FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[wally_wabash]

After everything this week, this game is going to come down to a kick.  Of course it would.   

[scottie]

Looks like IWU70, who earlier was castigated for 'gloom and doom', was too optimistic!  Barring a MAJOR upset against NCC or Wheaton, they seem destined for 4-6 (and even NPU cannot be chalked up as an automatic win).  This will likely be their first losing season since 2006.

Losing your starting quarterback (and not having an adequate backup) is a recipe for disaster.  They already knew that from just two years ago when the starter went down for the season, when undefeated and ranked in the teens nationally, and proceeded to go 0-4 the rest of the way.

Norm has GOT to do a better job of recruiting and grooming 2nd and 3rd string qbs.  Injuries are a part of the game, especially for qbs.

oh please Mr Ypsi.  You would have Norm recruit for an experienced QB leaving team and school , mono , an appendectomy and an injury!?  I see nothing wrong with the recruiting.  As for development,  hum,  which backup to the backup to the backup QB do I groom in the event I have four QBs go down or out?

As I thought I made clear, a 4th string qb who can be effective is an unexpected bonus.  But having three available seems reasonable.

In both 2012 and 2014, even a good #2 seemed unavailable.

.....That's a shame.....

[hazzben]

Personally I hope the deciding factor comes down to a made kick (preferably by Cote).  It'll mean it was any absolutely awesome game.

Prophetic!

I think we can put the "Great Little Brass Bell FG Kicker Debate" to bed 

Great game by both teams tonight.

[Langhorst_Ghost]

The commentator on the Wheaton broadcast called tonight's tilt in DuPage County a "championship game." I guess the Wheaton AD doesn't need to bother signing the invoice for theIr charter bus next Saturday.

[shepherd]

The commentator on the Wheaton broadcast called tonight's tilt in DuPage County a "championship game." I guess the Wheaton AD doesn't need to bother signing the invoice for theIr charter bus next Saturday.

I am sure they meant it as a slight to Elmhurst.
Project much do you?

[Mugsy]

The commentator on the Wheaton broadcast called tonight's tilt in DuPage County a "championship game." I guess the Wheaton AD doesn't need to bother signing the invoice for theIr charter bus next Saturday.

What would you expect a biased commentator to say?  And do you honestly think that is the way the Wheaton staff will approach the game?  Gimme a break.

[CardinalAlum]

Congrats to Wheaton!  You deserve the Bell and the conference championship.   Would've been nice if the NCC defense showed up to play.   Peltz was fantastic and we couldn't stop him.  Swider had his guys ready to play and didn't make many mistakes.   I don't see how NCC makes the playoffs this year.  Sorenson catching one ball is ridiculous.   If Warden can't get him the ball, then find someone who will.

[matblake]

The commentator on the Wheaton broadcast called tonight's tilt in DuPage County a "championship game." I guess the Wheaton AD doesn't need to bother signing the invoice for theIr charter bus next Saturday.

Looks like someone put some "uptight" juice in Ghost's Kool-Aid

[CardinalAlum]

The commentator on the Wheaton broadcast called tonight's tilt in DuPage County a "championship game." I guess the Wheaton AD doesn't need to bother signing the invoice for theIr charter bus next Saturday.

Looks like someone put some "uptight" juice in Ghost's Kool-Aid

Call it what it is.  That will not be a contest for Wheaton against Elmhurst.  I'm a believer.

[USee]

I think the Thunder Defense matches up well with NCC, but I am not confident they will hold them under 3-4 scores. My biggest concern is for the Thunder offense. I am simply not sure how they are going to score points. They don't have speed and lack consistency at QB. They average 3.7 yds per rush. I don't have a lot of confidence all of this will improve against NCC, who has the leading run defense in the conference.

Wheaton will need to hold NCC to 14 pts and then figure out how to score on special teams or defense. If NCC scores 24 you can phone it in.

I was wrong, totally wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong. I think we were all wrong. If I wrote there would be only 1 punt in this game not a single one of us would have thought this game would be close and it would be an NCC runaway. Wrong, completely wrong. WOW.

[cardinaldad]

Congrats to Wheaton!  You deserve the Bell and the conference championship.   Would've been nice if the NCC defense showed up to play.   Peltz was fantastic and we couldn't stop him.  Swider had his guys ready to play and didn't make many mistakes.   I don't see how NCC makes the playoffs this year.  Sorenson catching one ball is ridiculous.   If Warden can't get him the ball, then find someone who will.

     Well said CardinalAlum. I was surprised tonight at how the Wheaton offense dominated the Card defense. In my twelve years following Cardinal Football, I've never seen an offense dominate us both on the ground and through the air. The Wheaton backs carried three and four of our defenders for yards after initial contact. We couldn't Rush the passer which made it impossible for us to defend the pass. The right tackle is a beast!
     We were definitely outplayed and out coached tonight. Congrats to Wheaton. It' going to be a long year waiting to get the bell back.
     On a side note, both teams should go back to "delivering" the bell to the new winning team. Much classier!

[thunder38]

Congrats to Wheaton!  You deserve the Bell and the conference championship.   Would've been nice if the NCC defense showed up to play.   Peltz was fantastic and we couldn't stop him.  Swider had his guys ready to play and didn't make many mistakes.   I don't see how NCC makes the playoffs this year.  Sorenson catching one ball is ridiculous.   If Warden can't get him the ball, then find someone who will.

     Well said CardinalAlum. I was surprised tonight at how the Wheaton offense dominated the Card defense. In my twelve years following Cardinal Football, I've never seen an offense dominate us both on the ground and through the air. The Wheaton backs carried three and four of our defenders for yards after initial contact. We couldn't Rush the passer which made it impossible for us to defend the pass. The right tackle is a beast!
     We were definitely outplayed and out coached tonight. Congrats to Wheaton. It' going to be a long year waiting to get the bell back.
     On a side note, both teams should go back to "delivering" the bell to the new winning team. Much classier!

Couldn't agree more. Last year Coach Swider brought the Bell out to Coach Thorne for the handshake but Thorson making a beeline to the NCC sideline to take the Bell away wasn't the greatest way to cap off an absolutely incredible football game.

[wally_wabash]

I think the Thunder Defense matches up well with NCC, but I am not confident they will hold them under 3-4 scores. My biggest concern is for the Thunder offense. I am simply not sure how they are going to score points. They don't have speed and lack consistency at QB. They average 3.7 yds per rush. I don't have a lot of confidence all of this will improve against NCC, who has the leading run defense in the conference.

Wheaton will need to hold NCC to 14 pts and then figure out how to score on special teams or defense. If NCC scores 24 you can phone it in.

I was wrong, totally wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong. I think we were all wrong. If I wrote there would be only 1 punt in this game not a single one of us would have thought this game would be close and it would be an NCC runaway. Wrong, completely wrong. WOW.

Guilty.  I thought it would be NCC playing keep away from Wheaton, not the other way around.  Wheaton's offensive line whooped NCC's defensive line tonight.  Complete domination at the LOS for the Thunder. 

Couldn't agree more. Last year Coach Swider brought the Bell out to Coach Thorne for the handshake but Thorson making a beeline to the NCC sideline to take the Bell away wasn't the greatest way to cap off an absolutely incredible football game.

Back in 1996 when DePauw won the Monon Bell for the first time in a long time, their team did the same sort of sprint, crash through the sideline kind of thing that helped incite a pretty nasty brawl involving players, fans...pretty much anybody who was in the area (which was everybody).   Glad there wasn't anything extra happening when Thorson and some teammates stormed through there.  After that little incident, we came up with some protocol for trophy transitions.  I'd rather we not have that kind of protocol because that kind of spontaneous excitement after  big rivalry win is fun...until it isn't.  Don't ever cross that line.   

[USee]

Wheaton 34
NCC 31

Wheaton 464 total yards

228 yds rushing, 5.0 yds per carry
Peltz 22 carries 86 yds 3.8 ypc
Kemp 6 carries 54 yds
Puknaitis 9 carries 52 yds
Geary 8 carries 40 yds

236 yds passing
Peltz 22-28 79% O INT 1 TD
Wheaton 28 first downs

NCC 399 yds total offense

220 yds rushing (159 in 1st half) 5.2 yds per carry
OShayne Brown 21-145 2TDs 6.8 yd per carry
Warden 15 carries 61 yds 3.3 yds per carry

179 yds passing
Warden 8-15 53% 1 INT
NCC 21 first downs

First I will say this was just an outstanding football game. Both sides had players making plays at different times. Both sides had players helped off the field only to see them return and give their all. This was a high intensity game between two very good, top 15 football teams. 1 turnover in the game, 1 punt in the game and two offensive lines that dominated the LOS.

I will also say that while I am very happy my team won, I am all too aware of how it feels to be on the losing side of a game like this. NCC has some great players. I feel for a kid like Ryan Kent who didn't return after injuring his foot in the first series. He is a great player and a great kid. North Central is a great team with quality people behind those face masks.

Wheaton's game plan was really flawless. If you heard the pregame interviews with Josiah Sears he hinted at the fact they saw something on film for their running game and the team that had 35 yds offense in the second half against Augie ran the ball for 228 yds. Johnny Peltz showed his immense talent with a flawless performance. On offense the Wheaton plan was to run the ball and control the clock. NCC held a 18-12 time of possession advantage at halftime and in the second half, Wheaton had it for 23 minutes to 7 minute for NCC and that was the difference. The Thunder OLine dominated (Peter Mann's 13 tackles notwithstanding) and they repeatedly gained 6-7 yds on first down runs.

The Wheaton defensive gameplan after hearing Jordan Langs on the pregame show and Swider's comments after the game was simple. Keep two safeties deep, double Sorenson on every play, let NCC run the ball and defend it with 7 players. NCC ran the ball effectively but that was Wheaton's plan. They tackled well and kept Sorenson out of the game save for the 1 catch, which was an awesome catch. The interception by Warden was him trying to force it into double coverage (Sorenson's catch was into double coverage too, he just outjumped everybody).

Great game plan and great execution. Congratulations to the Thunder.

[USee]

Couldn't agree more. Last year Coach Swider brought the Bell out to Coach Thorne for the handshake but Thorson making a beeline to the NCC sideline to take the Bell away wasn't the greatest way to cap off an absolutely incredible football game.

Back in 1996 when DePauw won the Monon Bell for the first time in a long time, their team did the same sort of sprint, crash through the sideline kind of thing that helped incite a pretty nasty brawl involving players, fans...pretty much anybody who was in the area (which was everybody).   Glad there wasn't anything extra happening when Thorson and some teammates stormed through there.  After that little incident, we came up with some protocol for trophy transitions.  I'd rather we not have that kind of protocol because that kind of spontaneous excitement after  big rivalry win is fun...until it isn't.  Don't ever cross that line.   

Legend has it this goes back to the win in Naperville in 2012. In previous years Swider has brought the bell out at the handshake after a loss. In 2012 Thorne came across the field without the bell and when Swider asked where it was, Thorne said he would get it to him. Swider said something to the effect of "Don't worry we'll go get it" and sent his captains into the NCC bench to retrieve the bell. 

I agree a post game protocol should be instituted.