FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

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.

Redlands is taken into account, as this is a regional game.

[Titan Q]

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

I was only home to watch the 1st Q, but I did follow the game very closely via live stats from Memorial Stadium (as the Cornhuskers were getting embarrassed by Northwestern).  IWU just could not move the ball consistently at all.  Not sure if the wind hurt the pass-heavy Titans or if Carthage's defense was just that good, or what.  IWU punted 6 times in the game. Fortunately IWU's defense made it very hard on the Red Men to score points and kept the Titans in the game. 

As much as IWU's offense struggled all day, I have to give that unit credit for the 4th quarter drive that saved the game, and the season... 

Iwu   1-10   at Carthage38   ILLINOIS WESLEYAN drive start at 06:24.  (Carthage up 9-6)
Iwu   1-10   at Carthage38   Gallik, Rob pass complete to Conley, Sean for 11 yards to the CARTHAGE27, 1ST DOWN IWU (Bolden, Wayne).
Iwu   1-10   at Carthage27   Gallik, Rob rush for 9 yards to the CARTHAGE18, out-of-bounds (Fortney,Brad).
Iwu   2-1   at Carthage18   Blossom, C. rush for 3 yards to the CARTHAGE15, 1ST DOWN IWU (O'Brien,Tyler).
Iwu   1-10   at Carthage15   Conley, Sean rush for 12 yards to the CARTHAGE3, 1ST DOWN IWU (Vitkauskas,A).
Iwu   1-G   at Carthage03   Conley, Sean rush for 1 yard to the CARTHAGE2 (Langensiepen,J).
Iwu   2-G   at Carthage02   Conley, Sean rush for 1 yard to the CARTHAGE1 (Dorau,Nick;Fortney,Brad).
Iwu   3-G   at Carthage01   Blossom, C. rush for 1 yard to the CARTHAGE0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:52.


Carthage fumbled quickly on the possession right after this, but IWU's offense made one more play to put the game away...

Iwu   4-5   at Carthage26   Clock 02:20.
Iwu   4-5   at Carthage26   Gallik, Rob pass complete to Driver, Joey for 7 yards to the CARTHAGE19, 1ST DOWN IWU


The Titans aren't world beaters by any stretch, but they've had a very good season.  They found a way to hang on last weekend in Decatur, and they found a way to come from behind in the 4th quarter yesterday in Kenosha.

IWU has won 4 road games this year - granted they did not play @ Wheaton or @ NCC, but winning 4 on the road is a nice accomplishment.

I'm pretty confident IWU, behind their defense and their passing game, is a legitimate top 20 team.

[ncc58]

UWW's corners don't give up 62 yd pass plays on 3rd and 21.

Maybe they haven't given up 62 yard passes on 3rd and 21, but the UWW corners have been vulnerable to big plays.

Austin Neu was 25-33 and 330 yards against UWW yesterday, including a 49 yard TD pass.

Now, the passing game isn't the strength of the NCC offense, but I think you're giving the UWW to much credit.

[ncc58]

NCC was better at QB a year ago than they are today.

I respect your opinion but I think NCC people would disagree. Last year, Stanek had 7 interceptions, as you show, and he also had 3 fumbles. He had 3 other fumbles where NCC recovered the ball. No secret turnovers change the flow of the game. He had a fumble and interception (returned for a TD that sealed the game) against UWW. Dicken has 3 turnovers, as does Crackel.

Dicken did lock onto his receiver on the first play (Kabba) before taking a sack.

[ncc58]

That Platteville game was very much in doubt (16-14 game) until the final 3 minutes. Could've gone either way. In fact, a Pioneer fumble deep in their own territory that Wheaton converted was the final margin of victory. They also lost to the team they are tied with in the standings (Oshkosh) 24-3, so they are in third place in reality. They have had injuries, but a lot of teams have injuries.  The difference is they haven't made as big a deal out of it as you have.

I wasn't making a big deal about it. If you read it that way, that wasn't my intent. I was just pointing out that Wheaton had beaten a good WIAC team earlier in this season. The WIAC is the best D-III football conference, and the CCIW has played WIAC team competitively with the exception of UWW.

[Stagg Again!!]

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.

Again... Pat, the #8 was based on your early evening posting prior to the final scores coming in from the west coast.  This morning, the NCC SOS jumped to #6 with the additional win.  I understand that the Redlands game counts in the North Central regional record and rankings.

[Stagg Again!!]

UWW's corners don't give up 62 yd pass plays on 3rd and 21.

Maybe they haven't given up 62 yard passes on 3rd and 21, but the UWW corners have been vulnerable to big plays.

Austin Neu was 25-33 and 330 yards against UWW yesterday, including a 49 yard TD pass.

Now, the passing game isn't the strength of the NCC offense, but I think you're giving the UWW to much credit.

You beat me to the punch ILGator.  And, UWW wouldn't have gone into yesterday's game ranked 61st in the nation in Pass Defense; 69th in Sacks; and 131st in TFLs if there weren't something to exploit -- which UWEC did with 330 yds. passing and 400 yds. of total offense.  Meanwhile, UWEC went into yesterday's game ranked 51st in the nation in Pass Offense; 95th in Total Offense; and 179th in Sacks Allowed -- not exactly top shelf numbers.

[USee]

And where does NCC rank in pass offense in the nation?

I don't think comparing scores against opponents or rankings in defense/offense of opponents provides any insight into a potential matchup with teams that have squared off the last 6 Stagg Bowls. The matchup last year is a much better indication. This year NCC will travel to either UMU or UWW for a game in December if everything holds. I feel pretty confident in saying I think NCC can beat either of these teams and the margin of victory/defeat will be similar to what we saw last year. 1-2 plays will make up the difference. I think NCC has widened the gap with the rest of D3. I just don't know if they have closed the gap with the top 2 enough to win on the road with a trip to Salem on the line. I am fairly sure they can compete from what I have seen, just not sure they can win. 

[USee]

By the way, Austin Neu is the top rated passer in the best conference in the country. Tyler Dicken and Brad Crackel are 6th and 7th in the CCIW, respectively.

[Mugsy]

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.

I would add they need to improve their kick coverage.  Mount Union has killed Wheaton with a punt or kick return in years past, which is a momentum killer.  I willing to bet Mount Union or UWW's return teams are better than Wheaton's, but Wheaton was consistently starting with good field position due to a good return.  Not that it mattered too much because NCC didn't let Wheaton do much on offense.

[NCF]

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.

I would add they need to improve their kick coverage.  Mount Union has killed Wheaton with a punt or kick return in years past, which is a momentum killer.  I willing to bet Mount Union or UWW's return teams are better than Wheaton's, but Wheaton was consistently starting with good field position due to a good return.  Not that it mattered too much because NCC didn't let Wheaton do much on offense.

My thoughts exactly. the past few games punt return and kick-off have put the defense on a short field. As good as the defense is (and they have some things to work on) giving teams like UWW/UMU decent field position all game will be trouble.

[NCF]

should have added IF they get to one of those teams. Anything can happen-and usually does. IMHO i think they can get to the big game but i'm definitely looking through red tinted glasses.

[USee]

Keep in mind Wheaton was ranked #2 in Kick Returns nationally coming into the game yesterday. The Thunder had some good returns, but they got to practice that a bit too much yesterday too.

[Mugsy]

Keep in mind Wheaton was ranked #2 in Kick Returns nationally coming into the game yesterday. The Thunder had some good returns, but they got to practice that a bit too much yesterday too.

Yup... I knew Wheaton's return was #2 in the country.  I mentioned that earlier in the week.  My point is that top tier teams are going to have better personnel on their return teams in the playoffs, so they could be even more dangerous.

That said practice and scheme come into play on special teams units.  Wheaton has been very, very sound and dangerous on returns this year.

[devildog29]

I don't recall this being talked about much at the time, but I wonder if they had it to do over again, would NCC fly out to SoCal on Friday instead of on Saturday morning the day of the game?  They have locked up the conference AQ, so in the end it doesn't keep them from the playoffs, but could a win in that game help secure a higher seed possibly?  I understand there are costs associated with that kind of travel, but that seems like a hard way to establish a gameday rhythm by travelling on the day of the game instead of getting a night's sleep and going through a regular gameday routine.  Just a thought to ponder after the hoopla of yesterday has subsided.