FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Stagg Again!!]

One last point:
NCC d. Bethel 70-26; and Bethel d. UWEC 26-21 -- net +49 over the #5 WIAC team while UWW d. UWEC 37-22 (+15).
NCC d. WC 33-7; and WC d. UWP 23-14 -- net +35 over the #2 WIAC team while UWW d. UWP 34-14 (+20).

Bust,

@Bethel (TN) 26 UWEC 21
@NCC 70 Bethel (TN) 26
UWW 37 @UWEC 22
@Cumberland (TN) 36 Bethel (TN) 34
@Campbellsville (TN) 30 Cumberland (TN) 27
@UWW 54 Campbellsville 14

Besides you never know what you're getting with an NAIA school, what does this mean to you?

So, UWW d. Cambellsville (net +40); Campellsville d. Cumberland (TN) (Net +3); Cumberland (TN) d. Bethel (TN) (Net +2); and NCC d. Bethel (TN) (Net - 44) -- Total net +1 UWW over NCC.  I'll take that give the +15 and +20 in the two more direct paths that I took (only two steps removed rather than three).  Your example helps prove my point further that NCC has moved a step closer to UWW. 

If you want to move to a three step analysis:
NCC d. AC 24-3 (Net +21); AC l. Central 31-23 (Net - 8); Central l. UWO 31-28 (Net -3); UWO l. UWW 20-17 (Net -3) -- Total Net +7 NCC over UWW. OR
NCC d. WC 33-7 (Net +26); WC d. Albion 54-34 (Net +20); Albion l. UWSP 14-3 (Net - 11); UWSP l. UWW 31-16 (Net -15) -- Total Net +20 NCC over UWW.  OR
NCC d. Olivet 86-14 (Net +72); Olivet l. Trine 42-6 (Net -36); Trine d. UWRF 42-20 (Net +22); UWRF l. UWW 42-10 (Net -32) -- Total Net +26 NCC over UWW.

I am not sure of any other three step combinations, but am willing to go to four step combinations if you would like.  All signs point to the fact that NCC has moved closer to UWW. 

The purpose of these boards is to promote good fun conversation relating to our favorite sport and teams.  Bobo, I am NOT AT ALL embarrased taking the time to share some good direct and indirect opponent's information relating to the Cardinals and their progress.  More to come!!

[USee]

As far as the postseason, here are my thoughts:

NCC will not lose to anyone outside of the purple powers. I have seen UWW and Mt Union play live close to 20 times in the postseason so I have a pretty good understanding of what they are about. I think North Central has a championship caliber defense. Teams are really going to struggle moving the ball and scoring points against them. They have a championship caliber special teams unit. Their kickers are very good and consistent, their talent on the coverage units is deep, fast and exceptional. Their running game is very good. They have big, athletic linememan and multiple powerful, fast backs. Their receiving corps is diverse and deep.

I think they have issues at the quarterback position. Contrary to what I have seen written on here, they are worse at qb than last year, not better. Tyler Dicken is going to be a great qb. He throws a great ball, is tall and strong and athletic. But right now he is a freshman and plays like one. He locks in on the primary receiver as soon as he takes the snap. He throws a great ball and, if his receiver is open or his receiver is a better athlete, he gets a completion. He just isn't yet anywhere near an Aaron Fanthorpe, Kam Kniss, Matt Blanchard, etc. Good defenses that can defend the run and read the qb's eyes will make it very difficult for NCC to score without big plays (which they are very capable of creating). I'll try and give a few examples shortly.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

Last year's schedule was a bit weaker, but folks can't complain about games against four Top 20 teams and very good CC and MU teams.

Updated SOS numbers for Top 10 teams in North Region (in Regional Ranking order from last week):


Mount Union         #81
Franklin               #217
Wabash               #144
NCC                    #8
Case                    #126
IWU                    #20
WC                     #14
Baldwin Wallace   #105
Wittenberg          #117
Albion                  #60

Redlands is winning again and Bethel of Tennessee won again to go to 7-2 overall.  Neither of these is taken into account in NCC's OWP.

NCC vs. Redlands was an "in-region" game.  The loss is included in NCC's regional record (7-1), and Redlands' record is included in NCC's SoS.

I am aware.  TONIGHT'S Redlands win had not gone final when the last SOS update was completed.  My point was that at an additional Redlands win plus Bethel's 7-2 record would take the OWP up as you would add 8 wins and 2 losses to 2/3 of the calculation.

Case in point, if you look at the new updated SOS number on the D3Football.com after the west coast scores went final (and Redland's victory was in the books), NCC's SOS went up from #8 to #6.  If Bethel's full 7-2 record were factored in, I am certain that NCC's SOS would be positively impacted.

Regional rankings are at a point in time and IMO do not always reflect the seedings.  Assuming that MUC is seeded 1, I think Wabash gets a 2, NCC a 3, and Franklin gets the 4.  Assuming Wabash will be 10-0 they should get the 2 as they beat a formidable Wittenberg team.  NCC is easily the top team with one loss and wins against Wheaton and IWU, and I think FC should get a home game with one loss as they played UWW.  FC could have scheduled a beatable team and easily be 10-0.  IWU gets a 5 IMO based on schedule and win over Wheaton and plays at Franklin (IWU and FC could be switched though).  Albion at 5-4 gets the 8 and heads to Alliance. 

Hard to say who 6 and 7 might be as teams could be moved in.  Thomas More might end up in the North due to proximity? Monmouth is 9-1 and hasn't lost since Labor day weekend.  Seeds 4-7 are essentially a toss-up and various scenarios can easily be given based on schedule, quality wins/losses, etc. Case is in the mix as well.

[Stagg Again!!]

First the good news: Wheaton came into the game against NCC as healthy as they have been all season, they were not penalized at all in the game (only the second time I have EVER seen that happen in a football game) and they actually played pretty well in the first half.

Now the bad news: they still got double donkey stomped. That was a Mt Unionesque display of talent and domination. And I don't see it going away any time soon. The national titles will be coming to Naperville, it is a matter of time. I don't think it's this year (more on that later) but they are coming. The depth, talent and coaching are simply too good to deny what is going to be inevitable.

Congrats to North Central, they dominated one of the best leagues in the country week in and week out and are poised to make a deep run into the playoffs. I think they are one of the top 3 programs in the nation. I still think Wheaton and IWU are top 20, I just think NCC is on the upper tier. I would love for them to go to Alliance and play Mt Union this year. That would be a great game to see. I hope they don't have to go to UWW, that's a game we all have seen and I want to see another CCIW school get the experience of going to Alliance to play a playoff game in December.

Great points in this and your following post USee.  I would just refrain from injecting the concept of donkey-stomping.  If my memory serves (and it often still does), WIAC posters injected the monkey-stomping concept into the conversation prior to last year's NCC v. UWW playoff game, and the outcome reflected anything but a monkey-stomping, from my perspective.

[Stagg Again!!]

Regional rankings are at a point in time and IMO do not always reflect the seedings.  Assuming that MUC is seeded 1, I think Wabash gets a 2, NCC a 3, and Franklin gets the 4.  Assuming Wabash will be 10-0 they should get the 2 as they beat a formidable Wittenberg team.  NCC is easily the top team with one loss and wins against Wheaton and IWU, and I think FC should get a home game with one loss as they played UWW.  FC could have scheduled a beatable team and easily be 10-0.  IWU gets a 5 IMO based on schedule and win over Wheaton and plays at Franklin (IWU and FC could be switched though).  Albion at 5-4 gets the 8 and heads to Alliance. 

Hard to say who 6 and 7 might be as teams could be moved in.  Thomas More might end up in the North due to proximity? Monmouth is 9-1 and hasn't lost since Labor day weekend.  Seeds 4-7 are essentially a toss-up and various scenarios can easily be given based on schedule, quality wins/losses, etc. Case is in the mix as well.

Griz -- Welcome to the CCIW board and congratulations on another fine season.  While I have continued to track the progress of Franklin since the two NCC v. FC playoff games (which were fantastic games, I may add), I have not seen them play since.  Could you please give us a bit of a comparison between Jonny West and Chadd Rupp and compare today's team to that which we saw make great playoff runs a couple of years ago?

[USee]

The North Central coaches do a great job of scouting the opposing team and creating 1 on 1 matchups where they count on their athletes to be better than yours. let's break down the 3 scores in the firs half yesterday:

Yesterday, North Central's first drive of the game they ran 2 plays and lost 11 yards. On 3rd and 21 they ran Bai Kabba on a streak pattern  against Oskar Cadena who had deep 1/3 responsibility. Kadena was in perfect position ahead of the receiver with inside leverage. On the route, the 205 lb Kabba bumped the 180 lb Kadena and Wheaton corner fell down, Kabba kept running under a perfectly thrown ball and it's 7-0. On the next possession for NCC, Tassio is operating out of the Wildcat with 2 TE's he fakes the inside run to Kukuc and the Wheaton defense is exactly where they are supposed to be. Brian Mcmullen, the senior Wheaton Safety has responsibility for the gap outside the TE. He shows up at the line of scrimmage where Tassio is running after the fake. Tassio gives him a spin move to the inside and McMullen misses the tackle. Tassio runs 42 yds down to the 15 yd line and NCC scores 6 plays later to make it 14-0. Later, in the second quarter, NCC comes out in the wildcat. They have seen that Wheaton plays man to man vs the Wildcat as that brings more people to the running game when RB's and TE's block (because the defenders covering those potential recievers see the block and become extra run defenders). NCC's coaches run a spread formation Wilcat look which has the effect of taking all safety help out of the middle of the field (so they can cover those receivers man to man). With Tassio at QB, they fake a run to Kukuc. Alex Hahn initially blocks down on the defensive end. Brian McMullen, who has responsibility to cover Haahn, reacts by coming up on the run (the run action was very similar to the play Tassio had beaten McMullen on in the 1st quarter). This time, Haahn releases down the field and Tassio steps back and delivers the ball to a wide open TE who runs 86 yds for a TD.

North Central had 206 yds of offense in the first half and 205 of it came on those 3 playse. They ran the ball 17 times for 45 yds in the first half (42 of it on the Tassio play). Wheaton didn't play badly, NCC just had better players. NCC had 514 yds of offense vs Wheaton yesterday and 331 of those yards came on 6 plays. I don't think those 6 plays happen against UWW and Mt Union.

Nick Driskill doesn't miss tackle at the line of scrimmage (and if he does, he has help as Mt Union doesn't need to play man to man to stop the run). Lane Olsen doesn't miss tackles. UWW's corners don't give up 62 yd pass plays on 3rd and 21.

[USee]

Stagg,

NCC lost that game to a better team. I don't think me saying NCC "donkey-stomped" Wheaton yesterday has anything to do with what may/may not happen in December in Alliance or at The Perk. Don't use my words to fuel your battler with Bobo and the WIAC crowd. That's your hill to charge.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

Regional rankings are at a point in time and IMO do not always reflect the seedings.  Assuming that MUC is seeded 1, I think Wabash gets a 2, NCC a 3, and Franklin gets the 4.  Assuming Wabash will be 10-0 they should get the 2 as they beat a formidable Wittenberg team.  NCC is easily the top team with one loss and wins against Wheaton and IWU, and I think FC should get a home game with one loss as they played UWW.  FC could have scheduled a beatable team and easily be 10-0.  IWU gets a 5 IMO based on schedule and win over Wheaton and plays at Franklin (IWU and FC could be switched though).  Albion at 5-4 gets the 8 and heads to Alliance. 

Hard to say who 6 and 7 might be as teams could be moved in.  Thomas More might end up in the North due to proximity? Monmouth is 9-1 and hasn't lost since Labor day weekend.  Seeds 4-7 are essentially a toss-up and various scenarios can easily be given based on schedule, quality wins/losses, etc. Case is in the mix as well.

Griz -- Welcome to the CCIW board and congratulations on another fine season.  While I have continued to track the progress of Franklin since the two NCC v. FC playoff games (which were fantastic games, I may add), I have not seen them play since.  Could you please give us a bit of a comparison between Jonny West and Chadd Rupp and compare today's team to that which we saw make great playoff runs a couple of years ago?

Jonny has the tools to be one of the great ones at FC (he is a sophomore). He is bigger and more athletic than Rupp and is better IMO than Rupp was as a sophomore.  That said, Jonny is still learning to make all the reads and is working on consistency.

As far as this years team and the 2008 team, this years squad is much younger and a some injuries to 2-3 key players leave it less competitive in relation to the competition. FC starts and plays a lot of underclassmen this season.

[USee]

A year ago here were the stats for NCC's quartebacks:

Spencer Stanek: 83-130 1299 yds. 11 TD's and 7 INT's. 63.8% completions, 164.9 efficiency
Brad Crackel: 75-134 1239 yds. 14 Td's 4 INTs. 56% completions, 162.1 efficiency.

Going into the Wheaton game last year their top 4 receivers had 29 catches, 20 catches, 10 catches, 9 catches. Their top receiver (Hlavac) did not play against Wheaton.

This year, going into yesterday's game:

Tyler Dicken: 63-123 1025 yds. 6 TDs 2 INT. 51.2% completions, 134.1 efficiency
Brad Crackel: 36-62 421 yds. 6 Td's 2 INT. 58.1% completions, 140.6 efficiency

going into yesterdays game (same week as last year) NCC's top 4 receivers had 20 catches, 13 catches, 8 catches, 8 catches. Their top receiver (Fiddlerontheroofowitz) did not play.

NCC was better at QB a year ago than they are today. They are more diverse this year with 3 qb's who do very different things. That really helps but I don't think their QB play is better than they were a year ago. They will struggle against the top 2-3 teams in the country in my opinion.

All this is not to say NCC can't compete with the purple powers. They have all the tools to win the whole thing and their defense is every bit as good as any of the Mt Union/UWW championship defenses I have seen. Their achilles heel will be against a team that can play them in a zone and stop the run. Zone defenses allow the defensive back to read the qb's eyes and break on the ball. NCC will struggle to score on offense in this scenario in my view.

[Stagg Again!!]

Stagg,

NCC lost that game to a better team. I don't think me saying NCC "donkey-stomped" Wheaton yesterday has anything to do with what may/may not happen in December in Alliance or at The Perk. Don't use my words to fuel your battler with Bobo and the WIAC crowd. That's your hill to charge.

My point was that I don't want folks to think that NCC is always donkey-stomping other teams in the CCIW, as this concept rarely bears out (and didn't in the NCC v. UWW game last year).  I do NOT think that many of NCC's victories were donkey-stomps (i.e., NCC's victories v. CC and AC).  There is just too much talent throughout the CCIW!  The Cardinals have been moving through a transition year at QB and WR this year that has caused them to struggle with consistency at times.  This will happen next year at other positions on the field when current starters graduate. 

As for the UWW game last year, NCC did certainly get defeated by a better team.  I just don't believe that they got monkey-stomped -- period.

[USee]

Well, when you beat every team in the CCIW (one of the top 3 conferences in the country) by more than 20 pts, I don't think that can be considered close. NCC is on a completely different level than every other CCIW team. I would love to see a Redlands/NCC rematch but the game I want this year is NCC @ Mt Union. That is a very winnable game for NCC in my opinion and North Central is one of the better bets to break the Purple strangle hold in Salem. I am not saying I would place a big bet on that but it is plausible.

[robertgoulet]

As far as the postseason, here are my thoughts:

NCC will not lose to anyone outside of the purple powers. I have seen UWW and Mt Union play live close to 20 times in the postseason so I have a pretty good understanding of what they are about. I think North Central has a championship caliber defense. Teams are really going to struggle moving the ball and scoring points against them. They have a championship caliber special teams unit. Their kickers are very good and consistent, their talent on the coverage units is deep, fast and exceptional. Their running game is very good. They have big, athletic linememan and multiple powerful, fast backs. Their receiving corps is diverse and deep.

I think they have issues at the quarterback position. Contrary to what I have seen written on here, they are worse at qb than last year, not better. Tyler Dicken is going to be a great qb. He throws a great ball, is tall and strong and athletic. But right now he is a freshman and plays like one. He locks in on the primary receiver as soon as he takes the snap. He throws a great ball and, if his receiver is open or his receiver is a better athlete, he gets a completion. He just isn't yet anywhere near an Aaron Fanthorpe, Kam Kniss, Matt Blanchard, etc. Good defenses that can defend the run and read the qb's eyes will make it very difficult for NCC to score without big plays (which they are very capable of creating). I'll try and give a few examples shortly.

It's funny, USee, I seem to remember the same thing being said about NCC last year. I don't think NCC's defense is as good as last year's, but I do think their offense is a little better. Should be interesting to see how they fair against the big 2 assuming they do meet up. I'd much prefer them play UWW if only for the fact that I would have a better shot at making it to that game than going to OH!

[USee]

Here is the breakdown from 2010 vs 2011 (season to date):

NCC 2010:

Offense: 419 yds per game (222 rushing, 197 pass), 37.6 points per game, 6.3 yards per play
Defense: 225 yds per game (68 rushing, 157 pass), 9.2 points per game, 3.7 yards per game

NCC 2011:

Offense: 459 yds per game (275 rushing, 183 passing), 46.1 points per game, 7.0 yards per play
Defense: 250 yds per game (95.6 rushing, 155.5 passing), 12.8 pts per game, 3.9 yds per play


The offense is better but mainly because they are running the ball better than they did a year ago. The passing numbers are worse. The defense is the same vs the pass and slightly less productive against the run (which Wheaton isn't able to take advantage of). So your point is right, NCC is a better offensive team than a year ago and slightly worse on defense, but their balance is not as strong on offense as it was last year and that is a big difference headed into the playoffs. Brad Crackel's numbers are pretty similar to last year, Tyler Dicken shows a much bigger dropoff from Spencer Stanek's production than anyone seems to realize. Now, I think Tyler Dicken will be a fantastic qb, but he is a freshman and Spencer was a sophomore last year, coming into the 2010 season with significant playing time behind Fanthorpe in 2009.

[Titan Q]

Millikin has won 40 games in a row vs North Park...

http://www.herald-review.com/sports/millikin/article_5028fd02-0833-11e1-abc6-001cc4c002e0.html


Can there possibly be a longer current CCIW streak than this?

[USee]

I was a little surprised by the score in Kenosha yesterday. Having seen both Carthage and IWU play, I would have pegged IWU as a 2 TD+ favorite. But road wins in the CCIW are hard to come by and the Bloomington to Kenosha trip is one of the harder road games in the league. Any win in this leauge on the road is a good one and I think IWU is a lock for Pool C if they take care of business against Augie next week.

I don't see the committee keeping IWU behind CWRU in the final rankings