FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CardinalAlum]

Jaybird,

Read in the paper that Kudyba went down for the season with a knee injury early in yesterday's game.  Is that the case?  If so, I'm sorry to hear it.  After last season, he seemed primed to have a big year.  

Come on Jaybird, what's the scoop?

[79jaybird]

ok, ok, I am here. I  was up in Wisconsin (Illinois' playground  ) enjoying my last few days on my waverunner.
Elm 34 Ben 0  and even though we get the W and are 1-0 I feel so terrible for Chris Kudyba.  He is a great kid and has worked so hard in the off season. 
First possession he is tackled from behind, looks pretty innocent, however everybody gets up except #7.  He tried to stand up and just couldn't put any weight on it.  Up in the booth, we didn't hear anything until after the game, when we heard the disappointing news.
Then, to make matters worse, our #2 QB Mike LaFleur left the game.  He is o.k. and (I would guess)  will be the #1 QB now. 
Defense was strong and basically handcuffed Benedictine all day.  To isolate  few players,  Patrick Ambriz came up big and Ward Brady in the middle were the two ironmen that made the big plays.
RB Matt Smith and Ryan Sonntag looked good running the ball, while Blake Veldhuis was clutch receiving.
I was impressed with Benedictine's tenacity and fight.  Yes, on paper they were overmatched and are still 3-4 years away from being at a CCIW team's level,  but Coach Cooper has the Eagles flying in the right direction.  Give Coop some time, and he will get Benedictine improved.
Prior to the season,  I was thinking that a bye in week 2 was odd and didn't really welcome it, however after seeing the injuries.. I think the bye in Week 2 might be a welcomed sight! 
After one game,  IMO  I think the defense is looking good, and the offense will have to "regroup" knowing that either LaFleur (or somebody else) is going to have to lead this team.
Congrats to the other CCIW teams that won their games.

[Gotberg]

Did I read recently that NPU was playing Chicago this past weekend in a scrimmage?  If so, any feedback from the game?

[formerd3db]

jaybird:
Congrats on a nice win for Elmhurst Sat.  Hope you had a great day and also a great Labor Day weekend.  Good luck this week to your 'birds'.  Hope opens at Central, IA which will be a tough game.  As you know, Central already has a "W" under their belt, so Hope will have to bring its top game.  We'll see what goes.  I also hope you get some good feedback on the newspaper - good luck.  BTW, how did people like the new broadcasting banner?  I'm sure it looked sharp.

[Mugsy]

As always I'll start with the obligatory, "it's early in the year..." with regards to polls, but man... it's tough at the top! 

Augie beats MacMurray 53-7 and drops one spot in the polls.  Now I know MacMurray is not a great team and I know UW-LaCrosse just had a HUGE upset against a DI team and most other teams above Augie didn't do much to indicate they should drop...   Just begs the question... what did Augie need to do to at least maintain their position?  83-7?

[Pat Coleman]

Needed to do what UW-La Crosse did -- play and beat a team that is considered better than they are.

You answered your own question -- why did you ask?

[Mugsy]

Needed to do what UW-La Crosse did -- play and beat a team that is considered better than they are.

You answered your own question -- why did you ask?

Because I was asking sarcasitically...  Plus other teams didn't play anyone and didn't drop or maintained their rank.  For instance, Ohio Northern jumps up a spot and didn't even play a game. 

Please don't take this as a "bash" on the polls.  Just thinking out loud, which I guess I shouldn't do.

[Pat Coleman]

Because I was asking sarcasitically...  Plus other teams didn't play anyone and didn't drop or maintained their rank.  For instance, Ohio Northern jumps up a spot and didn't even play a game. 

W&J lost pretty badly at home. They had to drop. That's why Ohio Northern moved up, no? You can't just look at one team in the poll in isolation -- they are affected by all the teams around them.

[diehardfan]

Wheaton also fell from 31st to 35th without playing... and yes, I do know that after 25th doesn't count, but we all do it anyway.

For some reason I found this horribly funny... which is probably an indication that I should go to bed... the CCIW site says the following in their preview... "Carthage placed sixth in the preseason poll with 26 points, and returns 10-of-11 starters, losing only wide receiver Chris Krepline." I must say that the away win of Carthage is even more impressive in light of the fact that they only have 11 total starters.

Congrats to Blake Veldhuis of Elmhurst and Mark Januszewski of Carthage for their player of the week nods. I thought it was sort of a nice move to pick players from teams who had good wins, rather than a more obvious person from Augie who had great stats thanks to an easy win.

And for some reason, as I was looking at the Augie stats just to make sure the above statement made sense, I noticed that Mac had a 60% completion percentage. Not that that is the best completion percentage ever made or anything, and the Augie defense did manage an impressive -29 yrds average for rushing, but does the fact that it's MacMurry that got that 60% completion ratio make anyone else go "hmmm..." ? Also noticed that the Augie QB was 4-12 against the MacMurry defense... ouch. Am I crazy or did someone say earlier this season that Augie was going to be less run dependant? 

[dansand]

Congrats to Blake Veldhuis of Elmhurst and Mark Januszewski of Carthage for their player of the week nods. I thought it was sort of a nice move to pick players from teams who had good wins, rather than a more obvious person from Augie who had great stats thanks to an easy win.

And for some reason, as I was looking at the Augie stats just to make sure the above statement made sense, I noticed that Mac had a 60% completion percentage. Not that that is the best completion percentage ever made or anything, and the Augie defense did manage an impressive -29 yrds average for rushing, but does the fact that it's MacMurry that got that 60% completion ratio make anyone else go "hmmm..." ? Also noticed that the Augie QB was 4-12 against the MacMurry defense... ouch. Am I crazy or did someone say earlier this season that Augie was going to be less run dependant? 

Not too many big stat games for any of the Augie guys Saturday. It was a short day for the starters. I'm not too worried about the 60% completion rate. The Highlanders threw a lot of short passes. Take out the 54-yard TD, which came against a mix of 2nd and 3rd teamers, and they averaged 4.6 yards a completion. As a matter of fact, the TD was their only play from scrimmage all day that went for more than 10 yards. That said, I'm not going to get too jacked up about a win over an obviously over-matched MacMurray, but you can only beat the team you're playing and they did.

As far as the passing game, I think it was suggested that Augie would "open up the passing game" a little this year. They sure did Saturday. 12 pass attempts is 36% of what they had all last year! I certainly don't expect any major shift away from the ground game.

As for the drop in the polls, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If they (or anyone else) keep winning, that'll take care of itself. Thankfully, this isn't D1
where the polls are everything.

[diehardfan]

I thought you were exaggerating, so I pulled up Augie's cumulative stats from last year. 33 passing attempts... that's hilarious. I don't think I ever realized that it was quite that ridiculously lopsided.

On the other hand, Augie completed 52% of their passes last year, as opposed to 33% last Sat... throwing it more with out making completions doesn't really count, does it? 

[CardinalAlum]

I thought you were exaggerating, so I pulled up Augie's cumulative stats from last year. 33 passing attempts... that's hilarious. I don't think I ever realized that it was quite that ridiculously lopsided.

On the other hand, Augie completed 52% of their passes last year, as opposed to 33% last Sat... throwing it more with out making completions doesn't really count, does it? 

Don't you sleep? 

[diehardfan]

Usually.... not last night though... 

[FormerCard]

NC fans, has anyone seen an updated roster?

[washdupcard]

USee and I are like two peas in a pod.  The only thing we disagree about is how strongly we agree with the other.