FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

the 3 picks ties the school record held by at least two other players

the 4 TD's rushing by the backup quarterback ties Chuck DiPrima's 38-year old school record against Carroll;\

[oldnuthin]

Interesting day in Decatur yesterday. due to the heat the Big blue used no less than 10 d linemen.  Hope started out with one goal in mind, stop  Dion,  which in the first half they had some luck with. A ton of blitzes confounded the Millikin running game,  so they went to the pass. O line did a good job of picking up the blitzes and giving Hockaday time to throw. There were some mistakes by the young linemen, but i thin k more experience will solve this. Conversely, Millikin came out looking to stop the hope passing attack and they received a steady dose of a solid Hope running game. After half the D made some adjustments, and was stout and played with a sense of urgency. i am hopeful that this attitude of finishing on the D carries over to the O. They were up 31 -14 and in my opinion left a couple of  more scores on the field. Hockaday was much improved over the IC game, and he has some weapons he can throw to. Another week showing improvement, and Millikin will be on the right track going into the CCIW opener.

[Gregory Sager]

Last night's MacMurray @ NPU game was entertaining, I'll say that much. Perhaps my favorite moment came after Cicero Porter's 97-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter, when P.A. announcer Phil Staurseth intoned drily into the mic, "That is the second-longest interception return in North Park history." That got a big laugh from the crowd. Poor Gene Boba. His North Park int-return record stood for fifty years, and it's now been passed twice within the past two weeks.

As lopsided as the score was, it could've been worse. Freshman slotback Zacchius Sumbry had a 43-yard TD run called back in the second quarter because of a clip on the opposite side of the field, forcing NPU to punt on the next play. Penalties were a problem for the Vikings; they were called for 13 of them for 146 yards. While in the end that only meant that they had that much more ground yardage available to accumulate, it's a foreboding sign in the third game of the season.

As well as the flexbone option performed last night, I thought that the defense was the real story. Not once did the Vikings D let MacMurray sustain a drive of sixty yards or longer, and the four drives of forty yards or more that the Vikings D allowed they ended, three times with interceptions and once with a fourth-down stand. They gave up a quick touchdown at the start of the game after the Highlanders recovered a fumble at the NPU 28, and after that they basically shut MacMurray down. The Highlanders gained only 124 yards on the ground and 116 in the air for the entire game, and the Vikings took the ball away six times (highlighted by Porter's three picks). And the second- and third-string defenses looked very strong, too, in spite of the fact that MacMurray was still relatively fresh because of the lack of possession time that the Highlanders had.

School records aside, this game doesn't add much to North Park's resume, given how bad MacMurray is. It did give the Vikings the chance to get game experience for just about everybody and a turn in the spotlight for a lot of players who normally wouldn't have a chance to shine, e.g., backup quarterback Evan Rhoads (how often does a backup QB rush for four touchdowns in a game, anyway?). But it's a confidence-builder, and in tandem with last week's come-from-behind win over Benedictine it gives the program some badly-needed momentum.

NPU has a long, long way to go to reach the point where the Vikings need to be in order to be competitive in the CCIW, but for the first time since the days of Tim Rucks I think that the North Park football program has finally found a viable philosophy and is on the way to plugging in the players who fit it. There will be some severe growing pains this year, but by finding an offense that appeals to a certain type of player I think that it'll both be easier for NPU to land suitable recruits and to retain them once they're here -- and, as we all know, success in this sport starts with recruiting and retention. Call me a cockeyed optimist, but in the long run this crazy idea of Scott Pethtel's just might work.

[Mugsy]

Well... we'll see how long it lasts, but there are now 3 CCIW teams in the top 25.  North Central, IWU and Wheaton.

[ncc_fan]

Well... we'll see how long it lasts, but there are now 3 CCIW teams in the top 25.  North Central, IWU and Wheaton.

IWU and Wheaton will still be there in the week 4 rankings, since IWU has a bye and Wheaton should beat Olivet.  And unless NCC gets blown out by #17 UWEC next week the #11 Cardinals will be in the mix, too.  As for week 5, it's hard to imagine BOTH #21 IWU and #22 Wheaton holding onto Top 25 spots after one emerges from their Oct. 2 CCIW opener with a loss.  Carthage is currently flying under the pollsters' radar, but if Carthage defeats NCC on Oct. 2 then the 4-0 Redmen will be a strong contender for a week 5 Top 25 spot.  NCC will be 4-0, 3-1, or 2-2 after the week 5 game; given their current #11 ranking they'll likely hold onto a Top 25 spot even with a 3-1 record, but not 2-2.  So I think we'll see three CCIW teams in the week 4 Top 25 and two or three in the week 5 rankings.  Beyond that there are too many possibilities to contemplate, including Augie, Elmhurst, & Millikin.

[Mugsy]

Well... we'll see how long it lasts, but there are now 3 CCIW teams in the top 25.  North Central, IWU and Wheaton.

IWU and Wheaton will still be there in the week 4 rankings, since IWU has a bye and Wheaton should beat Olivet.  And unless NCC gets blown out by #17 UWEC next week the #11 Cardinals will be in the mix, too.  As for week 5, it's hard to imagine BOTH #21 IWU and #22 Wheaton holding onto Top 25 spots after one emerges from their Oct. 2 CCIW opener with a loss.  Carthage is currently flying under the pollsters' radar, but if Carthage defeats NCC on Oct. 2 then the 4-0 Redmen will be a strong contender for a week 5 Top 25 spot.  NCC will be 4-0, 3-1, or 2-2 after the week 5 game; given their current #11 ranking they'll likely hold onto a Top 25 spot even with a 3-1 record, but not 2-2.  So I think we'll see three CCIW teams in the week 4 Top 25 and two or three in the week 5 rankings.  Beyond that there are too many possibilities to contemplate, including Augie, Elmhurst, & Millikin.

ncc_fan, thanks for taking the time to spell out possible scenarios.  Kinda what I was getting at in a "tongue in cheek" way, but was too busy (or too lazy) to spell out.  Past 5 or so years the CCIW seems to have 1 top 8-10 team and two top 20-something teams.  Once the CCIW schedule starts, things go haywire and usually there is only one (maybe two) ranked CCIW team by the end of the season.

[Gregory Sager]

Has anybody seen a D3 game this year in which there was some sort of an issue with the referees? NPU's had problems with the head referee in both of its last two games.

Against Benedictine a week ago, the referee consistently failed to make the signal to start the clock. This led to the timer up in the booth having to guess when to activate the clock, which naturally led to several stoppages of play in which the referee shouted up to the booth to reset the clock to xx:xx. Finally, in the fourth quarter, he told Scott Pethtel on the near sideline to yell up to the press box to tell the game crew to turn off the play clock, and that the referee would keep the play clock on the field with his stopwatch. Since Mr. B was working on the game crew that day, I'm sure he can corroborate that there was a lot of exasperation up in the box. The whole situation could've been avoided if the ref had simply signaled to start the clock before every play, which is part of his job.

On Saturday it was even worse. NPU had a different referee than the one who worked the Benedictine game, and this one, for whatever reason, refused to blow the whistle every time after plays were over. Sometimes he'd do it, sometimes he wouldn't. The North Park sideline yelled at him a few times to blow the whistle, and his response was that the rules did not require him to do so. The crowd eventually took up the cause, with numerous fans yelling, "Blow the whistle!" throughout the game. The more people yelled at him, the more the ref obstinately refused to blow the whistle.

Now, I'm not going to go to the trouble to look in the rulebook on www.ncaa.org to find out whether or not the ref was telling the truth about whistle-blowing to signal stoppage of play being optional rather than a requirement. But I'll just say this: Football is a violent and dangerous game, and one of the major reasons why the whistle is used to signal the end of the play is to protect the players from injury. I thought it was absolutely crazy and irresponsible for the ref to refuse to use it.

Anybody ever seen any similar situations?

[mr_b]

Has anybody seen a D3 game this year in which there was some sort of an issue with the referees? NPU's had problems with the head referee in both of its last two games.... Since Mr. B was working on the game crew that day, I'm sure he can corroborate that there was a lot of exasperation up in the box. The whole situation could've been avoided if the ref had simply signaled to start the clock before every play, which is part of his job.  On Saturday it was even worse. NPU had a different referee  [who] refused to blow the whistle every time after plays were over. Sometimes he'd do it, sometimes he wouldn't. The North Park sideline yelled at him a few times to blow the whistle, and his response was that the rules did not require him to do so.

It's been two straight weeks of frustration, to be sure.  The play clock operator has been doing the job for at least two years without issue, and for some reason there was a lack of communication between the reffing crew and the pressbox in the Benedictine game.

The MacMurray game was equally confusing because we couldn't hear a whistle -- can't blame that on noise from a relatively light crowd -- and as a result, players kept on tackling and hitting well after the play was over.  We were genuinely concerned that a player might take a late hit and get seriously injured. 

[79jaybird]

I have said numerous times that for as great a conference the CCIW is/claims to be, their officials are amongst the worse I have ever seen.  I look forward to road non-conference games,  this way you know you are going to have a  better chance at a quality officiating crew.  Basketball is bad too.  

Overall a solid outing by Elmhurst against  an improved Chicago squad.  Scottie Williams was running hard and the O-line was in control most of the day.

The EC running game is going to be their barometer this year. The defense will keep the Jays in the game, it is going to be their offense that determines whether or not they will be able to win the close ones late.

Wow 70 points by North Park.  That is great for their program.  I know the competition wasn't as strong as some of the other schools, but still 70 points is 70 points and something to build on.

[Mugsy]

Has anybody seen a D3 game this year in which there was some sort of an issue with the referees? NPU's had problems with the head referee in both of its last two games.

Against Benedictine a week ago, the referee consistently failed to make the signal to start the clock. This led to the timer up in the booth having to guess when to activate the clock, which naturally led to several stoppages of play in which the referee shouted up to the booth to reset the clock to xx:xx. Finally, in the fourth quarter, he told Scott Pethtel on the near sideline to yell up to the press box to tell the game crew to turn off the play clock, and that the referee would keep the play clock on the field with his stopwatch. Since Mr. B was working on the game crew that day, I'm sure he can corroborate that there was a lot of exasperation up in the box. The whole situation could've been avoided if the ref had simply signaled to start the clock before every play, which is part of his job.

On Saturday it was even worse. NPU had a different referee than the one who worked the Benedictine game, and this one, for whatever reason, refused to blow the whistle every time after plays were over. Sometimes he'd do it, sometimes he wouldn't. The North Park sideline yelled at him a few times to blow the whistle, and his response was that the rules did not require him to do so. The crowd eventually took up the cause, with numerous fans yelling, "Blow the whistle!" throughout the game. The more people yelled at him, the more the ref obstinately refused to blow the whistle.

Now, I'm not going to go to the trouble to look in the rulebook on www.ncaa.org to find out whether or not the ref was telling the truth about whistle-blowing to signal stoppage of play being optional rather than a requirement. But I'll just say this: Football is a violent and dangerous game, and one of the major reasons why the whistle is used to signal the end of the play is to protect the players from injury. I thought it was absolutely crazy and irresponsible for the ref to refuse to use it.

Anybody ever seen any similar situations?

This is truly inexcusable.  Players are taught to explicitly sustain blocks and pursue to the ball and tackle the ball until the player is down or the whistle blows.  If the official fails to blow the whistle, you will see more hits coming after the play is really done - that would usually result in personal foul or unsportsman like infractions.  It is generally understood that the "unsportsman like conduct" penalty covers "dead ball fouls", which includes explicit wording to the effect of hitting/striking a player from the other team after the ball is declared dead and the whistle has sounded.  

After quickly scanning the rulebook I can see ever so slim of an interpretation where the official could rule a play dead without use of a whistle, though if you ask players, coaches (and most officials) they would probably indicate they understand a play is dead when the whistle blows or in obvious cases, like when a ball carrier falls down in the open field. Question I would ask the official in the NPU game, what is the most obvious way to indicate that a play is dead?  Um... a whistle.

From the official NCAA rule book:

Live Ball Becomes Dead
ARTICLE 2. a. A live ball becomes a dead ball as provided in the rules or
when an official sounds his whistle (even though inadvertently) or otherwise
signals the ball dead (A.R. 4-2-1-II and A.R. 4-2-4-I).
b. If an official sounds his whistle inadvertently or otherwise signals the
ball dead during a down (Rules 4-1-3-k and m):
1. When the ball is in player possession, then the team in possession
may elect to put the ball in play where declared dead or replay the
down.

Ball Declared Dead
ARTICLE 3. A live ball becomes dead and an official shall sound his whistle
or declare it dead:
a. When it goes out of bounds other than a kick that scores a field goal after
touching the uprights or crossbar, when a ball carrier is out of bounds,
or when a ball carrier is so held that his forward progress is stopped.
When in question, the ball is dead (A.R. 4-2-1-II).
b. When any part of the ball carrier's body, except his hand or foot, touches
the ground or when the ball carrier is tackled or otherwise falls and loses
possession of the ball as he contacts the ground with any part of his
body, except his hand or foot [Exception: The ball remains alive when
an offensive player has simulated a kick or is in position to kick the ball
held for a place kick by a teammate. The ball may be kicked, passed or
advanced by rule] (A.R. 4-1-3-I).
...
<continues through reason 'q'>

Regarding the "unsportsman like conduct" penalty:

g. There shall be no piling on, falling on or throwing the body on an
opponent after the ball becomes dead (A.R. 9-1-2-X).

So if the whistle doesn't sound, how is the player who is giving 100% supposed to truly know to stop?  This could result in significant injury due to one player relaxing and then getting pasted by another.

It is the officials responsibility to indicate the end of the play and the whistle is the best way to do so.  IMO, this should be taken up with the NCAA and the officials working that game should reported.  If not corrected, somebody will get hurt unnecessarily.

[Gregory Sager]

I have said numerous times that for as great a conference the CCIW is/claims to be, their officials are amongst the worse I have ever seen.  I look forward to road non-conference games,  this way you know you are going to have a  better chance at a quality officiating crew.  Basketball is bad too.

On balance, the standard of officiating for CCIW basketball is pretty decent. I've been to enough non-CCIW games to get a fairly comprehensive view for the sake of comparison, and, while there are CCIW officials who leave me unimpressed, the overall caliber is high compared to what you get in other small-college leagues.

And I don't really have an issue with the way that the officials called either of NPU's last two football games in terms of penalties, ball-spotting, field coverage, etc. I'm just mystified by the behavior of the two head referees, each of whom for whatever unknown reason refused to do one basic element of his job.

Has anybody seen a D3 game this year in which there was some sort of an issue with the referees? NPU's had problems with the head referee in both of its last two games.

Against Benedictine a week ago, the referee consistently failed to make the signal to start the clock. This led to the timer up in the booth having to guess when to activate the clock, which naturally led to several stoppages of play in which the referee shouted up to the booth to reset the clock to xx:xx. Finally, in the fourth quarter, he told Scott Pethtel on the near sideline to yell up to the press box to tell the game crew to turn off the play clock, and that the referee would keep the play clock on the field with his stopwatch. Since Mr. B was working on the game crew that day, I'm sure he can corroborate that there was a lot of exasperation up in the box. The whole situation could've been avoided if the ref had simply signaled to start the clock before every play, which is part of his job.

On Saturday it was even worse. NPU had a different referee than the one who worked the Benedictine game, and this one, for whatever reason, refused to blow the whistle every time after plays were over. Sometimes he'd do it, sometimes he wouldn't. The North Park sideline yelled at him a few times to blow the whistle, and his response was that the rules did not require him to do so. The crowd eventually took up the cause, with numerous fans yelling, "Blow the whistle!" throughout the game. The more people yelled at him, the more the ref obstinately refused to blow the whistle.

Now, I'm not going to go to the trouble to look in the rulebook on www.ncaa.org to find out whether or not the ref was telling the truth about whistle-blowing to signal stoppage of play being optional rather than a requirement. But I'll just say this: Football is a violent and dangerous game, and one of the major reasons why the whistle is used to signal the end of the play is to protect the players from injury. I thought it was absolutely crazy and irresponsible for the ref to refuse to use it.

Anybody ever seen any similar situations?

So if the whistle doesn't sound, how is the player who is giving 100% supposed to truly know to stop?  This could result in significant injury due to one player relaxing and then getting pasted by another.

Precisely my point. Thanks for taking the time to check the rulebook and make up for my laziness, Mugsy!

[Mugsy]

CCIW Players of the Week announced:

Hlavac, a senior wide receiver from Naperville, Ill., and Naperville North High School, caught seven passes for 146 yards and a 40-yard touchdown in North Central's 52-9 rout of Olivet on Saturday. He recorded the third highest single-game yardage total of his career and became the third player in North Central history to go over 2,000 receiving yards for his career (2,074). Hlavac is a Physical Education major.

Perschnick, a senior defensive end from Dwight, Ill., and Dwight High School, played an instrumental role for the Augustana defense in the Vikings' 21-7 win over Adrian on Saturday. He finished with 10 tackles (5 solo, 5 assisted), had one sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Augustana allowed just 175 yards of total offense including -4 rushing yards on 31 attempts. Prior to the game, the Bulldogs were averaging 229.5 yards rushing in two games (with one of those games against defending NCAA Division III national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater) and over 5.0 yards per individual attempt. Perschnick is a Biology/Pre-Nursing major.

Langs, a senior from Climax, Mich., and Climax-Scotts High School, helped lead Wheaton to a 51-20 victory against Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday, returning three punts for a total of 124 yards and one touchdown. Langs broke for a 41-yard return in the third quarter, but also had an 80-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as he averaged 41.3 yards per return. Langs is a Social Science major

[Tailgater]

CCIW Players of the Week announced:

Hlavac, a senior wide receiver from Naperville, Ill., and Naperville North High School, caught seven passes for 146 yards and a 40-yard touchdown in North Central's 52-9 rout of Olivet on Saturday. He recorded the third highest single-game yardage total of his career and became the third player in North Central history to go over 2,000 receiving yards for his career (2,074). Hlavac is a Physical Education major.

Perschnick, a senior defensive end from Dwight, Ill., and Dwight High School, played an instrumental role for the Augustana defense in the Vikings' 21-7 win over Adrian on Saturday. He finished with 10 tackles (5 solo, 5 assisted), had one sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Augustana allowed just 175 yards of total offense including -4 rushing yards on 31 attempts. Prior to the game, the Bulldogs were averaging 229.5 yards rushing in two games (with one of those games against defending NCAA Division III national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater) and over 5.0 yards per individual attempt. Perschnick is a Biology/Pre-Nursing major.

Langs, a senior from Climax, Mich., and Climax-Scotts High School, helped lead Wheaton to a 51-20 victory against Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday, returning three punts for a total of 124 yards and one touchdown. Langs broke for a 41-yard return in the third quarter, but also had an 80-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as he averaged 41.3 yards per return. Langs is a Social Science major

Congratulations to these players for their achievment. I'm a little surprised that Evan Jones performance of 21-38, for 428 yards and 4 TDs in a little over one half of play was not recognized   I'm wondering if these are numbers expected of Evan so his performance bar is set a little higher?

[AndOne]

I have said numerous times that for as great a conference the CCIW is/claims to be, their officials are amongst the worse I have ever seen.  I look forward to road non-conference games,  this way you know you are going to have a  better chance at a quality officiating crew.  Basketball is bad too.

On balance, the standard of officiating for CCIW basketball is pretty decent. I've been to enough non-CCIW games to get a fairly comprehensive view for the sake of comparison, and, while there are CCIW officials who leave me unimpressed, the overall caliber is high compared to what you get in other small-college leagues.

And I don't really have an issue with the way that the officials called either of NPU's last two football games in terms of penalties, ball-spotting, field coverage, etc. I'm just mystified by the behavior of the two head referees, each of whom for whatever unknown reason refused to do one basic element of his job.

Has anybody seen a D3 game this year in which there was some sort of an issue with the referees? NPU's had problems with the head referee in both of its last two games.

Against Benedictine a week ago, the referee consistently failed to make the signal to start the clock. This led to the timer up in the booth having to guess when to activate the clock, which naturally led to several stoppages of play in which the referee shouted up to the booth to reset the clock to xx:xx. Finally, in the fourth quarter, he told Scott Pethtel on the near sideline to yell up to the press box to tell the game crew to turn off the play clock, and that the referee would keep the play clock on the field with his stopwatch. Since Mr. B was working on the game crew that day, I'm sure he can corroborate that there was a lot of exasperation up in the box. The whole situation could've been avoided if the ref had simply signaled to start the clock before every play, which is part of his job.

On Saturday it was even worse. NPU had a different referee than the one who worked the Benedictine game, and this one, for whatever reason, refused to blow the whistle every time after plays were over. Sometimes he'd do it, sometimes he wouldn't. The North Park sideline yelled at him a few times to blow the whistle, and his response was that the rules did not require him to do so. The crowd eventually took up the cause, with numerous fans yelling, "Blow the whistle!" throughout the game. The more people yelled at him, the more the ref obstinately refused to blow the whistle.

Now, I'm not going to go to the trouble to look in the rulebook on www.ncaa.org to find out whether or not the ref was telling the truth about whistle-blowing to signal stoppage of play being optional rather than a requirement. But I'll just say this: Football is a violent and dangerous game, and one of the major reasons why the whistle is used to signal the end of the play is to protect the players from injury. I thought it was absolutely crazy and irresponsible for the ref to refuse to use it.

Anybody ever seen any similar situations?

This is truly inexcusable.  Players are taught to explicitly sustain blocks and pursue to the ball and tackle the ball until the player is down or the whistle blows.  If the official fails to blow the whistle, you will see more hits coming after the play is really done - that would usually result in personal foul or unsportsman like infractions.  It is generally understood that the "unsportsman like conduct" penalty covers "dead ball fouls", which includes explicit wording to the effect of hitting/striking a player from the other team after the ball is declared dead and the whistle has sounded. 

After quickly scanning the rulebook I can see ever so slim of an interpretation where the official could rule a play dead without use of a whistle, though if you ask players, coaches (and most officials) they would probably indicate they understand a play is dead when the whistle blows or in obvious cases, like when a ball carrier falls down in the open field. Question I would ask the official in the NPU game, what is the most obvious way to indicate that a play is dead?  Um... a whistle.

So if the whistle doesn't sound, how is the player who is giving 100% supposed to truly know to stop?  This could result in significant injury due to one player relaxing and then getting pasted by another.

It is the officials responsibility to indicate the end of the play and the whistle is the best way to do so.  IMO, this should be taken up with the NCAA and the officials working that game should reported.  If not corrected, somebody will get hurt unnecessarily.[/b]

GS----

I beg to differ with your opinion that the (overall) "standard" for CCIW basketball referring is "pretty decent." My belief, as 79Jaybird stated, is that it is "pretty bad." Over the last 6 years I have come to the conclusion that 20% of the basketball refs are very good, 20% are fair, 20% are pretty bad, and 40% are horrible. Going to HS games almost every Tues & Fri throughout the season,  I have observed that there are several HS refs that do a better job than several of our CCIW basketball refs. However, as this is the FOOTBALL board, this is a discussion better suited for another place & season.

Concerning the FOOTBALL officiating situation under discussion, I believe Mugsy proposes the best solution in suggesting the official(s) in question should be reported to the league/NCAA. Otherwise, this ineptness may continue to the point of of a serious player injury. Most refs seem all to happy to blow their whistles whenever the opportunity to do so presents itself.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION---I've heard the basketball head coaches "grade" the officials, and are allowed to "request" that X number of refs (2?) not be assigned to their team's games the next season. I assume football may have a similar system.
Why not have the coaches grade the refs and get rid of any refs who grade below a certain percentage of passing grades by the coaches. I'm sure there are a lot of good HS refs out there probably looking to move up to the college ranks so replacing the really bad conference refs shouldn't be a problem. As an added bonus to the increased competency, bringing in new life would keep the refs on their toes. I think part of the the problem is that many of the refs that do stink have probably been around a long time and figure they can basically do what they want without any fear of being replaced.
If a ref was graded as "passing" by, lets say 75% of the coaches, he would be retained. That way, it wouldn't be an automatic thing that a certain number would have to go each year. If they were deemed to be a good ref by a large percentage of the coaches, they would be retained--the guy who graded out at 90% wouldn't automatically be let go just because he received the lowest favorable percentage.
Other ideas?
'   

[FormerCard]

I thought this was an amazing stat coming out of Luther College in Iowa...

Junior Linebacker Kyle McGivney from Warren High School (Warren, IL) has 72 tackles through 3 games...19 solo and 53 assists. I remember reading about him in High School, where he made alot of plays.

http://sports.luther.edu/stats/men/football/2010/teamcume.htm#TEAM.DEF

I have never seen stats like this, but WOW, he obviously gets to the ball, and gets there A LOT.