FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Must have been a helluva game in Bloomington tonight.
Gotta admire Millikin for going for the 2 point conversion in OT
It appears Millikin may be the team that Elmhurst thought it was.

[iwu70]

Great game @Tucci @Wilider Field tonight, perhaps one of the top five I've seen there over the years, and that's lots of years, since fall of 1966.  Titans  come out on top, with some lucky breaks, and a few well-timed penalties against the Big Blue, to win in OT 34-33.  MU went for two after scoring a TD in the first OT, and threw an incomplete on the fade route in the deep right-hand, SE end zone.  Defended well, after IWU was caught holding on the previous 2 pt. PAT attempt, giving the Big Blue another shot at it.  Very even and  balanced game, with both teams putting up some O numbers, both running and passing the ball well, both teams making mistakes, committing penalties and providing TOs.  It was back and forth, all evening, with IWU down 27-13 at one point early in the second half.  A great comeback and a great win, dodging a bullet for sure.  I thought the game would be close, having IWU winning by 1 TD, but it was even closer.  Congrats to both teams on a super competitive, exciting D3 football matchup.

I have great respect for the MU offense, with a very mobile, crafty and quick QB, Holmes.  He is much much improved and hard to contain.  Also, very good receivers with very crisp routes.  Gave IWU almost all they could handle and more.  If ECC is not coming out this weekend vs. NCC, surely MU is coming out this weekend, almost taking down my Titans.  MU is a very good team, can score in various ways, and has a decent D too.  I think they will make some noise this year in the CCIW, perhaps even giving NCC and WC all they can handle.  My hat is off to them for playing the Titans very tough and almost coming out with a surprise upset win.  But, this is not horseshoes, and almost doesen't count for much. 

Gallik had a good game, and fortunately TJ Stinde was back and had a very good night, showing off often how he finds creases and also bounces off of seemingly assured tackles.  I think he was over 100 yards, perhaps 140 yards.  WR Joe Musso injured, which would be a pretty big loss for the Titans . . . some kind of shouder injury.  Hopefully, not serious.  Stinde held up well tonight, it would appear. 

A scary game, almost a L for the Titans, but we live to move on undefeated at 4-0, 1-0 and move on to NPU next week, then host Carthage for Homecoming on October 13th. Gotta improve, gotta get better, esp. on special teams, coverages and, esp. as shown tonight, better secondary coverage against an excellent throwing and scrambling QB like Holmes.   I was most impressed with the Big Blue and their overall plan, scheme of attack and improvement on D and O from last year.

IMHO.

Looks like NCC put a pasting on EC.  NCC still the favorites until someone proves to them otherwise.  WC result at AC not surprising at all.  I bet the future Carthage-MU game will be a very good one too.

Have a good weekend all . . . lots of football to be played, but tonight's game under perfect weather conditions, with a very large crowd, under a full moon on family weekend on Tucci's new turf . . . well, that's about as good as it gets in D3 football.  A good and lovely time was had by all . . .save for the Big Blue team and fans.  A long long, short trip back to Decatur.

GO TITANS

IWU70

[ncc58]

Welcome to conference play....you're still not there!

Classy.

Yeah, the NCCers are going to pile on a bit. You posted a lot of crap last week.

Tonight, Elmhurst got a good butt kicking.

Scottie Williams is a great back, will be 1st Team All CCIW, but he was held 126 yards under his "average." 22 yards came on the first possession, and 23 came on the possession after NCC went to a 41-3 lead.

The Elmhurst defense came in with gaudy statistics but gave up 44 points and 554 yards. That had to hurt.

The Elmhurst offense managed just 198 yards and scored zero offensive touchdowns.

You may like Tim Lester, but he's not a great coach yet. The game was still a contest at 17-3. Elmhurst had a 3rd and 1/2 yard at their 45 with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Furco sets up in the pistol, handed off to Williams and the play was stopped. The play call was obvious and NCC was ready. 4th down, still short yardage. Elmhurst punts, NCC takes the ball and scores before halftime. 24-3. Game over.

You should be worried about beating Augustana next week, and getting to 4-1. Not 9-1.

NCC still has a lot of flaws. Stanek needs to be more consistent. They lack a speed receiver. Their offense is still dependent on the running game. The secondary hasn't really been tested. Special Teams weren't very good tonight.

But they beat Elmhurst convincingly.

[ncc58]

Must have been a helluva game in Bloomington tonight.
Gotta admire Millikin for going for the 2 point conversion in OT
It appears Millikin may be the team that Elmhurst thought it was.

UWP also went for the 2 point conversion (and failed), after scoring with 13 seconds remaining in their game with UWW. UWW escaped with the win. 27-26.

[iwu70]

Checked the pgraph article on the IWU-MU game.  Stinde finished with 185 yards on 30 carries, so shows how important he is for a more balanced Titan offensive attack.  FYI.

NCC still king of the hill . . . no doubt, until someone plays them tougher.  WC, IWU and NCC still top tier, though MU showed tonight that they are very very close, playing like they did tonight.  Believe it.

IWU70

[AndOne]

Elmhurst fans.....opinion please (and any NCC fans who care to comment)

I noticed the Elmhurst Depth Chart in tonight's program lists the Starting LT at 265 lbs, the LG at 255, the C at 270, the RG at 275, and the RT at 300.
The NCC defensive ends are 230 and 235, and the DTs are 272, and 246.

EC had been averaging 290 ypg in rushing offense. Tonight they got only 102.

Given the EC size/weight advantage, I was surprised that they were not able to do better in the trenches against the NCC defense. In fact, I thought it was one of the biggest factors in tonight's NCC victory.
Comments, agree/disagree?

[NCF]

Elmhurst fans.....opinion please (and any NCC fans who care to comment)

I noticed the Elmhurst Depth Chart in tonight's program lists the Starting LT at 265 lbs, the LG at 255, the C at 270, the RG at 275, and the RT at 300.
The NCC defensive ends are 230 and 235, and the DTs are 272, and 246.

EC had been averaging 290 ypg in rushing offense. Tonight they got only 102.

Given the EC size/weight advantage, I was surprised that they were not able to do better in the trenches against the NCC defense. In fact, I thought it was one of the biggest factors in tonight's NCC victory.
Comments, agree/disagree?

Bigger doesn't always mean better:)

[Big Blue Boy]

Great game @Tucci @Wilider Field tonight, perhaps one of the top five I've seen there over the years, and that's lots of years, since fall of 1966.  Titans  come out on top, with some lucky breaks, and a few well-timed penalties against the Big Blue, to win in OT 34-33.  MU went for two after scoring a TD in the first OT, and threw an incomplete on the fade route in the deep right-hand, SE end zone.  Defended well, after IWU was caught holding on the previous 2 pt. PAT attempt, giving the Big Blue another shot at it.  Very even and  balanced game, with both teams putting up some O numbers, both running and passing the ball well, both teams making mistakes, committing penalties and providing TOs.  It was back and forth, all evening, with IWU down 27-13 at one point early in the second half.  A great comeback and a great win, dodging a bullet for sure.  I thought the game would be close, having IWU winning by 1 TD, but it was even closer.  Congrats to both teams on a super competitive, exciting D3 football matchup.

I have great respect for the MU offense, with a very mobile, crafty and quick QB, Holmes.  He is much much improved and hard to contain.  Also, very good receivers with very crisp routes.  Gave IWU almost all they could handle and more.  If ECC is not coming out this weekend vs. NCC, surely MU is coming out this weekend, almost taking down my Titans.  MU is a very good team, can score in various ways, and has a decent D too.  I think they will make some noise this year in the CCIW, perhaps even giving NCC and WC all they can handle.  My hat is off to them for playing the Titans very tough and almost coming out with a surprise upset win.  But, this is not horseshoes, and almost doesen't count for much. 

Gallik had a good game, and fortunately TJ Stinde was back and had a very good night, showing off often how he finds creases and also bounces off of seemingly assured tackles.  I think he was over 100 yards, perhaps 140 yards.  WR Joe Musso injured, which would be a pretty big loss for the Titans . . . some kind of shouder injury.  Hopefully, not serious.  Stinde held up well tonight, it would appear. 

A scary game, almost a L for the Titans, but we live to move on undefeated at 4-0, 1-0 and move on to NPU next week, then host Carthage for Homecoming on October 13th. Gotta improve, gotta get better, esp. on special teams, coverages and, esp. as shown tonight, better secondary coverage against an excellent throwing and scrambling QB like Holmes.   I was most impressed with the Big Blue and their overall plan, scheme of attack and improvement on D and O from last year.

IMHO.

Looks like NCC put a pasting on EC.  NCC still the favorites until someone proves to them otherwise.  WC result at AC not surprising at all.  I bet the future Carthage-MU game will be a very good one too.

Have a good weekend all . . . lots of football to be played, but tonight's game under perfect weather conditions, with a very large crowd, under a full moon on family weekend on Tucci's new turf . . . well, that's about as good as it gets in D3 football.  A good and lovely time was had by all . . .save for the Big Blue team and fans.  A long long, short trip back to Decatur.

GO TITANS

IWU70

It was a very exciting game with ebbs and flows both ways.  To me it was very evenly matched.  Both teams missed extra points and field goals....both teams turned it over at when they could not afford to...both put together drives when they really needed them..Props to IWU for the long drive to tie the game...Props to the Big Blue for going for the win in OT...question the fade call, but c'est la vie as hindsight is 20-20....MU really felt they could not only compete, but if they executed they should win.  However, as I stated two weeks ago this team needs to believe and learn how to win...didn't happen tonight, but not for lack of intensity and effort.  Norm and his guys know this could have very easily gone the other way even though IWU played well...I concur that this was as good as a game gets and the fans on both sides were involved, excited and saw an excellent game.  Wish the outcome were different, but proud of the Big Blue.


(Modified by Titan Q for formatting)

[NCF]

Must have been a helluva game in Bloomington tonight.
Gotta admire Millikin for going for the 2 point conversion in OT
It appears Millikin may be the team that Elmhurst thought it was.

We'll find out next week.

[NCF]

Welcome to conference play....you're still not there!

Classy.

Yeah, the NCCers are going to pile on a bit. You posted a lot of crap last week.

Tonight, Elmhurst got a good butt kicking.

Scottie Williams is a great back, will be 1st Team All CCIW, but he was held 126 yards under his "average." 22 yards came on the first possession, and 23 came on the possession after NCC went to a 41-3 lead.

The Elmhurst defense came in with gaudy statistics but gave up 44 points and 554 yards. That had to hurt.

The Elmhurst offense managed just 198 yards and scored zero offensive touchdowns.

You may like Tim Lester, but he's not a great coach yet. The game was still a contest at 17-3. Elmhurst had a 3rd and 1/2 yard at their 45 with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Furco sets up in the pistol, handed off to Williams and the play was stopped. The play call was obvious and NCC was ready. 4th down, still short yardage. Elmhurst punts, NCC takes the ball and scores before halftime. 24-3. Game over.

You should be worried about beating Augustana next week, and getting to 4-1. Not 9-1.

NCC still has a lot of flaws. Stanek needs to be more consistent. They lack a speed receiver. Their offense is still dependent on the running game. The secondary hasn't really been tested. Special Teams weren't very good tonight.

But they beat Elmhurst convincingly.

First game out of the bye, expect to have to shake off a little rust. Agree the game was over at half. Elmhurst came out flat and couldn't get into a flow on offense at all. As for Stanek being more consistent, some of those passes were on the money and dropped. The running game has always been their bread and butter, once the score was 31-3, no real need to pass. Special teams have not been very good all season. All in all a good start to the conference slate.

[NCF]

Must have been a helluva game in Bloomington tonight.
Gotta admire Millikin for going for the 2 point conversion in OT
It appears Millikin may be the team that Elmhurst thought it was.

UWP also went for the 2 point conversion (and failed), after scoring with 13 seconds remaining in their game with UWW. UWW escaped with the win. 27-26.

So did Augsburg (failed as well) and Bethel escaped with a 21-20 win. This season could prove to be one of the most exciting in awhile. Can't take any team for granted.

[Langhorst_Ghost]

Hey, I get it. Elmhurst pays you to be a cheerleader but at least call a spade a spade.

Tip of the cap to the Cards - certainly the better birds tonight.
A few takeaways from the evening:

NCC looked incredibly athletic on defense.  Strength of these 'Jays is the O-Line and the ground game but the Cards were flying around tonight, bottled up Scottie and kept Furco uncomfortable in the pocket.

Third down was a killer for the 'Jays.  NCC D turned away EC multiple times in third and short situations (and 4th and short), and on the other side of the ball, the Cards were able to pick up big chunks of yardage on 3rd and long to keep the sticks moving.

Big plays were back-breakers.  Pretty simple here, NCC makes you earn each and every yard down the field and rarely misses an assignment or a tackle or busts a coverage.  On the other side, the Cards clicked off a ton of big gainers, flipping field position often and creating explosive plays.

Certainly a disappointing effort tonight for EC, but there are 6 more on the schedule and 9 - 1 is the new goal.  All the credit in the world goes out to the Cards tonight - Thorne had his birds ready tonight and they played really really well.

CAlum, the boards are better than this ignorant comment. 

"Spade" has been recognized, acknowledged, and respected, the Cards were flat out better - thought that was made very clear.

[Langhorst_Ghost]

Elmhurst fans.....opinion please (and any NCC fans who care to comment)

I noticed the Elmhurst Depth Chart in tonight's program lists the Starting LT at 265 lbs, the LG at 255, the C at 270, the RG at 275, and the RT at 300.
The NCC defensive ends are 230 and 235, and the DTs are 272, and 246.

EC had been averaging 290 ypg in rushing offense. Tonight they got only 102.

Given the EC size/weight advantage, I was surprised that they were not able to do better in the trenches against the NCC defense. In fact, I thought it was one of the biggest factors in tonight's NCC victory.
Comments, agree/disagree?

AndOne - yeah, NCC definitely won the battle in the trenches tonight.

Coming into tonight's game, the 'Jays felt really good about their five upfront - 4 returning starters (including an all-region candidate in Stamos and an all-conference awardee in Homoky) and 3 seniors anchoring O-Line.  The EC experience combined with the graduation of NCC's impact D-Linemen from 2011 had the makings of a really confident offense for the 'Jays.

Obviously, the Cards controlled the line of scrimmage tonight - much respect goes out to the way the NCC front four shut down the zone blocking scheme of the 'Jays and had consistent pressure on Furco all night.  Cards played fast and aggressive and really dictated the pace of the game using their speed and athleticism, despite the size and experience edge for EC.

(modified by GS for formatting)

[NCF]

Elmhurst fans.....opinion please (and any NCC fans who care to comment)

I noticed the Elmhurst Depth Chart in tonight's program lists the Starting LT at 265 lbs, the LG at 255, the C at 270, the RG at 275, and the RT at 300.
The NCC defensive ends are 230 and 235, and the DTs are 272, and 246.

EC had been averaging 290 ypg in rushing offense. Tonight they got only 102.

Given the EC size/weight advantage, I was surprised that they were not able to do better in the trenches against the NCC defense. In fact, I thought it was one of the biggest factors in tonight's NCC victory.
Comments, agree/disagree?

AndOne - yeah, NCC definitely won the battle in the trenches tonight.

Coming into tonight's game, the 'Jays felt really good about their five upfront - 4 returning starters (including an all-region candidate in Stamos and an all-conference awardee in Homoky) and 3 seniors anchoring O-Line.  The EC experience combined with the graduation of NCC's impact D-Linemen from 2011 had the makings of a really confident offense for the 'Jays.

Obviously, the Cards controlled the line of scrimmage tonight - much respect goes out to the way the NCC front four shut down the zone blocking scheme of the 'Jays and had consistent pressure on Furco all night.  Cards played fast and aggressive and really dictated the pace of the game using their speed and athleticism, despite the size and experience edge for EC.

Speed can compensate for size more times than not.  NC rotates linemen quite a bit, so these "new" guys are not so new.They have plenty of experience. Good luck to the Jays the rest of the way.

(modified by GS for formatting)

[Titan Q]

IWU 34
Millikin 33 (OT)

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/Football/FB2012/HTML/iwufb4.htm

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/iwu-denies-millikin--point-conversion-for-ot-win/article_e57090dc-0aa8-11e2-98bb-0019bb2963f4.html

IWU
* T.J. Stinde (So RB): 30 carries/185 yards/1 TD
* Rob Gallik (Jr QB): 22-31 passing/201 yards/3 TD
* Alex Garvey (Jr WR): 8 catches, 63 yards, 3 TD
* Stephen McGinnis (Jr DB): 10 tackles

Millikin
* Matt Holmes (Sr QB): 24-33 passing/257 yards/4 TD, 17 rushes/108 yards
* Sean Dunning (So RB): 16 carries/81 yards/1 TD
* Erik Tobey (Sr WR): 6 catches/86 yards/1 TD
* Marquette Moore (Sr LB):13 tackles
* Christian Silva (Sr DB): 10 tackles


I'm pretty sure I was the only one of the 86,000 people at the Nebraska/Wisconsin game last night closely following the Titans/Big Blue game.  What a nerve-racking game to try to follow on an iPhone via live stats.

I watched a lot of the game when I got home on the On Demand archive - http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#.  I came away thinking those were two very evenly matched teams, both with a lot of playmakers.

IWU's drive at the end of regulation was extremely impressive.  The Titans got the ball down 27-20, pinned at their own 2 yard line, with 9:52 to play in the game.  The Titans went on a 16-play, 98-yard drive lasting 8:14, capped by a T.J. Stinde TD.  That drive was really nice balance of Stinde runs and Rob Gallik passes.  IWU really looked like a veteran offensive team on that drive, showing a lot of poise and composure.  It's great to see T.J. Stinde back -- he's one of the best RBs in the league and just makes IWU very balanced offensively.  After being granted a medical redshirt for last season, Stinde is just a sophomore eligibility-wise this year -- if he stays healthy he has a chance to do big things in his career at IWU.

After IWU scored to go up 34-27 in OT, the Big Blue also showed a lot of poise by countering with an impressive TD.  I tip my cap to Patrick Etherton for going for 2 and the win, but I thought the play call on the second PAT try (after the IWU penalty) was horrendous.  The Big Blue had the ball at the IWU 1 with a dual threat QB (Matt Holmes) and a good RB (Sean Dunning)...don't you have to put the ball in one of those two hands, needing just 1 yard for the win?  Instead they throw a fairly low percentage fade route??

A big comeback for the Titans against the rival Big Blue.  This game has been tough on IWU the last 3 years, including 2009 when the home loss to Millikin cost the Titans an outright CCIW championship (instead they shared with NCC)...

2011: IWU 28 Millikin 25 (Decatur) - IWU 6-1, Millikin 2-5
2010: IWU 24 Millikin 14 (Bloomington) - IWU 4-3, Millikin 1-6
2009: Millikin 19 IWU 13 (Bloomington) - IWU 6-1, Millikin 3-4

Just from what I saw on the video of this game, it sure looks to me like the Big Blue are going to cause a lot of teams trouble in CCIW play.  Of course, the last few years we could say the same of Millikin based solely on the IWU game...but then the rest of their CCIW results don't really add up.  It will be interesting to see how the Big Blue do at home Saturday vs NCC.