FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[sigma one]

AndOne:  I don't know what NCC is trying to do about a 10th game.  But with a lot of free time on my hands I've tried to determine if there is anyone left to play.  NCC has open dates on 9/5 and 9/26.  Plenty of other teams across the country have openings on these dates, but only a few would be available.  Some of the teams with openings are in conferences that traditionally play a nine-game schedule.  For example, Linfield has a free date on 9/26, but the Northwest Conference plays a nine-game schedule.  Others with openings on these Saturdays, already are playing 10 games.
     A quick search (and I may have missed someone) shows that on 9/26 Castleton St. is open (geographically remote even if they wanted to play NCC), Gallaudet (they have played a varying number of games in recent years, nine last year), Rochester (usually plays nine games), and Rhodes  appear to have no game on 9/26 (8-2 last year, and geographically possible).   The catch this late is, I'm reasonably confident in saying, that budgets are set and schools are content that they have wrapped up their 2015 schedules.
     Even if NCC wanted at this point to find a 10th game, the potential is extremely remote.  After all, scheduling is a two-way street.
     Several years ago I was involved with a successful team trying to find a 10th game.  Even a year out, the team was struggling to find an opponent to open its season.  Fortunately, another team within the feasible geographic area had an opponent cancel, and the two decided to play.  But, again, that was about a full year from the date of the game.
     Too bad, really, because I assume the NCC wants to play their traditional 10-game schedule; too bad especially for the players who want to play the maximum number of games possible.

[wally_wabash]

I'd be curious as to where the CCIW experts in the room feel where WUStl slides in to the CCIW football hierarchy. 

[izzy stradlin]

I'd be curious as to where the CCIW experts in the room feel where WUStl slides in to the CCIW football hierarchy.

WashU football is 58-43 over the last 10 years.  With where the CCIW is top to bottom right now, I think WashU will be playing a tougher schedule and probably average around .500. 

I do think it is possible that they will get a recruiting boast (given how heavily they draw from the Chicago area) once they enter the CCIW that might improve their program and performance a few years down the line. 

[Neverwas]

I'd be curious as to where the CCIW experts in the room feel where WUStl slides in to the CCIW football hierarchy.

WashU football is 58-43 over the last 10 years.  With where the CCIW is top to bottom right now, I think WashU will be playing a tougher schedule and probably average around .500. 

I do think it is possible that they will get a recruiting boast (given how heavily they draw from the Chicago area) once they enter the CCIW that might improve their program and performance a few years down the line.

It is arbitrary but using 2010-2014 as a recent time frame (the first link below), I'd think they fall in line with the Elmhurst & Augie.  Which, if you put stock in it, is kind of where Massey has them.  128 for Wash U, Jays @ 125, Vikings @ 110.  I think that 2010-2014 is a good ranking for the conference if you move NPU up to 5 or 6.
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2013/6/20/FB_0620132812.aspx?path=football&tab=additionallinks-clickfordrop-down
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf&sub=NCAA%20III

I think it will be interesting to see how teams fare travelling down to STL to play.  I know Wash U. have to travel too but wonder if they steal a game from a Wheaton/NCC while having "shorter" trips to Bloomington and Decatur. 

[izzy stradlin]

I'd be curious as to where the CCIW experts in the room feel where WUStl slides in to the CCIW football hierarchy.

WashU football is 58-43 over the last 10 years.  With where the CCIW is top to bottom right now, I think WashU will be playing a tougher schedule and probably average around .500. 

I do think it is possible that they will get a recruiting boast (given how heavily they draw from the Chicago area) once they enter the CCIW that might improve their program and performance a few years down the line.

It is arbitrary but using 2010-2014 as a recent time frame (the first link below), I'd think they fall in line with the Elmhurst & Augie.  Which, if you put stock in it, is kind of where Massey has them.  128 for Wash U, Jays @ 125, Vikings @ 110.  I think that 2010-2014 is a good ranking for the conference if you move NPU up to 5 or 6.
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2013/6/20/FB_0620132812.aspx?path=football&tab=additionallinks-clickfordrop-down
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf&sub=NCAA%20III

I think it will be interesting to see how teams fare travelling down to STL to play.  I know Wash U. have to travel too but wonder if they steal a game from a Wheaton/NCC while having "shorter" trips to Bloomington and Decatur.

I like that NCC page you linked that tabulates recent records.  I noticed a couple errors at first glance, though.   NCC should be 19-2 in the last three years not 20-1.   They also added up IWU's record wrong for 2012-2014. 

[kiko]

I'd be curious as to where the CCIW experts in the room feel where WUStl slides in to the CCIW football hierarchy.

WashU football is 58-43 over the last 10 years.  With where the CCIW is top to bottom right now, I think WashU will be playing a tougher schedule and probably average around .500. 

I do think it is possible that they will get a recruiting boast (given how heavily they draw from the Chicago area) once they enter the CCIW that might improve their program and performance a few years down the line.

It is arbitrary but using 2010-2014 as a recent time frame (the first link below), I'd think they fall in line with the Elmhurst & Augie.  Which, if you put stock in it, is kind of where Massey has them.  128 for Wash U, Jays @ 125, Vikings @ 110.  I think that 2010-2014 is a good ranking for the conference if you move NPU up to 5 or 6.
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2013/6/20/FB_0620132812.aspx?path=football&tab=additionallinks-clickfordrop-down
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf&sub=NCAA%20III

I think it will be interesting to see how teams fare travelling down to STL to play.  I know Wash U. have to travel too but wonder if they steal a game from a Wheaton/NCC while having "shorter" trips to Bloomington and Decatur.

I think this is about right -- below the three big dogs and, at least for now, somewhere in the mix with the next tier of teams.  (And I put zero stock in Massey's nums for football because of sample size.)  If that is in fact where they come in, I think Wash U has opportunity to evolve that over time as this will be a great opportunity for them to further develop their program.

[wally_wabash]

Admittedly a tough question...we have to try and guess where a team will fit into a new league in three years by tracking results from 7-8 years prior.  Speculative is being kind to this kind of question, but why not?  It's June.  I'm with you guys in thinking that WashU will have to prove it before we decide that they are serious challengers to Wheaton and North Central (although there is a coaching change in Naperville, so put a pin in that).  I'm still curious to see what IWU will be post-Gallick.  Last year was a bit of a mess.  Augustana's coaching move is positive (I believe).  By the time 2018 rolls around my hunch is that Wheaton and North Central still rule this roost and then you could put a blanket over Augustana, IWU, and WashU in a tier just below.   

Side note- It wouldn't be fair to mention coaching moves and not point out that Larry Kindbom has been at this coaching thing for 30+ years.  WashU may well have a coaching overhaul between now and 2018 as well. 

[matblake]

Article about Noah Spielman and his choice to leave Toledo:
http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/526485?referrer_id=916754

[Gregory Sager]

Admittedly a tough question...we have to try and guess where a team will fit into a new league in three years by tracking results from 7-8 years prior.  Speculative is being kind to this kind of question, but why not?  It's June.  I'm with you guys in thinking that WashU will have to prove it before we decide that they are serious challengers to Wheaton and North Central (although there is a coaching change in Naperville, so put a pin in that).  I'm still curious to see what IWU will be post-Gallick.  Last year was a bit of a mess.  Augustana's coaching move is positive (I believe).  By the time 2018 rolls around my hunch is that Wheaton and North Central still rule this roost and then you could put a blanket over Augustana, IWU, and WashU in a tier just below.   

Side note- It wouldn't be fair to mention coaching moves and not point out that Larry Kindbom has been at this coaching thing for 30+ years.  WashU may well have a coaching overhaul between now and 2018 as well.

I'm probably the only person who posts here regularly who saw the last two games that Wash U played against a CCIW opponent. I'm not sure, but I might be the only regular-poster CCIW fan who has seen any Wash U games in recent seasons, regardless of opponent.

Last season in St. Louis the Bears defeated North Park, 24-19, in a very evenly-matched and defensive-oriented game that went down to the final minute; NPU had the ball just inside Wash U territory in that final minute but gave up the ball on downs with :12 left. The Bears finished 4-6; NPU went 2-8, 2-5, and didn't really compete at all with the upper half of the CCIW, losing by 14 to Illinois Wesleyan but surrendering over 500 yards of offense in the process, and getting walloped by Wheaton, NCC, and Elmhurst by 27, 32, and 28 points, respectively.

Four seasons ago NPU and Wash U met in Chicago; the host Vikings prevailed in a close game on the scoreboard, 13-10, that they nevertheless dominated statistically. The Bears went 6-4 that season (they lost by only a field goal to Wittenberg, which finished 8-2, the weekend before they traveled to Hedstrand Field). North Park, still in the throes of the 89-game CCIW losing streak at the time, went 3-7, 0-7. That was the Scott Pethtel team that gave Augie a good game, losing only by three, and almost beat Carthage, fumbling the ball in Red Men territory with three minutes remaining while sitting on a four-point lead before giving up the winning TD to the Red Men with :35 left. But the 2011 Vikings were clearly an inferior product when compared to last season's North Park team, final record notwithstanding.

I'll reiterate what I said the other day:

As far as Wash U is concerned, I think that the Bears will acquit themselves respectably in CCIW football. I don't see them being a powerhouse, but I don't think they'll be a pushover, either.

I'll stick with that. But, if I had to make a more specific forecast, I think that the Bears will generally be a middle-of-the-pack team once they join this league ... but I suspect that their middle-of-the-pack status will translate into a second-division finish more often than not. I'm certainly not gonna buy into the idea that Wash U will automatically be better than North Park in any given season, based upon what I saw in 2011 and 2014. Of course, nobody really knows what fortunes either program will take between now and 2018, let alone after that. And there's also the fact of Carroll's arrival to consider as well when thinking about how the league will usually stack up in the future.

[jaybird44]

It is difficult to say how things will shake out, with three more seasons before Wash-U begins CCIW play.  From the Bears' point of view, I have been impressed with the depth of players that Coach Kindbom and his staff have garnered over the past seven years.  As a result, the team has been able to overcome injuries much more effectively, and a quality rotation of players has helped keep fresh productive legs on the field at several key positions.  So, it is my belief that the talent level will very likely be similar to that enjoyed by many of the CCIW programs when 2018 rolls around.

I believe playing for an AQ will help maintain a consistent level of performance from year to year.  Being in Pool B for so long, it is difficult to keep up the great fight on a yearly basis for NCAA tourney contention from game to game, if a team suffers an early loss.  Looking at the breadth of last season, I believe the season-opening loss to Ohio Northern at home (in which the Bears jumped out to an early 17-0 lead) had a negative lasting effect throughout the rest of the season.  After expending so much mental energy fighting for, and securing a Pool B berth in the previous season...the prospect of having to expend that same energy or more after Week 1 of last season may have been a difficult pill to swallow.  I thought 6 or 7 wins were possible last season, 8 wins being a hope, but the season-opening loss at home and the lead that got away at Berry kept the Bears from attaining a winning record.

We will see if my theory is correct, when Wash-U has an AQ to play for in the SAA for the next two seasons.  The silver lining from last season is that many youngsters got valuable playing time; and if the players are as eager to play for an AQ as the parents and fans, I believe that Wash-U will have a good 2015 season.  I'd like to see how the next two campaigns unfold, before offering concrete thoughts about how the Bears will fare in the very-tough CCIW.

[Mugsy]

Article about Noah Spielman and his choice to leave Toledo:
http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/526485?referrer_id=916754

Great article.  Good insight as to why a young man would turn down a full scholarship, which is very counter-intuitive to our "sports society."

[Gotberg]

Any word on incoming NPU recruits?

[Gregory Sager]

I can PM you within the next few days about that, Gotberg.

[Gotberg]

I can PM you within the next few days about that, Gotberg.

Thank you!

[79jaybird]

I would put Washington at the level of a Elmhurst/Carthage/Millikin tier.   They are not (IMO) the first tier which would include NC/Wheaton, nor second tier  (IWU/AC  historically),  and amongst the EC/CAR/MU middle of the pack tier that once in awhile gets a good squad.   Just my two cents, but from what I recall seeing of the Bears,  they wouldn't be one of my top picks for the conference.    Now that the NHL season is over,  is it football season yet?