FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[USee]

AFCA All-Americans are out and it is a head-scratching list. Once again proves that coaches are bad at voting for awards (the soccer coaches this year did a laughably poor job this year as well). No Greenfield is just dumb.
I look forward to a much more legitimate list from D3football.

https://www.afca.com/centrals-blaine-hawkins-and-monmouths-korbyn-personett-headline-the-2021-afca-division-iii-coaches-all-america-teams/

What a joke!  Ethan Greenfield is the best RB in the country!

1000% agree.  I'm speechless.

Why would you be speechless? These guys have been doing this the same way for a couple decades. They only pick 1 player from any team usually. The fact that NCC got 2 (Clarke and Kamienski) is borderline miraculous.  4 players total from the National championship rosters, 1 player from UWW and zero from Mt Union. Lake Forest has 2 players and UWW 1? We shouldn't even be discussing this.

[WashedUpCard]

AFCA All-Americans are out and it is a head-scratching list. Once again proves that coaches are bad at voting for awards (the soccer coaches this year did a laughably poor job this year as well). No Greenfield is just dumb.
I look forward to a much more legitimate list from D3football.

https://www.afca.com/centrals-blaine-hawkins-and-monmouths-korbyn-personett-headline-the-2021-afca-division-iii-coaches-all-america-teams/

What a joke!  Ethan Greenfield is the best RB in the country!

1000% agree.  I'm speechless.

Why would you be speechless? These guys have been doing this the same way for a couple decades. They only pick 1 player from any team usually. The fact that NCC got 2 (Clarke and Kamienski) is borderline miraculous.  4 players total from the National championship rosters, 1 player from UWW and zero from Mt Union. Lake Forest has 2 players and UWW 1? We shouldn't even be discussing this.

I don't have the historical knowledge on the voting for this "team" that you do... so I greatly appreciate your insight (I mean that sincerely).  Given you statement... "speechless" would seem to be the right response.

[USee]

Probably true. Ok, I'm speechless too.

[Ice Bear]

AFCA All-Americans are out and it is a head-scratching list. Once again proves that coaches are bad at voting for awards (the soccer coaches this year did a laughably poor job this year as well). No Greenfield is just dumb.
I look forward to a much more legitimate list from D3football.

https://www.afca.com/centrals-blaine-hawkins-and-monmouths-korbyn-personett-headline-the-2021-afca-division-iii-coaches-all-america-teams/

What a joke!  Ethan Greenfield is the best RB in the country!

Ice Bear ****ing agrees. Ice says you know what stood out to him over the last two weeks in regards to Greenfield? Ice says it's not just the fact that he ****ing runs over dudes, creates a low center of gravity while in motion that most defenders, even twice his size, struggle to contain, and that his combination of speed, strength, and decision making are top notch...its that he almost always (at least over the last two weeks so admittedly a small sample size for this polar bear football scientist) pats the guy, the one who just tried to ****ing throttle him, on the helmet after each run. Ice says he then seemingly walks back to the huddle with a big genuine smile, like a ****ing polar bear does after eating a gigantic seal on a platter.

Ice Bear is willing to bet, hands down, even after admittedly not seeing all the other running backs across the nation, that Greenfield is the very best. Ice is excited to see what he does against the Cru.

[Next Man Up]

Congratulations to the entire NCC program, for the victory over MT and for getting back to the Stagg w all the challenges that come from the expectations.

Usee always provides an interesting and thorough game breakdown, which I enjoy.

From my viewpoint, the keys are:
-Will King continue w his pinpoint accuracy. His back shoulder and high point throws to Jordan are in the category of "not defendable".
-Will he continue w his willingness to throw the deep ball and trust his WR's to make plays. UMHB has guys that win the one on one battles despite good coverage.
-Will Greenfield have the same physical success running through tackles against UMHB's defenders.
-Will NCC take what the defense doesn't want to give them.  The underneath stuff works occasionally, but some teams begin to rely on the checkdowns as the primary, which benefits UMHB.

Emma,

Good list. I would just make one more addition.

—Will NCC's usual starters who didn't play against Mount be able to suit up Friday?
If not, keep in mind the extraordinary job done by their backups on Sat.

Another question that seems valid in light of all the above discussion re the MHB passing attack and the connection between their WRs and QB.......................
Will the Cardinals go with a fifth DB and, if so, how often? NCC has an excellent 5th DB. De'Angelo Roberson, who would be a starter on almost any other team, leads the team with 4 interceptions, one of which he took to the house.

[USee]

Forecast for Friday calls for a high of 47 and low of 32, with a 40% chance of rain.

We're a couple of days out so it is worth noting that Thursday has a 60% chance of rain and Saturday shows 90%.

And a 100% chance of Red!!

I want to take a moment to thank USee for all of his comments here during the past few days.  I have done my own analysis throughout the year and find most of his comments to be spot on this week.  The only quick add that I have is that NCC's DL doesn't often get the credit that it deserves.  During the biggest games of the year, NCC allowed 72 yds on the ground to Mount, -12 to RPI, 47 to UWL, as well as 120 to WC and 83 to AU early in the season before the rotation was firmed up.  Other than McRae and Holaday at WC, I have not seen any better "pure play" run stoppers in the country this year than they have in Naperville (though I must admit that I did not see Del Val play in 2021 and think highly of the Nobiles based on what I saw in 2019). 

Often times, folks on these boards highlight that the Cards don't get enough penetration.  That may be true at times, but the NCC linemen do maintain solid gap/lane integrity... they almost never allow opposing QBs to escape the pocket for big yards, and they ALWAYS shut down draw plays.  Additionally, opposing offenses RARELY have success running through the A or B gaps.  The only success that opponents have really had is on the occasional off-tackle run early in ball games (but that usually gets shut down by halftime).  Finally, I have seen several of NCC's opponents totally abandon their running games after achieving no early success on the ground.  This has allowed NCC's DEs to pin their ears back and get after the opposing QBs, often resulting in critical/timely negative yardage plays that help to turn early Cardinal leads into halftime blowouts.  So, while USee is spot on with his analysis of the NCC secondary, I did want to highlight the successes of Martin, Brinkman, Greifelt, Lewis, Gilroy, Hartman, Rich, Kettelkamp, and Spivey.  I am eager to see if this group of young men can close out the season by turning MHB into a one dimensional offense that tries to throw into the teeth of NCC's secondary with the cold hard rain falling at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

I do think NCC has a solid Defensive front and Gilroy is one of the very best DE's in D3. Great player. The others are good too. What we don't know is how good they really are against a dedicated rushing attack. Wheaton sort of tested them with 27 rushes for 120 yds (4.4 ypc--I am on record as saying this was the biggest mistake in that game for Wheaton) and Mt Union inexplicably didn't run the ball much at all (17 carries for 72 yds, 4.2 ypc). Other than that NCC hasn't really faced a good team committed to running the ball. That changes on Friday night. I have long thought the kryptonite for NCC is a team that tries to pound them (similar to what they do to others) while also stretching the field with the passing game and we get to see if that strategy works on Friday because I am pretty sure that's what MHB is going to try and do. Without Ben Wong (I assume he is doubtful for Friday) it may be an issue.

[wally_wabash]

Or perhaps ESPN liked NCC's red & white home uniforms more than UWW's darker home colors.  I'll bet they'll like UMHB's yellow duds. All red NCC vs all yellow UMHB?

Good heavens no. 

[crufootball]

Or perhaps ESPN liked NCC's red & white home uniforms more than UWW's darker home colors.  I'll bet they'll like UMHB's yellow duds. All red NCC vs all yellow UMHB?

Good heavens no.

I hope they do like the gold from UMHB because that is what we are wearing.

[WRMUalum13]

UMHB, does some strange things for their away colors, I think they picked white tops as the home team when they played mount union one time. Maybe a Dallas cowboys homage?

[CruFrenzy]

Bookmakers have officially posted lines & betting odds for this Friday's Stagg Bowl!

North Central +1.0 (-110) vs UMHB -1.0 (-110) Total is set at 59.5 Points favored slightly to the under.

This is going to be a heck of a game folks, literally a pick 'em!

*odds courtesy of Betonline.ag

[robertgoulet]

Bookmakers have officially posted lines & betting odds for this Friday's Stagg Bowl!

North Central +1.0 (-110) vs UMHB -1.0 (-110) Total is set at 59.5 Points favored slightly to the under.

This is going to be a heck of a game folks, literally a pick 'em!

*odds courtesy of Betonline.ag

Hope the game plays out as such!

[WRMUalum13]

NCC by 10, nobody in d3 can stop that rushing attack.

[CruFrenzy]

NCC by 10, nobody in d3 can stop that rushing attack.

I will say that NCC has the most physically imposing & athletic Offensive line in D3 by a good margin, I was blown away watching them in the 2019 Stagg Bowl... very impressed this year too!

But I feel the need to ask, have you gotten a chance to watch the UMHB front seven play football this year? Just because Mount Union was getting gashed for 6 yards a pop that doesn't have a whole lot to do with the matchup on Friday night 

[SpartanHouse]

AFCA All-Americans are out and it is a head-scratching list. Once again proves that coaches are bad at voting for awards (the soccer coaches this year did a laughably poor job this year as well). No Greenfield is just dumb.
I look forward to a much more legitimate list from D3football.

https://www.afca.com/centrals-blaine-hawkins-and-monmouths-korbyn-personett-headline-the-2021-afca-division-iii-coaches-all-america-teams/

I will say the RB from Chicago is the real deal.
What a joke!  Ethan Greenfield is the best RB in the country!

[WRMUalum13]

NCC by 10, nobody in d3 can stop that rushing attack.

I will say that NCC has the most physically imposing & athletic Offensive line in D3 by a good margin, I was blown away watching them in the 2019 Stagg Bowl... very impressed this year too!

But I feel the need to ask, have you gotten a chance to watch the UMHB front seven play football this year? Just because Mount Union was getting gashed for 6 yards a pop that doesn't have a whole lot to do with the matchup on Friday night 

They were slashing Mount Union by 6 yard a pop without two of their starters even playing. UMHB has a great front 7 but they did give up over 200 yards rushing against Hardin Simmons.

I was very impressed with the NCC offensive line in 2019, and they don't seem to have let up much this year.