FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Augie6]

IMO- Augie needs to get their identity back.  Perhaps going back to the Wing-T.  When Augie's Wing-T was polished, they were next to unstoppable.  2nd, sometimes 3rd man through the hole and they are almost always generating 4-6 yds (minimally) a carry.   

Once they chose to distance the Wing-T,  they were looking to adopt programs and ideas from others,  and well the results prove it.

How many high schools use the Wing-T nowadays? And how many kids would want to play in a Wing-T offense in college, even after you go to the trouble of explaining to them what it is?

To be honest, I'm intrigued by the thought of what a Wing-T offense could do in D3 with the right mix of players. But it's horse-and-buggy-era football in the popular mindset. So is the triple option, which NPU discovered during the Pethtel era. As sound an idea as it was for North Park football to change direction and adopt that strategy -- I will always give Scott Pethtel due credit for heeding the axiom usually attributed to Albert Einstein that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results -- in the end it just proved too difficult to recruit for it. I strongly suspect that the same would be the case for the Wing-T, if someone ever blew the dust off of the Wing-T playbook and brought it down from the attic.

I think Planz has the boys playing very hard. He is a high character coach who is bringing good kids into the program. As mentioned, some of these good kids just are not very good football players. We have been able to compete in a few games and make it competitive on the players heart and effort but then get run down and out manned. Scheme -- The offense lacks identity, our QB was very good in a run and shoot, Money Manziel type of offense in HS - with the speed of the CCIW game this has not translated. Often times he looks to make big run around plays when what we really need is to hit the open 5 yard hitch route or hand the ball off and not call his number. Our OL looks undersized but they play their asses off and fight for their teammates. We have a really big TE who is a very good player. The defense has played very sound football, and often with offensive turnovers had to play with their back against the wall.

I think it's all well and good to talk about schemes and identity and stuff like that, but I nevertheless agree with USee's bottom line:

I also agree with Usee's bottom line.  If you have better players than the other team, you will usually win.  However, when talking about scheme and identity, you need to have a good idea about what you want to do as an offense and defense and recruit the kids that fit that particular scheme.  It can't be a scattershot approach where the skill sets are vastly different among certain positions (i.e., QB), because then it becomes extremely difficult to consistently implement an effective scheme.  That's what I have seen at Augie over the past few years.  Clearly they are getting much less talented players than other schools, but there also doesn't seem to be much of a plan in terms of the skill sets they are recruiting to build an identity as a program. 

[USee]

And that's where my observation of Augie and Elmhurst are different. I think the Elmhurst coaches have an idea of how they want to play. I think they generally put their best players in position to make plays. That's why they can compete with IWU/Wheaton and maybe even NCC for a half or 3/4ths of a game. They just cant' hold up for 4 quarters against better talent.

Augie is getting blown out because 1-they don't have good players and 2-they don't have a good plan. That's a bad combination.

Having said that, Augie's lone win is @Elmhurst by 5 pts this year so what do I know.....

[Gregory Sager]

Sked:

Wheaton @ Carroll, 1 pm
North Park @ Carthage, 1 pm
North Central @ Elmhurst, 1 pm
Millikin @ Illinois Wesleyan, 1 pm

Massey:

Wheaton 47, Carroll 10 (WC 100% CU 0%)
Carthage 30, North Park 3 (CC 98%, NPU 2%)
North Central 40, Elmhurst 7 (NCC 99%, EC 1%)
Illinois Wesleyan 34, Millikin 13 (IWU 93%, MU 7%)

[Gregory Sager]

And that's where my observation of Augie and Elmhurst are different. I think the Elmhurst coaches have an idea of how they want to play. I think they generally put their best players in position to make plays. That's why they can compete with IWU/Wheaton and maybe even NCC for a half or 3/4ths of a game. They just cant' hold up for 4 quarters against better talent.

Augie is getting blown out because 1-they don't have good players and 2-they don't have a good plan. That's a bad combination.

Having said that, Augie's lone win is @Elmhurst by 5 pts this year so what do I know.....

I remember at the time thinking that that was something of a fluky result, and I think it even more now, because I'm convinced that Elmhurst is a better team than Augustana. The Bluejays outgained Augie by more than 80 yards, obtained five more first downs, and averaged 1.3 yards per play more than did AC. Turnovers were even at one apiece, and there were no decisive special-teams plays either way. The only things that I can see in the box score that really worked in Augie's favor were a better third-down success rate and the fact that the lone turnover by the 'jays was an interception at the EC 17 that Augie turned into a touchdown three plays later. (Elmhurst likewise scored a TD subsequent to Augie's lone turnover, a fumble, but the 'jays recovered that fumble at their own 39, and it took them nine plays to score, so it was not nearly the golden gift that Augie had received when it picked off that pass by Hernandez deep in EC territory.)

None of the four teams at the bottom of the CCIW standings are impressive. But they're each unimpressive in different ways: Elmhurst has a substantial number of league-average players spread across the two-deep, but almost no difference-makers anywhere; North Park has a good defense, but on offense there's a suspect line and no skill-position playmakers; and Carroll has good offensive playmakers but a defense that can't tackle, close, or cover. Augie? It's not a talented team, but in the two Augie games I've watched this season what stood out to me was that the team's play was rather slipshod. F'rinstance, in the loss to NPU the Doggies had two or three passes go right through the hands, or off of the hands, of defenders that were then caught by NPU receivers, one of those instances happening on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. And Augie had, not one, but two punts blocked in that game; one blocked punt is bad enough, but two is an indication of just plain awful special-teams play, especially when you know that the player who blocked that second punt (David Simmons) has a long track record of blocking kicks on special teams and you don't take specific steps to take him out of the play. That second blocked punt set up NPU's go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Augie just looks like a team that doesn't execute, even when it's in a position to do so.

[Gregory Sager]

Incidentally, for what it's worth, here's where Massey currently ranks the nine CCIW members among D3's 250 football teams:

  13. North Central
  18. Illinois Wesleyan
  24. Wheaton
  41. Carthage
  67. Millikin
147. North Park
160. Augustana
168. Elmhurst
190. Carroll

[Pat Coleman]

Latest regional rankings are out:
http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2017/second-regional-ranking

[wally_wabash]

The Titans are getting jammed.  Flat out.  The North RAC is failing hard at this. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

The Titans are getting jammed.  Flat out.  The North RAC is failing hard at this.

Agreed.  If the North RAC won't fix it, Wabash can fix it in the Monon Bell! 

I usually carefully stay neutral in rivalries as hot as the Monon Bell or Hope/Calvin basketball so as not to get hit in the crossfire, but this is different:  LGs, CRUSH DePauw!!

[Neverwas]

IWU was competitive in their lone loss, beat the second place WIAC team, and has a win against a regionally ranked opponent.  DePauw got run over in their lone loss, nearly lost to an 0-8 team last week, and is 0-1 against regionally ranked opponents.  It seems, again, the committee just ranked by standings and used SOS to break ties.  If that is the case literally anyone could be on this committee.  It takes no knowledge of the region, teams, or DIII as a whole.  Very surprising rankings.

[USee]

RRO wins have no weight this year. Otherwise both IWU and Wheaton would be ahead of DPU.  What a joke. And Carthage HC is on the committee.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Has wing-t offense: Cary-Grove uses it and they are in playoffs all the time. Very successful program.

[79jaybird]

The Wing-T is certainly a tall order for youngsters to comprehend and execute.  But.... when Augie's Wing-T was executing there were unstoppable.   At Elmhurst, it was Tom Journell who starting setting a time each practice specifically to address the Wing-T.   It was the first time anybody at EC purposely put aside time in practice (outside of the week they play Augie) to practice defending it.   

Greg,

I agree.  I too, thought the article was high quality.   Between the departed, the interim, and the current SOMEBODY should have realized these were very STRONG letters, warning signs, etc.  that just didn't get met, and now the players are the ones who are going to suffer the ramifications. 

[Gregory Sager]

Has wing-t offense: Cary-Grove uses it and they are in playoffs all the time. Very successful program.

A few high-school programs here and there use it, just as a few high-school programs (usually from small schools) use the triple option.

Name one college program that uses the Wing-T.

[Augie6]

And that's where my observation of Augie and Elmhurst are different. I think the Elmhurst coaches have an idea of how they want to play. I think they generally put their best players in position to make plays. That's why they can compete with IWU/Wheaton and maybe even NCC for a half or 3/4ths of a game. They just cant' hold up for 4 quarters against better talent.

Augie is getting blown out because 1-they don't have good players and 2-they don't have a good plan. That's a bad combination.

Having said that, Augie's lone win is @Elmhurst by 5 pts this year so what do I know.....

I remember at the time thinking that that was something of a fluky result, and I think it even more now, because I'm convinced that Elmhurst is a better team than Augustana. The Bluejays outgained Augie by more than 80 yards, obtained five more first downs, and averaged 1.3 yards per play more than did AC. Turnovers were even at one apiece, and there were no decisive special-teams plays either way. The only things that I can see in the box score that really worked in Augie's favor were a better third-down success rate and the fact that the lone turnover by the 'jays was an interception at the EC 17 that Augie turned into a touchdown three plays later. (Elmhurst likewise scored a TD subsequent to Augie's lone turnover, a fumble, but the 'jays recovered that fumble at their own 39, and it took them nine plays to score, so it was not nearly the golden gift that Augie had received when it picked off that pass by Hernandez deep in EC territory.)

None of the four teams at the bottom of the CCIW standings are impressive. But they're each unimpressive in different ways: Elmhurst has a substantial number of league-average players spread across the two-deep, but almost no difference-makers anywhere; North Park has a good defense, but on offense there's a suspect line and no skill-position playmakers; and Carroll has good offensive playmakers but a defense that can't tackle, close, or cover. Augie? It's not a talented team, but in the two Augie games I've watched this season what stood out to me was that the team's play was rather slipshod. F'rinstance, in the loss to NPU the Doggies had two or three passes go right through the hands, or off of the hands, of defenders that were then caught by NPU receivers, one of those instances happening on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. And Augie had, not one, but two punts blocked in that game; one blocked punt is bad enough, but two is an indication of just plain awful special-teams play, especially when you know that the player who blocked that second punt (David Simmons) has a long track record of blocking kicks on special teams and you don't take specific steps to take him out of the play. That second blocked punt set up NPU's go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Augie just looks like a team that doesn't execute, even when it's in a position to do so.

GS,

That is without question.  If you look at the few games over the past three seasons where Augie had a chance to win, you can find several examples of this, in addition to what you describe in the NPU game this season.   In Bell's first year, they blow a 22 point halftime lead against Loras and lose a game despite scoring 52 points.  Augie had a golden opportunity to win last year at Carthage, but gave up two third and long plays (16 & 24 yards, I believe) on the game winning drive by Carthage and then had an unsportmanslike conduct call, which gave Carthage a first and goal instead of a 4th and goal from the 7 yard line.  Carthage scores TD and Augie misses a FG at the end which would have tied the game.  This year, they had the ball inside of Millikin's 10 yard line in the waning seconds and just needed a FG to win.  They run a play to position the ball in the middle of the field and one of their O lineman is called for an unsportsmanlike penalty, pushing the ball back 15 yards.  Augie misses the FG and loses by 1.  They also lost to Cortland and Carroll this year by allowing both teams to drive down the field and convert a FG at the end of the game. Unfortunately, it is really tough to come up with anything positive about the program over the past several seasons. 

[markerickson]

Since I arrived on campus in 1981 until tonight, I have never read or heard that "North Park has a good defense" though I see the D is better than usual.  Which reminds me, a couple of long passes to the tall (6' 4"?) WR was the difference-maker in the Big Blue's victory at Holmgren Field.  The game was not a blowout by any means, and has had me shaking my head about the praise given to the Big Blue the past few weeks.  I do not see them anywhere close to the programs that have dominated the CCIW for the last decade.