FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

Q... agreed.  IWU defense was stellar.

But Wheaton really had their chances.  Keys to game:

1. 2 Wheaton turnovers in first half inside their own 20 leads to 10 IWU points
2. 2 unsuccessful Wheaton 4th downs inside IWU redzone - 0 Wheaton points.
3. 6 Wheaton redzone visits lead to 2 TD's, 2 FG's and the 2 drives listed in #2.

Not sure what happened on last Wheaton play on 4th and 10, but Wheaton coaches were absolutely livid on the play.

Neither team could run the ball at all.  Both QB's played pretty well.

[oldnuthin]

Millikin with a 30 27 win over Augie! Impressive win field goal with 26 seconds left. Go big Blue

[Mugsy]

IWU defense will cause problems for all teams in the CCIW. It could be their key to contending.  How will they stack up against NCC?

Very, very fast... very hard hitting at the point of attack.  The defense is clearly why IWU defeated Wheaton, other than the 2 Wheaton turnovers in their own redzone. IWU defense got tough with their backs to the wall and limited Wheaton to 19 points on 6 redzone visits.

[Titan Q]

I thought what IWU's defense did really well all night was pressure Garrett Meador.  The Titans had a few sacks, but more importantly they hurried Meador in the pocket time after time.  He was never allowed to get comfortable in this game.

[LETS ROLL]

I stand corrected. Congrats to IWU.

[Titan Q]

IWU defense will cause problems for all teams in the CCIW. It could be their key to contending.

And to contend the Titans desperately need to get their tailback on the field.  T.J. Stinde (sprained knee ligaments) is a good player and a real difference maker for IWU.  Without him, IWU just does not have a good enough running game. 

It's encouraging though that the Titans were able to beat a team as good as Wheaton without Stinde.

[Mugsy]

I thought what IWU's defense did really well all night was pressure Garrett Meador.  The Titans had a few sacks, but more importantly they hurried Meador in the pocket time after time.  He was never allowed to get comfortable in this game.

Can't argue against that.  Speed of front 7 caused havoc all night.

[shepherd]

Congratulations to IWU the played hard, had a great strategy and deserved the win. 

[Titan Q]

Wheaton turnovers were significant, but I think their penalties were even bigger in this one.  The Thunder had a number of sloppy offensive penalties (false starts, illegal formations, etc) that created 1st & 15 type situations. 

The Thunder looked very disorganized to me during the 1st half.

[Mugsy]

Wheaton turnovers were significant, but I think their penalties were even bigger in this one.  The Thunder had a number of sloppy offensive penalties (false starts, illegal formations, etc) that created 1st & 15 type situations. 

The Thunder looked very disorganized to me during the 1st half.

This has been the case in every game this year, and much of last year.  Slow starts have been far to common and costly against top tier teams.

Penalties were costly, and I've already post it twice, but 2 Wheaton turnovers deep in their redzone led to 10 IWU points.  Another Wheaton turnover killed on of their drives deep into IWU territory.  I know it is conjecture, but given Roche's FG accuracy this year, that could have been another 3 points.  So... Wheaton loses by 5, but gave away 10 to IWU, and left more on the field.

[Titan Q]

Augustana is 0-4...and heads to North Central next weekend.  Unbelievable.

[shepherd]

I think the Thunder didn't do themselves any favors by not switching in players in many key positions as some are just getting over injuries while others would have benefited from a break.  Both Skinner and Jarret have had bad injuries and didn't get a break until one of them got hurt.  They are both obviously injury prone.  The corners were being exhausted by constantly being thrown to their guys who were both in a mismatch by receivers who were being rotated in.  Why cant McMullen rotate to a corner.  That is the strategy we used in the old days.  Use your best players because McMullen got maybe 1-2 throws to his area.  Dykstra who is very powerful and great against the run has no pass rush.  He doesn't know or use any technique but forward.  It was an easy day for IWU center pass blocking him.  If he has All American aspirations to live up to his potential he will have to get a little quicker and learn some pass rushing techniques.  By quicker I mean the lost art of the 70's linemen offense and defense who were as fast as anybody on the team in a five yard sprint.  The last point is the coaches can complain all they want about penalties but the 70's option teams took care of that in practice.  If as an offensive guard you went off sides in practice you might be pulled right away and have a lap to think about it.  I just don't think coaches are paying attention to the penalties during practice.  Its not the end of the world but hopefully we can fix the penalties which will kill you in CCIW play.  That's my two cents for what its worth.

[Titan Q]

One final thought.  I want to tip my cap to IWU's sophomore QB Rob Gallik.  In his first career CCIW game, against the #7 team in the nation, Gallik went 24-36 for 249 yards.  He converted a number of big throws at key moments throughout the game.  Gallik didn't do anything spectacular tonight, but I thought he was really solid all night long and was IWU's offensive player of the game.

[Mugsy]

As expected by the score, the Wheaton/IWU game was very close statistically.  Check out the boxscore.  It is amazing how close the stats are between the teams, except for a few key areas (like the # of points  )

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/Football/FB2011/HTML/iwufb4.htm

First downs: IWU 17, Wheaton 16

Net yards rushing: Wheaton 61, IWU 60

Ave rush per attempt: Wheaton 2.3, IWU 2.3

Passing: Meador (Wheaton) 26-47-2, for 282 yards, I TD
            Gallik (IWU) 24-36-2, for 249 yards, 1 TD

Ave yards per pass completion: Wheaton 10.8, IWU 10.4

Total offense: Wheaton 343, IWU 309

Fumbles: Wheaton 1, IWU 1 (IWU's fumble recovery was returned 36 yards to Wheaton 5)

Stats that weren't so close:
Penalties: Wheaton 9 for 80 yards, IWU 5 for 46 yards

Red-Zone Scores-Chances: Wheaton: 4-6, IWU:  4-5 
                   Touchdowns                2-6          3-5 
                      Field goals                2-6          1-5 

Sacks By: IWU 4 for 25 yards, Wheaton 1 for 6 yards

Random thoughts:
1. While IWU defense was very good, we shouldn't discount Wheaton's defense.  They played very well, every bit as well as IWU, IMO.
2. While the turnovers were even, it was the location of the Wheaton turnovers that killed them.
3. Surprised to see Wheaton's punt average was 5 yards better than IWU, since IWU punter came in averaging 45 yards a punt.  That said 3 IWU punts were downed inside the 20 yard line, so working on shorter field.
4. IWU had 3 first downs due to Wheaton penalties
5. Wheaton averaged 38 yards per kickoff return
6. Wheaton was only 1 for 4 on 4th down conversions
7. IWU play calling wasn't great in the 4th quarter and gave Wheaton a chance to win the game.  Way too many pass plays called.  Should have had more runs to burn more clock.
8. Not really thrilled that Wheaton attempted 47 pass plays to only 26 rushes.  Not the balance Wheaton needs (credit to IWU defense and injury to Jarrett who was averaging 4.2 yards before injury

[Mugsy]

Leading up to the IWU/Wheaton game, I compiled and posted on this board the average points scored in by Wheaton against IWU since 2001.

Wheaton has scored 38 points a game against IWU for games played at McCully Field.

Wheaton has only scored 18.6 points a game against IWU for games played in Bloomington.

Tonight: 19.