FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CardinalAlum]

Given the current recruiting battlegrounds, NCC will look to absolute humiliate the Titans this weekend. They went head to head on a number of current players and this game is a message to current and future Cardinals. 

On the flip side, Coach Eash would love nothing better than to somehow keep this game close so he can use that as fodder over the winter.

You hit it right on the head & THAT is my biggest problem with the current situation in Bloomington! The Titans are prepping all week "to somehow keep it close". AND the HC would love nothing better!!

This is the sad state of affairs that just grinds me. After all these years (since the 2009 OT victory) we can't come up with ANYTHING to flip the trend and we are going to be happy if we don't get embarrassed?!?

Come on Man.

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

This is a poor take.  NCC and the Weenies are constantly chasing the same kids.  Not quite getting your point that "most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school". 

[wally_wabash]

I'm always amused at the idea that schools can simply just go to a different conference as if every collegiate athletic conference has in/out privileges like your favorite hotel parking garage. 

[kiko]

And that a school like Illinois Wesleyan could "compete for a conference championship" elsewhere.  The Titans win... a fair number of conference championships in an array of different sports right where they are!  Football is not the straw that stirs the drink in D3 to the same extent that it is in other, lesser NCAA divisions.

[D3FLETCH]

Given the current recruiting battlegrounds, NCC will look to absolute humiliate the Titans this weekend. They went head to head on a number of current players and this game is a message to current and future Cardinals. 

On the flip side, Coach Eash would love nothing better than to somehow keep this game close so he can use that as fodder over the winter.

You hit it right on the head & THAT is my biggest problem with the current situation in Bloomington! The Titans are prepping all week "to somehow keep it close". AND the HC would love nothing better!!

This is the sad state of affairs that just grinds me. After all these years (since the 2009 OT victory) we can't come up with ANYTHING to flip the trend and we are going to be happy if we don't get embarrassed?!?

Come on Man.

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

This is a poor take.  NCC and the Weenies are constantly chasing the same kids.  Not quite getting your point that "most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school".

NCC and the Weenies are constantly chasing the same kids... What % of battles do IWU, Elmhurst, North Park, Millikin win?

[D3FLETCH]

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

Sure. Abandon a conference in which every one of your fellow schools is within 3 1/2 hours distance, and most are within 2 1/2, so that you can join a conference that has two schools within the 2 to 2 1/2 hour driving range, another school that's about five hours away, and in which everybody else is 6-7 hours away. That would make tremendous sense.

Well if we are trying to save nickels on travel they could attempt to join the NACC or HCAC. Maybe Norm can run a bake sale/push up contest. I think the NCAC  aligns better academically.

The conference you're looking for in terms of both proximity and academic cachet is the MWC, not the NCAC.

Still, I can't help but enjoy the mental picture of Norm pulling sheets of cookies out of the oven or doing push-ups in the Tucci Stadium parking lot in order to raise funds to cover the IWU bus trips to Lawrence or Ripon.

MWC would definitely make the most sense. I don't think they would take them. I have seen Norm working some check in lines at the AFCA convention. The guy is a legend.

[WUPHF]

[USee]

HansenRatings has the following for this weekend:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNIFuxVLu4y0s-1ggD-WASCC4RXUEao-qkWqOYfiEOM/edit#gid=1727317062

IWU @ NCC -51.2
Elmhurst @ NPU -7.4
WashU @ Millikin +19.2
Carthage @ Wheaton -31.2
Carroll @ Augie -3.5

[Gregory Sager]

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

Sure. Abandon a conference in which every one of your fellow schools is within 3 1/2 hours distance, and most are within 2 1/2, so that you can join a conference that has two schools within the 2 to 2 1/2 hour driving range, another school that's about five hours away, and in which everybody else is 6-7 hours away. That would make tremendous sense.

Well if we are trying to save nickels on travel they could attempt to join the NACC or HCAC. Maybe Norm can run a bake sale/push up contest. I think the NCAC  aligns better academically.

The conference you're looking for in terms of both proximity and academic cachet is the MWC, not the NCAC.

Still, I can't help but enjoy the mental picture of Norm pulling sheets of cookies out of the oven or doing push-ups in the Tucci Stadium parking lot in order to raise funds to cover the IWU bus trips to Lawrence or Ripon.

MWC would definitely make the most sense. I don't think they would take them.

What makes you think that the NCAC is any more likely to "take" Illinois Wesleyan than the MWC?

I'm always amused at the idea that schools can simply just go to a different conference as if every collegiate athletic conference has in/out privileges like your favorite hotel parking garage.

Me, too -- especially when the poster ups the ante by suggesting that a school can simply just go to a different conference that consists almost entirely of teams located six hours' driving distance from the school in question.

And that a school like Illinois Wesleyan could "compete for a conference championship" elsewhere.  The Titans win... a fair number of conference championships in an array of different sports right where they are!  Football is not the straw that stirs the drink in D3 to the same extent that it is in other, lesser NCAA divisions.

This needs to be stated more often. I've noticed that a lot of people who frequent the football boards are football-specific people who may not be familiar with the broader sweep of D3 athletics in general. As you said, just because football pays the bills and thus calls the shots at the D1 level doesn't mean that the same thing holds true in D3 ... and, in fact, with very, very few possible exceptions, it doesn't hold true in D3 at all.

[TrueGreen]

HansenRatings has the following for this weekend:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNIFuxVLu4y0s-1ggD-WASCC4RXUEao-qkWqOYfiEOM/edit#gid=1727317062

IWU @ NCC -51.2
Elmhurst @ NPU -7.4
WashU @ Millikin +19.2
Carthage @ Wheaton -31.2
Carroll @ Augie -3.5

I think these are again pretty accurate. Wash U still would get a little more love from me (at least 3 TD spread), but picking Augie and NP at home is solid. I am hoping (maybe beyond hope) that the Titans don't lose by more than 7 TDs! (But I'm sure that NCC is looking to get that number)

[Gregory Sager]

HansenRatings has the following for this weekend:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNIFuxVLu4y0s-1ggD-WASCC4RXUEao-qkWqOYfiEOM/edit#gid=1727317062

IWU @ NCC -51.2
Elmhurst @ NPU -7.4
WashU @ Millikin +19.2
Carthage @ Wheaton -31.2
Carroll @ Augie -3.5

I think these are again pretty accurate. Wash U still would get a little more love from me (at least 3 TD spread), but picking Augie and NP at home is solid. I am hoping (maybe beyond hope) that the Titans don't lose by more than 7 TDs! (But I'm sure that NCC is looking to get that number)

I get nervous whenever NPU is the favorite in a CCIW game. I'm not used to it. I fully understand why NPU is favored to beat Elmhurst, but I don't necessarily like that NPU is favored to beat Elmhurst. I hate losing whatever morsel of motivation that players can glean from being the underdog in a game between two teams that are a long, long way from being in the running for the postseason and are thus simply playing for pride.

And the fact that Logan Hansen has the Vikings as a touchdown-plus favorite comes close to freaking me out.

[kiko]

HansenRatings has the following for this weekend:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNIFuxVLu4y0s-1ggD-WASCC4RXUEao-qkWqOYfiEOM/edit#gid=1727317062

IWU @ NCC -51.2
Elmhurst @ NPU -7.4
WashU @ Millikin +19.2
Carthage @ Wheaton -31.2
Carroll @ Augie -3.5

I think these are again pretty accurate. Wash U still would get a little more love from me (at least 3 TD spread), but picking Augie and NP at home is solid. I am hoping (maybe beyond hope) that the Titans don't lose by more than 7 TDs! (But I'm sure that NCC is looking to get that number)

I get nervous whenever NPU is the favorite in a CCIW game. I'm not used to it. I fully understand why NPU is favored to beat Elmhurst, but I don't necessarily like that NPU is favored to beat Elmhurst. I hate losing whatever morsel of motivation that players can glean from being the underdog in a game between two teams that are a long, long way from being in the running for the postseason and are thus simply playing for pride.

And the fact that Logan Hansen has the Vikings as a touchdown-plus favorite comes close to freaking me out.

"Hi, Coach Holtz!"   

(Sarcasm font aside... I get where you are coming from on this...)

[Next Man Up]

Congrats to Juan Nieves and Jake Holaday on being named to the d3football.com Team of the Week

Pat, you sly dog!

It is generally of little consequence to us whether a team wins its game -- that doesn't affect their Team of the Week candidacy. Things that do:

• I find it very difficult to name defensive players when a team gives up a ton of points, especially in losses.

In other words, Juan Nieves cleared the "very difficult" bar, correct?

Actually, I think it's a sign of college football in this day and age that I don't consider 30 to be a ton of points.

For sure. Especially among the upper echelon teams who often hit the 30 point mark by halftime.

[Next Man Up]

Given the current recruiting battlegrounds, NCC will look to absolute humiliate the Titans this weekend. They went head to head on a number of current players and this game is a message to current and future Cardinals. 

On the flip side, Coach Eash would love nothing better than to somehow keep this game close so he can use that as fodder over the winter.

You hit it right on the head & THAT is my biggest problem with the current situation in Bloomington! The Titans are prepping all week "to somehow keep it close". AND the HC would love nothing better!!

This is the sad state of affairs that just grinds me. After all these years (since the 2009 OT victory) we can't come up with ANYTHING to flip the trend and we are going to be happy if we don't get embarrassed?!?

Come on Man.

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

This is a poor take.  NCC and the Weenies are constantly chasing the same kids.  Not quite getting your point that "most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school".

A perfect case in point is NCC QB Luke Lehnen. I believe he was a top target in IWU's recruiting efforts prior to deciding on NCC. And I'm sure there are kids playing for IWU that NCC went after and would like to have on their roster. Same applies to basketball. Each school has players that the other would be happy to have. And that applies to other CCIW conference schools as well. Go to a HS football or basketball game. Often, you'll find not only NCC and IWU there, but several other conference schools as well, especially, I believe,  Augie and Elmhurst at least on the basketball side with noticeable appearances by just about all the other schools besides Wheaton and Millikin. And as kiko pointed out, and Greg Sager reiterated, football may stir the drink most often followed by basketball, but depending on the sport, other pursuits are certainly not lacking as the most attractive landing spots for potential recruits.

[D3FLETCH]

IWU has not consistently recruited against NCC since DeGeorge was HC for Cardinals. I am sure a few kids over the years have chosen the Titans over the Cardinals but most current NCC recruits would not even consider talking to a D3 school. IWU is closer to Elmhurst and North Park than it is to competing with North Central. I think IWU should consider joining the NCAC. They would consistently finish top 2-3 and have a good chance to compete for a conference championship.

Sure. Abandon a conference in which every one of your fellow schools is within 3 1/2 hours distance, and most are within 2 1/2, so that you can join a conference that has two schools within the 2 to 2 1/2 hour driving range, another school that's about five hours away, and in which everybody else is 6-7 hours away. That would make tremendous sense.

Well if we are trying to save nickels on travel they could attempt to join the NACC or HCAC. Maybe Norm can run a bake sale/push up contest. I think the NCAC  aligns better academically.

The conference you're looking for in terms of both proximity and academic cachet is the MWC, not the NCAC.

Still, I can't help but enjoy the mental picture of Norm pulling sheets of cookies out of the oven or doing push-ups in the Tucci Stadium parking lot in order to raise funds to cover the IWU bus trips to Lawrence or Ripon.

MWC would definitely make the most sense. I don't think they would take them.

What makes you think that the NCAC is any more likely to "take" Illinois Wesleyan than the MWC?

I'm always amused at the idea that schools can simply just go to a different conference as if every collegiate athletic conference has in/out privileges like your favorite hotel parking garage.

Me, too -- especially when the poster ups the ante by suggesting that a school can simply just go to a different conference that consists almost entirely of teams located six hours' driving distance from the school in question.

And that a school like Illinois Wesleyan could "compete for a conference championship" elsewhere.  The Titans win... a fair number of conference championships in an array of different sports right where they are!  Football is not the straw that stirs the drink in D3 to the same extent that it is in other, lesser NCAA divisions.

This needs to be stated more often. I've noticed that a lot of people who frequent the football boards are football-specific people who may not be familiar with the broader sweep of D3 athletics in general. As you said, just because football pays the bills and thus calls the shots at the D1 level doesn't mean that the same thing holds true in D3 ... and, in fact, with very, very few possible exceptions, it doesn't hold true in D3 at all.

I am sure at North Park football does not call the shots in the athletics department. It does not mean that is the standard or best practice.

[SpartanHouse]

Just saw NP up 32-3 in the 3rd vs Elmhurst.

Is this the nail in the coffin for the BlueJays staff?