FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I did not see the NCC/IWU game so can't comment on the PI call in the 3rd quarter. What I do see is that IWU had 20 yds of offense in their final 5 possessioins of the game so regardless of the merits of the call, that's obviously not enough offense to win a big game.

I agree. While I had all three games on my computer, I had the sound up on the IWU @ NCC game and I focused upon that one, since I'm calling NPU @ IWU next week and I wanted to get a feel for the Titans. While the long Sora interception return felt like a turning point, in reality it's actually kind of easy to overstate that play.

When one team can only manage to accumulate 71 yards of offense in the second half of what had been a tied game (51 of those 71 on a drive that ended up empty due to an interception), while the other team's offense basically plays at the same level consistently for the entire sixty minutes (not spectacular, but not entirely hampered, either), then what you're talking about is a pretty steady advantage throughout the second half for the winning team. The turning points, if you want to call them that, were when the Cardinals defense took the field on every Titans possession in the second half and basically said, "No, you won't," and backed it up.

The interception may have fired up the NCC defense, in other words, and thwarted a long IWU drive in a tied game, but putting too much emphasis upon the Sora interception means that the bigger story, the performance of the NCC defense throughout the entire second half, gets lost in translation.

In spite of that, the Titans are obviously a very good team. I do not expect next Saturday's game to be pretty from the NPU point of view.

[CardinalAlum]

Wheaton 37
Carthage 14

Similar to North Central, Wheaton came out in the second half and dominated this game to take control. The key sequence in the game started in the middle of the second quarter. Carthage, who had already snapped two balls over the punters head and had another blocked, decided to go for it on 4th and 1 at their own 14! Wheaton's Eric Stevenson dropped Jamel Davis for a 2 yd loss and the Thunder took over at the Carthage 27 after a 15 yard sideline penalty. McWilliams then threw his 2nd INT of the half to DL Cedric Fry and the Redmen took over at their 38 yd line. Carthage then proceeded to have a drive where their offense gained 24 yds and Wheaton's defense, through penalties gave them another 45 yds putting the Redmen at the Wheaton 11. On 3rd and 12 from the Wheaton 13 with under a minute left in the half (Wheaton leading 16-7), Carthage QB Friberg threw the ball across his body running to his right and it was intercepted in the endzone by Kyle Fox.

Wheaton got the ball to start the second half and ran it right at Carthage to extend the lead to 23-7 and Carthage's second half possessions resulted in -2 yds, -5 yds, 55 yds (49 TD pass to Cobbs), -12 yds, -5 yds. Wheaton sacked Friberg 6 times and held the Redmen to 33 rushes for 3 net yards. Wheaton ran the ball against Carthage's top 10 defense for 251 yds. Wheaton won this game because they dominated the LOS on both sides of the ball against a really good team. I still believe Carthage will surprise some people this year.

I have been watching Wheaton Football for 35 years and I don't remember a Wheaton defensive front as dominant as this one.

I'm over 30 years of following the CCIW and I would agree.  That's why I took your bet.   

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin hosts NCC this weekend after a bye week this weekend.

Congrats, USee. I've been reading this site for all twenty years that it's been around, and this may be my all-time favorite sentence on d3boards.com.

[USee]

Millikin hosts NCC this weekend after a bye week this weekend.

Congrats, USee. I've been reading this site for all twenty years that it's been around, and this may be my all-time favorite sentence on d3boards.com.

I make it up as I go. 

[Mugsy]

I have been watching Wheaton Football for 35 years and I don't remember a Wheaton defensive front as dominant as this one.

USee, I made a very similar post during the game that I thought the Wheaton defense is phenomenal - the best I've seen.

I deleted it when Carthage scored on the very next play - the 49 yard pass.   

[izzy stradlin]

I have been watching Wheaton Football for 35 years and I don't remember a Wheaton defensive front as dominant as this one.

USee, I made a very similar post during the game that I thought the Wheaton defense is phenomenal - the best I've seen.

I deleted it when Carthage scored on the very next play - the 49 yard pass.   

I still think you might be right-- at least if they stay healthy.   6'3" CB Tyler Sigler (Swider mentioned him in the post game as possibly playing in the NFL next year) didn't play yesterday and was in a boot.  I don't know his long-term injury status.

[USee]

You jinxed us!

Sigler is an all american corner and his timetable for return isn't certain.  He is a lockdown corner with size and speed and with him, this defense is even scarier.

[Dr. Acula]

I did not see the NCC/IWU game so can't comment on the PI call in the 3rd quarter. What I do see is that IWU had 20 yds of offense in their final 5 possessioins of the game so regardless of the merits of the call, that's obviously not enough offense to win a big game. Brandon Bauer was 12-27 for 168 yards, which is also not very good in a big game. The Titans will need to be better on offense as they still have to play 2 more top quality defenses.

Kudos to the Cardinals for shutting down IWU down the stretch in this game.

IWU is @Wheaton in 2 weeks.

I think the stats may be a tad misleading.  As an objective observer I thought he passed the eye test.  He made some big time throws.  His WRs didn't do a ton to help him out including, as has previously been mentioned, a couple long TD's that should have been caught.  Watching both CCIW games I thought Bauer looked like clearly the second best QB behind Rutter.

[Gregory Sager]

I thought the same thing, Dr. Acula.

[iwu70]

Ditto, Dr. Arcula. 

Bauer is going to have a big year.

Rutter was excellent, no doubt.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

My heart goes out to the College of Wooster football team and community.

'70

[USee]

I did not see the NCC/IWU game so can't comment on the PI call in the 3rd quarter. What I do see is that IWU had 20 yds of offense in their final 5 possessioins of the game so regardless of the merits of the call, that's obviously not enough offense to win a big game. Brandon Bauer was 12-27 for 168 yards, which is also not very good in a big game. The Titans will need to be better on offense as they still have to play 2 more top quality defenses.

Kudos to the Cardinals for shutting down IWU down the stretch in this game.

IWU is @Wheaton in 2 weeks.

I think the stats may be a tad misleading.  As an objective observer I thought he passed the eye test.  He made some big time throws.  His WRs didn't do a ton to help him out including, as has previously been mentioned, a couple long TD's that should have been caught.  Watching both CCIW games I thought Bauer looked like clearly the second best QB behind Rutter.

Nicco Stepina from Millikin is the 2nd best QB in the conference and I don't think it's close.

[USee]

If Brandon Bauer completes less than 50% of his passes in big games the rest of the way IWU is going to finish no better than 7-3 and might be 6-4.

[Dr. Acula]

I did not see the NCC/IWU game so can't comment on the PI call in the 3rd quarter. What I do see is that IWU had 20 yds of offense in their final 5 possessioins of the game so regardless of the merits of the call, that's obviously not enough offense to win a big game. Brandon Bauer was 12-27 for 168 yards, which is also not very good in a big game. The Titans will need to be better on offense as they still have to play 2 more top quality defenses.

Kudos to the Cardinals for shutting down IWU down the stretch in this game.

IWU is @Wheaton in 2 weeks.

I think the stats may be a tad misleading.  As an objective observer I thought he passed the eye test.  He made some big time throws.  His WRs didn't do a ton to help him out including, as has previously been mentioned, a couple long TD's that should have been caught.  Watching both CCIW games I thought Bauer looked like clearly the second best QB behind Rutter.

Nicco Stepina from Millikin is the 2nd best QB in the conference and I don't think it's close.

Evidently I need to spell this out in great detail..."both CCIW games" = Carthage vs. Wheaton and IWU vs. NCC.  "2nd best QB" = of the 5 QB's that played in those two games I thought Bauer looked the 2nd best.  Nicco Stepina could be the best QB in CCIW history and I'd have no idea because he plays for Millikin. 

[USee]

I did not see the NCC/IWU game so can't comment on the PI call in the 3rd quarter. What I do see is that IWU had 20 yds of offense in their final 5 possessioins of the game so regardless of the merits of the call, that's obviously not enough offense to win a big game. Brandon Bauer was 12-27 for 168 yards, which is also not very good in a big game. The Titans will need to be better on offense as they still have to play 2 more top quality defenses.

Kudos to the Cardinals for shutting down IWU down the stretch in this game.

IWU is @Wheaton in 2 weeks.

I think the stats may be a tad misleading.  As an objective observer I thought he passed the eye test.  He made some big time throws.  His WRs didn't do a ton to help him out including, as has previously been mentioned, a couple long TD's that should have been caught.  Watching both CCIW games I thought Bauer looked like clearly the second best QB behind Rutter.

Nicco Stepina from Millikin is the 2nd best QB in the conference and I don't think it's close.

Evidently I need to spell this out in great detail..."both CCIW games" = Carthage vs. Wheaton and IWU vs. NCC.  "2nd best QB" = of the 5 QB's that played in those two games I thought Bauer looked the 2nd best.  Nicco Stepina could be the best QB in CCIW history and I'd have no idea because he plays for Millikin.

I know exactly what you were saying. You are on the CCIW board no? People on this board care about the whole league generally. I don't think anyone would debate that Bauer was better than either QB in the Carthage/Wheaton game and that Broc Rutter was the best QB in either game. Your statement is not relevant to the point I was originally making, which is that Brandon Bauer was not good enough to win at NCC and, if he plays the way he has been playing, it won't be good enough against at least 2 other CCIW teams.