FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Kiko has laid out the tie breaker. IWU has to win Saturday and they are likely in the playoffs as a Pool C (unless they win by 29 pts). The Thunder, oddly enough, could be in trouble as a Pool C if they lose to the Titans and finish 9-1. In part because they will be behind IWU in the North Region rankings and their profile includes a poor SOS. The NCC win helps them with what is likely to be a win over a regionally ranked opponent. Details will emerge from the Pool C board this week as the NCAA releases their first set of regional rankings this Wednesday.

As poorly as things went for IWU today, they still pretty much control their own destiny.

Oddly, IF the Thunder were to lose next Saturday, they would be wise to lose by 29+ points!  Otherwise, NCC wins the AQ, and (due to h-t-h) Wheaton would be behind IWU (for a Pool C).  While it seems almost inconceivable that a 9-1 Wheaton would miss the playoffs, with the competition likely in this year's Pool C (UMHB, UWW, etc.) it just could happen.  Their silver lining is that IWU has a resume that they would likely be in quite quickly, bringing the Thunder to the table fairly soon.

Of course, we could also just both root for Augie or the Jays to knock off the Cards, but I suspect the Wheaton @ IWU game is a playoff knockout: if Wheaton wins, IWU is probably eliminated at 8-2; if IWU wins, but by less than 29 points, Wheaton is on the ropes.

[AO]

Ariel is a Millikin reference as MU grads have played the role on Broadway, at Disneyworld and the voice in the animated movie. I am sure that AO would have preferred an NCC grad but it is what it is.

yeah, well a girlfriend of a Northwestern alum has played Sandy from Grease and Cinderella on Broadway and and.... I don't know why I'm even here.

[gryfalia]

And now for my once every other year post.

As a Wheaton grad (married to an IWU grad, who lives in Bloomington/Normal) I guess I get to see the game in person next weekend.

Lookin' forward to that!  Hope it gets over on time, I have a Euchre tourney/Chili Cookoff to attend later that day!

[izzy stradlin]

Two players were ejected for fighting at the end of the IWU-NCC.  They will have to miss the first half of next week's games.  For IWU, the official ejected #50 Tyler Fahey who was not on the field for the play but you can see him coming off the field at the end of the skirmish.   The IWU announcers called it, as they mentioned they were worried about losing somebody for next week because of something stupid and it happened.   Losing Fahey for the first half is a significant loss.       

[Kovo]

Two players were ejected for fighting at the end of the IWU-NCC.  They will have to miss the first half of next week's games.  For IWU, the official ejected #50 Tyler Fahey who was not on the field for the play but you can see him coming off the field at the end of the skirmish.   The IWU announcers called it, as they mentioned they were worried about losing somebody for next week because of something stupid and it happened.   Losing Fahey for the first half is a significant loss.     

Who was ejected for NCC?

[USee]

Artie Checchin was injured in the 2nd half of the IWU v NCC game with a lower leg injury that likely keeps him out for the rest of his season (as reported by Coach Eash in the Pantagraph and corroborated by Q and othe posters here). I always feel bad for players who go down and especially key players in their last stretch. Checchin was having a dream season. There probably isn't another player in the CCIW who has had more impact plays for his team than Checchin. He singelhandedly won at least two games (Carthage--he made literally every play down the stretch for the Titans in a comeback win; Elmhurst-his 4 touches resulted in 3 TD's and 2 of them broke open a tie game in the 4th) and was a huge factor for IWU in every game. His 42 yd catch yesterday set up IWU's first TD to bring it to 9-7 and the two point play where he caught the ball and was injured brought the game to within one score. IWU wouldn't get any closer after Checchin was carried off.

He has certainly sealed his place as a 1st team All CCIW reciever with his performance through 8 games but he was also a candidate for OPOY in my opinion. A big loss for the Titans during this stretch but kudos to AC14 for what has been a magical season prior to the injury.

[USee]

Without Checchin IWU's offense is going to have to come up with some magic of their own as they face the top CCIW defense this week. I would suspect (and it would be a good idea) to ride Shoemaker-Gilmore this weekend. Jack Warner, who was completing 66% of his passes yesterday, went 14-41 vs NCC and really looked off. The weather had something to do with it but he missed several throws he usually makes and the NCC defense did a good job containing his running. He will have to be dramatically better this week for IWU to have a chance.  IWU has some nice pieces with Javorka, Butler, and Gilmore. And Austin Harrell played very well a year ago against this Wheaton defense.  I suspect IWU will stack the box on defense to stop the Wheaton run and try to control the clock on the ground while running play action to try and take their shots.

[dadof4bz]

It was sort of a mess at the end of the game and the refs were right to call the game with .5 seconds on the clock making sure that nothing else transpired.  However it wasn't Fahey that was ejected, I believe the ref announced "60' not 50 and I believe he corrected himself to 66.  Not 100% though.

[izzy stradlin]

It was sort of a mess at the end of the game and the refs were right to call the game with .5 seconds on the clock making sure that nothing else transpired.  However it wasn't Fahey that was ejected, I believe the ref announced "60' not 50 and I believe he corrected himself to 66.  Not 100% though.

It was 50 (Fahey) that was ejected for IWU.  You can watch archived video online.  You can hear the fans saying "he wasn't out there", but he had run onto field for the altercation and you can clearly see him walking away from the skirmish after the officials cleared things up.  Now I have no idea if he should have been ejected since you can't actually see the fight on the video. Number 60 Mike Mulcrone had a personal foul a couple minutes earlier and Norm subsequently took him out of the game.  He wasn't ejected.

For NCC it was harder to tell....    sounded like 58 or 68?

[Titan Q]

Without Checchin IWU's offense is going to have to come up with some magic of their own as they face the top CCIW defense this week. I would suspect (and it would be a good idea) to ride Shoemaker-Gilmore this weekend.

It will probably take this terrible injury the Checchin for IWU to run the offense I've been begging for all season long - pound the ball to Shoemaker-Gilmore.  I think IWU's coaching staff has done a very good with this team, but I've felt all season long they've underutilized Shoemaker-Gilmore. (An example being the play calling on IWU's first two offensive possessions yesterday.)

Unfortunately now, obviously, there isn't the deep threat - so that makes running the ball a lot harder.  I'm interested to see how things look Saturday.  If the Titans can consistently get into 3rd and 2 or 3 (where they can run it or throw it) by running the ball, I think they'll be able to move it. Now, scoring enough points to win the game...a different story.  Who knows.

[izzy stradlin]

Without Checchin IWU's offense is going to have to come up with some magic of their own as they face the top CCIW defense this week. I would suspect (and it would be a good idea) to ride Shoemaker-Gilmore this weekend.

It will probably take this terrible injury the Checchin for IWU to run the offense I've been begging for all season long - pound the ball to Shoemaker-Gilmore.  I think IWU's coaching staff has done a very good with this team, but I've felt all season long they've underutilized Shoemaker-Gilmore. (An example being the play calling on IWU's first two offensive possessions yesterday.)

Unfortunately now, obviously, there isn't the deep threat - so that makes running the ball a lot harder.  I'm interested to see how things look Saturday.  If the Titans can consistently get into 3rd and 2 or 3 (where they can run it or throw it) by running the ball, I think they'll be able to move it. Now, scoring enough points to win the game...a different story.  Who knows.

I was surprised like you that we didn't see more of Shoemaker-Gilmore early yesterday.  In what I watched of him against Augie and Elmhurst, with the wet conditions yesterday and the fact that NCC's front seven is good but not huge by any means, I thought IWU would pound the ball with him to attempt control the game. 

[dadof4bz]

Again,  It wasn't Fahey. Not certain what was on the broadcast but in the stands, I didn't hear his number called.  And just to verify, I just texted him and it was NOT him.

[USee]

The two players that got into the altercation were #66 for IWU, senior OL Tom Pearson, and #48 for NCC Jon Egan.  You can see them wrestle as Kibbe runs by them after the INT.  I think the ref got the number wrong.  Those two guys were the ones who got into it.

[iwu70]

Gee, Greg, I didn't realize that you still remembered my opera comments over on the other board.  I'm sure they are lost on most in this setting.  I've never particularly thought of AndOne as a potential opera lover, but perhaps I'll have to reconsider. 

IWU clearly has a very steep climb to beat WC this weekend, without AC14.  Very sorry about the injury for him, and tough on the TITANS prospects going forward.  I agree with comments here about using the running attack more, though I think the remaining receivers are pretty good, could do some damage if the running game is positive.  Warner has to get back on track, hopefully in a better game condition this weekend.  Forecast so far is for a good day, with no rain. 

IWU70

[izzy stradlin]

Again,  It wasn't Fahey. Not certain what was on the broadcast but in the stands, I didn't hear his number called.  And just to verify, I just texted him and it was NOT him.

You obviously have some relationship with Fahey so good job jumping to his defense.  USee is right about the players in the scuffle.  Watching the video again the official says 50 at first (Fahey did run into the altercation from the sideline so maybe that's why they got it wrong) then you can faintly hear another official correct him and eject #66.