FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

As the regular season concludes, I want to congratulate Head Coach Mike Swider, his coaches and the players for a great year. Swider has again produced a top 10 team and is on the verge of another playoff spot. It is really hard to go 3 years and lose only 1 conferenceregular season game. The only other team to do so was Augie during their 4 year run as national champs.  Wheaton has a top 20 defense despite losing the player of the year in the league and is a top ten 10 after replacing his offensive coordinator.

http://www.d3football.com/top25/2016/week11



Fixed it for you USee. 

Seriously, from a rival fan, congrats indeed to the 2014 and 2015 CCIW championWheatie teams who went undefeated in conference both years.

Congrats also to the new and current CCIW champs, the 8-0 2016 NCC Cardinals who also won the 2013 championship outright with a perfect 7-0 record, and who won or shared the title for the 7 years before that.

Over the last 11 years, from 2006-2016, NCC and WC have dominated the CCIW.
NCC is 72-6 over that period, and WC is 63-15 over the same period.
From 2013 through the just concluded 2016 conference season, NCC is 27-2 with WC just behind at 26-3.

Fixed it back. 

https://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2815

Fixed it? Really? With last week's rankings by the AFCA?   Doesn't seem like much of a "fix." 
And, are we now discounting the D3Football rankings? 

AndOne,

This post started as a tribute by me to Wheaton's program and the fact you turned it into a petty argument over which poll is more valuable is pretty weak. I won't take the bait.

USee,

Calm down man. In no way was I either denigrating Wheaton's program or trying to turn anything into any kind of argument, petty or otherwise.

My intent was merely to extend a slight degree of what I intended to be some good-natured ribbing in your direction, and to point out that there is also another top program within the confines of the CCIW, namely NCC.

With regard to polls though, aren't the D3Football and D3Hoops polls generally the ones we all pay particular attention to, and basically live by?? A perfect example is this year's pre-season basketball poll by The Sporting News which ranked NCC as #6. Rather than get all excited, I said "let's wait until we see what the D3Hoops poll says when it comes out," thinking if it ranked us 6th, then maybe we really were.

As far as the gridiron goes, can we agree the CCIW had two teams that exceeded standards and separated themselves from the rest of the conference this season?

[USee]

Huntington was 8-1, .454 SOS (212 out of 248), no RRO
Wheaton was 9-1, .516 SOS (85 out of 248), 1-1 vs RRO

Huntington's best wins were @ Maryville 28-24 (8-2 and second place in USA South), @Ferrum 48-27 (6-4 and 4th place in the USA South) and their loss was @NC Wesleyan 31-41 (5-4 3rd place USA South)

[79jaybird]

Congratulations to North Central on a well deserved feat.   Wish both the Cards and the Thunder success in the playoffs.

The only thing Elmhurst coaches should have said to the Cardinal staff would be "Congratulations on another CCIW title and best wishes in your next game."   Leave the (BS) aside.   

Elmhurst was better than I thought they would be going into the season.   It is something to build on.  Hopefully the staff can continue to recruit quality players

[hazzben]

Seems like it would have been easy to swap Wheaton & St. John's, thereby avoiding early rematches for the CCIW and MIAC teams.

I was thinking the same thing. It's the playoffs, so you're gonna face tough teams. But it's way more interesting to get a sense of the relative strength of the WIAC, MIAC, and CCIW by not putting them in pods together. It would have been an easy switch to flip Wheaton (hosting UWP) and SJU (hosting Huntington). And just fun to see how deep one of those teams could have gone. Could one of these conferences have put two teams in the semis? But I digress ...

On the flip side, we did get some really good Rd 1 matchups out of all of this. Mount/Hobart; SJU/UWP; HSU/Linfield; Wheaton/Huntington ... good teams that rarely play each other, intriguing style matchups. Fun time of year!

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst was better than I thought they would be going into the season.   It is something to build on.  Hopefully the staff can continue to recruit quality players

Elmhurst was the league's biggest surprise this season. Nobody expected anything whatsoever out of the 'jays, and they turned out to be a very solid middle-of-the-pack team. I suspect that that's a testament to senior leadership and experience, since the 'jays had thirteen senior starters this season, including some defensive players who were All-CCIW caliber (e.g., Andy Warsen and Sean Wetherell). But what explains why EC overachieved this season may also point to a problem for next season. Elmhurst's six leading tacklers, and ten of EC's thirteen leading tacklers, have now run out of eligibility. The 'jays may be forced to put the league's most inexperienced defense on the field next season.

[thunderdog]

Congratulations to senior Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore on breaking IWU's single-season rushing record.  He finished the season with 1143 yards, averaging 5.8 per carry and 127.0 per game. 

Shoemaker-Gilmore broke the record on his first carry of the game...he was injured in the 2nd quarter and did not return.  He will really be missed -- a special talent.

Agreed. Too bad he missed the bulk of his last game. Just curios, who held the record previously? Maury Parker?

It will be interesting to see what happens at the QB spot next year.  Jack Warner will be back, and just a junior.  But I have been very impressed by freshman Brandon Bauer - I think he could develop into a very strong CCIW QB.  Warner and Bauer are actually very similar in styles and abilities.

I won't have time to compare their stats, but my eye test says the job is Bauer's to lose...

[AndOne]

Huntington was 8-1, .454 SOS (212 out of 248), no RRO
Wheaton was 9-1, .516 SOS (85 out of 248), 1-1 vs RRO

Huntington's best wins were @ Maryville 28-24 (8-2 and second place in USA South), @Ferrum 48-27 (6-4 and 4th place in the USA South) and their loss was @NC Wesleyan 31-41 (5-4 3rd place USA South)

And Huntington has to travel almost 800 miles.
Wheaton is a perfect 9-0 in first round playoff games.
Thinking they maintain that perfect first round record.

[Pat Coleman]

Wheaton No. 12 in the AFCA poll, so now we have oranges to compare to the oranges.

[79jaybird]

Good points Greg.  Yes,  the Bluejays graduate a bunch of leaders and will have some major voids to replace during the off season.  This will also "test" Ron Planz to see how well he can "Recruit & groom up".  Will also call upon his current underclassmen to step up.   But looking at this year,  500 and being very close to a few more wins (many were 6 points or less) is something to hold her head high.

[izzy stradlin]

I've never had Pequods, so you may be right. It has two locations, but it's probably closer to the mom & pop ethos than it is to the large chains like Malnati's and Giordano's.

This discussion has led me to get Pequods tonight.  Give it a try, Greg.  Thank me later.

[Titan Q]

Agreed. Too bad he missed the bulk of his last game. Just curios, who held the record previously? Maury Parker?

Kurt Swearingen ('78) in the 1977 season.

[Stagg Again!!]

Looks like NCC got the #8 overall seed since they would get the opportunity to go on the road to MHB (the #1 overall seed) in the third round if they get through the HCAC champion and a tough Crusader team.  Seems like there isn't much love for the CCIW or the North Region this year!

D3 has the Cardinals #5, AFCA has them #4, and the NCAA bracket has them as #8!  Best of all, the teams in the other half of the Cardinal/Crusader bracket are already looking forward to their game against MUC.  Fly low men; fly low!!

http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2817

[lmitzel]

I've never had Pequods, so you may be right. It has two locations, but it's probably closer to the mom & pop ethos than it is to the large chains like Malnati's and Giordano's.

This discussion has led me to get Pequods tonight.  Give it a try, Greg.  Thank me later.

Having had it a few times I will agree with this notion. Granted, it's hard to find bad pizza in Chicago, but Pequod's is excellent.

[markerickson]

Since the masses seem to be interested...

Burt Katz founded Gulliver's Pizzeria on Howard Street in Chicago decades ago.  It remains a pizza restaurant and also presently operates as a quasi-antique store filled with stained-glass windows, pictures, ornaments, carvings, and curios for sale.  He sold that business long ago and founded Pequods in suburban Morton Grove.  He sold that business and then became rather reclusive when he opened Burt's, also in Morton Grove.  Burt died in July 2015.  Prior to his death, two individuals got mentored by Burt on how he made his pizza crust and pizza in general.  Burt's, which is maybe three miles from where I live, will reopen at some point under new ownership, i.e., the two he mentored.

[Gregory Sager]

Gulliver's is one of the mom & pop places I had in mind when I made that original point. Great pizza joint with, as Mark pointed out, a very distinct personality in terms of decor as well.