FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, you've been around long enough to know not to put ANY weight on IWU/Millikin - those games are USUALLY weird.  In 2009, the Titans went 10-2, beating both NCC and Wheaton in the regular season and Wabash in the playoffs.  Their only losses were to eventual national champ UWW and (AT HOME) to (CCIW) 3-4 Millikin.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin appeared to be a decent team this year, Chuck. Granted, Greenville, Hope, and Aurora aren't murderer's row, but the Big Blue walloped all three by over three touchdowns apiece. And NCC made short work of the Big Blue today.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Millikin appeared to be a decent team this year, Chuck. Granted, Greenville, Hope, and Aurora aren't murderer's row, but the Big Blue walloped all three by over three touchdowns apiece. And NCC made short work of the Big Blue today.

Oh, I am by no means denigrating Millikin (I'm a voter on the North Region poll, and have seriously toyed with the idea of putting them 10th); just warning people not to give THAT game much credence.  Weird things happen when Blue meets Green.

[nccfac]

      What has happened to Cardinal Nation? For many tears we traveled really, really well. It looked as if there was a sparse crowd there today.   

If you were looking at the visiting stands, you saw about one-half to a little less of Cardinal Nation. We filled up the home stands on south end from the 30 yard line to the goal on that end. The visitor stands are awful because you are so low and it is hard to see over the players on that side. They graciously gave us room in their home stands (even though homecoming).

I would like to point out that MU's first team did have a nice drive on their first possession against our first-team defense and number 25 was a beast running the ball. Those of us in the stands were glad they stopped running him for a while. In the first half he average 8.3 yards a carry against us. This is a much improved MU team over previous years, they made a lot of silly fouls and turnovers against an NCC team that doesn't need help, but will gladly take it.

[bluejay4ever]

I did not attend the game as I have bern a bit under the weather all week. Just following on line I think this is a great bounce back win for EC. Jaybird I expected this to be a close contest. I figured that the Augie players would be playing at a high level given they gave lost the last couple years to EC. The one thing that I feel says a lot about the kids is after a tough week, to fall behind and comeback is a great thing. There was no getting fown after ladt week. No doubt their needs to be improvement but each week is a stepping stone. Continually get better each week. This week was better then last and hopefully another step forward next week.

[Mugsy]

Some may be sick of posts like this, but these are crazy stats for a QB who missed all of 2011 due to a blown ACL before the season even started.  Against Augie he played only 1 1/2 quarters.  Against Carthage today, he played just a bit over 2 quarters.

PASS EFFICIENCY    Team   Cl  G Att Cmp Int  Pct.  Yds TD  Eff.
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. Roberts, Jordan   WHEA SR  2  46  41   0   89.1  527  7 235.6

Nearly 90% completed passes, 527 yards and 7 TD's in under 4 quarters.  For the season Roberts has a 77% completion rate and 16 TD's passing with only 1 INT.

Oh yeah... and the guy he is splitting time with (an All-American last year with over 3000 yards passing and 30 TD's):

PASS EFFICIENCY    Team   Cl  G Att Cmp Int  Pct.  Yds TD  Eff.
-------------------------------------------------------------
6. Meador, Garrett   WHEA  SR  2  34  20   2  58.8  252  2 128.7

While not earth shattering, decent considering he is coming back from a broken pinky finger on his throwing hand and missing 2 games.

No wonder Wheaton is averaging nearly 400 yards passing a game so far in the CCIW.

[Big Blue Boy]

      What has happened to Cardinal Nation? For many tears we traveled really, really well. It looked as if there was a sparse crowd there today.   

If you were looking at the visiting stands, you saw about one-half to a little less of Cardinal Nation. We filled up the home stands on south end from the 30 yard line to the goal on that end. The visitor stands are awful because you are so low and it is hard to see over the players on that side. They graciously gave us room in their home stands (even though homecoming).

I would like to point out that MU's first team did have a nice drive on their first possession against our first-team defense and number 25 was a beast running the ball. Those of us in the stands were glad they stopped running him for a while. In the first half he average 8.3 yards a carry against us. This is a much improved MU team over previous years, they made a lot of silly fouls and turnovers against an NCC team that doesn't need help, but will gladly take it.

Agree that there was a good contingent of NC fans.  The home stands had the wind at their back and it was significantly warmer on that side of the field.  As for the game, after the first drive it was not pretty.  Giving up a near TD (returned to the 5) on the opening kickoff was not the start MU was looking for.  MU moved the ball at times, but when NC was pressed, their #1 defense showed up and shut it down. 

Certainly, MU is better than previous years, but NC is simply the class of the CCIW.  They pretty much controlled the entire game on both sides of the ball.  Bad penalties in excess of 100 yards surely didn't help, but that wasn't the story.  NC is very good across the board, plain and simple.  Hanging with and almost beating IWU is all well and good, but even playing error free ball against the Cardinals still would not have been enough.  Too much talent for the Big Blue and probably for the rest of the CCIW as well.

Here's hoping they have the mindset to keep working hard and continue to improve and do some damage in the weeks to come.  It is still early, but I fear that MU and the rest of the league are playing for runner up this year.

[Pat Coleman]

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset

Ryan's take: No. 11 North Central. Yes, I know one of my colleagues picked on North Central last week, too, but when you play in a conference as good as the CCIW, every week will be treacherous. A 3-1 opponent like Millikin that played Illinois Wesleyan to the bone will be no exception.

That's 2 weeks in a row!  Here's hoping for the same result.  Also, (and not that I'm complaining about such a high compliment to the conference) isn't the recent buzz about how the CCIW has weakened?

I was thinking the same thing. As long as we keep on winning-please pick us every week

I just looked at the North Central schedule to see which team the folks at D3football.com were going to pick to upset the Cardinals next week ... looks like it will be North Park, losers of 58 straight CCIW games after today.  I can't wait to read the commentary that goes with that pick!

I have never had any intent to pick against North Central. I've left that to Ryan and Keith.

By the way, the strength of a conference in our conference rankings is rarely dependent on conference games. It's the non-conference games that mean the most.

[Stagg Again!!]

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset

Ryan's take: No. 11 North Central. Yes, I know one of my colleagues picked on North Central last week, too, but when you play in a conference as good as the CCIW, every week will be treacherous. A 3-1 opponent like Millikin that played Illinois Wesleyan to the bone will be no exception.

That's 2 weeks in a row!  Here's hoping for the same result.  Also, (and not that I'm complaining about such a high compliment to the conference) isn't the recent buzz about how the CCIW has weakened?

I was thinking the same thing. As long as we keep on winning-please pick us every week

I just looked at the North Central schedule to see which team the folks at D3football.com were going to pick to upset the Cardinals next week ... looks like it will be North Park, losers of 58 straight CCIW games after today.  I can't wait to read the commentary that goes with that pick!

I have never had any intent to pick against North Central. I've left that to Ryan and Keith.

By the way, the strength of a conference in our conference rankings is rarely dependent on conference games. It's the non-conference games that mean the most.

You chose wisely! Ryan and Keith - not so much.   

The tale of the tape is on the OL.  If they are healthy, this North Central team can score a lot of points; if they are not - see the UWL Box and Recap!  Can't wait to see the D3football.com Top 25 after the Salisbury v. SJF; Cal Lutheran v. Redlands; and Bethel v. CM results.

[Stagg Again!!]

I just looked at the North Central schedule to see which team the folks at D3football.com were going to pick to upset the Cardinals next week ... looks like it will be North Park, losers of 58 straight CCIW games after today.  I can't wait to read the commentary that goes with that pick!

Fifty-eight straight losses? I wish it was only 58 straight. It was 58 straight a long time ago, SOB.

Good catch Greg.  Shame on me for not doing the fact-checking that I normally do.  I was relying on the commentary in Keith's "Around the Nation" article from this week where he indicated that the longest conference losing streak was NPU at 57 games.  Looks like the real number is a bit higher at 84 games.  NPU's last CCIW win was against EC on 10/7/00.  My take-away from this is that I shouldn't rely on Keith for EITHER his data in the "Around the Nation" articles OR his picks for Most Likely Top 25 Team to Get Upset in the "Triple Take" articles (EC over NCC!).   

[NCF]

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset

Ryan’s take: No. 11 North Central. Yes, I know one of my colleagues picked on North Central last week, too, but when you play in a conference as good as the CCIW, every week will be treacherous. A 3-1 opponent like Millikin that played Illinois Wesleyan to the bone will be no exception.

That's 2 weeks in a row!  Here's hoping for the same result.  Also, (and not that I'm complaining about such a high compliment to the conference) isn't the recent buzz about how the CCIW has weakened?

I was thinking the same thing. As long as we keep on winning-please pick us every week

I just looked at the North Central schedule to see which team the folks at D3football.com were going to pick to upset the Cardinals next week ... looks like it will be North Park, losers of 58 straight CCIW games after today.  I can't wait to read the commentary that goes with that pick!

I have never had any intent to pick against North Central. I've left that to Ryan and Keith.

By the way, the strength of a conference in our conference rankings is rarely dependent on conference games. It's the non-conference games that mean the most.

You chose wisely! Ryan and Keith - not so much.   

The tale of the tape is on the OL.  If they are healthy, this North Central team can score a lot of points; if they are not - see the UWL Box and Recap!  Can't wait to see the D3football.com Top 25 after the Salisbury v. SJF; Cal Lutheran v. Redlands; and Bethel v. CM results.

If not for LaCrosse NC would be sitting up there in the top 5. I have no doubt they can compete with anyone up there after watching this season unfold. To get any d3 love, they are going to have to make a deep play off run. first things first, take care of business in the CCIW.

[USee]

We are seeing some exceptionally good QB play thus far in the season. The numbers below are way above normal for our league and put these three QB's among the top 15 nationally at all levels of the NCAA. If you think back to some of the great QB's in the CCIW the highest efficiency rating has been about 155% in the last 10 years. (Kam Kniss was 154% in 2005, Tim Brylka from Millikin in 200 was a 168%). Those are some really good TD/INT ratios.

PASS EFFICIENCY    Team Cl  G Att Cmp Int  Pct.  Yds TD  Eff.
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. Roberts, Jordan WHEA SR  5 120  92   1  76.7 1065 16 193.5
2. Holmes, Matt... MILL   SR  5 108  73   3  67.6 1005 13 179.9
3. Gallik, Rob....    IWU   JR  5 135  93   5  68.9 1181 13 166.7

[USee]

Pretty amazing finish to the Bethel v Concordia Moorhead game in Arden Hills yesterday. I have pasted the video link to the game and you can watch the final sequence at 2:22:30 of the video stream.

Bethel has the ball at the Concordia 19 yard line with 1.9 seconds to go in the game and down by 7. The Bethel announcer says "There is no doubt this will be the last play of the game....". He couldn't have been more wrong as 3 more plays were run before the end of the game was decided in regulation with Bethel winning.

Amazing.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25961737

[dahlby]

USee, thanks for sharing. Plus K.
So many areas to be disected and discussed.

[AndOne]

USee, thanks for sharing. Plus K.
So many areas to be disected and discussed.

USee----

I echo what dahlby said. Don't know if I've seen a more amazing finish to a game. Thanks for posting that.
+K