FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Crusader4Life]

Hello everyone, Wheaton alumni here who follows the D3 football scene pretty closely.  It feels good to begin discussing D3 football with some guys who know what they're talking about.  I have been at all four Wheaton games and am very excited to see Wheaton play Augie.  I don't know very much  about Augie this year besides their record and key players.  What does everyone think the keys to this game are and how will the Wheaton D match up with the Augie O? 

[Mugsy]

Hello everyone, Wheaton alumni here who follows the D3 football scene pretty closely.  It feels good to begin discussing D3 football with some guys who know what they're talking about.  I have been at all four Wheaton games and am very excited to see Wheaton play Augie.  I don't know very much  about Augie this year besides their record and key players.  What does everyone think the keys to this game are and how will the Wheaton D match up with the Augie O?  

Welcome Crusader4Life.  If your email address is accurate, I'd say you know much more about the Thunder's personnel and how they will match up than most of us.    

As I mentioned on the previous page, it'll be interesting to see how the new 3-4 scheme matches up against the Augie offense, if Wheaton truly comes out in the 3-4.  I've been very impressed with some of the young defensive players for Wheaton - very athletic, lots of potential.  Key to the Wheaton front 7 will be a healthy Nick Theobald.  Hope & Bethel were able to run successfully against Wheaton, and one would think Augie's rushing attack would be better than what Wheaton has faced thus far.

In terms of offense, Norris is a serious leader and I expect the Wheaton O should have some success.  I'd love to see the OL get some holes for Gingg as he hasn't really gotten on track thus far.  Hopefully his ankle is better after the week off against NPU.  If the game is close, I'm a bit concerned about the placekicking.  6 missed extra points thus far in 4 games.

I'm looking forward to a good game.

[Viking Mike]

I like Augie in this game.  I feel our defense is solid and will create some turnovers for Lee and the offense to capitalize on.  We will need a solid game from Lee and from our O-line as well as improved play from our special teams unit.  I think Augustana 26, Wheaton 21............................or atleast I'm hoping!!!

Go Vikings!!!

[Son of Tailgater]

Hello everyone, Wheaton alumni here who follows the D3 football scene pretty closely.  It feels good to begin discussing D3 football with some guys who know what they're talking about.  I have been at all four Wheaton games and am very excited to see Wheaton play Augie.  I don't know very much  about Augie this year besides their record and key players.  What does everyone think the keys to this game are and how will the Wheaton D match up with the Augie O?  

Welcome to the board Crusader4Life. I am not sure if you know me or not but I sure know you from scouting, scheming and worrying about you on the field from the couple years we played against each other.

Augie has the long drive capability where they can eat of a lot of clock while still being able to capitalize on a score. If the Wheaton run D cannot limit them to 2-3 yards per carry we could be seeing a long day for them.

[79jaybird]

Augie's D is good, but I think Wheaton wins this game on the offensive side of the ball.  Multiple times last week Elmhurst was able to drive on Augie and (if it weren't for dropped passes) would have connected on the long ball for big time yards.

The EC/Carthage matchup boils down to 1 thing.  Carthage's passing and Jones.  If Jones is able to sit in the pocket and have all day to throw, then I think Carthage has a good shot.  I know if they only get 10 yds rushing Sat. they are going to have a tough time. 

Last few years Elmhurst has had success against teams that are pass first oriented offenses.

[New Tradition]

Living in AZ, I haven't been able to see any CCIW action this year, but from what I hear Augie may have a bit of a rough time stopping Norris and Co. especially with a healthy Gingg.  I have to think that Wheaton will win this one by a pretty healthy margin.  

On a side note, welcome Crusader4life.  It was incredibly exciting watching your efforts this pre-season.  I was very impressed and very proud of how you represented D3 football at the premier level of the sport.  (Plus, I got to say that 2 guys I played against are on NFL teams!)  I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the boards here.

[Son of Tailgater]

Interesting article from Keith McMillan on the home page that discusses the current 28 conferences in where they are at currently. Here is what he had to say about the CCIW:

COLLEGE CONFERENCE of ILLINOIS and WISCONSIN (CCIW)
Kickoff '09 ranking: 4th
Playoff prospects: AQ; Pool C bid likely
Intensity of title race: Two-minute drill. What looks like potentially a seven-team race (Illinois Wesleyan and No. 4 Wheaton are 4-0, and five others are 3-1) won't be quite that crowded, but it could be a tight finish. The difficult part is figuring out, based on what we've seen so far, who it's going to involve. Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan and North Central dominated Elmhurst, Carthage and Millikin in the first week of conference play, but that still leaves us a potential four-team race. Augustana goes to Wheaton on Saturday, and hosts Illinois Wesleyan in Week 7. The Little Brass Bell game between North Central and Wheaton in Week 8 could produce a clear-cut CCIW leader, but even then games between the current top four will make every week worth watching. There's two-bid possibility here, big time,

[Pat Coleman]

Interesting article from Matt McMillan on the home page that discusses the current 28 conferences in where they are at currently. Here is what he had to say about the CCIW:

Keith McMillan.

[Augie6]

Augie's D is good, but I think Wheaton wins this game on the offensive side of the ball.  Multiple times last week Elmhurst was able to drive on Augie and (if it weren't for dropped passes) would have connected on the long ball for big time yards.

JB,

Seems we go through this every year when Augie plays Elmhurst.  Augie wins and you tend to make excuses about how Elmhurst beat themselves and Augie's play didn't have much to do with it (Despite the fact that 18 pts is the closest Elmhurst has come to Augie in the past 3 years).

I know it was pointed out a couple of days ago that Elmhurst only gained 186 total yds and that Augie's D had something to do with it.  I wasn't at the game, but in looking over the stat line, I think you are (again) making statements that aren't backed up by facts.  In your post above, you state that Elmhurst was able to drive on Augie "multiple times".  In looking at the drive summary, it shows that Elmhurst had 11 drives for the game.  Their average drive was 16.9 yards.  Elmhurst longest drive was their first of the game which went 55 yards.  Their second longest drive of the game was only 29 yards.  If you take these drives out of the equation, they had 9 drives for a total of 102 yards (11.3 yards per drive average on 82% of Elmhurst's drives).  In addition, Elmhurst was 2 of 13 on 3rd downs and 0 for 1 on 4th down, they had an average yds per carry of 2.1 yds, and they had a TOP of only 24:39, almost 11 minutes less than Augie's.  Based on these stats, I'd have to conclude that Elmhurst really wasn't able to drive on Augie and that there offense wasn't very effective.  

Augie has soundly beaten Elmhurst the past 3 years (28-7, 42-6 and 21-3) and each time you have made excuses about how Elmhurst beat themselves.  When you lose by an average score of 30-5 over that 3 year period, I think it's time to give the other team some credit.  For me, it continues to strain any credibility you have when it comes to assessing the Elmhurst program.  

[Mugsy]

Living in AZ, I haven't been able to see any CCIW action this year, but from what I hear Augie may have a bit of a rough time stopping Norris and Co. especially with a healthy Gingg.  I have to think that Wheaton will win this one by a pretty healthy margin.  

On a side note, welcome Crusader4life.  It was incredibly exciting watching your efforts this pre-season.  I was very impressed and very proud of how you represented D3 football at the premier level of the sport.  (Plus, I got to say that 2 guys I played against are on NFL teams!)  I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the boards here.

Interesting thoughts on the Wheaton/Augie game.  It is remarkable that it seems Wheaton fans/posters feel this game is going to be much closer than others.  I don't know... maybe I'm projecting my experiences against Augie in the 80's to the current teams?

I'm just have a hard time projecting how this very, very young Wheaton defense will do against an always dangerous Augie team that almost always brings their A game to McCully Field.  My gut tells me this game could go down to the wire and should be reasonably high scoring - something in the neighborhood of 31-28?

[WahooThunder]

Living in AZ, I haven't been able to see any CCIW action this year, but from what I hear Augie may have a bit of a rough time stopping Norris and Co. especially with a healthy Gingg.  I have to think that Wheaton will win this one by a pretty healthy margin.  

On a side note, welcome Crusader4life.  It was incredibly exciting watching your efforts this pre-season.  I was very impressed and very proud of how you represented D3 football at the premier level of the sport.  (Plus, I got to say that 2 guys I played against are on NFL teams!)  I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the boards here.

Interesting thoughts on the Wheaton/Augie game.  It is remarkable that it seems Wheaton fans/posters feel this game is going to be much closer than others.  I don't know... maybe I'm projecting my experiences against Augie in the 80's to the current teams?

I'm just have a hard time projecting how this very, very young Wheaton defense will do against an always dangerous Augie team that almost always brings their A game to McCully Field.  My gut tells me this game could go down to the wire and should be reasonably high scoring - something in the neighborhood of 31-28?

Even in recent years, it seems like Augie always gives us a good game. Plus, Wheaton fans who watched the Bethel and Hope games have reason to worry about the young defense and particularly its ability to stop the run. That, as well as special teams play (the kicking game especially has left a lot to be desired so far), are the reasons why I believe the jury is still out on this Wheaton team and would not be at all surprised to see a close game tomorrow and I expect it to be an offensive shootout as well.

[79jaybird]

Augie 6 you make some good points  however

A) Our TE drops a TD pass at the 5 yd line  it's a drop/mistakes happen  but that is not Augie's defense rather EC just not executing

B) our DE has a beat on a screen pass, the ball sails right through his hands, if he catches it he is gone for a TD  again EC not making the play.

both team's defense were very good,  it boiled down to execution and a few gaps of lack of execution. 

[ExperiencesOfaRedmen]

Hello to all!!  Obviously new poster here but long time follower.  I have decided to start posting for I want to be able to express some opinions I have on the D3 level of a football that is played in the CCIW.  First I believe the CCIW is one of the elite conferences in the nation, although we just can't ever seem to get passed UWW or MU in playoffs  I don't know whether it is the level of athletes they are getting or just experience in the big games that we are lacking.  I know as a past player we almost got MU in 2004...we will leave it at that cause I almost puked after that game!!  Second, I respect everyone's comments on here for they are very well thought out and very insightful in trying to get "scoop" on each team in the conference.  Third I want to throw a shout out to Son Of Tailgator and Mr Tailgator himself for I have much respect for both of the two gentlemen (not only that they are Redmen!!).  Enought about that into my thoughts on tomorrow vs EC.
   I think Carthage has a very good chance at beating EC tomorrow, but has to have a couple things go their way.  I think for the Carthage offense they need to keep our very suspect defense off the field, but we have a very rugged run game that at times is extinct, for one and two I hope the Koeneman brothers are back for Jeff is a danger across the middle and has very good hands, which can help us with the TOP.  I don't know much about the Jays offense or defense, but I know that the matchup every year is a good one and is always up in the air.  If Carthage's defense can keep the Jays one dimensional they will have a better chance at pulling this off, and IMO one way to do that is either control the LOS, which could be tough considering we an average weight of about 230 lbs on the d-line or use our speed in the secondary to our advantage.  Only bad thing about the secondary is they are young so a few mistakes could cause a very bad game for that group of young men.  Couple questions I have about EC, is what is their strength on offense and defense?  Also who are their playmakers this year and how will they contribute to the game tomorrow?
   Base on my little knowledge about EC I can't put my prediction out here for it would be biased to Carthage, but I can suspect a very close game (some would say "barn burner").  I will be in training all day long so where can I get updates of the games on here? 
   Other than that I'm going to take Florida over LSU with Tebow questionable, I have a firm beleive that their back up QB was National Player of the Year in 2006 and is a very good pocket passer, prediction for that Florida wins 27 17.   

[Augie6]

Augie 6 you make some good points  however

A) Our TE drops a TD pass at the 5 yd line  it's a drop/mistakes happen  but that is not Augie's defense rather EC just not executing

B) our DE has a beat on a screen pass, the ball sails right through his hands, if he catches it he is gone for a TD  again EC not making the play.

both team's defense were very good,  it boiled down to execution and a few gaps of lack of execution. 

JB,

If Elmhurst makes both of those plays as you saw them, they still lose 21-17.  My point is that you stated Elmhurst drove the ball "multiple" times on Augie.  When your second longest drive is only 29 yards, I don't believe this statement is even close to being factual.  When you are outgained as Elmhurst was, had 11 minutes less on TOP and lose by 18 points, I wouldn't classify that as Elmhurst just "beating themselves".  If it sounds like I'm being petty about this, it's because you've made similar types of statements the past 3 years when Augie has beaten Elmhurst.  The reality is that Elmhurst has lost the last 3 years by an average of 25 points per game. 

[Tailgater]

Hello to all!!  Obviously new poster here but long time follower.  I have decided to start posting for I want to be able to express some opinions I have on the D3 level of a football that is played in the CCIW.  First I believe the CCIW is one of the elite conferences in the nation, although we just can't ever seem to get passed UWW or MU in playoffs   I don't know whether it is the level of athletes they are getting or just experience in the big games that we are lacking.  I know as a past player we almost got MU in 2004...we will leave it at that cause I almost puked after that game!!  Second, I respect everyone's comments on here for they are very well thought out and very insightful in trying to get "scoop" on each team in the conference.  Third I want to throw a shout out to Son Of Tailgator and Mr Tailgator himself for I have much respect for both of the two gentlemen (not only that they are Redmen!!).  Enought about that into my thoughts on tomorrow vs EC.
  I think Carthage has a very good chance at beating EC tomorrow, but has to have a couple things go their way.  I think for the Carthage offense they need to keep our very suspect defense off the field, but we have a very rugged run game that at times is extinct, for one and two I hope the Koeneman brothers are back for Jeff is a danger across the middle and has very good hands, which can help us with the TOP.  I don't know much about the Jays offense or defense, but I know that the matchup every year is a good one and is always up in the air.  If Carthage's defense can keep the Jays one dimensional they will have a better chance at pulling this off, and IMO one way to do that is either control the LOS, which could be tough considering we an average weight of about 230 lbs on the d-line or use our speed in the secondary to our advantage.  Only bad thing about the secondary is they are young so a few mistakes could cause a very bad game for that group of young men.  Couple questions I have about EC, is what is their strength on offense and defense?  Also who are their playmakers this year and how will they contribute to the game tomorrow?
  Base on my little knowledge about EC I can't put my prediction out here for it would be biased to Carthage, but I can suspect a very close game (some would say "barn burner").  I will be in training all day long so where can I get updates of the games on here?  
  Other than that I'm going to take Florida over LSU with Tebow questionable, I have a firm beleive that their back up QB was National Player of the Year in 2006 and is a very good pocket passer, prediction for that Florida wins 27 17.  

Welcome to the board ExperiencesOfaRedmen! It'll be nice to have some further perspective shared on Red Men football and the CCIW. Thanks for your kind shout out. I agree with most of your EC game assessment, but not quite sure about the "rugged running game". So far that phase of offense hasn't gotten on track. RB Jake Smith was out last week. I think we need him healthy and back on the field in order to get the running game moving. There is also a learning curve going on with the offensive line as 2 positions are held by new players. It will be tough to keep our defense off the field as Evan Jones and the passing game tend to strike quickly. They have put up some impressive numbers passing, but have not run a lot of clock in doing so. I'll leave it at that for now as it's time to pack the tailgate gear and head off to Elmhurst. Hope to see you there, stop by for a soda  

To track CCIW games....on the North Region home page there is a "2009 CCIW in game updates" post board were those listening to games post updates of CCIW action. You can also go to the D3 home page and click on "scoreboard" to get up to date game scores around the nation. Looking forward to reading your incite in weeks to come.

Crusader4life....Welcome to the board to you as well. Congrats on your football accomplishments to date. I'm hoping good opportunities in football are yet to come for you!