Most points scored in a CCIW game since 2000
* First CCIW season with two wins since 1993
* First win over Augustana since 1971
* Most points scored against Augustana since 1968
* First win ever @ Augustana (in an annual series that dates back to 1960)

Dennis Prikkel's "and the veil of the temple was rent" comment gets at what I mean when I say that this may be an even bigger win for NPU than the Carthage win was. In the long run, there's really not much difference between an 89-game losing streak and a 92-game losing streak. But the impact of this win in terms of what it represents looking back and how it plays out going forward is even bigger. While all seven of the other CCIW programs have made a habit out of pounding NPU on the gridiron over the years, nobody has done it more overpoweringly, more consistently, and more frustratingly than has Augie. I've been around North Park for well over three decades now, and if it only seems as though every year Augie beat the Park by a 55-7 or 69-0 score, it's an impression that had some merit to it. North Park football players were always more concerned with physical survival than with success whenever they took the field against the Lutheran Vikings. Tonight, however, the eternal playground bully got punched in the face ... and in his own backyard. I wondered if I'd ever see this day, and I'll bet that Dennis wondered the same thing.

So ... yeah, the speculation that I'd be grinning from ear to ear was right on the button. I even had to get up out of bed and post this, because I couldn't sleep.

I think we can all agree now that Mike Conway is a keeper, right?

[Gregory Sager]

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?

Eat those words Sager!         

With the improvement Augie has shown, I don't see a win for the eastern Vikings against their western counterparts.

Eat those words, Anderson!

[ExTartanPlayer]

NPU becoming one of the great stories around the Division.  After the start to the season, not sure anyone would have seen TWO conference wins on the horizon, and more importantly: this win rings a lot truer as a sign of progress than scrapping out a win over the "soggy bottom" (Carthage or Millikin).  Much like Hiram in the NCAC beating Allegheny for the first time since they joined the conference, NPU beating an Augie team with a couple wins to its credit this year seems to matter 10x more than the Carthage win.  Take notice, folks.  NPU may not be threating for the CCIW title any time soon, but they might be stepping up in class to the middle of the pack within a year or two.  Long as the Conway boys are around to help Dad, I'd watch out for this team.  Have to imagine the wins this year will help with player retention and recruiting, as well.

[NCF]

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?

Eat those words Sager!         

And enjoy your dinner!         

Thank-you, thank-you:)  I think they can beat Millikin and maybe even Elmhurst. The next three years will be something special for the Eastern Vikings and their fans!

[NCF]

NPU 45
Augie 35

Box score

T.D Conway: 17-33-1, 345 yds, 3 TDs
Marquis Magwood: 33 rushes for 167 yds & 3 TDs
Dakota Conway: 8 catches for 146 yds & 2 TDs
Cody Hood: 3 catches for 136 yds & 1 TD

What an incredible game ... and, as Mr. B pointed out, I had to miss the whole thing, because I was pulling PA announcer duties at Hedstrand Field for the two NCC @ NPU soccer matches. We were keeping track of live stats from Rock Island up in the press box, and I would periodically update the crowd over the PA. Every time that I did, the whole crowd would go "Ooooh!" in disbelief -- even the North Central fans.

The Vikings put up some jaw-dropping numbers today, considering that Augustana, while no heavyweight this season, actually had what looked like a pretty good defense coming into this game. The Doggies had been giving up an average of 304 yards of total offense per game. NPU topped that by 200 yards tonight. Eyewitness reports tell me that T.D. Conway was poised, accurate, and smart in the pocket the whole game. He's rapidly developing into a pretty special QB. And, while Dakota Conway is already enough of a known commodity that other teams are keying on him, freshman Cody Hood's big day adds yet another name to North Park's very solid corps of underclassmen receivers. And with freshman RB Marquis Magwood finally having the breakout game that NPU fans have been expecting from him, this is turning out to be a very impressive crop of newbie skill-position players that the new NPU coaching staff brought in this season.

The defense wasn't quite as tight -- Eric Chandler and Sam Frasco had big rushing days for Augie -- but it made some big stops. The Vikings actually ended the game with a goal-line stand, stopping Augie twice at the one-yard line in the waning seconds of the game.

People may scoff at me for saying this, but in its own way this may be an even bigger win for North Park football than the one three weeks ago over Carthage. Yes, the Vikings got a big monkey off of their backs by snapping the 13-season CCIW losing streak that day, but there were some awfully large dorsal simians that were extracted tonight as well:

* First CCIW road win since 2000
* Most points scored in a CCIW game since 2000
* First CCIW season with two wins since 1993
* First win over Augustana since 1971
* Most points scored against Augustana since 1968
* First win ever @ Augustana (in an annual series that dates back to 1960)

Dennis Prikkel's "and the veil of the temple was rent" comment gets at what I mean when I say that this may be an even bigger win for NPU than the Carthage win was. In the long run, there's really not much difference between an 89-game losing streak and a 92-game losing streak. But the impact of this win in terms of what it represents looking back and how it plays out going forward is even bigger. While all seven of the other CCIW programs have made a habit out of pounding NPU on the gridiron over the years, nobody has done it more overpoweringly, more consistently, and more frustratingly than has Augie. I've been around North Park for well over three decades now, and if it only seems as though every year Augie beat the Park by a 55-7 or 69-0 score, it's an impression that had some merit to it. North Park football players were always more concerned with physical survival than with success whenever they took the field against the Lutheran Vikings. Tonight, however, the eternal playground bully got punched in the face ... and in his own backyard. I wondered if I'd ever see this day, and I'll bet that Dennis wondered the same thing.

So ... yeah, the speculation that I'd be grinning from ear to ear was right on the button. I even had to get up out of bed and post this, because I couldn't sleep.

I think we can all agree now that Mike Conway is a keeper, right?

He's a keeper alright-but will he stay-that's the question. I still fell very good about that little bet we made:)

[Titan Q]

North Central (7-0, 4-0) @ Illinois Wesleyan (7-0, 4-0) - Saturday, 1:00pm.

Early line = NCC -7.5

[USee]

Disappointing loss for Thunder players and fans in Bloomington yesterday. Both teams played very well at times and both team made some huge mistakes. Wheaton actually won the battle of turnovers (+1), won the special teams battle (157 return yards to 57), and had 3 RG10 interceptions. If you had told me this before the game I would have bet a lot that the Thunder win this game. But they didn't.

IWU was better yesterday and they made more plays at key times, despite other mistakes. There are a bunch of plays on both sides that affected the game but the sequence in the 4th quarter was most decidedly the difference in the game:

-IWU scores a TD on a 3 yd pass to Artie Checcin with 14:54 to go.

-Down 23-13, Wheaton responds with a 6 play 59 yd TD drive to make it 23-19 at the 12:25 mark. Jordan Roberts, Wheaton's 5th year Sr QB, completed a poised pass to Andrew Lindquist for 41 yds behind the IWU defense to set up the score. Sam Cote, despite being perfect on the year for extra points and having kicked a 53 yd FG at the end of the half, misses the extra point, which was big.

-Devonte Jones inexplicably has the ensuing KO bounce off his facemask and Wheaton recovers at the IWU 15. After a pass interference penalty Wheaton had 1st and goal at the IWU 2 yd line. After trailing by 10 points just 3 minutes earlier, Wheaton now had a chance to take the lead. Josia Sears, Wheaton's offensive coordinator, called 2 passes, both were open but a lack of execution combined with IWU's speed on defense resulted in 2 incompletions. On 3rd down, Jeff Jerome, a junior, slanted around Spencer Clark and hit Jesse Geary at the mesh point for a fumble that IWU recovered, thwarting the Wheaton threat.That was a great play by Jerome, who had a great game. He showed tremendous quickness and athleticism to make that happen. I thought the missed extra point may have made Josiah be a little more aggressive with his play calling on 1st and 2nd down, needing a TD vs a FG. If Cote had made the extra point on the previous TD, you can run it 3x and still kick a FG to tie. Made a difference in my mind.

-Backed up on their own goal line, IWU made an impressive 95 yd drive to seal the win. There were several huge plays on that drive by the Titans but two stick out to me as the biggest.
-After holding IWU on 3 plays, RG10 hit Mussleman on 3rd and 8 for a huge first down from his own endzone. It was a perfect pass in a tight window.
-With a 3rd and 8 from about the 50, Gallik scrambled to avoid 2 Wheaton defenders and laced a perfcet pass to Garvey for 9 yds. Garvey had just dropped a pass on 2nd down that was right in his hands.

The absolute key to this game was IWU's ability to convert 3rd downs. Wheaton came into the game holding opponents to 30% on 3rd down. IWU came in average 45% on 3rd down. The Titans converted 53% of their 3rd down tries, which is a really good number. 3rd down conversions are similar to 3-pointers in hoops and when you can make over half your 3's, you win a lot of the time. That's the biggest factor in the game and a big reason why IWU held the ball for almost 34 minutes to Wheaton's 26.

Congratulations to the Titans for a huge win for them. I will say I don't think either of these teams would beat NCC with 7 combined turnovers.

I feel bad for the 28 Wheaton Seniors, many of whom made great plays in a big game but it wasn't enough. In particular, I am sad for Tony Vargyas, a captain and one of Wheaton's best defensive players, who was hurt 2 minutes into the game and couldn't compete alongside his teammates in a special game and is likely done for the season.

[USee]

Some other random thoughts from yesterday's game:

I thought Jeff Jerome and Paul Panno were the best defensive players for IWU yesterday. Wheaton did a great job handling John Worley, who is having an all-american type year, but Jeff Jerome was repeatedly in Wheaton's backfield causing problems (it was his penetration on the 4th and 1 from the 5 in the 2nd quarter that tripped Roberts short of the sticks). Panno was around the ball all afternoon.

As Q indicated, RG10 was at his best when it mattered most. I have seen him play better but he made some outstanding throws at key times yesterday.

Wheaton's Brett Anderson was the best LB on the field yesterday, which is saying something as there were a bunch of good LB's. He was asked to stop the IWU rush attack almost single-handed and responded with 12 tackles and 2 INT's. He is having an all-american type year

Sam Cote, despite his missed Xtra point, is an elite D3 kicker. The 53 yarder he made into a 15 mph cross wind was as good a kick as you will see at the D3 level. He split the uprights and could have made it from 63.

The Wheaton OLine protected Roberts extremely well. There were only 2 sacks (both by Pfister, the LB despite what IWU70 thinks) and the second one came with a minute to play on a desperation 4th down by the Thunder. Roberts had a lot of time to throw, he just didn't have any receivers open.

Wheaton would love to have just one of the 3 receivers IWU puts out there. Mussleman, Garvey and Checcin are a talented group. If Wheaton had 1 of those 3, they may well have won the game!

Jordan Roberts played really well I thought. In the end he just didn't have enough help at the skill positions.