FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[NCF]

In addition, per the CCIW football rules (at least from several years ago, they may have changed but the football handbook is no longer on the CCIW website) November games must be played at the 1 PM time slot.

Does anyone know the rationale behind this?  Is it weather-related?  I'm sure there is one but am genuinely curious as to what it might be.

My guess is that it would be light related.  The end of October usually marks the end of Daylight Savings time.  Since this concept was likely conceived when most CCIW stadiums didn't have lights, they probably wanted to ensure that they didn't run out of daylight before the end of the game.

makes sense.

[AndOne]

North Central has been ranked 4th and 11th in the preseason respectively by USA Today and Lindy's Sports.

http://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2012/6/21/FB_0621121321.aspx

[NCF]

North Central has been ranked 4th and 11th in the preseason respectively by USA Today and Lindy's Sports.

http://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2012/6/21/FB_0621121321.aspx

While the rankins are nice, they mean nothing if they don't take care of business on the field. Looking forward to a great season!! Go Cards!!!

[Gregory Sager]

This award from the CCIW is a pretty big deal -- it's never been won by a football player before -- so congrats to NPU's Josh Startup upon winning it:

North Park's Startup named 2012 CCIW Man of the Year.

[NCF]

This award from the CCIW is a pretty big deal -- it's never been won by a football player before -- so congrats to NPU's Josh Startup upon winning it:

North Park's Startup named 2012 CCIW Man of the Year.

Congrats to him!!

[matblake]

This award from the CCIW is a pretty big deal -- it's never been won by a football player before -- so congrats to NPU's Josh Startup upon winning it:

North Park's Startup named 2012 CCIW Man of the Year.

Congrats to him!!

That's great!  Chemistry major, way beyond my cognitive abilities.  I'm sure there are even more good things in store for Josh in the future!

[Gregory Sager]

It's always great to see someone refute the stereotype of the dumb-as-a-rock offensive lineman.

[kiko]

This award from the CCIW is a pretty big deal -- it's never been won by a football player before -- so congrats to NPU's Josh Startup upon winning it:

North Park's Startup named 2012 CCIW Man of the Year.

Very nice recognition - congrats to the winner!

[79jaybird]

Congrats to Josh and North Park.  Great achievement.

At Elmhurst I believe it was Tom Journell who created the Blue&White wall which was a wall honoring scholastic achievements and honor roll (grades) success.   Always good to see football players (and any athlete) taking care of business in the classroom first.

[DBQ1965]

North Central has been ranked 4th and 11th in the preseason respectively by USA Today and Lindy's Sports.

http://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2012/6/21/FB_0621121321.aspx

It appears the long-time "standard" for pre-season prognostication and for years the only publication that would mention D3 football may not be published this year.  It used to be "Street and Smiths" and then The Sporting News took it over a few years ago.  Alas, no sign of it this year.  Fortunately we have Pat Coleman and Co. with their own D3 football preview.

[newparker]

Good going for Josh he desrved the award.  Greg question for you do you have your special team guys coming back I know you lost a few games by some missed field goals.  My son and I were at the carthage game last year and i don't know how your punter got off the punt that went over his head and had alot of carthage guys on top of him and didn't get blocked

[NCF]

Good going for Josh he desrved the award.  Greg question for you do you have your special team guys coming back I know you lost a few games by some missed field goals.  My son and I were at the carthage game last year and i don't know how your punter got off the punt that went over his head and had alot of carthage guys on top of him and didn't get blocked

And do you think the Park will get a CCIW victory this season? It's going to happen sooner or  later-just wondering your thoughts on this year's team.

[Gregory Sager]

Good going for Josh he desrved the award.  Greg question for you do you have your special team guys coming back I know you lost a few games by some missed field goals.  My son and I were at the carthage game last year and i don't know how your punter got off the punt that went over his head and had alot of carthage guys on top of him and didn't get blocked

I can't speak for the entire special teams units, but in terms of specialists North Park should return both of its kickers, as Tony Kebede and Bryn Nottoli were both juniors last year. Punter Mark Howard and long snapper Casey Smagala were seniors last season, as were the two holders (Kebede and Nottoli kick with opposite feet, so, depending upon which one was doing the kicking, either Sam Cochiaro or Evan Rhodes would do the holding), so that's four more special-teams holes that Scott Pethtel will have to fill.

And do you think the Park will get a CCIW victory this season? It's going to happen sooner or  later-just wondering your thoughts on this year's team.

I never make such predictions, one way or the other.

The NPU football program's retention level has been much-improved over the past couple of years, and the Vikings only graduated nine players last month, with four of them being offensive starters and two of them defensive starters. Given that, plus another year of familiarity with the flexbone option underneath their belts, one might expect the Vikings to be an improved team this coming season. But there's two new coordinators, and one never knows what will happen in terms of attrition, especially with regard to injuries. The biggest things that separate NPU from the rest of the league are depth and experience. Improved retention plus a small May 2012 graduating class should mean that the 2012 Vikings will be more experienced, but the program has yet to demonstrate the sort of depth that'll be necessary to compete game in and game out in the CCIW.

NPU came agonizingly close to winning two CCIW games last year, against Augustana and Carthage -- indeed, the Carthage win was in the bag, as the Vikings were driving in Red Men territory with the lead and three minutes and change remaining when the Vikings unraveled by losing a fumble and subsequently coughing up the deciding touchdown with 35 seconds left. I'd like to think that a more experienced North Park team would find a way to win those two games, as well as the Millikin game that the Vikings dominated statistically, but who knows? As I said, I don't make predictions about when NPU will finally break through and win a CCIW game.

[NCF]

Good going for Josh he desrved the award.  Greg question for you do you have your special team guys coming back I know you lost a few games by some missed field goals.  My son and I were at the carthage game last year and i don't know how your punter got off the punt that went over his head and had alot of carthage guys on top of him and didn't get blocked

I can't speak for the entire special teams units, but in terms of specialists North Park should return both of its kickers, as Tony Kebede and Bryn Nottoli were both juniors last year. Punter Mark Howard and long snapper Casey Smagala were seniors last season, as were the two holders (Kebede and Nottoli kick with opposite feet, so, depending upon which one was doing the kicking, either Sam Cochiaro or Evan Rhodes would do the holding), so that's four more special-teams holes that Scott Pethtel will have to fill.

And do you think the Park will get a CCIW victory this season? It's going to happen sooner or  later-just wondering your thoughts on this year's team.

I never make such predictions, one way or the other.

The NPU football program's retention level has been much-improved over the past couple of years, and the Vikings only graduated nine players last month, with four of them being offensive starters and two of them defensive starters. Given that, plus another year of familiarity with the flexbone option underneath their belts, one might expect the Vikings to be an improved team this coming season. But there's two new coordinators, and one never knows what will happen in terms of attrition, especially with regard to injuries. The biggest things that separate NPU from the rest of the league are depth and experience. Improved retention plus a small May 2012 graduating class should mean that the 2012 Vikings will be more experienced, but the program has yet to demonstrate the sort of depth that'll be necessary to compete game in and game out in the CCIW.

NPU came agonizingly close to winning two CCIW games last year, against Augustana and Carthage -- indeed, the Carthage win was in the bag, as the Vikings were driving in Red Men territory with the lead and three minutes and change remaining when the Vikings unraveled by losing a fumble and subsequently coughing up the deciding touchdown with 35 seconds left. I'd like to think that a more experienced North Park team would find a way to win those two games, as well as the Millikin game that the Vikings dominated statistically, but who knows? As I said, I don't make predictions about when NPU will finally break through and win a CCIW game.

Thanks for the insight. I thought they were bringing back a nice core.

[robertgoulet]

Alrighty, I did a little research on the NCC recruiting class. I figured reposting the full list would be overkill, so I have picked out some guys who I think are the "jewels" of the class:

Josh Beveridge    DL    Crystal Lake South (Fox Valley First-Team All-Area Northwest Herald, Fox Valley First-Team All-Area Daily Herald, All-Fox Valley Conference Valley Division Team)
Oshayne Brown    RB    Niles North (Offensive POY for the Central Suburban League North Division, CSL North All-Conference, Chicago Sun-Times All-Area Special Mention)
Jason Callahan    WR    Glenbard East/Western Illinois Univ 2x DuPage Valley All-Conference, 2008 Daily Herald All-Area)
Noel Gaspari    QB    Batavia (Upstate Eight 1st Team All-Conference, Beacon-News All-Area, Class 6A IHSFCA All-State, Kane County Republican All Area)
Austin Howarth    QB    Plainfield South (ESPNHS Honorable Mention All-State, 1st-Team Soutwest Prairie Conference)
Sam Quintanilla    TE/OL    Rockton Hononegah/UTEP/Coll. of DuPage (big boy, 6'7" 285. RR-Star All-Area)
Matthew Randolph    RB    Naperville Central (Naperville Sun POY, Unanimous 1st Team All DuPage Valley Conference)
Mack Tracey    WR/P    Wheaton Warrenville South/Northern Illinois Univ. (Chicago Tribune 2nd Team All-State as Punter, Tribune 1st Team All DuPage Valley Conference as Offensive All-Purpose Player, Daily Herald Honorable Mention All DVC as QB/WR)