FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Final at Keller Field:

North Park 33
Carthage 30

Congrats to NPU on the first Vikings win in Kenosha since 1992. And a big congrats as well to Kyle Rooker for beating his old team for the first time.

[kiko]

Today:

Illinois Wesleyan 14, Millikin 0 in Bloomington
North Park 33, Carthage 30 in Kenosha as noted above
Wash U 31, Augustana 7 in Rock Island
Wheaton 48, Carroll 13 in Wauwatosa Wausau Waukesha

Tonight:
Elmhurst at North Central

[Next Man Up]

NPU 1st TD—-PAT kick blocked
NPU 2nd TD—PAT kick blocked
NPU 3rd TD—PAT kick missed
NPU 4th TD—Run failed
NPU 5th TD—Run Failed

NPU WINS!

Crazy, crazy game. Missed opportunities and penalties both in abundance for both teams in this game. With little time left Carthage missed on a 3rd and pass attempt broken up by NPU. However, the the NPU defender then drew an unsportsmanlike taunting 15 yard penalty giving Carthage a first down. A few plays later Carthage had a man behind the NPU secondary for what should have been a TD that very likely could have won the game. However, the Carthage QB grossly under threw the ball and it was picked off by NPU who then ran out the clock to post a gigantic W.
GS will likely have additional details/analysis of what was a very interesting game to watch despite all the misplays.

[Gregory Sager]

Actually, I only watched the last twelve minutes or so. Today is Soccer Alumni Day at NPU, and since the North Park men's soccer team turns 40 years old this year a lot of my peers from the original Vikings team are here today. So it was a soccer afternoon for me at Holmgren Athletic Complex. However, North Park AD John Born kept checking football updates on his phone, and we were marveling at how well the Vikings were doing and were hoping that Kyle got this win. After the soccer alumni left, I went up here into the press box and watched the end of the game with the sports information GAs.

As you said, it was a sloppy fourth quarter -- what you didn't mention is that the drive prior to the Carthage drive that was sustained by the NPU unsportsmanlike conduct call after a Carthage incompletion on 3rd and 14 was a North Park touchdown that was set up by a needless Carthage fumble in which the Firebirds RB didn't secure the ball even after being hit by two Vikings.

It wasn't twelve minutes that anybody would want to use in a Football 101 lecture. And that probably reflects what D3FLETCH said about the bad football being played in this league this season aside from North Central and Wheaton. But, guess what? I don't care. NPU got the W, and that's all that matters to me.

[Next Man Up]

Hardly a surprising revelation. 

[CardinalAlum]

It's Weenie week! Looking forward to Saturday!  Would like nothing more than to send Norm out of Naperville with his tail between his legs after a beatdown.  Last nights game vs Elmhurst was a bit of an up and down.  Cards were a little sluggish coming out of the gate but figured it out pretty quick as they went into halftime up 42-0.  2nd team and the rest of the roster dominated the play in the 2nd half.  No Greenfield last night and Hill did a nice job stepping up.  Lehnen threw for 4 TD's and ran for one. Congrats to NP! 

[TrueGreen]

Today:

Illinois Wesleyan 14, Millikin 0 in Bloomington
North Park 33, Carthage 30 in Kenosha as noted above
Wash U 31, Augustana 7 in Rock Island
Wheaton 48, Carroll 13 in Wauwatosa Wausau Waukesha

Tonight:
Elmhurst at North Central

NCC, Wheaton & WashU all as predicted. Congrats NP on the upset of the decade (or century). And my Titans have a HUGE relief as they shut out the Big Blue. Defense doesn't travel out of state very well (Carroll, Carthage and Wash), but have shown great signs at home. We will see how they hold up vs the mighty Cardinal offense in Naperville.

[TrueGreen]

Trying to send the IWU DC a congrats email on the shut out, but they have NO email or phone number listed for him. Other full-time and some part-time coaches have contact info listed. Is this an oversight? Did they remove it? Was he getting bad emails from early performances? Seems strange.

[Gregory Sager]

Today:

Illinois Wesleyan 14, Millikin 0 in Bloomington
North Park 33, Carthage 30 in Kenosha as noted above
Wash U 31, Augustana 7 in Rock Island
Wheaton 48, Carroll 13 in Wauwatosa Wausau Waukesha

Tonight:
Elmhurst at North Central

NCC, Wheaton & WashU all as predicted. Congrats NP on the upset of the decade (or century).

I wasn't 100% sure how to respond when you made that upset-of-the-century declaration before the game, but now there's no doubt that it's a massive overstatement. The reality is that, as I've been saying all along, this is a down year for the league. North Central and Wheaton are among the best teams in D3, and Wash U is at least decent, but everybody else is dross in terms of the established CCIW standard. That includes Carthage as well as NPU. There's no "upset of the decade," let alone "upset of the century," when dross beats dross. That was true when Elmhurst beat Millikin and when Carroll beat IWU, and it also held true when NPU beat Carthage.

Don't be fooled by the fact that NPU went nearly thirty years in between victories at Keller Field. The only teams that matter in any given year are the current teams. And this year's Firebirds simply aren't good.

And my Titans have a HUGE relief as they shut out the Big Blue. Defense doesn't travel out of state very well (Carroll, Carthage and Wash), but have shown great signs at home. We will see how they hold up vs the mighty Cardinal offense in Naperville.

Even if the city of Naperville doesn't secede from the state of Illinois over the next six days, Norm & Co. are still going to be SOL on Saturday. The Cardinals are going to rip your alma mater's team into green confetti. Three weeks after that it'll be my alma mater's team whose turn it'll be to get fed into the shredder. There's no use wishing otherwise.

[TrueGreen]

Just half joking in response to your comment that the victory "wouldn't be the upset of the century". BUT I disagree with you about NP. I watched the last QTR of the game and I think this QB of yours is better than I have seen in a long time. AND the Firebirds did beat IWU & Millikin in a big way. Not that those teams are the top of the league, but the were handled in a big way by Carthage.

So maybe the Titan defense is will only be successful at home. I unfortunately agree with you about this Saturday. I don't see the Big Red Machine offense holding back at all. 

[Gregory Sager]

Just half joking in response to your comment that the victory "wouldn't be the upset of the century". BUT I disagree with you about NP. I watched the last QTR of the game and I think this QB of yours is better than I have seen in a long time. AND the Firebirds did beat IWU & Millikin in a big way. Not that those teams are the top of the league, but the were handled in a big way by Carthage.

Matt Eck is a freshman QB who is developing well in the heat of battle; he looks poised and has nice touch, and he has a lot of upside going forward. But let's not overstate that. It takes more than a QB to make a good team, and NPU is a long way from being a good team. I like the direction that Kyle Rooker is taking the NPU program, but the journey's just beginning for the Vikings.

Being "beaten in a big way" means nothing, because there's really no appreciable differentiation between the bottom six. None of these teams is good enough to impose their will upon anybody else on a given Saturday the way that the next team up the ladder, Wash U, can. They're all just trading off bad performances between themselves, with certain specific matchups sometimes being the difference.

[CardinalAlum]

Just half joking in response to your comment that the victory "wouldn't be the upset of the century". BUT I disagree with you about NP. I watched the last QTR of the game and I think this QB of yours is better than I have seen in a long time. AND the Firebirds did beat IWU & Millikin in a big way. Not that those teams are the top of the league, but the were handled in a big way by Carthage.

And my Titans have a HUGE relief as they shut out the Big Blue. Defense doesn't travel out of state very well (Carroll, Carthage and Wash), but have shown great signs at home. We will see how they hold up vs the mighty Cardinal offense in Naperville.

Even if the city of Naperville doesn't secede from the state of Illinois over the next six days, Norm & Co. are still going to be SOL on Saturday. The Cardinals are going to rip your alma mater's team into green confetti. Three weeks after that it'll be my alma mater's team whose turn it'll be to get fed into the shredder. There's no use wishing otherwise.

😂😂😂 

GS,

This might be my favorite post of yours to date!  Let's call it what it is....there's no love lost regarding Norm Eash. Another big win by the Cards would be pretty satisfying to so many!

[TrueGreen]

Even if the city of Naperville doesn't secede from the state of Illinois over the next six days, Norm & Co. are still going to be SOL on Saturday. The Cardinals are going to rip your alma mater's team into green confetti. Three weeks after that it'll be my alma mater's team whose turn it'll be to get fed into the shredder. There's no use wishing otherwise.

😂😂😂 

GS,

This might be my favorite post of yours to date!  Let's call it what it is....there's no love lost regarding Norm Eash. Another big win by the Cards would be pretty satisfying to so many!

and by "so many", you are including many very loyal Titans.

[CardinalAlum]

Even if the city of Naperville doesn't secede from the state of Illinois over the next six days, Norm & Co. are still going to be SOL on Saturday. The Cardinals are going to rip your alma mater's team into green confetti. Three weeks after that it'll be my alma mater's team whose turn it'll be to get fed into the shredder. There's no use wishing otherwise.

😂😂😂 

GS,

This might be my favorite post of yours to date!  Let's call it what it is....there's no love lost regarding Norm Eash. Another big win by the Cards would be pretty satisfying to so many!

and by "so many", you are including many very loyal Titans.

That's a really tough place to be in.  I have been there in the Pre Thorne era at NCC.  Knowing that losses are the best thing long term for your school is tough.  Kudos for sticking it out. 

[Stagg Again!!]

It's Weenie week! Looking forward to Saturday!  Would like nothing more than to send Norm out of Naperville with his tail between his legs after a beatdown.  Last nights game vs Elmhurst was a bit of an up and down.  Cards were a little sluggish coming out of the gate but figured it out pretty quick as they went into halftime up 42-0.  2nd team and the rest of the roster dominated the play in the 2nd half.  No Greenfield last night and Hill did a nice job stepping up.  Lehnen threw for 4 TD's and ran for one. Congrats to NP!

Over the first 4 1/4 games of 2021 campaign, there have been very few players missed on the NCC sidelines as much as Magnus Meyer.  For those who don't recall, Meyer was 62/66 on PATs and 8/11 on FG attempts during the 2019 campaign (including 30/31 on PATs and 4/4 on FGs during the playoff run).  During the early part of this season, the Cardinal kicking game has been a "work-in-progress", to say the least, with at least one missed PAT against Aurora, Wheaton, Augustana, and Carroll.  Things took a noticeable turn for the worse during the 1st Quarter in Kenosha before Coach Thorne made a decisive move.  With 13:42 left in the 2nd Quarter against Carthage, young Tanner Rains was tapped for PATs (in addition to his regular kickoff and punting duties).  Since then, Rains has been 16/16 on PATs and 1/1 on FGs, and he has turned an area of opportunity into a possible strength for the Cardinals.  Just in case folks were not aware, Rains also had five punts in last night's game with a 46.8 yard average.  Inclusive of those five punts, NCC now has the top punting game in the country, averaging 42.30 net yards per punt. 

While we certainly won't know how good this 2021 Cardinal team is/will be until they have played the last down of their last game of this season, I do know this... the Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater teams that dominated the DIII football landscape during the past 20 years were strong in all phases of the game.  They had offenses, defenses, and special teams that kept the pressure on for 60 minutes.  A stabilized kicking game (with Rains holding down the fort until Meyer returns) and strong punting game (lead by Rains) will go a long way toward helping the 2021 Cardinals make a deep playoff run.