FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

From last night...

Benedictine 30
North Park 22

[NCF]

From last night...

Benedictine 30
North Park 22

Surprised by this one. Tough start for North Park this year. More surprised by Wheaton, but they're a good team and will bounce back.

[DBQ1965]

 
Big loss for Wheaton. Any idea when Meador will be back? Looks like he is really missed.

GO CARDS!!

Has he been injured?

[cardinaldad]

      While the offensive yardage was almost identical, it sure didn't appear that way if you watched the game. The Cards looked pretty dominant after Redlands' first drive. We definitely out hit them. Hopefully UWL woke up the sleeping giant.

   GO CARDS!!

The fourth quarter stats made the game look closer. Redlands had 184 yards by the end of the third quarter. NCC had 318 at the end of three quarters. In the fourth quarter with second and third string in for NCC, Redlands gained 134 yards and NCC had a net of zero in the fourth. The total numbers don't reflect how much the Cardinals dominated the second and third quarters in particular.

True that, nccfac!

[USee]

The loss of Meador and Hiben is huge. Player of the year and the best WR in the conference. I don't know how long either will be out but as the Thunder showed yesterday, you can't lose 2 1st team all conference players and expect business as usual.

More importantly, the Thunder have shown they have serious issues on the offensive and defensive fronts. This does not bode will for conference play. You can't put up 100 yds of offense in the 2nd half yesterday while giving up 8 sacks and win many conference games in this league. Nor can you allow 172 yds rushing and think you will stop the likes of Kukuc/Tassio, Scottie Williams and TJ Stinde. I was concerned about the Thunder fronts coming into the season. I know they are still without 1 starter on the OLine but their Dline is very thin. I think yesterday's loss should eliminate them from any playoff talk and they should concentrate on trying to compete in their league games.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU was absolutely awful last night. The Vikings have perfected the art of self-destruction in their first two games. In the opener at Hope, they hurt their cause with twelve penalties. Last night it was turnovers. The Park turned the ball over six times, including four fumbles lost in the fourth quarter alone. Three of those coughed-up balls in the fourth quarter came on consecutive touches -- a blown option pitch at the NPU 10, a fumbled kickoff return at the NPU 25, and a fumbled punt return at the NPU 21. Add to that an anemic offensive output that totaled only 147 yards for the entire game, and you're left wondering how NPU not only fell by only eight points, but how they actually had a reasonable chance of tying the game with three and a half minutes left. The Vikings finally did themselves in for good by fumbling yet another punt at their own 35, this one a controversial turnover in which the Benedictine defender hit PR Nick Weinstein before he had touched the ball. A flag was dropped, and it appeared as though NPU was going to take possession at midfield after a BU personal foul call for interfering with the punt returner. However, the call surprisingly went against NPU; my guess is that the referee felt that the Eagle who hit Weinstein was hit from behind by a Viking, knocking him into Weinstein. Eagles were given possession, and the game was essentially over.

So how did NPU manage to hang around, in spite of all that? Well, Benedictine is not a good football team, that's why. It has two outstanding players in RB John Borsellino and DE Ben Lockton, and a decent QB in Cyle Schultz, but not that much beyond them. It's not hard to see how Wheaton beat the Eagles by 41. But where does that leave North Park?

NPU dodged all sorts of bullets just to hang around in this game. The Vikes allowed a bunch of long BU drives, and made a couple of fourth-down stands in their own territory in the first half, while the Bennies supplemented NPU's luck by missing two field-goal attempts and turning the ball over a couple of times themselves. But eventually NPU's ineptitude on offense and the astonishing turnover display -- only one turnover of the six was really earned by the Eagles rather than being the result of a poor North Park play -- caught up with the Vikings.

The off week couldn't come at a better time for this shell-shocked NPU team.

I understand that our Internet connection was spotty last night, so I apologize to anyone who was having difficulty while trying to watch our webcast. I hope we'll get that fixed by the next home game. Meanwhile, I'll be audio-only in two weeks when the Vikes visit Olivet.

[AndOne]

From last night...

Benedictine 30
North Park 22

Surprised by this one. Tough start for North Park this year. More surprised by Wheaton, but they're a good team and will bounce back.

I too was surprised at this outcome. With Benedictine's destruction by Wheaton last week, I thought NP had a good chance at a win. However, as Greg Sager reported, NPU had six TOs. As NCC demonstrated last week, six TOs is the perfect recipe for disaster.

[AndOne]

The loss of Meador and Hiben is huge. Player of the year and the best WR in the conference. I don't know how long either will be out but as the Thunder showed yesterday, you can't lose 2 1st team all conference players and expect business as usual.

More importantly, the Thunder have shown they have serious issues on the offensive and defensive fronts. This does not bode will for conference play. You can't put up 100 yds of offense in the 2nd half yesterday while giving up 8 sacks and win many conference games in this league. Nor can you allow 172 yds rushing and think you will stop the likes of Kukuc/Tassio, Scottie Williams and TJ Stinde. I was concerned about the Thunder fronts coming into the season. I know they are still without 1 starter on the OLine but their Dline is very thin. I think yesterday's loss should eliminate them from any playoff talk and they should concentrate on trying to compete in their league games.

USee--

Sorry if I missed this previously, but could you advise as to the nature of the injuries suffered by Meador & Hiben?

If there are deficiencies on both the O and D lines, as reported above by USee, questions certainly arise as to the ability to either run or pass block, as well as the ability to either stop the run or exert any pressure on the opposing QB in passing situations. Not an enviable situation at all.
It appears that WC has plenty to offer at the "skill" positions. However, if they can't get it done in the trenches on either side of the ball, the skill position potential would effectively be negated. Add the injuries to the 2 stars, and the Thunder outlook definitely becomes clouded. However, I think they're too good of a group to count out yet.   

[NCF]

NPU was absolutely awful last night. The Vikings have perfected the art of self-destruction in their first two games. In the opener at Hope, they hurt their cause with twelve penalties. Last night it was turnovers. The Park turned the ball over six times, including four fumbles lost in the fourth quarter alone. Three of those coughed-up balls in the fourth quarter came on consecutive touches -- a blown option pitch at the NPU 10, a fumbled kickoff return at the NPU 25, and a fumbled punt return at the NPU 21. Add to that an anemic offensive output that totaled only 147 yards for the entire game, and you're left wondering how NPU not only fell by only eight points, but how they actually had a reasonable chance of tying the game with three and a half minutes left. The Vikings finally did themselves in for good by fumbling yet another punt at their own 35, this one a controversial turnover in which the Benedictine defender hit PR Nick Weinstein before he had touched the ball. A flag was dropped, and it appeared as though NPU was going to take possession at midfield after a BU personal foul call for interfering with the punt returner. However, the call surprisingly went against NPU; my guess is that the referee felt that the Eagle who hit Weinstein was hit from behind by a Viking, knocking him into Weinstein. Eagles were given possession, and the game was essentially over.

So how did NPU manage to hang around, in spite of all that? Well, Benedictine is not a good football team, that's why. It has two outstanding players in RB John Borsellino and DE Ben Lockton, and a decent QB in Cyle Schultz, but not that much beyond them. It's not hard to see how Wheaton beat the Eagles by 41. But where does that leave North Park?

NPU dodged all sorts of bullets just to hang around in this game. The Vikes allowed a bunch of long BU drives, and made a couple of fourth-down stands in their own territory in the first half, while the Bennies supplemented NPU's luck by missing two field-goal attempts and turning the ball over a couple of times themselves. But eventually NPU's ineptitude on offense and the astonishing turnover display -- only one turnover of the six was really earned by the Eagles rather than being the result of a poor North Park play -- caught up with the Vikings.

The off week couldn't come at a better time for this shell-shocked NPU team.

I understand that our Internet connection was spotty last night, so I apologize to anyone who was having difficulty while trying to watch our webcast. I hope we'll get that fixed by the next home game. Meanwhile, I'll be audio-only in two weeks when the Vikes visit Olivet.

The Cards feel your pain.

[NCF]

From last night...

Benedictine 30
North Park 22

Surprised by this one. Tough start for North Park this year. More surprised by Wheaton, but they're a good team and will bounce back.

I too was surprised at this outcome. With Benedictine's destruction by Wheaton last week, I thought NP had a good chance at a win. However, as Greg Sager reported, NPU had six TOs. As NCC demonstrated last week, six TOs is the perfect recipe for disaster.

Six TO's = one long week between games .

[USee]

I don't have any information on the status of Meador and Hiben.

[iwu70]

Titans have off week now to get fully healthy again.  Not much reporting out on any key injuries, other than the ankle problem of T. J. Stinde, which does not appear to be too too serious.  We'll see.  Titans have Hope @ Hope in two weeks.  Titan defense will be good, improving every week.  Seems new linebacker crew and the new secondary are playing very well so far.  I like the looks of Tyrell Bolton.  Seems the new linebackers have studied well under the strong group from last year, all of whom graduated.  Their time has come. 

Any assessments of Millikin?  Are they as good as their first two game scores would make them appear?  They are putting up some pretty good numbers and stats.
Any comments from those who have seen the Big Blue in action this season?

Good weekend all.  (Bears looked very good today . . . no luck for Luck.  RGIII apparently had a better debut!).

IWU70

[79jaybird]

Some surprising results this past weekend.  Wheaton losing to Albion was interesting as I thought the Thunder would win this on the road.  None more surprising to me than Elmhurst beating Trine.  Perhaps this is a start- And I say start, because this is the first big win for Elmhurst against a playoff caliber team (maybe ever).  Chicago will not be a good test, so figure 2 weeks when EC meets NC on the road (And the Cards prevail, but by how much?) we will see where the Jays stack up with the upper eschilon of the D3.

[AndOne]

A very unusual series of plays early in the 3rd quarter of last night's NCC-Redlands game.

Ur   3-9   at Ur20   Hurst pass intercepted by Slezak at the UR33, Slezak return 0 yards to the UR33.
Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:05
Ncc   1-10   at Ur33   NORTH CENTRAL drive start at 13:47.
Ncc   1-10   at Ur33   Tassio pass intercepted by DiPiero at the UR1, DiPiero return 0 yards to the UR1.
Drive: 1 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:09
Ur   1-10   at Ur01   REDLANDS drive start at 13:38.
Ur   1-10   at Ur01   Hurst pass intercepted by Mitchell at the UR10, Mitchell return 0 yards to the UR10.

Pass interceptions on 3 consecutive plays! 
Don't believe I've ever seen that before on any level. Anyone else?

*And none of the picks were returned for any yards. 

[NCF]

A very unusual series of plays early in the 3rd quarter of last night's NCC-Redlands game.

Ur   3-9   at Ur20   Hurst pass intercepted by Slezak at the UR33, Slezak return 0 yards to the UR33.
Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:05
Ncc   1-10   at Ur33   NORTH CENTRAL drive start at 13:47.
Ncc   1-10   at Ur33   Tassio pass intercepted by DiPiero at the UR1, DiPiero return 0 yards to the UR1.
Drive: 1 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:09
Ur   1-10   at Ur01   REDLANDS drive start at 13:38.
Ur   1-10   at Ur01   Hurst pass intercepted by Mitchell at the UR10, Mitchell return 0 yards to the UR10.

Pass interceptions on 3 consecutive plays! 
Don't believe I've ever seen that before on any level. Anyone else?

*And none of the picks were returned for any yards.

Kept the fans entertained:).