FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Stagg Again!!]

Good work Stagg. Only issue I see is there is no way Albion is ranked ahead of Wheaton with a 66-0 result between those two.  That likely bumps Albion and Concordia out in favor of IWU and Wheaton

I certainly agree, but was trying to keep in mind the automatic qualifiers for the MIAA and NACC.  If I had ten slot, I would have ranked Albion and Concordia at #9 and #10.  In that case, I would have inserted IWU and WC or Witt ahead of both.

The NCAA does rank 10 teams per region.  (http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/category/regional-rankings/)

Understood, but only eight will make the post season, including automatic qualifiers from OAC, CCIW, HCAC, NCAC, NACC, and MIAA.  Given the weakness in the East, there is a real chance that the North and West regions will benefit with more at-large bids.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Good work Stagg. Only issue I see is there is no way Albion is ranked ahead of Wheaton with a 66-0 result between those two.  That likely bumps Albion and Concordia out in favor of IWU and Wheaton

I certainly agree, but was trying to keep in mind the automatic qualifiers for the MIAA and NACC.  If I had ten slot, I would have ranked Albion and Concordia at #9 and #10.  In that case, I would have inserted IWU and WC or Witt ahead of both.

The NCAA does rank 10 teams per region.  (http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/category/regional-rankings/)

Understood, but only eight will make the post season, including automatic qualifiers from OAC, CCIW, HCAC, NCAC, NACC, and MIAA.  Given the weakness in the East, there is a real chance that the North and West regions will benefit with more at-large bids.

Let's not confuse regional RANKINGS with "teams that will make the playoffs" - these are two different things. I don't think anyone from the North is realistically in the Pool B picture; in Pool C, I expect the OAC runner up, CCIW runner up, and NCAC runner up to be very strong candidates assuming that each finishes 9-1 (Wittenberg, 8-2 with a loss that doesn't count in theory). Potential 3-way ties in OAC and CCIW would add another 9-1 team to the mix. No one else from the North will get to the board in the Pool C discussion. I'm not blindly eliminating 8-2 teams, just staying the likelihood that we will have multiple 9-1 runners up from good conferences that should stack up nicely on the at large board.

If I had to bet my salary on the North's Pool C reps? OAC runner up and CCIW runner up (presumably Illinois Wesleyan, although Wheaton beating NCC could throw this into flux) and that is it. It's possible that a 9-1 Wabash will have a chance if they're on the board; my hunch is that Wittenberg would not get in.

[AndOne]

NPU let a very winnable game slip away today. The Vikings led at the half, and were still up deep into the third quarter. The big reason why Elmhurst came from behind to win was twofold: 1) The Bluejays were able to mount just enough rushing offense to wear down the smaller Vikings up front as the second half went on; and 2) Elmhurst got better play from the quarterback position. Junior QB Joe Camilieri was the big difference for the 'jays; he didn't pile up gaudy statistics, but on a number of occasions he stood and took the big hit from Vikings rushers in order to put a pass on target. On the other side of the field, T.D. Conway had a pretty poor day. He was consistently off-target all afternoon, overthrowing numerous receivers (including several who were wide open), and two of the three interceptions he threw were just bad reads on his part that turned out to be very costly. One blunted a drive at the EC 22, and the second was deep in NPU territory and led to the first 'jays touchdown in the third quarter.

He's a freshman quarterback, and this is what you get from freshmen -- a great day followed by a bad day. Last week in Rock Island, he was king of the world. Today, not so much. Vikings fans need to keep reminding themselves that it's a learning process for him. He has what it takes to be a terrific CCIW QB, but it's going to take him more than one season to get there.

A disappointing loss, but I suppose that it's some sort of solace that the Vikings are even in a position in which they can have disappointing losses instead of the humdrum whippings of yesteryear. Next week @ Millikin looks like a good occasion for T.D. and his compatriots to bounce back.

Must admit I was thoroughly convinced that a NPU victory was in the cards yesterday. With the momentum garnered from last week's pillaging of their western namesakes, plus home field advantage among the considerations, I was surprised at the outcome.

[AndOne]

http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3911&f=2052653

Eash Post Game

Verbatim from this for those who don't want to spend five minutes listening to Norm whine discuss the game:

"I don't know if North Central beat us.  I think we didn't make some plays when we had the score at eight points."

...

"Those scores at the very end mean nothing.  I mean, I don't think North Central should have put the last one in, and they did.  It's our situation to stop, but I hope our profession has more professionalism and more ethics than that."

...

(On the "stay off our W" chatter)

"We talked about this in our league, that the opposing team is supposed to go down their sidelines and not come towards the middle.  And that's what North Central did, and our kids are going to respond to that, and I can't control 128 kids, but they're going to respond to that when a visiting team goes out and takes the field.  That's the CCIW rule.  And North Central knows that; I know that.  We never do that when we're on the road; we come down the sidelines and we let the home team have the middle of the field.  So that's what started the whole thing.  And then the other thing is, the official gave everybody a warning, said the next unsportsmanlike, (he) gave everybody a warning, and so the next one, the player is going to get ejected.  And right off the bat, their quarterback is taunting our player.  And I just don't think the officials followed through on what they said they were going to do.  And I think that's disappointing because that's a poor example in front of young men."

(Interviewer: "As I recall, it was a penalty, but it wasn't an unsportsmanlike, which as you said would have been an ejection automatically.")

Norm: "But taunting is taunting, okay?  And to me, that's unsportsmanlike.  So follow through on your rule, and I think the official agreed with me.  That's a tough call to make when that's a quarterback, but you know what?  Make an example.  Let everybody know, the game was going to get out of hand if he didn't."

Dear Coach Eash,

1. You're right. North Central didn't register a total yardage advantage of 527 to 283, and didn't really beat you. It was just a dream. 
2. I know you wish that the coaching profession "has more professionalism and more ethics than that." YOUR professionalism must by why your congratulations to Coach Thorne after the game were grudgingly given, and your high degree of ethics must be why you were whining to the refs to try to get the NCC quarterback kicked out of the game before it even started rather than spending that time adequately preparing your team for the challenge they were about to meet.
3. With regard to professionalism and ethics, it seems a good example of such would be the coach who sent congratulatory notes to new North Park coach Conway, never even having met the man beforehand. Wonder who that could have been?
4. You're right again when you say its your team's responsibility to stop the opponent. How would you assess the degree to which you were successful in doing so?
5. Concerning NCC's last 2 scores which you found offensive, consider IWU fan Mr Ypsi's thoughful post about the CCIW tiebreaker rules:
I was totally perplexed about the final two time-outs by NCC (already up by 22), until I recalled the 3-way tie scenario from last year.  NCC wanted to make it as hard as possible for Wheaton to 'steal' the pool A! (I'd imagine that that scenario was by then the last thing on Eash's mind.)
6. Perhaps your unfortunate post game remarks were tinged with your remembrance that under your tutelage, your teams have now lost to the Cardinals in 10 of the last 11 meetings, including the last four in a row by the aggregate score of 152-24!
7. And a final question for you, sir. Who do you think fans of three other conference schools, NOT including NCC have advised me is the most disliked and least respected of the head football coaches in the CCIW? Go figure.

[AndOne]

With regard to yesterday's pre-game dust up between the entire NCC and IWU teams at midfield prior to the opening kickoff, here is a little perspective from the NCC players point of view. Naturally, IWU players/fans likely have a different orientation with regard to the sequence of events.

After the coin toss, the IWU captains began heading back toward their sideline. They had only taken 1 or 2 steps when the entire IWU team rushed out to meet them. Seeing this, the NCC players also rushed to meet their captains who, likewise, had only taken a couple of steps away from the center of the field. Because the coin toss had taken place in the middle of the field, and the captains were still of in close proximity to that point, naturally they were still on the "W" when the two squads came together.

http://northcentralcardinals.com/index.aspx?tab=football&path=football

[iwu70]

I was standing right on the sidelines where the NC team comes out of the locker rooms, and I can assure you that the NCC team rushed the center of the field first, and the IWU team, then waiting in their proper place on the sideline, came out to the center of the field second.  The description you have posted, AndOne, is clearly in error.

IWU70

[sigma one]

I have no dog in this hunt, and I am trying to understand this conversation and Coach Eash's comments. 
       I've gone to the game play by play for this.

      NCC intercepts a pass and takes over at the NCC 48 yd line with 3:44 left in the game
      Kent soon breaks away for a 45 yd run to inside the IWU 10 yd. line
      Stanek throws a pass to the 1 yd. line
      Kent scores with 41 seconds left

      Questions:  when the Int happened, NCC was ahead 39-17, so why were Stanek and Kent sent out for the that possession at 3:45?  (I'll admit not to having looked at the TO situation.)   Kent had already run for just under 100 yards.   Why did Stanek throw a pass inside the IWU 10 yd line with very little time remaining?  Just from the numbers it looks like NCC was trying to rub it in.  Even if Kent and Stanek were in the game, one might think that they were there to run out the clock.  OK on that.  Maybe.  And then Kent gets loose.  OK on that.  It happens.  But inside the ten why was the pass thrown?  They could have just run it into the center of the line (if they score then, well . . . ), or taken a knee.
      So, one could say that Eash was POed at what he took as scoring an unnecessary TD.  And he certainly thought it was poor form.   The game started badly; the teams don't like one another; sounds like neither do the coaches
      I don't know the history of the coaches v. one another, on and off the field.  But I can read the recent scores. 
      Again, looking at this from outside, one could conclude that Eash was justified in his anger.    But he's coached long enough to know what he was saying was bound to get some push back.  And didn't care.  Or just didn't think.  The comments about not knowing whether NCC beat IWU and not controlling 128 kids are just silly.  (I know things can flash out of control.)

      Most coaches would not have expressed their feelings to the press in the way Eash did.   
     
       Putting myself in that situation, I would have been upset at that last TD by a starting running back after a late pass that I would think should not have been thrown.   His error was speaking out to the press  Maybe he's made these kind s of remarks before, so his comments now just fan the flames of detractors.
       Also, despite the final score, Eash's comments about the 8-point spread are not all that far off.  NCC scored several late TDs.   Again, his problem was the way he put it, and not giving credit where it was due.  Great teams do that.  You can stay with them a long time, even when they are way ahead on stats, and then they pull away. 
       Just thinking . . .

[Green Jello Shots]

Okay North Central we get it; you won, you deserved to win and you were the better team yesterday. How about displaying a shred of decorum and to quote Jim Brown "act like you been there before"? Especially given that the historical statistics that you feel the need to gloat about, clearly shows that you have.

You won an important game handily, but that's apparently not enough. Your fan base feels the need to come on here and post about how you feel IWU wasn't competitive and was never in the game, and then gloat about every facet of the rivalry, which I think everyone can agree you own a significant advantage in recently. How about showing a shred of sportsmanship and just savoring the win without rubbing it in everyone's face?

Finally, lets stop pretending to be ignorant and that you don't understand the significance of the dust up on the W logo. Every football player and fan that I know understands that the midfield logo is considered sacred ground to the home team. NC's attempt to have their team stand on it prior to the game was done for one reason and one reason only, to start trouble. The fact that NC and their fans chose to hold their post game meeting squarely on top of that logo was ridiculous. Please dont insult everyone's intelligence and act like that was coincidence.

You've got a talented team. Stay classy Naperville.

[Titan Q]

Here is video of the pregame situation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmNOH5KFSE&feature=youtube_gdata&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Kovo]

I have no dog in this hunt, and I am trying to understand this conversation and Coach Eash's comments. 
       I've gone to the game play by play for this.

      NCC intercepts a pass and takes over at the NCC 48 yd line with 3:44 left in the game
      Kent soon breaks away for a 45 yd run to inside the IWU 10 yd. line
      Stanek throws a pass to the 1 yd. line
      Kent scores with 41 seconds left

      Questions:  when the Int happened, NCC was ahead 39-17, so why were Stanek and Kent sent out for the that possession at 3:45?  (I'll admit not to having looked at the TO situation.)   Kent had already run for just under 100 yards.   Why did Stanek throw a pass inside the IWU 10 yd line with very little time remaining?  Just from the numbers it looks like NCC was trying to rub it in.  Even if Kent and Stanek were in the game, one might think that they were there to run out the clock.  OK on that.  Maybe.  And then Kent gets loose.  OK on that.  It happens.  But inside the ten why was the pass thrown?  They could have just run it into the center of the line (if they score then, well . . . ), or taken a knee.
      So, one could say that Eash was POed at what he took as scoring an unnecessary TD.  And he certainly thought it was poor form.   The game started badly; the teams don't like one another; sounds like neither do the coaches
      I don't know the history of the coaches v. one another, on and off the field.  But I can read the recent scores. 
      Again, looking at this from outside, one could conclude that Eash was justified in his anger.    But he's coached long enough to know what he was saying was bound to get some push back.  And didn't care.  Or just didn't think.  The comments about not knowing whether NCC beat IWU and not controlling 128 kids are just silly.  (I know things can flash out of control.)

      Most coaches would not have expressed their feelings to the press in the way Eash did.   
     
       Putting myself in that situation, I would have been upset at that last TD by a starting running back after a late pass that I would think should not have been thrown.   His error was speaking out to the press  Maybe he's made these kind s of remarks before, so his comments now just fan the flames of detractors.
       Also, despite the final score, Eash's comments about the 8-point spread are not all that far off.  NCC scored several late TDs.   Again, his problem was the way he put it, and not giving credit where it was due.  Great teams do that.  You can stay with them a long time, even when they are way ahead on stats, and then they pull away. 
       Just thinking . . .

And if you had a dog in this hunt you would know that the CCIW breaks a three way tie by giving the conference AQ to the team has the best point differential in the games against the other two teams.  Moreover, you would know NC plays at Wheaton next week, a team that beat them last year but had to stay home from the playoffs because they failed to score a late touchdown which would have given them the AQ.  If NC loses to Wheaton we have another three way tie in 2013.

So while looking from the outside, you might say "Eash was justified in his anger"-----looking from the inside you would realize each coach has an obligation to understand the system and maximize opportunities to advance within the system----even if it hurts another coach's tender feelings.

Whether this is a good system is a whole different discussion.

[wally_wabash]

Where's the part of the clip where North Central stomped on the midfield logo?  Or did that not actually happen?

Basically, you've got the league's best team with one of the most hyper-efficient quarterbacks in your stadium for the biggest game of the season and the players are worried about who steps on the logo? You're already beat if that's the stuff that has your attention.

No problem from this observer on the late TDs. The way the CCIW breaks a tie basically encourages you to beat everybody by as many points as possible. And on the reverse side, IWU may have been losing the game, but it behooves them to limit late game TDs and keep the margin as small as possible.  In that league, with that tiebreak, you've got to play the full 60, even if you're beat.

[Langhorst_Ghost]

Dear Coach Eash,

1. You're right. North Central didn't register a total yardage advantage of 527 to 283, and didn't really beat you. It was just a dream. 
2. I know you wish that the coaching profession "has more professionalism and more ethics than that." YOUR professionalism must by why your congratulations to Coach Thorne after the game were grudgingly given, and your high degree of ethics must be why you were whining to the refs to try to get the NCC quarterback kicked out of the game before it even started rather than spending that time adequately preparing your team for the challenge they were about to meet.
3. With regard to professionalism and ethics, it seems a good example of such would be the coach who sent congratulatory notes to new North Park coach Conway, never even having met the man beforehand. Wonder who that could have been?
4. You're right again when you say its your team's responsibility to stop the opponent. How would you assess the degree to which you were successful in doing so?
5. Concerning NCC's last 2 scores which you found offensive, consider IWU fan Mr Ypsi's thoughful post about the CCIW tiebreaker rules:
I was totally perplexed about the final two time-outs by NCC (already up by 22), until I recalled the 3-way tie scenario from last year.  NCC wanted to make it as hard as possible for Wheaton to 'steal' the pool A! (I'd imagine that that scenario was by then the last thing on Eash's mind.)
6. Perhaps your unfortunate post game remarks were tinged with your remembrance that under your tutelage, your teams have now lost to the Cardinals in 10 of the last 11 meetings, including the last four in a row by the aggregate score of 152-24!
7. And a final question for you, sir. Who do you think fans of three other conference schools, NOT including NCC have advised me is the most disliked and least respected of the head football coaches in the CCIW? Go figure.

This is awesome.  Just awesome - way to go AndOne!

With all due repsect to IWU70 and TitanQ (and rest of the Green team - i do really like all the IWU poster on these boards), this is classic Coach Eash.  I know he's piled up a ton of Ws and that he could probably run for mayor of Bloomington, but this is par for the course for this self-righteous dude.

In 2003, after the Jays bludgeoned his Titans by 20 at Langhorst, the ever so professional Eash threw a temper tantrum after the game - blowing off the post-game hand shakes, instead opting to lecture his team on the embarrassment of losing to Elmhurst...loud enough for all to hear.

In 2006, again, a loss at Langhorst, Mr. Ethics again blew off the handshakes, instead opting to pout in the visitor's locker room before ripping his players loud enough to hear from across campus.

And, as a former coach and as a former player, i can tell you with complete confidence, that every time Norm had the chance to roll up an extra score or two (or three or four in the lean years  ) - he did it, and didn't bat an eyelash.  When we were struggling as a program, 10-12 years back, i clearly remember being in the defensive backfield down 20+ points thinking to myself..."why are these guys STILL taking deep shots down the field?"  Coach Eash can play the pity card now - but he needs to take a good long, hard look in the mirror before he starts pointing fingers.

Coaches can carry themselves and operate their program however they see fit - and to be honest, i couldn't care less how Stormin Norman runs his deal down state - but its the hypocritcal, self-righteous nonesense that bothers me - the second he starts taking shots in the media at the Head Coach of the team that has owned this conference for almost a decade and thoroghly whipped his team's tail, i have a problem...and most guys that played/coached against this dude know exactly what he's all about...himself.

[Titan Q]

* I believe North Central is a significantly better team than the Titans.

* I believe this was an extremely competitive game that got away from IWU in the final 7 minutes of the game.  The better team clearly won.

* I believe North Central kept trying to score at the end of the game when they could have sat on the ball.  Whether that is bad sportsmanship is something we all probably have different opinions on.  Based on the tie-breaker situation in the CCIW, I get it...but I also understand how someone could take it personally if they were directly on the other side of it in a very emotional game.

* I believe Norm Eash was upset after losing a very emotional game (and probably at the feeling that NCC ran the score up) and made some very inappropriate comments to the media moments after the game he should not have. 

* I believe the above happens pretty often in sports.  As an IWU fan, I've been on the other side of this kind of thing, in different sports, many, many times.  Coaches are the ultimate competitors, and sometimes as a competitive person the hardest thing to do is admit you got beat -- especially while the emotions of the game are still raw.  You gravitate to what you didn't execute properly.  As a fan on the other side of the "We beat ourselves"-type comment, you take it personally -- you feel your team is being slighted.  I remember being upset about some comments Coach Swider made after IWU beat Wheaton a few years ago.  I also remember, in basketball, being upset by some Grey Giovanine comments after IWU beat Augie 2-3 seasons ago.  Again, it happens, and I totally get the reaction from NCC fans.


I am not trying to defend what Norm Eash said after the game, but just throwing a little perspective out there.

[Titan Q]

Basically, you've got the league's best team with one of the most hyper-efficient quarterbacks in your stadium for the biggest game of the season and the players are worried about who steps on the logo? You're already beat if that's the stuff that has your attention.

I don't necessarily agree with this.  I have no idea if there is some kind of history with this mid-field/logo situation, but I suspect there is.  To quote Ron Burgundy, "that escalated quickly" --  too quickly, in my opinion, for there not to be some kind of history.  Looked to me like IWU was watching for something to happen, it did, and then it was on.  This from a Cornhuskers season ticket holder who was drinking beers outside Memorial Stadium at the time of the incident and has only seen that little video clip.

If that is the case (some kind of history), I have no problem with a team saying, "Hey, they are not going to do that on our field this year."  Now whether that whole thing (caring if a team huddles on your logo before kickoff) is really stupid or not, if a team feels it needs to prevent that from happening to set a tone, or whatever, I get that.  And I don't think it means the team is "already beat" -- I don't think that is really a fair conclusion the draw.

I'm filing the pregame logo deal under "boys will be boys" and moving on.  No real biggie there.

[badgerwarhawk]

TitanQ, is it common in the CCIW for the teams to come off the sidelines and onto the field at the conclusion of the coin toss?

I'm just curious.