FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

I believe I've been saying since about week 3 that the Titans weren't as good as expected this year.  Sadly for me as a Greenie fan, my view turned out to be correct.  I give all credit to NCC and WC on excellent seasons, esp. WC for their championship run.  IWU gave them a good game yesterday and played a lot better than in previous weeks when games they should have won got away.  There are lots of problems to address, though with Warner back and IWU finding a good young running running back yesterday, I'm optimistic for the future.

Bolden is suspended for disciplinary reasons.  Not sure on his status for Saturday. 

If NPU plays well on Saturday, the game could be very competitive.  Neither team has anything to lose and it is Senior Day for the outgoing Titans, so I expect them to come to play too, yes, a bit angry about how their season has gone.  From what I've seen, I'd say the Titans by 10 points.  We'll see. 

No whining from me.  IWU didn't play all that well this year and clearly was not as good as we expected or hoped for.  Wheaton was better than many of us thought and they de-throwned the 8 time CCIW champs.  Congrats to them.  I hope NCC gets a bid, but at 8-2 I doubt it.  Congrats to Coach Thorne on his long and successful tenure as head coach. 

Moving on . . . basketball is coming.  We'll all have to move over for Augie now.  That win against DI Bradley was something.  Gonna be tough to beat Augie this year.

IWU70

[Pat Coleman]

Buy Mugsy, Wheaton is playing with their 3rd string QB who they had to convert from WR just to play there.  They also lost their best Defensive back to an ACL and didn't play today with one of their best defensive linemen.  Poor Thunder.

Indeed, a very disappointing season for Wheaton fans in SO MANY ways. By preseason prognostications, your team should be either 7-2, or 8-1, not ... uh ....

I predict a beatdown in Kenosha to take out our frustrations!

I thought the Wheaton way was to call people out in postgame interviews.

[USee]

4)  Wheaton needs more from their RB's.  #34 Jesse Geary doesn't seem to be running with much authority at all, maybe there's a lingering injury?  #32 Danny Puknaitis is the more explosive, tougher-to-tackle runner right now.  I don't think it's realistic to keep expecting Peltz to lead the team in rushing yards.  Wheaton needs Jesse and Danny to refuse to go down on contact.

The only thing I would add here is the players are running what is called. JP11 has been the leading ball carrier every start (Millikin, NCC, Elmhurst, IWU). I would like to see more called runs to the RB's, in particular, Puknaitis. You don't want your QB with 20 runs a game. IWU had a great plan to limit JP11 on the read option. They attacked the mesh point with their big, athletic DE's and it made it difficult to read. I would like to see Geary and Puknaitis carry more of the load in the run game.

[Mugsy]

4)  Wheaton needs more from their RB's.  #34 Jesse Geary doesn't seem to be running with much authority at all, maybe there's a lingering injury?  #32 Danny Puknaitis is the more explosive, tougher-to-tackle runner right now.  I don't think it's realistic to keep expecting Peltz to lead the team in rushing yards.  Wheaton needs Jesse and Danny to refuse to go down on contact.

The only thing I would add here is the players are running what is called. JP11 has been the leading ball carrier every start (Millikin, NCC, Elmhurst, IWU). I would like to see more called runs to the RB's, in particular, Puknaitis. You don't want your QB with 20 runs a game. IWU had a great plan to limit JP11 on the read option. They attacked the mesh point with their big, athletic DE's and it made it difficult to read. I would like to see Geary and Puknaitis carry more of the load in the run game.

Not to mention less chance of JP 11 getting banged up

[USee]

With a win in Kenosha next Saturday Wheaton will finish 10-0 (7-0) for just the third time in Mike Swider's tenure. They went undefeated in conference and overall in 1995 (Swider was DC under JR Bishop) and in 2003. In 2002 they were undefeated in CCIW play but 9-1 overall. This is a great opportunity for the Thunder in a year when no one expected it.

As far as the playoff picture Wheaton has secured the AQ. What's left is whether they play 1 or 2 home playoff games. If they win Saturday they will almost certainly be a 2 or 3 seed in whatever bracket they are in (there are no official seeds). That bracket will likely include either UWW or Mt Union as a 1 seed. If Wheaton is the "2" seed it is significant as they would host 2 playoff games before traveling to the 1 seed. If they are a 3 seed they would host round 1 and travel to the 2 seed in round 2 (all of this is if the seeds hold during the early rounds).

If NCC makes the field they almost certainly would be on the road. There will very likely be at least 1 two loss team in the field. Bethel is NCC's main competition. The good news for the Cards is many of the two loss candidates will be stuck in the west region (Bethel, Platteville, Oshkosh) While NCC has to wait while JCU/Mt Union winner and Wabash are taken, but that should be early. Keep an eye on the Pool C board this week where all the analysis happens, especially Wednesday after the regional rankings are released.

[thunderdog]

4)  Wheaton needs more from their RB's.  #34 Jesse Geary doesn't seem to be running with much authority at all, maybe there's a lingering injury?  #32 Danny Puknaitis is the more explosive, tougher-to-tackle runner right now.  I don't think it's realistic to keep expecting Peltz to lead the team in rushing yards.  Wheaton needs Jesse and Danny to refuse to go down on contact.

The only thing I would add here is the players are running what is called. JP11 has been the leading ball carrier every start (Millikin, NCC, Elmhurst, IWU). I would like to see more called runs to the RB's, in particular, Puknaitis. You don't want your QB with 20 runs a game. IWU had a great plan to limit JP11 on the read option. They attacked the mesh point with their big, athletic DE's and it made it difficult to read. I would like to see Geary and Puknaitis carry more of the load in the run game.

Not to mention less chance of JP 11 getting banged up

We all know JP 11 is tough (he's a Peltz for crying out loud, there's no other option ), but 18-20 carries a game will take its toll on anyone.  I'm all for seeing that # go down to 10-12.

Seeing Geary's workload vs Elmhurst (4 carries) and then his tentativeness in yesterday's contest tells me he's nursing something.  This is nothing confirmed on my end, but if true, I hope he heals soon and is ready to rock come Nov 22.  Wheaton is going to need his bruising style of running if we want to make a deep run in the playoffs.

I do recall a play yesterday where Bowers was the pitch man on a speed option play.  Don't know if he was lined up in the slot  (coming in motion) or in the backfield, but that's exciting stuff right there.  I think I'd even like to see Bowers as part of that read option with JP 11 reading the DE while meshing up w/ Bowers.  I'd like to see Bowers get 5-10 touches as a runner...

...Ahh, the joy of holding the title of "Monday Morning Arm-Chair Offensive Coordinator"...

[NCF]

Greg, unless I am way off in my prediction, I want to apologize in advance for what IWU will do to NPU next Saturday.  I suspect that a season of frustration will result in a double (or even triple) monkey stomp.

After one of the most frustrating seasons in decades, I can't really blame them too much.  Going into the season, at this point we expected to be either 7-2 or 8-1, not 3-6.

Just a gut hunch, but yes, I think a season of intense frustration will result in a multiple TD win over NPU, possibly to embarassing proportions.

Again, based on what they did to Wheaton, I have a gut hunch that they will take out a season-long frustration against NPU, to the tune of a 40-50 point beat-down.

Chuck, I will never understand why you decide to post some of the things you do on these boards - that's your deal.  But at least realize that this kind of stuff is a huge embarrassment to many other IWU other fans.  I'll concede to being one of those, and I regularly hear from a bunch of the others.

I mean, seriously...IWU is sitting at 1 and freakin' 5 in the league, and this is the kind of stupid sh#$ you decide to post?!  Come on, man...WTF.

You should know by now that Ypsi suffers from delusions of "green-deur"/

[markerickson]

I didn't see the homecoming haka vs Millikin as I instead attended Illinois' homecoming football game vs Minnesota, which was a debacle for my dad and I.   Yesterday's victory haka in front of the fans was special.

[badgerwarhawk]

Congrats Greg

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, unless I am way off in my prediction, I want to apologize in advance for what IWU will do to NPU next Saturday.  I suspect that a season of frustration will result in a double (or even triple) monkey stomp.

After one of the most frustrating seasons in decades, I can't really blame them too much.  Going into the season, at this point we expected to be either 7-2 or 8-1, not 3-6.

Just a gut hunch, but yes, I think a season of intense frustration will result in a multiple TD win over NPU, possibly to embarassing proportions.

Again, based on what they did to Wheaton, I have a gut hunch that they will take out a season-long frustration against NPU, to the tune of a 40-50 point beat-down.

Chuck, I will never understand why you decide to post some of the things you do on these boards - that's your deal.  But at least realize that this kind of stuff is a huge embarrassment to many other IWU other fans.  I'll concede to being one of those, and I regularly hear from a bunch of the others.

I mean, seriously...IWU is sitting at 1 and freakin' 5 in the league, and this is the kind of stupid sh#$ you decide to post?!  Come on, man...WTF.

You should know by now that Ypsi suffers from delusions of "green-deur"/

To all you guys who think I'm 'irrational' now, go back and read from 8-9 years ago.  You'll be amazed at how much I've mellowed since then!

e.g., back in 2005-06, by early January I was giving odds on an undefeated, national championship season.  (In my defense, we did tear thru a very daunting non-con season undefeated and unanimously #1 in the d3hoops.com poll; still ...)  We only went 8-6 in the CCIW, finishing third.  We did make it to Salem, again finishing third, and had two first-team d3hoops.com AAs, in Keelan Amelianovich and Adam Dauksas.  It has now been 41 years since anyone made it thru the CCIW unscathed.

[thunderdog]

I'd still like to know where I can get some action on that NPU +40 line?

[thunderdog]

And new record lows have been established in the Bears-Packers rivalry (can u call it that?)

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'd still like to know where I can get some action on that NPU +40 line?

8-9 years ago, you might have gotten action.  NO WAY am I actually backing up that prediction now!

+40 40 would not shock me; but I wouldn't even consider action beyond +20.

And the way the Titan season has gone, even a loss would not shock me.

[Gotberg]

I didn't see the homecoming haka vs Millikin as I instead attended Illinois' homecoming football game vs Minnesota, which was a debacle for my dad and I.   Yesterday's victory haka in front of the fans was special.

I probably haven't seen enough of NPU this year, but based on the little I have, they seem to be a more complete team than last year.  I am really excited for where the team is headed and I can't wait for next year.  Conway has really changed the culture of the program and I really appreciate his passion for the players, the program and the school.

[Titan Q]

IWU lost at home to Carthage.  (The same Carthage team that North Park beat by 22.)  Predictions of 1-5 IWU blowing any CCIW team out are silly.