FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

So perhaps NPU's future is bright (which will of course help NC's SOS ).

LOL!

[USee]

I believe that UWSP, Wheaton, UWP and, on a good day, IWU would have beaten Bethel ... Regardless of whether BU had their starting QB.  BU's defense was very slow and had no answers whenever NCC passed the ball.  The only incompletions Stanek had yesterday were drops due to the cold weather and sails.  Receivers were wide open all over the field.  I also believe that UWS, UWSP, Elmhurst, North Park, IWU, and Wheaton all had better defenses than I saw yesterday.  I am still trying to figure out which player was supposed to be like Matt Wenger, which is to say none was.

On the offensive side of the ball, Bethel had a huge OL with great quick feet.  They executed very will on running plays to the outside, but couldn't create wholes in the NCC DL.  I really like both of BU's RBs.  They were quick and effective.  Bethel's receivers created no separation.  It wouldn't have mattered if BU's starting QB were on the field, because nobody was open on most passing plays.  I only saw one or two pass plays down field that were well executed.  The majority of the rest of the pass attempts were quick passes to WRs in the flat.  It worked the first time or two, but was shut down after that.  I believe that while BU had the best RB combo and run-based OL that NCC had faced all year, their overall offense (including poor pass protection, slow WRs,unimaginative play-calling) was on par with UWL, but well behind UWP.

Just as you can't compare NCC to Augsburg, you can't, based on yesterday's game, compare Bethel to any of those teams. Its just not fair to judge both teams entire body of work on one game. Bethel's defense has plenty of speed but it's hard to show speed when you slip every time you plant. NCC adjusted to the conditions better and made more plays. I based my opinion of NCC being a better team on having seen Bethel play 3x this year and NCC at least 5x. Erik Peterson would have made a huge difference had he been able to go yesterday, but that didn't happen and NCC played better.

We have some information about how these two conferences compare and by all accounts, the teams at the top are pretty close. Elmhurst played St Thomas as tough as anyone last year, Wheaton is 2-1 in clashes with Bethel over the past 5 years, and now we have some NCC data. It's not perfect, but it is data. Think the top of our conference is as good as the top of any other conference. (the overall conference is measured by the whole enchilada, top to bottom).

[USee]

I really think the key to the game in Alliance this week will be the ability of each team to run the ball. We saw Wesley QB throw for 633 and 8 TD's and still lose. That's because they couldn't run it at all and the led to too many opportunities for Kevin Burke of Mt Union.

UMU averages 270 yds per game on the ground and only gives up 62 yds per game. If NCC can figure out how to run the ball and continue to limit their turnovers, the opportunities will be there for Stanek and co. to be more efficient. That looks to me to be the blueprint to beat the Raiders.

NCC has given up a couple 200+ rushing games to opponents this year. Their pass defense is actually the strongest part of that unit in my opion w Slezak, Dierking and Douglas. Mt Union is going to be able to run the ball against NCC, I am pretty sure of that. Kevin Burke, if he is on the field a lot, is going to put up a lot of points. NCC has to keep him off the field, get a couple turnovers and keep the ball themselves.

[@d3jason]

I know this sounds weird bc they scored 62, Mount's O sputtered at times on Saturday. They really only had two long drives. They punted six times, turned it over on downs twice and were tackled in the end zone once for a safety. Granted they made big plays and took advantage of some short fields.

Aside from the opening 67-yd TD run and if you throw out the sack yardage, they rushed 40 times for about 120.

Wesley abandoned the run after getting so far behind and with the way they were chucking it, why run?

Burke is very dangerous on the run but didn't carry it that much. It was a weird game.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just checked my bracket challenge.  Considering how I did in pickems this year, I'm totally dumbfounded!  Of 591 entries, I'm in a 13-way tie for 10th!  My only misses were picking JCU to win two games, and IWU to win one.  That's 14-16 in round one, 7-8 in round two, and 4-4 in round three.  Now comes the hard part: my bracket has UMU over UMHB in the Stagg; my heart is rooting for NCC to keep rolling.

[HScoach]

I know this sounds weird bc they scored 62, Mount's O sputtered at times on Saturday. They really only had to long drives. They punted six times, turned it over on downs twice and were tackled in the end zone once for a safety. Granted they made big plays and took advantage of some short fields.

Aside from the opening 67-yd TD run and if you throw out the sack yardage, they rushed 40 times for about 120.

Wesley abandoned the run after getting so far behind and with the way they were chucking it why run?

Burke is very dangerous on the run but didn't carry it that much. It was a weird game.

Burke didn't run it much because he couldn't get out of the pocket.   Tried to scramble multiple times but Wesley's DE's and LB's were too fast.    Scrambles that typically resulted in big gains were either sacks or 2 yards.    Crazy to say after scoring 62, but the Wesley front 7, especially the LB's, were the best we've seen all year.   And by a pretty wide margin.

[skunks_sidekick]

For all you NCC folks that are making the trip to Alliance, you are invited to our traditional semi-final eve gathering we have been doing for the last 7-10 years.  Information as follows....

http://reys62.com/

This the place we have wings/beer/food/football talk/BS/etc...   

7 PM (or thereabouts) on Friday night, 12/13.

All are invited and welcome.  You'll see what is basically a bunch of old farts attempting to eat wings at an epic level, so just join us and let the carnage begin!

[GoldandBlueBU]

I believe that UWSP, Wheaton, UWP and, on a good day, IWU would have beaten Bethel ... Regardless of whether BU had their starting QB.  BU's defense was very slow and had no answers whenever NCC passed the ball.  The only incompletions Stanek had yesterday were drops due to the cold weather and sails.  Receivers were wide open all over the field.  I also believe that UWS, UWSP, Elmhurst, North Park, IWU, and Wheaton all had better defenses than I saw yesterday.  I am still trying to figure out which player was supposed to be like Matt Wenger, which is to say none was.

On the offensive side of the ball, Bethel had a huge OL with great quick feet.  They executed very will on running plays to the outside, but couldn't create wholes in the NCC DL.  I really like both of BU's RBs.  They were quick and effective.  Bethel's receivers created no separation.  It wouldn't have mattered if BU's starting QB were on the field, because nobody was open on most passing plays.  I only saw one or two pass plays down field that were well executed.  The majority of the rest of the pass attempts were quick passes to WRs in the flat.  It worked the first time or two, but was shut down after that.  I believe that while BU had the best RB combo and run-based OL that NCC had faced all year, their overall offense (including poor pass protection, slow WRs,unimaginative play-calling) was on par with UWL, but well behind UWP.

Just as you can't compare NCC to Augsburg, you can't, based on yesterday's game, compare Bethel to any of those teams. Its just not fair to judge both teams entire body of work on one game. Bethel's defense has plenty of speed but it's hard to show speed when you slip every time you plant. NCC adjusted to the conditions better and made more plays. I based my opinion of NCC being a better team on having seen Bethel play 3x this year and NCC at least 5x. Erik Peterson would have made a huge difference had he been able to go yesterday, but that didn't happen and NCC played better.

We have some information about how these two conferences compare and by all accounts, the teams at the top are pretty close. Elmhurst played St Thomas as tough as anyone last year, Wheaton is 2-1 in clashes with Bethel over the past 5 years, and now we have some NCC data. It's not perfect, but it is data. Think the top of our conference is as good as the top of any other conference. (the overall conference is measured by the whole enchilada, top to bottom).

Completely agree.  Just as much as I did a face-palm about the NCC basically being Augsburg comment, I did the same for the suggestion that all of those teams could have beaten Bethel. 

BU is a completely different team with a healthy Peterson.  Does that guarantee a win?  Absolutely not, but I promise that it would have been a much more competitive game with him out there.  As  Hazz pointed out, when NCC opened the game respecting both pass and run, BU was able to do some things, but once NCC realized that Keefe wasn't a threat to pass, they shut things down very effectively.

As I said on the in game updates board, I think NCC wins by 2 TD's even with a healthy Peterson...the NCC offense was very impressive.  I hope they hang 100 on Mount Union next week.  I would have loved to have seen Linfield win last week too in order to completely shake the semifinals up, but at least NCC has a very good chance to win next weekend.

See you next December, maybe?  BU will return the QB and RB's, but lose most of their receivers.

Congrats again to NCC!  I'm a Cardinal football fan until they're out.

[NCF]

For all you NCC folks that are making the trip to Alliance, you are invited to our traditional semi-final eve gathering we have been doing for the last 7-10 years.  Information as follows....

http://reys62.com/

This the place we have wings/beer/food/football talk/BS/etc...   

7 PM (or thereabouts) on Friday night, 12/13.

All are invited and welcome.  You'll see what is basically a bunch of old farts attempting to eat wings at an epic level, so just join us and let the carnage begin!

Unfortunately won't be down until Saturday morning.

[@d3jason]

For all you NCC folks that are making the trip to Alliance, you are invited to our traditional semi-final eve gathering we have been doing for the last 7-10 years.  Information as follows....

http://reys62.com/

This the place we have wings/beer/food/football talk/BS/etc...   

7 PM (or thereabouts) on Friday night, 12/13.

All are invited and welcome.  You'll see what is basically a bunch of old farts attempting to eat wings at an epic level, so just join us and let the carnage begin!

This is a great time. Wish I could be there. I went in '09 and had a blast. Haven't made it over the last couple of times because I've stayed in Canton. Great to see you SS, even though I didn't the chance to say Hi on Saturday.

[skunks_sidekick]

For all you NCC folks that are making the trip to Alliance, you are invited to our traditional semi-final eve gathering we have been doing for the last 7-10 years.  Information as follows....

http://reys62.com/

This the place we have wings/beer/food/football talk/BS/etc...   

7 PM (or thereabouts) on Friday night, 12/13.

All are invited and welcome.  You'll see what is basically a bunch of old farts attempting to eat wings at an epic level, so just join us and let the carnage begin!

Unfortunately won't be down until Saturday morning.

Saturday we get to Pancho's at around 10 AM for the now traditional (going on about 17 years) breakfast margaritas.  Stop in if you get the chance!

[HScoach]

In case you haven't noticed,  Mount football is simply an avenue for Sidekick to engage in his 2 favorite hobbies:
1.  Drinking
2.  Eating

[mr_mom]

In case you haven't noticed,  Mount football is simply an avenue for Sidekick to engage in his 2 favorite hobbies:
1.  Drinking
2.  Eating

Would a stout beer be considered drinking or eating?   

[bleedpurple]

In case you haven't noticed,  Mount football is simply an avenue for Sidekick to engage in his 2 favorite hobbies:
1.  Drinking
2.  Eating

At least he typed the words "wing" before "beer" and "breakfast" before "margaritas".  Could that be considered progress? 

[hithitski42NCC]

She was a virgin in her freshmen year .... She was a Sophomore with her conscious clear ... (insider) LOL
Aye just wanna give a big Ups Too The New Tradition of NCC ... U boi's have came a long way ...  I continue too check the scores on U ever year being a past Cardinal .... Yaw better go out there too Alliance and Slap dem boi's in the face ... I will make sure I Tune in because this is something Coach Thorne pushed so hard too Reach ... He's a great coach and mentor ... bring home that Ship too Naperville ....
One Team One Heartbeat .....
*Turn down for what* 
;DLets get it;D