FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[SpartanHouse]

The best D3 teams get the best transfers. And they all NEED the transfers to be a top D3 program.

[79jaybird]

Wow!  Elmhurst shows opening day vs. UW-River Falls.  I can't recall the Jays ever playing a WIAC school?  I spoke to Tom Journell in a pregame interview, and in his words, "I'd love to schedule a WIAC (quality) opponent, but we aren't ready for that caliber of talent just yet".   I remember loving his vision/hope to be able to compete with a WIAC foe someday.   Don't know if this year's team is ready and I know River Falls isn't in the front tier of the WIAC, but curious to see how this game pans out. 

[Kovo]

Wow!  Elmhurst shows opening day vs. UW-River Falls.  I can't recall the Jays ever playing a WIAC school?  I spoke to Tom Journell in a pregame interview, and in his words, "I'd love to schedule a WIAC (quality) opponent, but we aren't ready for that caliber of talent just yet".   I remember loving his vision/hope to be able to compete with a WIAC foe someday.   Don't know if this year's team is ready and I know River Falls isn't in the front tier of the WIAC, but curious to see how this game pans out.

Not ready for the "caliber of talent" of the WIAC?!  Perhaps you missed the National Championship game when a CCIW team (that was the CCIW runner up)  completely dismantled a WIAC team to win it all.

Not sure that I get the comment. 

[Pat Coleman]

Definitely don't think you are reading that comment correctly, for sure. First off -- when was Tom Journell last head coach at Elmhurst? Secondly, consider that he was talking about his program and not the CCIW as a whole.

[New Tradition]

Not directly D3 related, but fascinating, nonetheless...

https://abc6onyourside.com/sports/content/michigan-state-head-football-coach-mark-dantonio-resigns

[79jaybird]

Thank you for the clarification Pat.  Pat is correct, I was referring to Elmhurst which struggled last year,  vs. the WIAC who traditionally is one of the strongest conf. in D-III.   

[Kovo]

Thank you for the clarification Pat.  Pat is correct, I was referring to Elmhurst which struggled last year,  vs. the WIAC who traditionally is one of the strongest conf. in D-III.

I stand corrected.  But, I believe that the CCIW is as strong as any conference.  However, Elmhurst should be looking for a win in the noncon game.

[Gregory Sager]

Then you probably figure that NPU should be doing the same thing you suggest for Elmhurst, instead of taking on Bethel for the next two seasons as the non-con foe of the Vikings.

But I don't. I salute Kyle Rooker for taking the harder path by trying to prepare the Vikings for CCIW-level competition, even though the Royals are undoubtedly going to treat North Park like an overweight Lutheran from Coon Rapids treats a plate of hot-dish casserole at a church potluck. The NPU football program isn't going to get better by taking on the Andersons and Rockfords of the world in an attempt to use the lone non-con game as just an opportunity to pick up a useless win every year.

[hazzben]

Then you probably figure that NPU should be doing the same thing you suggest for Elmhurst, instead of taking on Bethel for the next two seasons as the non-con foe of the Vikings.

But I don't. I salute Kyle Rooker for taking the harder path by trying to prepare the Vikings for CCIW-level competition, even though the Royals are undoubtedly going to treat North Park like an overweight Lutheran from Coon Rapids treats a plate of hot-dish casserole at a church potluck. The NPU football program isn't going to get better by taking on the Andersons and Rockfords of the world in an attempt to use the lone non-con game as just an opportunity to pick up a useless win every year.

That garnered a legit LOL  ... to be fair though, we prefer overweight Baptists. The chubby Lutherans are more a GAC, Olaf, Cobber thing.  Which begs the question, what is an overweight Covenanter, the offspring a husky Baptist Mother and chubby Lutheran Father, both from respective pietistic strands?

[Gregory Sager]

Then you probably figure that NPU should be doing the same thing you suggest for Elmhurst, instead of taking on Bethel for the next two seasons as the non-con foe of the Vikings.

But I don't. I salute Kyle Rooker for taking the harder path by trying to prepare the Vikings for CCIW-level competition, even though the Royals are undoubtedly going to treat North Park like an overweight Lutheran from Coon Rapids treats a plate of hot-dish casserole at a church potluck. The NPU football program isn't going to get better by taking on the Andersons and Rockfords of the world in an attempt to use the lone non-con game as just an opportunity to pick up a useless win every year.

That garnered a legit LOL  ... to be fair though, we prefer overweight Baptists.

You mean Convergers. Uh, Convergites. Convergees? Convergists?

The chubby Lutherans are more a GAC, Olaf, Cobber thing. 

I was just going for a generic Minnesota reference, and Lutherans are as generically Minnesota as ice fishing, Hamm's, and passive-aggressive behavior.

Which begs the question, what is an overweight Covenanter, the offspring a husky Baptist Mother and chubby Lutheran Father, both from respective pietistic strands?

Based upon Swedish pietist history -- in which a watershed event was the founding of Pietisten magazine in Stockholm in 1842 by a British Methodist missionary named George Scott -- an overweight Covenanter is the offspring of a portly Wesleyan mother and a chubby Lutheran father.

[Kovo]

Then you probably figure that NPU should be doing the same thing you suggest for Elmhurst, instead of taking on Bethel for the next two seasons as the non-con foe of the Vikings.

But I don't. I salute Kyle Rooker for taking the harder path by trying to prepare the Vikings for CCIW-level competition, even though the Royals are undoubtedly going to treat North Park like an overweight Lutheran from Coon Rapids treats a plate of hot-dish casserole at a church potluck. The NPU football program isn't going to get better by taking on the Andersons and Rockfords of the world in an attempt to use the lone non-con game as just an opportunity to pick up a useless win every year.

We will have to agree to disagree.  NCC's big turnaround when JT took control included 6-4, 7-3 and 7-3 records his first three years.  This progression really helped recruiting.  However, the noncon records those three years were 2-1, 3-0 and 3-0 respectively.  You can't convince me that going 0-3 noncon all three years (and 4-6 overall each year) would somehow have made the program better, and easier to sell as a program on the rise (i.e. "we're getting better----our record doesn't show it but trust me, we are....").

I recognize that some of this is moot with only one noncon game but NPU would be better off with a win against anyone rather than getting whacked by Bethel.

[79jaybird]

I am happy to see Elmhurst schedule a WIAC foe.  I really didn't like when we used to play Benedictine, Concordia (IL) which at the time were cream puffs.  It certainly did little to nothing to prepare for the CCIW slate.   

[79jaybird]

I recognize that some of this is moot with only one noncon game but NPU would be better off with a win against anyone rather than getting whacked by Bethel.

*Depends on what you value.  Sheer wins  and/or   a quality win getting your program poised to improve in the conference each year.   Tough call, but I'd take hard earned wins against quality opponents over a bunch of wins over cream puffs,  but wind up 500 or worse in conference play. 

[Gregory Sager]

Then you probably figure that NPU should be doing the same thing you suggest for Elmhurst, instead of taking on Bethel for the next two seasons as the non-con foe of the Vikings.

But I don't. I salute Kyle Rooker for taking the harder path by trying to prepare the Vikings for CCIW-level competition, even though the Royals are undoubtedly going to treat North Park like an overweight Lutheran from Coon Rapids treats a plate of hot-dish casserole at a church potluck. The NPU football program isn't going to get better by taking on the Andersons and Rockfords of the world in an attempt to use the lone non-con game as just an opportunity to pick up a useless win every year.

We will have to agree to disagree.  NCC's big turnaround when JT took control included 6-4, 7-3 and 7-3 records his first three years.  This progression really helped recruiting.  However, the noncon records those three years were 2-1, 3-0 and 3-0 respectively.  You can't convince me that going 0-3 noncon all three years (and 4-6 overall each year) would somehow have made the program better, and easier to sell as a program on the rise (i.e. "we're getting better----our record doesn't show it but trust me, we are....").

I recognize that some of this is moot with only one noncon game but NPU would be better off with a win against anyone rather than getting whacked by Bethel.

The fact that it's one game rather than three makes all the difference. A single-game variation in W-L record isn't likely to make any difference at all on the recruiting trail. But it could make a huge difference in terms of being prepared to face CCIW-level competition, especially when, as has typically been the case for NPU, the two-deep features a lot of freshmen.

[Kovo]

I recognize that some of this is moot with only one noncon game but NPU would be better off with a win against anyone rather than getting whacked by Bethel.

*Depends on what you value.  Sheer wins  and/or   a quality win getting your program poised to improve in the conference each year.   Tough call, but I'd take hard earned wins against quality opponents over a bunch of wins over cream puffs,  but wind up 500 or worse in conference play.

I would always take a hard earned win over a quality opponent, but lets be real, EU and and NPU were both 1-9 last year they need wins against anyone, not losses against a quality opponent.

I'm still not sold on the concept of that having a young team getting beaten to a pulp in a noncon game gets you ready for conference play.  All it does is start you 0-1 with a beaten up team. I played at NCC in the 80s.  I'm real familiar with what happens to a team after taking a couple of good poundings.