FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[matblake]

The 295 pass yards are a little misleading, of the 49 pass attempts elmhurst only had 1 passing touchdown and only converted 5-17 3rd down conversions and 0-2 4th down conversions.

The interesting stats to me from the Elmhurst game are:

Naperville's rushing offense averaged 3.2 ypc vs Elmhurst (their average is 4.8 for season) on just 152 yds for the game (they average 212).

Naperville gave up 291 yds passing vs Elmhurst (season avg 183 yds per game).

Elmhurst led this game 7-3 (9 play 66 yd drive to take a 7-3 lead), had the ball again inside the Naperville 18 yd line before being sacked and having to punt and then gave up an 88 yrd TD pass (Crackels lone completion) and a 55 yrd punt return that made it 16-7. Even at this point Elmhurst completed a pass to Payton at the Nperville 24 only to have it stripped and fumble back to the red team. Elmhurst forced a punt and the naperville defense held. A 24 yd punt gave Naperville the ball with 4 min left in the half. Spencer stanek appeared and brought his team to the Elmhurst 3 where he was hit and fumbled but the red team recovered at the 1 and scored on the next play to make it 23-7 at halftime.

What I see is an Elmhurst team that had its chances but gave up big plays defensively and on special teams. The NCC defense played well vs the run but gave up almost 300 yds passing. Elmhurst was not careful with the ball and on their 3rd play of the 3rd quarter, Furco threw a pick, naperville returned it to the elmhurst redzone and scored and the rout was on.

Wheaton will have their chances Saturday. Take care of the ball, play great special teams, and take advantage of the opportunities you get and you will be in this game the whole way.

This has been the story of Elmhurst's season.  They easily could have won the game against Wheaton, but made some serious mistakes at critical points.

Every good team has off days at some point. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the W!

Just remember, usee does not care for nc. He does however root for ac,cc,ec, wc and the three "c"'s that end with u, especially when they play nc. That is okay, there will still b room for him on the nc bandwagon if he changes his mind later on, c? And if nc falls off the wagon-usee will be very happy"c"'s.  

That is hardly a fair statment that Usee does not care for "nc".  Usee is a Wheaton Fan, first and foremost, but is also a huge supporter of the conference and one of the most knowledgable posters on this board! (What am I saying??   )  I believe he is fair in his evaluations of conference games and is pretty much on the money most of the time.  Wow, having to defend Usee during Wheatie week, what is this world coming to?  

I agree.  USee knows his stuff.  What I find most impressive is that he is knowledgable about D3 foootball for the whole country as evidenced by him being at the top end of most of the pick ems' he participates in.

[Mugsy]

291 yds passing on 27-49 is  not representative of any db's getting toasted. That's just over 10 yds per completion, which is a lot of short passes. The wheaton d played very similarly against Augie this weekend. Lee was 26-52 and almost all of his completions were short passes. He had trouble throwing the ball down the field against the Thunder. I didn't make any assessments of what 291 yds means. I simply highlighted it as a stat.

NewCardFan- I can assure you I do NOT root for anyone but Wheaton. When the conference season ends I root for the CCIW no matter who is playing.

This is a similar point I've been making about Wheaton's pass defense all year.  Wheaton gives up a fair amount of yards through the air (220.8 yards per game), but they hold the opponent to only 47% completions, the yards per completion is relatively low and they have 19 INT's that have been returned for 516 yards and 4 TD's.  A very efficient pass defense.

Wheaton yields some yardage via the pass, but thus far team have not beaten Wheaton by passing.

[ncc58]

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

Rooting for Wheaton except when they play NCC would be like a Bears fan rooting for the Packers.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

[CardinalAlum]

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

hmmm....I never thought of that...maybe I'm not? 

[Mugsy]

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

hmmm....I never thought of that...maybe I'm not?  

Well I do know for a fact that CardinalAlum is a rabid White Sox fan (as am I) and would never think of rooting for the Cubs under any condition.

Perhaps his correspondence on this board with Wheaton alum has muted his out right loathing of all that is Wheaton to the point where he can actually root for them on rare occassions.  

More likely it is due to the fact the North Central program has progressed to the point where the Bell actually spends more than 3 hours every other year in Naperville?  In fact it now has spent more time in Naperville than in Wheaton over the past 4-5 years.  Unheard of in the 80's and 90's...  ARGH!!!!  

[usee]

I agree.  USee knows his stuff.  What I find most impressive is that he is knowledgable about D3 foootball for the whole country as evidenced by him being at the top end of most of the pick ems' he participates in.

Pickem's standings are very misleading. It was a year ago I got a zero one week in the OAC pickem's. And it wasn't because I forgot to post my picks!  Mr. Ypsi has won some of these things and I would like to know the last time he saw a d3 football game live!

a good coach once told me "You are never as good as you think you are and never as bad as you think you are".

Right now, The Naperville Red birds are not as good as they think they are! 

[ncc58]

I would expect that Mugsy be conflicted on Saturdays, since he is actually a Cardinal Alum.

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

hmmm....I never thought of that...maybe I'm not?  

Well I do know for a fact that CardinalAlum is a rabid White Sox fan (as am I) and would never think of rooting for the Cubs under any condition.

Perhaps his correspondence on this board with Wheaton alum has muted his out right loathing of all that is Wheaton to the point where he can actually root for them on rare occassions.  

More likely it is due to the fact the North Central program has progressed to the point where the Bell actually spends more than 3 hours every other year in Naperville?  In fact it now has spent more time in Naperville than in Wheaton over the past 4-5 years.  Unheard of in the 80's and 90's...  ARGH!!!!  

[Mugsy]

I agree.  USee knows his stuff.  What I find most impressive is that he is knowledgable about D3 foootball for the whole country as evidenced by him being at the top end of most of the pick ems' he participates in.

Pickem's standings are very misleading. It was a year ago I got a zero one week in the OAC pickem's. And it wasn't because I forgot to post my picks!  Mr. Ypsi has won some of these things and I would like to know the last time he saw a d3 football game live!

a good coach once told me "You are never as good as you think you are and never as bad as you think you are".

Right now, The Naperville Red birds are not as good as they think they are! 

How pathetic is it getting when I feel compelled to provide a jab at myself in an attempt to beat CardinalAlum to the punch, with sole satisfaction that I'm stealing his "Thunder"?

<CardinalAlum's (or a list of other NCC faithful)>
Yeah... how does that explain the fact Mugsy has won the CCIW Pick-ems contest 2 of the last 4 years?  He doesn't know anything about football?  

[Mugsy]

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

hmmm....I never thought of that...maybe I'm not?  

Well I do know for a fact that CardinalAlum is a rabid White Sox fan (as am I) and would never think of rooting for the Cubs under any condition.

Perhaps his correspondence on this board with Wheaton alum has muted his out right loathing of all that is Wheaton to the point where he can actually root for them on rare occassions.  

More likely it is due to the fact the North Central program has progressed to the point where the Bell actually spends more than 3 hours every other year in Naperville?  In fact it now has spent more time in Naperville than in Wheaton over the past 4-5 years.  Unheard of in the 80's and 90's...  ARGH!!!!  

I would expect that Mugsy be conflicted on Saturdays, since he is actually a Cardinal Alum.

Edited the previous post for clarity on ILGators response...

First thought was more of a Star Wars response.  "No Mugsy, CardinalAlum is your father!"  But that is just too creepy.

Second thought...
<gasp> They are on to me!

Well actually on one account you are not too far off.  I am actually a "Cardinal alum" on one account.  I did my graduate work and received a MS in Computer Science from North Central in 2003.

That however has NOT translated to rooting for the North Central football team, except for desiring the 8-0 showdown and for the occasions when they are in the playoffs.  It has also not resulted in my donating to the athletic program when I receive the fund raising letters from Coach Thorne a couple of times a year.  (venture to say not many posters here get fundraising letters from 3 different CCIW schools like I do).  

[Son of Tailgater]

I was asked this question in Bloomington today and want to share/ gather thoughts. (Discussing NCC/ Wheaton) Who is the better team to represent the CCIW as a conference in the playoffs?

I think the question was geared around more than just talent as we were both hopeful that we would have both teams in.

[usee]

Naperville is the CCIW's best playoff representative because of their defense. They are the most talented team in the CCIW. Wheaton should make it and can certainly beat many of the teams in the tourney, but Naperville has the ability to beat everybody in the tourney.

Doesn't mean they will win Saturday if they don't play well. 

I will say this about Saturday, the last two Wheaton/Naperville games I have thought the Red birds have played about as well as a team can play both times. They haven't turned it over or made any mistakes and have had great special teams. I don't know if they can do that 3 years in a row. If they do, I think they cover on Saturday. If they make mistakes, this Wheaton team can beat them.

[matblake]

I have to agree.  If you look at it from just the surface level, the school coached by the former Wheaton Warrenville South coach has beaten the common opponents more soundly. 

[robertgoulet]

NCC - 37
Breakfast of Champions - 10


Goulet!

[Gregory Sager]

CardinalAlum can't be a real person.

CardAlum is obviously a closet Wheaton Fan!

Only when they don't play NCC.  I have huge respect for Mike Swider! (even though I make fun of his hair!)  I admire that his teams consistently are well prepared and play hard.  I definitely root for them except for this week!

hmmm....I never thought of that...maybe I'm not?  

Well I do know for a fact that CardinalAlum is a rabid White Sox fan (as am I) and would never think of rooting for the Cubs under any condition.

Perhaps his correspondence on this board with Wheaton alum has muted his out right loathing of all that is Wheaton to the point where he can actually root for them on rare occassions.  

I can put CardinalAlum in touch with numerous NPU alumni who are capable of deprogramming him. Give us a call, CardinalAlum, and we'll fix that mute button for you.

[matblake]

My guess
Wheaton 13
The Other Guys 7