FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Congrats to NPU today on their win over Olivet. 

IWU70

I listened to the broadcast on the Olivet College website (I couldn't get the North Park link to work), and the play-by-play announcer referred to our CCIW rival as "Illinois Wesellanian."  I guess we need to include a pronunciation guide for institutional names in our next press guide.

other than that obvious mis-pronunciation I thought the announcers very good - they were definitely not students.  I also could not get the NPU link to work either.

I had a friend in college, who was sports editor of the NPC College News, who could pronounce Wesleyan correctly, but had absolutely no idea how to spell it.

[iwu70]

#7 Wabash goes down to Allegheny in OT, 20-17. 

IWU70  (known in some circles as 'Illinois Wesellanian70.  Oh well . . . Olivet style English). 

[iwu70]

The guys who did the Hope call of the IWU @Hope game were pretty good, fair and well-informed.   I enjoyed listening.  Not a strong second half by the Titans, but enough to put Hope away 20-0 by halftime. 

IWU70

[cardinaldad]

Usee- I agree with you I just don't see EC being in the game next week in Naperville.  I would think the Cards would be a 10-14 point favorite. If it was at EC, I could see the spread being maybe 7-10 points, but the combination of being at home and all the skills NC possesses,  just don't see an EC W coming out of this one.

Jaybird! I can't take it anymore. You are so negative on almost every post on the Jays these days. You don't even give hope.

Listen I don't know if they are going to beat NC but I know they have the best shot they ever have. They have a senior class that is the core to this years team, a running game that can keep NC offense off the field, and defense that brings it.

As for coaching. I don't remember who mentioned that Coach Lester and his staff are not "great" coaches. I not only feel they are but they are also great mentors. Being a division III coach they have more experience and knowledge then most staffs in the country on the X and O side. Besides that they are tremendous in the community, they stress family values, and care as much for the kids off the field as on. They have helped set up mentor programs in the business world where players can mentor former players which has opened up an entire networking group for these young men. They have also been able to connect with the administration, help raise money for other sports programs, and bring the community back to care about Elmhurst football. At the golf outing there were over 150 people who participated. Not long ago there were not even 150 people in the stands. I understand everyone judges by wins and losses and I know that this staff is not only one of the best out there but all the items I mentioned above really has put pride behind the shield again. I coached for 5 years after I graduated, including a couple with this staff. They are the definition of what a Division III program is. I have never been more proud, then I am today.

Lets not forget how North Central got here. They ponied up and hired one of the best high school football coaches in the state. With his connections he had a couple key division one players transfer in (QB and WR, whose names escape me from 6-8 years ago). Had a couple stellar years and was able to capitalize on that success by getting top tier recruits from one of the richest areas in the country. I give them a ton of credit but what happened was quick, most programs have to build and it takes time.

Jaybird, all I am saying is I still remember you coming out of Goebel (sp?) hall. I was coming out of the locker room. I saw you and you asked me about the football team. I told you to talk to Coach Krohn. You joined and the rest is history. We were terrible, no doubt but they were the best years looking back. Put away the hate for a while. Wherever that comes from these days, whatever happened bury it. Its not about you and administration or the coaches because I don't know what happened, it's about those kids. About the possibility of them getting the feeling we had only a hand full of times with one key victory over Wheaton in our careers. Maybe some positive Karma would help those kids, for goodness sake I think Elmhurst deserves it, those kids deserve it, and that community deserves it. The coaching staff also deserves it for the countless hours that go into what they have built.

From the words of one our favorite speakers who often visited us and can still be heard in the stands sometimes you just got to BELIEVE!


(modified by GS for formatting)

bluejay4ever-

    For years, jaybird sounded just like you. Until last year. Several people on the boards, including me, would get on him for being so optomistic about the Jays (Hence the term "drinking blue cool-aid"). I think he finally became realistic after being disappointed each year. The Jays had several very talented players over the years with Demma, Evans, the linebacker whose name escapes me, etc. The same things said about this year's Jays have been posted over the course of the past several years by various people. These past posts listed the names of several very good football players that were going to make a difference for the Jays,. One more time, as other people have posted, let's see what happens when we start CCIW play. I think it will be a repeat of past years' futility.

[Big Blue Boy]

MU over Aurora 44-20, so Millikin also 3-0 in pre-CCIW phase of play.  Should be a great match-up next week @IWU @Tucci Stadium @Wilder Field in Bloomington --6 p.m. start time. 

IWU70

Extremely windy in Decatur today and the score doesn't really reflect how MU controlled the game with the first teams, as they should have.  The pre-season is done, so bring on the real deal.  Game on next week and the Big Blue will be ready.

[Stagg Again!!]

Don't know if anyone noticed but Widener d. Wilkes 90-0 today at Widener for the most points scored by a DIII team since 2003.  Thought I'd provide a few key statistics in comparison to the 10/10/09 game when NCC d. NPU 83-7 in Naperville:

                                                  Widener.                    North Central.
Time Starting QB Left Game.         7:00 left in 3Q.          2:40 left in 2Q.
# Pass Attempts in Game.             29.                           13.
# Pass Attempts 2nd Half.             11.                           1.
Last Pass Attempt.                        7:42 left in 4Q.          14:51 left in 3Q.

[AndOne]

Eye popping stat........

In Wesleyan's 23-13 win @ Hope, the Greenn Weanies had a net 33 yards rushing. They gained 133, but were tackled for losses totaling 100 yards. Devonte Jones ran forward for 87 yards, but backward for 77.

It appears the way to defeat IWU might be to employ a nickel or maybe even a dime package to beef up the defense against the Wesleyan passing game which certainly appears to be a more dangerous threat than their rushing  uh,.......attack?   

[AndOne]

MU over Aurora 44-20, so Millikin also 3-0 in pre-CCIW phase of play.  Should be a great match-up next week @IWU @Tucci Stadium @Wilder Field in Bloomington --6 p.m. start time. 

IWU70

Extremely windy in Decatur today and the score doesn't really reflect how MU controlled the game with the first teams, as they should have.  The pre-season is done, so bring on the real deal.  Game on next week and the Big Blue will be ready.

Good to have some Millikin representation on the board. Welcome BBB. Keep it up!   

[Stagg Again!!]

Eye popping stat........

In Wesleyan's 23-13 win @ Hope, the Greenn Weanies had a net 33 yards rushing. They gained 133, but were tackled for losses totaling 100 yards. Devonte Jones ran forward for 87 yards, but backward for 77.

It appears the way to defeat IWU might be to employ a nickel or maybe even a dime package to beef up the defense against the Wesleyan passing game which certainly appears to be a more dangerous threat than their rushing  uh,.......attack? 

I think you meant to say in "Wesellanian's" win. 

[AndOne]

It seems harder to say that word than just saying "Wesleyan." Try it.   

[Titan Q]

Eye popping stat........

In Wesleyan's 23-13 win @ Hope, the Greenn Weanies had a net 33 yards rushing. They gained 133, but were tackled for losses totaling 100 yards. Devonte Jones ran forward for 87 yards, but backward for 77.

It appears the way to defeat IWU might be to employ a nickel or maybe even a dime package to beef up the defense against the Wesleyan passing game which certainly appears to be a more dangerous threat than their rushing  uh,.......attack? 

But keep in mind, the Titans held out their #1 RB, T.J. Stinde (ankle), against Hope to give him two full weeks off before the start of CCIW play next week.  In Week 1, Stinde carried the ball 17 times for 135 yards and 3 TD.  He was injured in practice leading up to the Alma game and played less than half of the Alma game...and was rather ineffective playing on the bad wheel. 

After IWU lost Stinde last year (Week 2 to an ACL), they essentially had no running game the rest of the year -- or at least very little running game.  The Titans went 6-1 in CCIW play behind the strength of their defense and passing game.  If they can get Stinde back on the field for CCIW play, the Titans will have a strong and balanced offensive attack.  The offensive line is very good, QB Rob Gallik has completed 63% of his passes and is leading the CCIW in pass yards per game (234 per), and the WR corp is deep and talented (Musso, Garvey, and Musselman).  Add an explosive RB - which Stinde is - and IWU's offense really has no holes.

To me, T.J. Stinde's health is the key to IWU's 2012 CCIW season.  If he's on the field, opposing defense can't just focus on taking away IWU's passing game.  All indications are that he'll be ready to go for the Big Blue Saturday.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU today on their win over Olivet. 

IWU70

I listened to the broadcast on the Olivet College website (I couldn't get the North Park link to work), and the play-by-play announcer referred to our CCIW rival as "Illinois Wesellanian."  I guess we need to include a pronunciation guide for institutional names in our next press guide.

other than that obvious mis-pronunciation I thought the announcers very good - they were definitely not students.  I also could not get the NPU link to work either.

I apologize for NPU's lack of a webcast yesterday. Technical issues kept me off the air. We have since rectified them [knock on wood], so I should be back on the air next Saturday for the NPU @ Carthage game at 1 pm.

Oh, and DP, those were Olivet students who were calling the game on the web yesterday. The game was webcasted by Olivet College's student radio station, WOCR.

Extremely windy in Decatur today and the score doesn't really reflect how MU controlled the game with the first teams, as they should have.  The pre-season is done, so bring on the real deal.

Yes, and the first four weeks of the regular season are done, too.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU put the game away in the first quarter yesterday at Olivet. On the fourth play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff, Tyler Krebs ran it in from 29 yards out to put the Vikings up right away. On Olivet's first possession, Canmu Dennis picked off the ball at the NPU 40 and ran it back thirty yards to the OC 30. The ensuing Vikings drive stalled, but Tony Kebede kicked a very difficult 38-yard FG from the near hashmark against the wind on a wet field to stake NPU to a 10-0 lead. The Comets then went three-and-out, and were forced to punt from their own 24. The snap sailed over the punter's head and bounced about ten yards back into the end zone, whereupon the punter scooped it up and ran out of the back of the end zone for a safety rather than risk an even more disastrous fumble in the face of the NPU jailbreak rush. The Park then received the free kick, and two plays later Krebs hooked up with Marcel Dawkins on a beautifully-performed 53-yard TD pass. Olivet again had a three-and-out, this time moving backwards from the original spot, and after a short punt left the Vikings with a drive start at the Olivet 44, it took six plays for North Park to score again -- this time on a four-yard scamper by Krebs. NPU thus led, 26-0 ... and there were still two minutes left in the opening quarter.

At that point I thought that we were on our way to seeing a rout akin to the 70-7 thrashing NPU put upon MacMurray a couple of years ago, but the Vikings more or less went on autopilot for the rest of the game and eventually won by a comparatively modest 46-21 score. But Scott Pethtel did get the chance to rest most of his starters in the fourth quarter, and the team statistics -- NPU outgained Olivet, 434-177 (including holding the Comets to 25 yards rushing on 22 carries), and held the ball for almost 42 minutes -- show just how lopsided the game was. Tyler Krebs had a video-game kind of day at QB, completing 11 of 13 passes for 167 yards and four TDs (and no picks) while rushing the ball 18 times for 159 yards and two more TDs.

Still, it doesn't mean much. Olivet is, to put it simply, a very bad football team. The Comets do have a number of talented athletes, but they're ridiculously young as a squad. As I said here the other day, 30 of the 44 Comets listed on the two-deep are freshman, and, of the 127 players on the OC roster, 97 are first-year players. Even if Olivet retains only half of that class, the Comets should still be pretty decent in a couple of years. Right now, though, they're a carnival of errors. I feel for them, because I've seen far too many NPU teams over the years that fit that too-young-to-do-anything-right description as well.

As for the Vikings, NPU's execution over the course of the game was far from immaculate. But it was a darn sight better than the first two games, in that the Vikes did not continually shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers and penalties. IF they can continue to improve along this curve with regard to executing properly, they can give themselves a decent chance to compete against other second-division CCIW teams this fall.

The two best things about yesterday, aside from giving the Vikings a chance to feel good about themselves after the Hope and Benedictine debacles, were that NPU came out of the contest more or less healthy and that the reserves got plenty of playing time. But it's now time to put that game in the rear-view mirror. Next Saturday's contest at Carthage is going to be a very different proposition; the Red Men bounced back from their own debacle last week at the hands of Wartburg to tap-dance all over Lakeland to the tune of 49-9 at Keller Field yesterday. The only thing that Olivet and Carthage have in common are their team colors.

[iwu70]

Totally agree with Q that Stinde is key to IWU's season, offensive balance and effectiveness.  If he's still out, injured, I wouldn't be surprised to see Coach Norm experiment with other options as the back-ups yesterday were not effective at all.  Wouldn't be too too surprised to see some wildcat with Tyrell Boldon at QB and also trying Bolden at running back (even if he has to go "two ways").  Blossom will improve and may be called upon more and more, though he's a totally different kind of runner to Stinde.  He's a pounder, a grinder, not exploisive, not able to test the edges.  IWU's D is very solid, complete and disciplined.  Gallik is improving substantially from last year and has all those targets (and more) that Q mentioned.  Game next week vs. MU should be a very tough test, match-up for both teams.  Remember last year how close they played in a game that IWU was supposed to win more easily.  Seems MU has improved substantially from that team.  Under-the-lights evening game next weekend = family weekend on the IWU campus.   6 p.m. kickoff at Tucci @ Wilder Field. 

GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

[iwu70]

4th Week DIII Poll:

NCC -- 11th -- up 1
IWU -- 14th -- up 1
WC -- 20th
ECC -- others receiving votes, 11
No love yet for Millikin
Changes mostly due to the Wabash loss.

IWU70