FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[NCC26]

If you saw this offensive lineup, what would you think?

T    6'3" 240
G    6'5" 290
C    6'5" 240
G    6'4" 315
T    6"8" 285
TE  6'4"  230
QB  6'5" 225
RB  6'3" 200
WR 5'10" 175
WR 6'0"  180
WR 5'10" 175

[Mugsy]

If you saw this offensive lineup, what would you think?

T    6'3" 240
G    6'5" 290
C    6'5" 240
G    6'4" 315
T    6"8" 285
TE  6'4"  230
QB  6'5" 225
RB  6'3" 200
WR 5'10" 175
WR 6'0"  180
WR 5'10" 175

Initial reaction, WR's seem a bit on the small side.

[79jaybird]

And just a few years ago Elmhurst ended their lengthy losing streak vs. Augie.

I think it is great to see North Park climb out of the cellar and start to be able to compete. 

[NCC26]

If you saw this offensive lineup, what would you think?

T    6'3" 240
G    6'5" 290
C    6'5" 240
G    6'4" 315
T    6"8" 285
TE  6'4"  230
QB  6'5" 225
RB  6'3" 200
WR 5'10" 175
WR 6'0"  180
WR 5'10" 175

Initial reaction, WR's seem a bit on the small side.

What if i told you this is a high school team?  They pound the rock very well and the receivers are very very quick.  Playing for the Indiana state championship in 6A.

[Gregory Sager]

All conference teams are up:

http://cciw.org/news/2015/11/18/FB_1118151217.aspx

Dandsdill, Frasco, Swider are POY/COY

For those who are curious, here's the number of 2015 All-CCIW players who are eligible to return in 2016:

North Central	7
Wheaton	6
Carthage	5
North Park	4
Augustana	3
Illinois Wesleyan	2
Elmhurst	2
Millikin	2

North Central (Oshayne Brown) and Illinois Wesleyan (Kyle Venhuizen) each have a 2014 All-CCIW honoree who is eligible to obtain a medical redshirt for this season due to an injury suffered prior to the fourth game. (Venhuizen would have another season, regardless.) Also, Carthage (Shawntrel Garner) has a 2014 All-CCIW honoree who is eligible to return in 2016 who did not make this year's All-CCIW team.

Carroll has four 2016-eligible players that made the All-MWC North team. Note that the All-MWC team is split between the North and South divisions, which means that those Pioneers honorees were only measured against five other teams, rather than the seven other teams by which All-CCIW players are measured.

[Gregory Sager]

Love it.  I have to think you enjoyed that one even more than the big bball victory that night. 

I'm looking forward to seeing NPU's continued progress on the gridiron.

First win in 30 years against IWU?  I would say that's a great reason to lose your voice!

As a fellow broadcaster, throw all the rules and apologies out the window.  You're supposed to let raw emotion take over in a moment like that.  You did.  That makes your call perfect in every facet of the word.

Thanks, everybody!

Izzy, I'd say that I enjoyed the two wins about the same. The basketball win was big, since it came over a ranked team and was a great beginning to a season that's still all about possibilities. The football win had a bittersweet tinge to it, because it was: a) the final game of the season and the last appearance ever for eleven seniors who mean a lot to the program; and b) a stark reminder that, as one NPU assistant coach put it, the Vikings had a 6-4 season within their grasp if they had managed to finish off St. Norbert and Millikin and then hang on to the football in the end zone (and convert a two-pointer) at the end of the Carthage game.

(And, yes, I can hardly believe that I just typed "NPU" and "6-4" in the same sentence.)

Pretty fair by my eye. The only beef I would have is Chaun Maiava sure looked like one of the top 4 LB's in the conference to me. I would have had him on the first team and Warsen on the second team. Both great players.

Agreed, but I won't pretend not to be biased in this case.

(I was very impressed by Warsen when NPU played Elmhurst. I thought that he was the best defender the 'jays had.)

That eliminates one more of the lengthy losing streaks by the Vikings.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the next 2 are Wheaton since 1979 and North Central since 1993.  From what we have seen from the Vikings, Mike Conway and his crew are on their way to try and knock those off too.

NPU's last win over Wheaton was indeed in 1979, my freshman year at the Park, when the Vikes prevailed by a 10-7 score at McCully Stadium. The last time North Park beat North Central was 1995, when NPU topped NCC, 29-14, at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. After the game on Saturday, the first thing that Mike Conway said to me was, "Five down, two to go!" It didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant.

(Again taking our incoming member into consideration, North Park has beaten Carroll three times since the Pioneers left this league following the 1991-92 school year. That includes their most recent meeting, a 17-10 victory for NPU at Hedstrand Field in the 2009 season opener.)

I think it is great to see North Park climb out of the cellar and start to be able to compete. 

North Park hasn't finished in the cellar since 2012, the season before Mike Conway arrived.

[izzy stradlin]

First of all, huge props to Wheaton for a great run through the conference.  This is the best Wheaton team I have seen in a long time, other than their punt team!      I really think Wheaton was deserving of a #1 seed and hopefully shows that in the playoffs.  The NCAA did them no favors for sure, but this team is as ready as any CCIW playoff team has been for a run.   Good luck, Thunder!

The Cards were young in many key spots and will be much better next year because of it!   No playoffs means hitting the recruiting trail earlier.  Hoping for another great class for next season.   

Conference awards coming out later today.  I would guess, Dansdill, Frasco and Swider, but would think Conway may get some votes for Coach of the year.

I think Austin Breunig of North Central should be considered the favorite for Offensive POY.

* He led the CCIW in rushing by a wide margin-over 300 yards more than the 2nd place finisher.
* Finished 7th in total offense-the highest among non quarterbacks.
* Finished 1st in all-purpose yards
* Led the conference in scoring-30 points more than the 2nd place finisher
* Led the conference in TDs-5 more than the 2nd place finisher

I wouldn't call Bruenig the favorite, but he is certainly in the conversation. His rushing lead in the CCIW was bolstered by 32 more carries than anyone else so that is a misleading statistic. A more apples to apples comparison is total offense but you have to factor in the number of times each player touches the ball. One reason QB's usually win the award is because they literally touch it every time the ball is snapped. The question is how do you measure the relative production. One way is to calculate their yds per touch. In conference play Bruenig had a 7.2 yds per touch and Frasco had 6.2 yds per touch. That's a pretty convincing spread to Bruenig.

The other issue is if you calculate all 10 games Frasco is at 7.4 and Bruenig is 6.9. Coaches are suppose to vote from results from the conference games only but I don't think they do that. The reality is they are watching tape of these kids for all their games and for at least half the conference season most of what they watch is the 3 non conference games. I think that ends up playing into the voting more than it should. Frasco was dramatically better in the non conference than he was in the conference season.

I think there is an argument for either player as the OPOY. We find out today.

I would've chosen Bruenig based on conference games alone, but you obviously brought up a good point in the sample of game films the coaches watch.  I also think when it's close, the coaches take the senior.

[Mugsy]

Gotta believe the weather will not be doing Lakeland any favors this weekend.  While both teams play under the same conditions (no kidding Sherlock!), Lakeland is clearly more pass heavy.  Initial forecast is for 1-4 inches of snow on Friday night through Saturday morning. 

Temperatures for Saturday are listed as a high of 34, with a low of 11!  Game time should be in the upper 20's with 20-25 mph winds.  Not great passing conditions.  Some weather reports actually list possibility of snow during the game and 3-6 inches of snow.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I think it is great to see North Park climb out of the cellar and start to be able to compete. 

North Park hasn't finished in the cellar since 2012, the season before Mike Conway arrived.

This is really an amazing stat, and probably is not going to be noticed by a lot of fans around the country.  But it's really quite amazing that a program with zero conference wins for an entire decade has not only escaped the cellar, but has now won multiple conference games (plural!) for three seasons running and, this year, beat one of the conference contenders for the first time in forever.  Especially for this year's NPU team, which survived an early gauntlet of St. Norbert (10-0 league champion), UWO (#1 seed in playoffs), Wheaton (10-0, #2 seed in playoffs), and North Central...to get through that four-game stretch with the team's confidence intact enough to be as competitive as they were on the back nine, very impressive. 

[02 Warhawk]

If you saw this offensive lineup, what would you think?

T    6'3" 240
G    6'5" 290
C    6'5" 240
G    6'4" 315
T    6"8" 285
TE  6'4"  230
QB  6'5" 225
RB  6'3" 200
WR 5'10" 175
WR 6'0"  180
WR 5'10" 175

Initial reaction, WR's seem a bit on the small side.

What if i told you this is a high school team?  They pound the rock very well and the receivers are very very quick.  Playing for the Indiana state championship in 6A.

[Mugsy]

Latest weather conditions expected for Saturday:

Issued by The National Weather Service Chicago, IL
Thu, Nov 19, 2:20 pm CST

    ... WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON...
    THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
    * TIMING... A POSSIBLE RAIN AND SNOW MIX BRIEFLY FRIDAY EVENING QUICKLY TRANSITIONING TO SNOW AND PERSISTING THROUGH EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON ON SATURDAY... WITH SNOW POSSIBLY HEAVY AT TIMES.
    * SNOW ACCUMULATIONS... 4 TO 7 INCHES.
    * IMPACTS... POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR DIFFICULT DRIVING CONDITIONS AND SHARPLY REDUCED VISIBILITIES.
    * THE FIRST ACCUMULATING SNOW OF THE YEAR CAN CATCH MOTORISTS OFF GUARD. ENSURE TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND USE EXTRA CAUTION IF TRAVELING.
    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
    A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

[pg04]

Yeah! Football weather! But seriously, careful to all that make the trek.

[HScoach]

That's freaking awesome.    Glad I'm in Ohio.

....might be the first time I've ever said those words honestly.......

[NCC26]

If you saw this offensive lineup, what would you think?

T    6'3" 240
G    6'5" 290
C    6'5" 240
G    6'4" 315
T    6"8" 285
TE  6'4"  230
QB  6'5" 225
RB  6'3" 200
WR 5'10" 175
WR 6'0"  180
WR 5'10" 175

Initial reaction, WR's seem a bit on the small side.

What if i told you this is a high school team?  They pound the rock very well and the receivers are very very quick.  Playing for the Indiana state championship in 6A.

What's scary about this team, is that they only lose 1 lineman, the qb and a receiver on offense.  Rest of team is jr and sophmores.... 
QB heading to Harvard and big 6'8" boy heading to U of Virginia.

[SJSUPhil]

Gotta believe the weather will not be doing Lakeland any favors this weekend.  While both teams play under the same conditions (no kidding Sherlock!), Lakeland is clearly more pass heavy.  Initial forecast is for 1-4 inches of snow on Friday night through Saturday morning. 

Temperatures for Saturday are listed as a high of 34, with a low of 11!  Game time should be in the upper 20's with 20-25 mph winds.  Not great passing conditions.  Some weather reports actually list possibility of snow during the game and 3-6 inches of snow.

Real football is played in bad weather. Bring it on!