FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

Reminds me of the Wheaton @Augie game in 1986 (sorry Mugsy). Some very fortuitus calls allowed Augie to escape with an 18-17 victory on a FG with 6 seconds left on their way to a 4th straight National title.

Figured this might come up.  I had actually typed a very similar post, but then cancelled sending it.  Didn't want to pile on and moan about another close loss to Augie.  Plus this was an all too painful memory, as I was directly in front of the "fortuitous" call (next to the referee) and have no idea how he could make the call he did.

Shoving memory back into the box...   

Come on Mugsy, it was a clear catch!     I wasn't going to bring it up, either, but since Usee did...

Quite amazing (and sometime unfortunate when considering all aspects of life) how we perceive & see things based on our experience, perspectives and biases.   

Just ask the St. John's and UW-Plateville teams and fan base.  You'll get two very different interpretations of that last play.

[Gregory Sager]

Reminds me of the Wheaton @Augie game in 1986 (sorry Mugsy). Some very fortuitus calls allowed Augie to escape with an 18-17 victory on a FG with 6 seconds left on their way to a 4th straight National title.

Figured this might come up.  I had actually typed a very similar post, but then cancelled sending it.  Didn't want to pile on and moan about another close loss to Augie.  Plus this was an all too painful memory, as I was directly in front of the "fortuitous" call (next to the referee) and have no idea how he could make the call he did.

Shoving memory back into the box...   

Come on Mugsy, it was a clear catch!     I wasn't going to bring it up, either, but since Usee did...

Quite amazing (and sometime unfortunate when considering all aspects of life) how we perceive & see things based on our experience, perspectives and biases.   

There's a name for the subjectivity of human perception and reaction to evidence. It's called the Rashomon effect. I wish it would catch on in sports, because the Rashomon effect is a pretty commonplace topic among sports fandom ... only most sports fans don't know what to call it.

[New Tradition]

Makes you feel for these Fenwick kids, though at this point, I think it would just as unfair to overturn it.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/emergency-order-seeks-to-overturn-fenwick-plainfield-north-hs-football-game-results/1618968/

[Augie6]

Reminds me of the Wheaton @Augie game in 1986 (sorry Mugsy). Some very fortuitus calls allowed Augie to escape with an 18-17 victory on a FG with 6 seconds left on their way to a 4th straight National title.

Figured this might come up.  I had actually typed a very similar post, but then cancelled sending it.  Didn't want to pile on and moan about another close loss to Augie.  Plus this was an all too painful memory, as I was directly in front of the "fortuitous" call (next to the referee) and have no idea how he could make the call he did.

Shoving memory back into the box...   

Come on Mugsy, it was a clear catch!     I wasn't going to bring it up, either, but since Usee did...

Quite amazing (and sometime unfortunate when considering all aspects of life) how we perceive & see things based on our experience, perspectives and biases.   

There's a name for the subjectivity of human perception and reaction to evidence. It's called the Rashomon effect. I wish it would catch on in sports, because the Rashomon effect is a pretty commonplace topic among sports fandom ... only most sports fans don't know what to call it.

Just to clarify, I was kidding about it being a clear catch.  Mugsy and I had this discussion several years ago on the board.  From the film that I watched at Augie, I couldn't tell if he caught the ball or not. 

New Tradition - That play was 30 years ago and its still talked about.  You may still have a few years to go.... 

[Mugsy]

Reminds me of the Wheaton @Augie game in 1986 (sorry Mugsy). Some very fortuitus calls allowed Augie to escape with an 18-17 victory on a FG with 6 seconds left on their way to a 4th straight National title.

Figured this might come up.  I had actually typed a very similar post, but then cancelled sending it.  Didn't want to pile on and moan about another close loss to Augie.  Plus this was an all too painful memory, as I was directly in front of the "fortuitous" call (next to the referee) and have no idea how he could make the call he did.

Shoving memory back into the box...   

Come on Mugsy, it was a clear catch!     I wasn't going to bring it up, either, but since Usee did...

Quite amazing (and sometime unfortunate when considering all aspects of life) how we perceive & see things based on our experience, perspectives and biases.   

There's a name for the subjectivity of human perception and reaction to evidence. It's called the Rashomon effect. I wish it would catch on in sports, because the Rashomon effect is a pretty commonplace topic among sports fandom ... only most sports fans don't know what to call it.

Just to clarify, I was kidding about it being a clear catch.  Mugsy and I had this discussion several years ago on the board.  From the film that I watched at Augie, I couldn't tell if he caught the ball or not. 

New Tradition - That play was 30 years ago and its still talked about.  You may still have a few years to go.... 

Yup, understood it to be in jest and a fun jab.  Augie6, we're totally good on this. [Except it wasn't a catch]   

Given the weather & field conditions that day... you know, back when there were actual grass surfaces, along with they video technology of the day (early VHS, barely beyond 8mm film), it doesn't surprise me the film wouldn't support "overturning the ruling on the field."  It would be inconclusive. 

Game late in the season, on grass after a night of very heavy rain, when Augie practiced on their game field (if I recall correctly), the field was a mess (more mud than grass between the hashes).  Most fans likely wouldn't have know just how off the call was due to rain and mud.  I got a clear look as I was in underneath man coverage, less than 5 yards from ref.  I was speechless.  Life moves on...

[robertgoulet]

Just to clarify, I was kidding about it being a clear catch.  Mugsy and I had this discussion several years ago on the board.  From the film that I watched at Augie, I couldn't tell if he caught the ball or not. 

New Tradition - That play was 30 years ago and its still talked about.  You may still have a few years to go.... 

Yup, understood it to be in jest and a fun jab.  Augie6, we're totally good on this. [Except it wasn't a catch]   

Given the weather & field conditions that day... you know, back when there were actual grass surfaces, along with they video technology of the day (early VHS, barely beyond 8mm film), it doesn't surprise me the film wouldn't support "overturning the ruling on the field."  It would be inconclusive. 

Game late in the season, on grass after a night of very heavy rain, when Augie practiced on their game field (if I recall correctly), the field was a mess (more mud than grass between the hashes).  Most fans likely wouldn't have know just how off the call was due to rain and mud.  I got a clear look as I was in underneath man coverage, less than 5 yards from ref.  I was speechless.  Life moves on...

Fortunately for the team of cereal to the North, Saturday's death will be much quicker and therefor much more painless to dwell upon 30 yrs from now.

[CardinalAlum]

Greetings all. Been quite awhile since I've posted here as grad school and other commitments have taken priority for much of my time, though I still try to peruse the comments regularly. I know the focus right now is on a big game this weekend, but after a recent conversation with another former Titan player and friend, I thought I'd throw a change of topic out there if anyone has any thoughts, while acknowledging this is nothing more than a fun exercise in pure speculation.

With Norm sitting at 30 years on sidelines, one would think his retirement has to be getting close.  Who would be some of the names you wouldn't be surprised to hear get the job when he decides to call it a career?  I think my friend and I both settled on Rob Zvonar as a logical choice, and I threw out Billy Dicken as a possible darkhorse. Anyone care to amuse me with any speculative prognostications?

I'm not sure if there's something similar to a John Thorne situation in the twin cities/Central Illinois area but that could be one way to go.  Maybe a guy like Ken Leonard from Sacred Heart Griffin who is a legend in that area and would attract players and coaches.  Zvonar is a great coach but is Normal where he wants to settle in with his family?   He has a great thing going at LWE.   Maybe Leonard's son that's at Rochester.   All that guy does is win.  Murray at NCC?  He's a Weenie grad too.   I hope Norm sticks around for a while.  His best days are behind him.  He no longer has that recruiting magic he once had. 

[Stagg Again!!]

It's awfully quiet in here considering the following:

Since 2002, 2 teams have dominated the CCIW, North Central and Wheaton. In the last 15 years, only once (Augustana in 2005) did NCC or WC fail to win at least a share of the CCIW crown. Here's a look at the 2 schools since 2002:

I still protest this.

Can I ask you to expand on this? What do you mean? Augie beat NCC that year 20-17 and went undefeated in CCIW play. Is there something in the game itself you're still protesting?

We played them second to last game of the year at Erickson. Cold. Wet. Rainy. Both undefeated in CCIW play going in. Augie D was good. Really good. Our D held them in check as they held us in check. There were 2 bad calls that prevented the OT that should have happened.

It was tied 17's late in the 4th and Augie had the ball near midfield. We held them on a 3rd down, and one of our d-linemen was hit late, after the whistle. He tripped and fell onto the pile  as a result of the hit, and he was flagged rather than the guy who hit him, which kept Augie's drive alive in the first place.

Then, with 3 seconds left on the clock, Augie goes for a FG for the win. We had Adam Pennington coming off the edge. He was an All American sprinter on our track team. One of our best sprinters ever in program history, still in the track record books. He got an awesome jump and blocked the field goal. I have the film. It's on our season highlight DVD in slow motion. In no way shape or form did he leave early. But some ref decided he was too cold and wet to ref an overtime. Once the ball was already on the ground and we were celebrating, he decided to throw a flag.  They moved the ball up 5 yards and Augie hit it for the win.

I could stomach if they beat us in overtime. I can't stomach what happened. Granted, we should have never left the game in the hands of the officials, but that was especially bad.

11 years later I still feel sick thinking about it.

Obviously we can never know what would have  happened, but we had a great second half and all the momentum. I liked our chances in OT.

What's more, UMU had lost to Ohio Northern. We had the #1 regional ranking in the North going into that game. Cost us a potential 1 seed. We drew Capital and Rocky Pentello in the first round. This was our program's first ever time in the playoffs and we lost to Capital by 2, 21-19. Capital then gave UMU  all they could handle in a close one in round 3, only losing by a field goal, 34-31, and UMU won it all. Makes you wonder how that shakes down with a different draw given our nonexistent playoff experience. Would've been nice to have someone that wasn't the #5 team in the country first to get our feet wet.

That 2005 NCC v. Capital game was a lot of fun to watch though, so thank you NT.  Your comments took me down memory lane a bit, and I was thinking about my favorite NCC playoff games since 2005.  The Franklin game in 2007 (remember our friend Mimi, Watchdog), the ONU game (Wenger was a BEAST!!!) and UWW game (snow) in 2010, and the Bethel IceBowl and MUC games in 2013 are at the top of my list.  I would be interested in hearing from others as we move closer to the Cardinal v. Crusader matchup.

[izzy stradlin]

http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2016/secrets-take-back-seat-north-central-wheaton

[USee]

Here is some data for the game this week. Conference rank and National rank listed. Good highlights in green, bad highlights in red. (Thanks to Wally Wabash for the help on this)


Click to make bigger

I shared this back in October. Here is the updated chart with both October (outside columns) and rankings now. I put the conference rankings first and the national rankings in each category next. If you compare the October to now numbers it's easy to see what areas each team improved/stayed same/got worse.

[matblake]

That's very interesting.  Thanks USee.

[DBQ1965]

Just in ... the presiding judge ruled against Fenwick citing IHSAA by laws which say the official's decision is official.

[USee]

http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2016/secrets-take-back-seat-north-central-wheaton

Article talks about both coaches focused on adjustments to this game from the contest played 6 weeks ago. According to the numbers, Wheaton is better on offense (mainly because they have run the ball more effectively) and better on defense (getting off the field on third down). I would point to 2 differences for the  Thunder since the first game. 1-They are calling more runs. Since their bye week they have been decidedly more focused on running the ball, favoring a 60/40 split run v pass instead of a 50/50 distribution in almost every game up to and including NCC. 2-The move of Tyler Sigler from safety to corner. He got better every week and was voted 1st team all CCIW. The Thunder pass defense is noticeably better with him in there.

North Central has embraced the role of their POY Broc Rutter and throw it 55% of the time. The biggest difference from the first contest is their defense, they have gotten after the QB at a higher clip than any team in the D3, elite level pass rush. NCC has also run the ball just a little better since meeting #1.

Wheaton's issues in game #1 were: 1-protecting the QB. They gave up 5 sacks and countless hurries, most of which came from Wheaton's OT's getting beat. Andrew Jones has taken over at LT and will have the job of slowing down Billy Douds (3 sacks in mtg 1). The RT will be TBD but Pettway has been pretty good when he is in there. 2-Turnovers. NCC had 0 and Wheaton had 2 that led directly to 7 pts. 3-Special teams. NCC won the battle with better kick coverage and PR TD. 4-Penalties. Wheaton had 10 for 92 yards. That has gotten worse for the Thunder who are one of the most penalized teams in the country. If Jeff Thorne twitches on the sideline Chase Greenlee or Caleb Ashby are going to be offsides. It's bad and will cost them a game, maybe this week.

NCC's issues in game #1 were: 1-Could not run the ball. 32 rushes for 56 yards is terrible by any standard. Wheaton went to a 3 man front and covered and NCC's offense had its worst output of the season. 2-Tackling. Bad tackling led to a few of Wheaton's biggest plays of the day. 3-penalties. A couple of really bad ones including the late hit on 3rd and long that gave Wheaton a critical 1st down. Next play was long pass TD to Trey Hanley.

I expect NCC to come out with a plan for the 3 man front and a better running game plan. I expect NCC will also come with different pressure on Bowers, who had a penchant for taking off running without keeping his eyes downfield. I also expect NCC to continue to get rid of the ball early to avoid pressure by Wheaton's front 7.

For Wheaton I expect a renewed emphasis on the running game. It wouldn' surprise me to see additional TE's, 2 RB look, Wildcat, or something to try and run the ball more effectively.  I also expect more blockers in the pass game to help the OT's in protection. On defense I would think they will try and get more heat on Broc Rutter. I don't know how but that will be the goal. The NCC running game scares no one so making Rutter uncomfortable is the #1 goal.

Special teams and turnovers may well be the difference again in what should be  a very close game.

[Stagg Again!!]

Thought I'd take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  We all have so much to be thankful for as we begin the holiday season.

[USee]

From the picture here it would appear the North Brainerd College players have a problem handling sensitive hardware. Look closely and you can see something important is missing.....kind of a "where's waldo" picture.

http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2009/2/18/FB_0218094448.aspx?path=football