FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

One other point about last night's game: While it's not yet a mathematical certainty, it's pretty much a fait accompli that North Park is not going to finish in the CCIW cellar this season. That may not sound like much to most of you, but NPU has not had the pleasure of looking down on somebody else in the final standings since 1993. It's therefore a big deal to those of us who support the royal blue and gold. In order to improve, you have to do so at the expense of other teams. That's the way that this sport works.

He's a keeper allright-but will he stay-that's the question. I still fell very good about that little bet we made:)

I'm already thinking about what steak restaurant I'm going to choose.

[USee]

NPU becoming one of the great stories around the Division.  After the start to the season, not sure anyone would have seen TWO conference wins on the horizon, and more importantly: this win rings a lot truer as a sign of progress than scrapping out a win over the "soggy bottom" (Carthage or Millikin).  Much like Hiram in the NCAC beating Allegheny for the first time since they joined the conference, NPU beating an Augie team with a couple wins to its credit this year seems to matter 10x more than the Carthage win.  Take notice, folks.  NPU may not be threating for the CCIW title any time soon, but they might be stepping up in class to the middle of the pack within a year or two.  Long as the Conway boys are around to help Dad, I'd watch out for this team.  Have to imagine the wins this year will help with player retention and recruiting, as well.

Ahem, not to toot my own horn but I DID make the following  post "After the start to the season":

And an article on IWU's large senior class...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/big-iwu-senior-class-eager-to-close-out-with-special/article_a3b47e58-06f4-11e3-b2e7-001a4bcf887a.html

Q brought up this article a few weeks back that shows IWU with 32 people in their SR class. Obviously we all know that you win the CCIW with upper classmen and good teams with a strong senior class are almost always in contention for league titles in all sports, but surely in CCIW football. This is a big reason why IWU has such high aspirations for the current season.

I took a look at the CCIW schools, and in particular the projected top 3. I looked at how many seniors are returning and how many of them are regular contributors on the field in terms of playing time for meaningful parts of games.

(seniors/contributors)
IWU 30/15
Wheaton 26/19
NCC 21/13

Augie 25/13
Elmhurst 17/7
Millikin  14/7
NPU  17/7

I have a pretty good feel for the top 3 plus Elmhurst of how many are "contributing" the other schools are partly informed and part guesses. A couple observations:

IWU and Wheaton are threats to win the conference title because of their incredibly strong senior classes and experience. I think this stat shows why there is separation amongst the top 3 as much as anything else.

-Augie is surprisingly strong in their senior class. It does matter how good those seniors are and I think what we have seen is they don't have enough senior All CCIW type players to compete with the top 3. This stat makes me think they will be in the top half of the league this year though.

-NPU has as strong a senior class as they have had in some years (GS has previously mentioned this). Makes me think they can compete this year with the likes of Millikin and Carthage. It wouldn't be a total shock to see 2 conference wins from NPU......heresy you say? We will see

Just don't look up any of my other predictions. Congratulations to the NPU faithful and players. Yesterday's win was far more shocking than the one weeks ago.

[Titan Q]

-Devonte Jones inexplicably has the ensuing KO bounce off his facemask and Wheaton recovers at the IWU 15. After a pass interference penalty Wheaton had 1st and goal at the IWU 2 yd line. After trailing by 10 points just 3 minutes earlier, Wheaton now had a chance to take the lead. Josia Sears, Wheaton's offensive coordinator, called 2 passes, both were open but a lack of execution combined with IWU's speed on defense resulted in 2 incompletions. On 3rd down, Jeff Jerome, a junior, slanted around Spencer Clark and hit Jesse Geary at the mesh point for a fumble that IWU recovered, thwarting the Wheaton threat.That was a great play by Jerome, who had a great game. He showed tremendous quickness and athleticism to make that happen. I thought the missed extra point may have made Josiah be a little more aggressive with his play calling on 1st and 2nd down, needing a TD vs a FG. If Cote had made the extra point on the previous TD, you can run it 3x and still kick a FG to tie. Made a difference in my mind.

I was definitely really surprised at the two pass calls.  I figured Wheaton would just run the ball into the endzone on 1st or 2nd down. 

[robberki]

I've accurately predicted North Park's record to date, I will continue to share my predictions after they occur.

[markerickson]

Congratulations Coach Conway and the Vikings on your impressive victory!  I saw Magwood rush for 98 yards on 11 carries in the home opener, but then he had a combined 7 carries in the two losses with Olivet and Carthage, which I found odd.  I'm sure NP's balanced attack absolutely stunned Augie!!  So North Park beat Augie in Rock Island for the first time in my lifetime.  (I wonder when the Vikings last beat the Crusaders in Wheaton.)  So there is still hope that the MN Vikings will win a Super Bowl in my lifetime, but just not this year.  Hope springs eternal.

I had a long, physical day yesterday by cutting down a tree, removing the stump, and planting four bushes.  I took breaks to watch the Gophers snap a 16 game losing streak against the Bugeaters, aka, Cornhuskers.  In the late evening I stumbled upon Brian's Song just as it started.  I had not watched that movie since my teen years.  I did not recall Piccolo led the nation in rushing during his senior campaign.  Seeing original footage of Sayers...wow...just think how good he could have been without those injuries.

Oh yeah, I wonder when the last time NP finished a season with more conference victories than nonconference.  Was it in the Love era or 1968 or longer than that?  Regardless, that streak has also been broken.

[AndOne]

Carthage and Millikin take notice-North Park is knockin' on the door and this could be the year they get one or two conference W's.

Man, I can't tell you how tired I am of seeing stuff like this.

Yes, Carthage and Millikin look bad this year, in what has shaped up to be a season in which the CCIW is extra-soggy on the bottom. And, yes, Olivet is a genuinely improved team from a year ago; the Comets team that NPU thumped in Michigan last season was almost completely made up of freshmen, but talented freshmen, most of whom stuck around and are now rounding into genuinely good football players.

But let's be realistic. NPU got outgained by about two to one yesterday. The Vikings' offense never really got untracked. And. although the defense did a great bend-but-don't-break job of holding down the Comets on the scoreboard, they got pretty banged up in the process -- and that's a serious concern for a defense that isn't loaded with depth and will probably be on the short end of time-of-possession in every CCIW game it plays (including against Carthage and Millikin). And, to be perfectly honest, what kept the game so close was Olivet's lack of discipline. The Comets are an underclassmen-dominated team, and it looked like it as far as penaties were concerned; 11 penalties for 157 yards, with several of those penalties being very costly on both sides of the ball for the Comets. Plus, NPU's lone touchdown was set up by an Olivet punt snap that sailed over the punter's head and gave the Vikes a gift-wrapped drive start at the Olivet 11.

The Vikings played with a lot of moxie yesterday, and had a legit chance to win it at the end. But they were still pretty badly outplayed by the Comets. And they will come limping into next Saturday's Homecoming game against Carthage with some pretty important players injured.

Every year people talk about how this will be the year that NPU gets a conference win. And every year I shake my head in disbelief, because they seem to make those comments without having actually seen the Vikings.

Nobody wants to see North Park win a CCIW football game more than yours truly. (Aside from the players and coaches, of course.) I think that that's pretty well established. But I'm being realistic. It's a banged-up 0-3 team that doesn't have much defensive depth, has a freshman QB and (mostly) underclassmen at the skill positions, and is still learning a new offense.

Can we please have a moratorium on the "NPU is gonna win a CCIW game this year" stuff for at least one week?

Eat those words Sager!         

With the improvement Augie has shown, I don't see a win for the eastern Vikings against their western counterparts.

Eat those words, Anderson!

Eat those words Sager!         

And enjoy your dinner!         

[AndOne]

NCC FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS

Dace, Nick    4th    06:52    56 yards    Good

Nick Dace sets NCC record for longest field goal made

[kiko]

Dennis Prikkel's "and the veil of the temple was rent" comment gets at what I mean when I say that this may be an even bigger win for NPU than the Carthage win was. In the long run, there's really not much difference between an 89-game losing streak and a 92-game losing streak. But the impact of this win in terms of what it represents looking back and how it plays out going forward is even bigger. While all seven of the other CCIW programs have made a habit out of pounding NPU on the gridiron over the years, nobody has done it more overpoweringly, more consistently, and more frustratingly than has Augie. I've been around North Park for well over three decades now, and if it only seems as though every year Augie beat the Park by a 55-7 or 69-0 score, it's an impression that had some merit to it. North Park football players were always more concerned with physical survival than with success whenever they took the field against the Lutheran Vikings. Tonight, however, the eternal playground bully got punched in the face ... and in his own backyard. I wondered if I'd ever see this day, and I'll bet that Dennis wondered the same thing.

Back In The Day(tm) it seemed like North Central scheduled Augie for homecoming every year, and every year the game ended with a 56-0 shellacking.  It wasn't quite that bad, of course, but it sure seemed like it.

When the Cardinals turned the corner in the start of the Thorne era, the single biggest indicator that I looked at was Augustana.  They were the measuring stick, even though the program wasn't what it once had been.  That's why 4-3/7-3 in 2004 was a much much much bigger deal than 4-3/7-3 in 2003, or 4-3/6-4 in 2002.

So I get it.  And I agree with you.  This was a much bigger deal for the Vikes than defeating Carthage.

My hope, for NPU's sake, is that they are able to use this window to reset the norms as they relate to expectations for the program.  The Conway kids are the type of recruits the Vikes would not have gotten within a country mile of in years past.  I'm hoping NPU can use the window in which they are at the Park to reset who they can attract to the North Side.  It won't be easy, for all the reasons that Gregory has noted previously.  But there is an opportunity to make this more than just a blip of success before a return to prior norms.  I don't know if the new baseline should be bottom-third or bottom-half, or .500-ish, or whatever.  Just that in the past it was bottom-one, and there is an opportunity in the next 24-36 months to drown that and permanently begin aiming for a different place.  I sure hope NPU takes advantage of this window.

[iwu70]

Roberts was tackled for loss a number of times on his running plays.  I considered this the key containment of a guy who was seen as a great running threat before the game.  I agree he doesn't have near the receiving corps that Gallik enjoys.  No doubt.  IWU D made some big plays, and proved to be opportunistic, overcoming the many Titan errors, TOs and key penalties. 

IWU will need to play nearly error-free on Saturday, reduce painful game-changing penalties to have a chance again NCC.  Can't shoot yourself in the foot (or head) against an opponent like NCC.

I'm surprised the line is only one TD.  Delighted the Titans have a chance to play for the CCIW crown, 7-0, 4-0.  Now comes the biggest challenge of the year.

Congrats again to NPU on their potentially watershed win over Augie.  As has been mentioned, lots of reasons why this is such a key win and I hope the NPU program takes full advantage of it to keep things moving in a positive direction and change the ethos and results for years to come.  Very good for NPU and for the Conference as a whole.  Keep smiling Greg!  Agree with what has been said about the Carthage and MU programs -- sad to see them sink.  We'll see soon if EC can right the ship and end the season on a more respectable note.

Should be another exciting, great match-up at Tucci @Wilder Field this Saturday -- NCC vs. IWU, 1 p.m.  Again looks like good weather, sunny and mid-50s.  We'll see.  Would love to see the Titans pull it all together and play the best they can play all season, error and penalty-free football for 60 minutes.   Or very close to it.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations Coach Conway and the Vikings on your impressive victory!  I saw Magwood rush for 98 yards on 11 carries in the home opener, but then he had a combined 7 carries in the two losses with Olivet and Carthage, which I found odd.

A lot of that had to do with D.J. Jones. NPU has two very talented freshman running backs this season, not just one. When Jones emerged, he took some of Magwood's touches. Now that Jones is sidelined with a broken hand, Magwood's back to getting more touches. The other aspect of this is that the NPU coaching staff decided to stick with the guy who was hot yesterday rather than spread the touches around. Notice that the other running back in NPU's three-man RB rotation this season, Drew Walkington, only had two carries yesterday. Magwood and Walkington had had the same number of carries for the season going into last night.

I'm sure NP's balanced attack absolutely stunned Augie!!  So North Park beat Augie in Rock Island for the first time in my lifetime.

First time in anybody's lifetime.

(I wonder when the Vikings last beat the Crusaders in Wheaton.)

It was my freshman year at NPC, 1979. North Park 10, Wheaton 7.

So there is still hope that the MN Vikings will win a Super Bowl in my lifetime, but just not this year.  Hope springs eternal.

Just don't grow a beard and leave it uncut while waiting for Minnesota to win a Super Bowl.

Oh yeah, I wonder when the last time NP finished a season with more conference victories than nonconference.  Was it in the Love era or 1968 or longer than that?  Regardless, that streak has also been broken.

It was 1992. The only game that North Park won that season was at Carthage.

My hope, for NPU's sake, is that they are able to use this window to reset the norms as they relate to expectations for the program.  The Conway kids are the type of recruits the Vikes would not have gotten within a country mile of in years past.  I'm hoping NPU can use the window in which they are at the Park to reset who they can attract to the North Side.  It won't be easy, for all the reasons that Gregory has noted previously.  But there is an opportunity to make this more than just a blip of success before a return to prior norms.  I don't know if the new baseline should be bottom-third or bottom-half, or .500-ish, or whatever.  Just that in the past it was bottom-one, and there is an opportunity in the next 24-36 months to drown that and permanently begin aiming for a different place.  I sure hope NPU takes advantage of this window.

Yep. That's it in a nutshell. As I said a week ago, Mike and Beth Ann Conway don't have any more sons to fill out NPU uniforms. Not that T.D. and Dakota are all that there is to this season's crop of newbies; I've talked about freshman WRs Geneva and Hood and freshman RBs Magwood and Jones, but there's also two very solid starting defensive linemen, Trevor Forker and Patrick Goodall, a really good CB in Philip Pendleton, and a few other players who've stepped in and gotten playing time thus far this season. But T.D. and Dakota are the two that are getting the attention because they're Mike's sons and they transferred in to NPU last spring when their dad took the job at Foster & Kedzie.

But, as you said, the recruiting constraints under which NPU football has to operate are still there. As successful as he's been thus far (at least by comparison to his immediate coaching predecessors), Mike Conway still has to face the most important test, and that's whether or not he can break through those recruiting constraints in the years ahead. It all comes down to recruiting in college sports. If you can't recruit the players, you can't win the games. That's really what it's all about.

[Gregory Sager]

Game story in the QC Times.

Augustana head coach Rob Cushman said he warned his players in advance that they couldn't take Saturday's game lightly.

"I tried to tell our guys that's not the old North Park," Cushman said. "I'm not sure I got through to them."

[AndOne]

IWU will need to play nearly error-free on Saturday, reduce painful game-changing penalties to have a chance again NCC.  Can't shoot yourself in the foot (or head) against an opponent like NCC.

I'm surprised the line is only one TD.  Delighted the Titans have a chance to play for the CCIW crown, 7-0, 4-0.  Now comes the biggest challenge of the year.

Should be another exciting, great match-up at Tucci @Wilder Field this Saturday -- NCC vs. IWU, 1 p.m.  Again looks like good weather, sunny and mid-50s.  We'll see.  Would love to see the Titans pull it all together and play the best they can play all season, error and penalty-free football for 60 minutes.   Or very close to it.

IWU70

Are Coach Thorne and the Cardinals playing at Tucci Stadium or at Wilder Field next Saturday? Confusing.   
They are wondering where they are supposed to show the Weenies how to play football. 

Seriously, two undefeated teams. Shouldn't having home field advantage make IWU the favorite? 

[NCF]

One other point about last night's game: While it's not yet a mathematical certainty, it's pretty much a fait accompli that North Park is not going to finish in the CCIW cellar this season. That may not sound like much to most of you, but NPU has not had the pleasure of looking down on somebody else in the final standings since 1993. It's therefore a big deal to those of us who support the royal blue and gold. In order to improve, you have to do so at the expense of other teams. That's the way that this sport works.

He's a keeper allright-but will he stay-that's the question. I still fell very good about that little bet we made:)

I'm already thinking about what steakgrilled chicken restaurant I'm going to choose.

Fixed it for me

[Titan Q]

Seriously, two undefeated teams. Shouldn't having home field advantage make IWU the favorite? 

Home field advantage should give IWU about 3 points of advantage...bringing my line to NCC -7.5.  (Neutral field I go NCC -10.5.)

[iwu70]

Come on, AndOne, get with the program and the history of the field.  Surely you are not easily confused!  But, if your boys want to show up at the wrong field on Saturday, that's their business.  Yes, as you know,  it's both = Tucci Stadium (for the recent big donor for artificial turf, new lights etc. and all the new embellishments we are enjoying) at Wilder Field, the historical name of the field -- one of the oldest in all of NCAA football history.  Come and enjoy our lovely facilities, our hospitality, our traditions, and our history.  But, you gotta get educated first, it sounds like! 

Anyway, all kidding aside, on the line, who's a favorite etc. -- I 'm glad we have home field and it should help some, but I still have NCC by at least a TD, maybe more.  Do think our Titans are playing well and surely have a chance, but continue to feel that playing pretty much error-free, cutting down on the penalties, especially BIG ones, like pass interference calls in the endzone, twice, might just help some.  NCC are still the, what, 8 time? defending CCIW champs, so de-throwning, de-crowning them will not be an easy task.  As much as I'm a homer and love to look through my green glasses and will unfailingly support our Titans, I can see the realities of recent history in CCIW football and know how strong the NCC program is.  It has a coach who is an IWU grad, afterall.  Nuff said.  (One could say it took a Titan to sort out the NCC program, but that would be snarky and, of course, not entirely true.  But, maybe partially true!).

Should be a great game, a great atmosphere and a game with lots on the line for CCIW hardware and post-season berths.  Both teams have a lot to play for.  I have no doubt both teams will be ready to play.  Both Coaches will be ready too. 

IWU70