FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Thunderdome21]

USee,
Jeremiah Tucker hasn't played since Carthage game. Is he still ok to play or did he get injured?  I always thought he would be another powerful weapon to use in the playoffs to bring in every once and a while against teams with good defenses.

He has been in concussion protocol from what I understand. The Thunder have a few players that are banged up at this point in the season. They won't be at full strength the next couple weeks unfortunately.

Speaking of concussion protocol, I'm curious about MLB Ryan Schwartz's status for Saturday.  I have no insider knowledge and don't know if he's practicing this week.  He looked to get his bell rung pretty good Saturday and I'm hoping him skipping the rest of the game was merely pre-caution in a runaway contest.  Totally right that every team is harboring injury and increasingly so at this point of the season.  But the absence of an All CCIW first teamer for a #1 defense is especially significant in November.  I'm not sure who the next man up would be?

I'm not sure if Ryan will play on Saturday, but he's an amazing, hard-hitting MLB that rarely makes mistakes. He's done an incredible job filling the shoes of last year's all-American MLB Erik Stevenson and they haven't missed a beat.  But Wheaton is loaded with a bunch of stud athletes that fly around the field at the linebacker position.  Fielding Davis (5-11 210 lb Jr) is their #2 at the Mike position.  He had 3 tackles in Ryan's absence and I only saw one mistake/missed tackle in the Martin Luther game, although if he'd made the tackle, it would've been a 4-yard TFL.  Their 3rd stringer is my son Jalen Shaffer ( 6-2 208 lbs sophomore), who starts on special teams on Kickoff, Kick Return, and Punt Return and played 1 quarter against Carroll at the Mike position (he started the year on Scout team and has gradually moved up). Jalen was an all-state RB in the state of Michigan in high school that they converted to LB last year.  If they're not comfortable with Fielding or Jalen, they will move Wyatt Lee (5-9 185 Jr.) from the Will position as they did in the Carroll game when Ryan was nursing a sore ankle and Fielding had a concussion.  Wyatt led all of D-3 in tackles (170) last year at Lawrence University and this year made 2nd team CCIW for Wheaton.   If Wyatt moves to the Mike position, Wheaton has two very good options at the Will in Nate Gerze (6-2 210 Sr) and Ben Lokos (5-8, 186 lb So).  Lokos was also an all-state RB in high school in the state of Maryland that they converted to LB earlier this year.   

[New Tradition]

Congrats to Broc Rutter and the rest of the Gagliardi Semifinalists!

Don't forget to cast your ballot here: https://d3football.com/notables/2019/11/gagliardi-voting

[79jaybird]

Happy early Thanksgiving to everybody.

Good luck to Wheaton & NC this weekend.  Go pull out some W's.

[USee]

HansenRatings spreads:

Mt Union -9.9 vs NCC
Wheaton -28 vs Central
St Johns -14 @Chapman

[matblake]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Seems cheesy,  but I'm really thankful for this community. I haven't been as active as in the past, but I still check in almost daily for the insight and conversation. It's great to have a place where it can happen and people who like D3 as much as(or more than) I do.

NC has its work cut out for them. I think that Hansen spread is probably a good barometer. What is really hard to quantify when you play Mount is their experience. Since each year they go deep into the playoffs, first they will have potentially 5 or 6 difficult games per year as opposed to 2 or 3 for a team that regularly advances to the second round. That game experience can really give you an extra encyclopedia of knowledge when facing difficult situations. Add in the fact that by the time they are seniors, they have had basically a whole additional season of practice because of the deep playoff runs/championships.

The Wheaton game has me concerned. Any time you play a team that won't "go away" it can be mentally taxing and mental errors can increase the upset snowball rolling down the hill. Add in the Thunder's problems with penalties, and the situation can get more dangerous. Plus Thanksgiving weekend is a weird time to play at home since the student section is diminished. That said, I think Wheaton has the athletes to overcome, but I hope to see the offense like it was against WashU instead of against Carroll/Martin Luther.

[MUC57]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Seems cheesy,  but I'm really thankful for this community. I haven't been as active as in the past, but I still check in almost daily for the insight and conversation. It's great to have a place where it can happen and people who like D3 as much as(or more than) I do.

NC has its work cut out for them. I think that Hansen spread is probably a good barometer. What is really hard to quantify when you play Mount is their experience. Since each year they go deep into the playoffs, first they will have potentially 5 or 6 difficult games per year as opposed to 2 or 3 for a team that regularly advances to the second round. That game experience can really give you an extra encyclopedia of knowledge when facing difficult situations. Add in the fact that by the time they are seniors, they have had basically a whole additional season of practice because of the deep playoff runs/championships.

The Wheaton game has me concerned. Any time you play a team that won't "go away" it can be mentally taxing and mental errors can increase the upset snowball rolling down the hill. Add in the Thunder's problems with penalties, and the situation can get more dangerous. Plus Thanksgiving weekend is a weird time to play at home since the student section is diminished. That said, I think Wheaton has the athletes to overcome, but I hope to see the offense like it was against WashU instead of against Carroll/Martin Luther.

I like and agree with your comments on Mount Union. Makes sense.

UMU vs NCC will be a great game. I'm glad it's at Mount. Two powerful teams going at it. I do favor The Raiders defense. So, who wins? Flip a coin!

As far as Wheaton is concerned - they are "spooky" good. Look at the NCAA stats. Would not be surprised to see them in the Stagg Bowl.
As I always say, see signature below, Go Everybody.

And while I'm here, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! 🦃 🍷

Let's hope for decent weather in all the games, no injuries and each team playing it's best.

[USee]

The Mt Union/NCC game should be entertaining. While I don't think it will be the shootout many predict, it will be fun to see the two best QB's on the two best offenses in D3 on the same field.

[MUC57]

The Mt Union/NCC game should be entertaining. While I don't think it will be the shootout many predict, it will be fun to see the two best QB's o the two best offenses in D3 on the same field.

You said it! 🏈

[Craft_Beermeister]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Seems cheesy,  but I'm really thankful for this community. I haven't been as active as in the past, but I still check in almost daily for the insight and conversation. It's great to have a place where it can happen and people who like D3 as much as(or more than) I do.

NC has its work cut out for them. I think that Hansen spread is probably a good barometer. What is really hard to quantify when you play Mount is their experience. Since each year they go deep into the playoffs, first they will have potentially 5 or 6 difficult games per year as opposed to 2 or 3 for a team that regularly advances to the second round. That game experience can really give you an extra encyclopedia of knowledge when facing difficult situations. Add in the fact that by the time they are seniors, they have had basically a whole additional season of practice because of the deep playoff runs/championships.

The Wheaton game has me concerned. Any time you play a team that won't "go away" it can be mentally taxing and mental errors can increase the upset snowball rolling down the hill. Add in the Thunder's problems with penalties, and the situation can get more dangerous. Plus Thanksgiving weekend is a weird time to play at home since the student section is diminished. That said, I think Wheaton has the athletes to overcome, but I hope to see the offense like it was against WashU instead of against Carroll/Martin Luther.

I think the NCC UMU game will be a good entertaining game.  You correctly pointed out an advantage Mount has in the amount of extra weeks of practices UMU gets by running deep into the playoffs almost every year. Many a junior at UMU starts his is junior year with an extra 10 weeks of practice (equivalent to a full extra year).  Mount Union leverages these extra practices by having intense practices scheme to maximize competition for position ranking. NNC often have very good teams and they have made the playoffs 8 of the last 10 years. This year the history hasn't yet been written, but in the 7 other playoff runs in the last 10 years twice they got past the 2nd round with the 2013 one point loss to UMU in the semifinals being the furthest they have gotten in football during the time period.  NCC is a top notice team and once they can consistently get further in the playoffs I expect them to also be able to leverage the luxury of additional practices.

I wish both teams good luck and good health. 

[joelmama]

1)  Whitewater is a MUCH more reasonable opponent for NC than UMHB or Mount Union.

2)  Is there a person on planet Earth who actually thinks Hope is a better team than NC?  What would the betting line be on a neutral field?

     * Again, we're looking at these blatantly ridiculous FAKE objective standards, in this case the regional rankings.  (FAKE objective standards, because of the woefully deficient data used for the regional rankings.  It's a way to avoid responsibility.)

The eye test is also a way to avoid responsibility, as it would effectively shut out half of D3 from potentially ever getting an at-large berth.  I don't by any stretch think that the present selection criteria is perfect -- especially using SOS when there are so few non-conference games.  But the only data we have is better than a smoke-filled room.

In its last four tournament runs, North Central's second round opponents have been MIAC, WIAC, CCIW, and WIAC institutions.  Mount is six levels above most of these teams, but you're not going to get a gimme after the first round in the Midwest, and any of the eight I noted earlier would be a challenge.

if they are at large picks and the goal is to take the five best thenyes half the teams have no chance and that is the way it should be imo if they don't pass the eye test

[USee]

Article from Cleveland Paper about NCC @UMU:

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/11/ncaa-d23-playoffs-dynamic-offenses-clash-when-notre-dame-college-plays-at-kutztown-and-mount-union-hosts-north-central.html

Mount Union is No. 2 in total defense (186.2 yards per game allowed), No. 2 in pass defense (106.5 yards) and No. 2 in points allowed (8.10 per game). The Purple Raiders also allow only 79.6 yards rushing per game, which is 15th in the nation.

"Our defense looks forward to it," Kehres said. "Anytime you look at your opponent and you see eye popping statistics, the focus is a little higher. We had a good practice yesterday. The guys are locked in to what the game plan is and are looking forward to Saturday."

[Jim Matson]

Mount Union vs...Mount Union? This looks good! Yeah, I'm a CCIW fan.

[USee]

Why NCC's coaches thought they could play Mount Union WR's 1 on 1 is mind boggling. Justin Hill is destroying them right now.

Good news is Rutter is being Rutter.

[Stagg Again!!]

Article from Cleveland Paper about NCC @UMU:

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/11/ncaa-d23-playoffs-dynamic-offenses-clash-when-notre-dame-college-plays-at-kutztown-and-mount-union-hosts-north-central.html

Mount Union is No. 2 in total defense (186.2 yards per game allowed), No. 2 in pass defense (106.5 yards) and No. 2 in points allowed (8.10 per game). The Purple Raiders also allow only 79.6 yards rushing per game, which is 15th in the nation.

"Our defense looks forward to it," Kehres said. "Anytime you look at your opponent and you see eye popping statistics, the focus is a little higher. We had a good practice yesterday. The guys are locked in to what the game plan is and are looking forward to Saturday."

12:05 left in 2Q... Wheaton's defense is definitely better than Mount Union's.  MUC can't stop NCC on the ground or through the air so far!  Of course, NCC can't stop MUC through the air either, so this should be an interesting one.

[Stagg Again!!]

Article from Cleveland Paper about NCC @UMU:

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/11/ncaa-d23-playoffs-dynamic-offenses-clash-when-notre-dame-college-plays-at-kutztown-and-mount-union-hosts-north-central.html

Mount Union is No. 2 in total defense (186.2 yards per game allowed), No. 2 in pass defense (106.5 yards) and No. 2 in points allowed (8.10 per game). The Purple Raiders also allow only 79.6 yards rushing per game, which is 15th in the nation.

"Our defense looks forward to it," Kehres said. "Anytime you look at your opponent and you see eye popping statistics, the focus is a little higher. We had a good practice yesterday. The guys are locked in to what the game plan is and are looking forward to Saturday."

12:05 left in 2Q... Wheaton's defense is definitely better than Mount Union's.  MUC can't stop NCC on the ground or through the air so far!  Of course, NCC can't stop MUC through the air either, so this should be an interesting one.

MUC WRs are definitely a good as advertised... too much speed for NCC's DBs.  Gotta get more push up front or the track meet will continue.