FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I was dreading going over to Holmgren Athletic Complex yesterday morning. The Vikings were going to be huge underdogs even if the game was straight up in terms of personnel, and after hearing from Mike Conway that they would be without three starters apiece on offense and defense, plus the fact that an injury to starting kicker Noah Moore would put an untried freshman on the field in that important job, it really seemed as though the Park was staring at the triple monkey stomp at the hands of an angry and disappointed IWU team that Mr. Ypsi forecast last season.

It just goes to show you that college football can still surprise you sometimes.

On the game's first play from scrimmage, NPU sophomore LB Chaun Maiava drilled IWU QB Jack Warner in the backfield, causing a fumble that Maiava recovered at the IWU 17. With that blow, the Vikings sent a message right away that they were going to play the role of Rocky Balboa and go toe-to-toe with the big, bad Titans all day.

The game did resemble a prizefight, mostly because it was as incredibly sloppy as it was emotional. The final stats actually miscounted NPU's penalties, as the Vikings were hit with 14 of them for 146 yards, a number of them due to overzealousness such as unsportsmanlike conduct for celebrating or for running onto the field from the sidelines before the whistle had blown. Indeed, one of the stories of this game was just how many times the Vikings seemed to try to give the game back to the Titans. A missed NPU extra point early in the game eventually put Wesleyan in a position to send the game into overtime with a field goal, rather than securing what would've instead been a 28-24 lead. Not once but twice a T.D. Conway pass bounced off of a North Park receiver in the end zone and was grabbed by an opportunistic Titans DB, interceptions that almost certainly took North Park points off the board. And, almost catastrophically, with five minutes and change left in the ballgame and the Vikings about ready to pin back the Titans with a punt from midfield while up 27-17, the ball was snapped ten feet over the head of NPU punter John Gieseking, forcing him to chase the ball all the way back to the NPU 11 before he was able to catch up with it and fall on it, giving the visitors a gift-wrapped touchdown a few plays later that pulled them within three points.

Somehow, the Vikings rose above it all. The defense stood strong throughout most of the game, and the offense made the plays it had to make when the game was on the line. As I alluded yesterday, it was especially gratifying to see so many NPU seniors contribute on the day when they wore the pads for the final time. Gieseking had a 60-yard punt to his credit and twice pinned the Titans inside their own 20. Hunter Corrigan had a pair of sacks, and so did Joe Butz. Brendon Dull sealed the game with an interception in the final thirty seconds. Matt Davis and Epa Moananu were solid on the offensive line, Moananu playing basically on one leg after leaving Keller Field in Kenosha on crutches last weekend. (How sweet it was to see Epa, who carried the Samoan flag onto the field during pregame Senior Day introductions, get one final opportunity to lead the team in the North Park siva tau after the game.) And Filo Langkilde made the game's biggest play with a second effort at the goal line on fourth and one in the final quarter, pushing forward and sticking out his arm with the football in order to break the plane of the goal line for what turned out to be the winning touchdown. It was inspiring stuff, and this senior class -- which included all but one player of what was left of Scott Pethtel's final recruiting batch -- will not soon be forgotten at NPU.

Illinois Wesleyan was shockingly ordinary. There are some very good players on that team -- Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore is a beast at RB who gashed the Vikings for huge gains several times, especially in the first half, and didn't get nearly enough touches -- if I was Norm Eash I would've given MSG the ball until his tongue was hanging out, given that it was IWU's final game of the year -- and Andrew Javorka and Quincy Butler are good offensive weapons, too. Defensively, I really liked Will James and Sean Garvey. But for the most part, the Titans were nothing special, and I couldn't figure out how that team had been tied with Wheaton in the fourth quarter last week. I thought that Carthage was much more impressive, and it's easy to see why Artie Checchin was needed to single-handedly save IWU's bacon against the Red Men. The Titans were seriously undisciplined, too. It's easy to see why the Vikings keep making dumb mistakes and have such trouble getting the right players onto the field in between plays, given their youth, but Eash was forced to burn five of his six timeouts in order to stave off delay-of-game penalties ... and the Titans still ended up making some of those, anyway, as they were penalized to the tune of ten times for 93 yards.

The Vikings got the better of Jack Warner yesterday, from that first Maiava hit onward. He made one really slick 18-yard completion in the first quarter in which he was forced to sprint to his right to elude two NPU rushers, and yet still managed to make a pinpoint pass downfield while on the dead run to register a first down. It made me think, "OK, I can see why Titans fans love that guy." But he was sacked five times, hurried and hit-while-releasing a bunch more, and it was clear as the game went on that the Vikings rushers were in his head. By contrast, T.D. Conway, who has endured a tough junior campaign for the Vikings, persevered yesterday and made all the plays for North Park when the game was on the line. Aside from that big-time money throw that Warner made early on, there was never a point yesterday in which I wasn't happy that my alma mater's QB was Conway instead of Warner.

That 29-season losing streak aside, yesterday's upset win felt like justice was served. I realize that schadenfreude is not a Christian attitude, but, given the crap that Norm Eash has said to Mike Conway, it's hard not to savor the thought of Eash stewing over this loss for the entire off-season. Sometimes in life the Hollywood script plays out, and the arrogant do get their comeuppance.

At the end of the game, as is North Park tradition when a Vikings team wins, the Holmgren Athletic Complex P.A. played the Blues Brothers version of "Sweet Home Chicago". But as far as I was concerned, the postgame song should've been "Theme From Rocky". It was that kind of day.

[USee]

Results vs. RRO is a primary criterion, so it doesn't matter whether you think it's arbitrary.

Here are the resumés of the potential #1 seeds, using the d3football.com projected final regional rankings:

Mt Union   10-0, 0.493 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. North #6 ONU 51-7, North #10 John Carroll 36-3)
UST          10-0, 0.500 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. West #5 SJU 35-14)
JHU          10-0, 0.517 SOS, 0-0 vs. RRO
Linfield       9-0, 0.495 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d West #8 Whitworth 52-10)
UWO          9-0, 0.491 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. West #4 UWW 10-7, West #6 UWP 63-28)
Wheaton   10-0, 0.509 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. North #8 NCC 17-9)

UWO has a non-DIII loss, but that falls under secondary criteria and is supposed to be considered only if the primary criteria don't settle the picks.

The SOS is a wash, with all teams (with the possible exception of JHU), hovering around 0.500.  So I think the committee will have to pay a lot of attention to the RRO results.  Of those, JHU's & Wheaton's look least impressive.

Your very first sentence stands at complete odds with your very last sentence. Your interpretation of Wheaton and JH wins are arbitrary and subjective.  Those two have superior SOS, it's not "around .500". 

[izzy stradlin]

Results vs. RRO is a primary criterion, so it doesn't matter whether you think it's arbitrary.

Here are the resumés of the potential #1 seeds, using the d3football.com projected final regional rankings:

Mt Union   10-0, 0.493 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. North #6 ONU 51-7, North #10 John Carroll 36-3)
UST          10-0, 0.500 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. West #5 SJU 35-14)
JHU          10-0, 0.517 SOS, 0-0 vs. RRO
Linfield       9-0, 0.495 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d West #8 Whitworth 52-10)
UWO          9-0, 0.491 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. West #4 UWW 10-7, West #6 UWP 63-28)
Wheaton   10-0, 0.509 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. North #8 NCC 17-9)

UWO has a non-DIII loss, but that falls under secondary criteria and is supposed to be considered only if the primary criteria don't settle the picks.

The SOS is a wash, with all teams (with the possible exception of JHU), hovering around 0.500.  So I think the committee will have to pay a lot of attention to the RRO results.  Of those, JHU's & Wheaton's look least impressive.

Wait.  Are you telling me that the NCAA is not going to read my post on a message board about RRO remove this nonsense as a selection criteria??  That's what I though they were going to do.  Thanks for setting me straight.   

[ncc_fan]

Results vs. RRO is a primary criterion, so it doesn't matter whether you think it's arbitrary.

Here are the resumés of the potential #1 seeds, using the d3football.com projected final regional rankings:

Mt Union   10-0, 0.493 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. North #6 ONU 51-7, North #10 John Carroll 36-3)
UST          10-0, 0.500 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. West #5 SJU 35-14)
JHU          10-0, 0.517 SOS, 0-0 vs. RRO
Linfield       9-0, 0.495 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d West #8 Whitworth 52-10)
UWO          9-0, 0.491 SOS, 2-0 vs. RRO (d. West #4 UWW 10-7, West #6 UWP 63-28)
Wheaton   10-0, 0.509 SOS, 1-0 vs. RRO (d. North #8 NCC 17-9)

UWO has a non-DIII loss, but that falls under secondary criteria and is supposed to be considered only if the primary criteria don't settle the picks.

The SOS is a wash, with all teams (with the possible exception of JHU), hovering around 0.500.  So I think the committee will have to pay a lot of attention to the RRO results.  Of those, JHU's & Wheaton's look least impressive.

Your very first sentence stands at complete odds with your very last sentence. Your interpretation of Wheaton and JH wins are arbitrary and subjective.  Those two have superior SOS, it's not "around .500".

Huh?  I said that the SOS numbers are very similar.  I also said that Wheaton & Johns Hopkins have less impressive RRO results than the competition.  Both statements are indeed subjective (although I think the first can be subjected to a statistical test - Mr. Ypsi?), but I don't see how they're contradictory. 

[wally_wabash]

Oshkosh beat Whitewater.  That's kind of a debate ender, isn't it? 

[izzy stradlin]

Oshkosh beat Whitewater.  That's kind of a debate ender, isn't it?

They were the only team on that list to play Whitewater.   Not a good way to compare teams.   

[izzy stradlin]

That 29-season losing streak aside, yesterday's upset win felt like justice was served. I realize that schadenfreude is not a Christian attitude, but, given the crap that Norm Eash has said to Mike Conway, it's hard not to savor the thought of Eash stewing over this loss for the entire off-season. Sometimes in life the Hollywood script plays out, and the arrogant do get their comeuppance.

We're listening...

[Gregory Sager]

The first time that Norm Eash met Mike Conway, this was their dialogue:

EASH: Why did you take that job? That's one of the worst football programs in the entire country!
CONWAY: That's exactly why I took it. I want to be the one who turns it around.
EASH: [chuckling] Well, good luck with that. But if North Park ever beats the Titans, it'll be long after I'm gone.

I'm not breaking anybody's confidence by retelling this. It seems like everybody connected to NPU football has already heard it.

[thunderdog]

Oshkosh beat Whitewater.  That's kind of a debate ender, isn't it?

Wally,
I would agree that Oshkosh deserves a #1 seed simply from the "We beat 1 of the purple powers" point-of-view. I also think that Mt Union and Linfield are no brainers. But what makes St Thomas that much more of a better candidate than Wheaton for that final #1?

They both have only 1 win vs a RRO and Wheaton has a slight edge in SOS. I also don't think the following can be overlooked:

The #4 North region ranked Franklin squad lost their only game vs the CCIW in IWU... A team that turned out to be somewhat mediocre in the conference at 4-3

NCC is just a 2 pt conversion away from a win over the #1 East ranked Wesley team. If NCC holds on against either Wesley or Plateville, they'd probably be ranked #4 in the North and a very strong candidate for a pool C bid. It's outrageous to consider Franklin #4 and NCC #8 in the region, IMO.

[thunderdog]

My Predictions:
B: Hardin Simmons
C1: Whitewater
C2: Wesley
C3: Mary Hardin Baylor
C4: St Johns
C5: Platteville
C6: Ohio Northern (I don't think they leave the #2 OAC team out)

My #1 seeds are : Mt U, Linfield, Oshkosh, and Wheaton

I think Wheaton has a better resume than St Thomas

[wally_wabash]

Oshkosh beat Whitewater.  That's kind of a debate ender, isn't it?

Wally,
I would agree that Oshkosh deserves a #1 seed simply from the "We beat 1 of the purple powers" point-of-view. I also think that Mt Union and Linfield are no brainers. But what makes St Thomas that much more of a better candidate than Wheaton for that final #1?

They both have only 1 win vs a RRO and Wheaton has a slight edge in SOS. I also don't think the following can be overlooked:

The #4 North region ranked Franklin squad lost their only game vs the CCIW in IWU... A team that turned out to be somewhat mediocre in the conference at 4-3

NCC is just a 2 pt conversion away from a win over the #1 East ranked Wesley team. If NCC holds on against either Wesley or Plateville, they'd probably be ranked #4 in the North and a very strong candidate for a pool C bid. It's outrageous to consider Franklin #4 and NCC #8 in the region, IMO.

We kind of don't get to play ifs and buts with the results.  If North Central won all of their games, they'd be CCIW champions.  But they didn't win all of their games.  In fact, they lost three games.  Those three games count as is. 

St. Thomas is ranked #1 in the West region.  There's no way they aren't getting one of the top 4 seeds.  If there is a debate to be had that involves Wheaton and the top 4 seeds, it's between Wheaton and Oshkosh and Oshkosh holds the hammer here. 

Frankly, there's no results-based argument for Wheaton > St. Thomas.

[Pat Coleman]

I listened to the pre game show on the Wheaton broadcast and Mike Swider was asked what his team was playing for and his response turned my head...." We are playing for an undefeated season and a #1 seed in the playoffs. With all due respect to D3.com the coaches poll is the only poll that matters and we are #3".

Last year, when John Carroll and Wheaton met in the playoffs, JCU was No. 6 in our poll and Wheaton was No. 8.
In the coaches poll, Wheaton was No. 8 and John Carroll was No. 9. Which poll mattered on that day?

[izzy stradlin]

I listened to the pre game show on the Wheaton broadcast and Mike Swider was asked what his team was playing for and his response turned my head...." We are playing for an undefeated season and a #1 seed in the playoffs. With all due respect to D3.com the coaches poll is the only poll that matters and we are #3".

Last year, when John Carroll and Wheaton met in the playoffs, JCU was No. 6 in our poll and Wheaton was No. 8.
In the coaches poll, Wheaton was No. 8 and John Carroll was No. 9. Which poll mattered on that day?

For seeding, which was all that he was talking about in the interview, obviously the coaches poll.

[wally_wabash]

Trick question- neither poll influences selection and seeding.   

[izzy stradlin]

Right, and if I'm a Vegas style oddsmaker I'd take Pat's poll any day.  But I wonder if you retrospectively look at the polls in comparison with playoff seeding, which one correlates better. I don't know but I think there is a chance (for obvious reasons) that it could be the coaches poll.