FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Next Man Up]

Let's see. We have;

cultural zeitgeist
unipolar cultural sensibilities
reactionary faculty cadres

The Professor "strikes" again.     

[Gotberg]

And as for damage done to traditional liberal arts, social sciences, and humanities fields ... well, we can have an honest debate about whether they have been more damaged by budget cuts; by self-inflicted wounds in terms of programming and curriculum that misread the cultural zeitgeist, reflect radicalized and ideologically unipolar cultural sensibilities, and are the product of entrenched and reactionary faculty cadres; or by the simple fact that the shifting structure of our society has led to a college education becoming the equivalent of what used to be a high-school education, with all of the attendant lack of interest and enthusiasm for the academic side of things that comes with generations that mature later than previous generations did.

This might be the greatest sentence ever written. I'm not professing to understand it completely, but that only adds to its greatness!

WUPHF, when are you starting the thread!

[D3FLETCH]

Endowment bake sale led by Norm Eash? Probably have to hire a few Illinois State students to read the recipe.

[79jaybird]

**REMINDER** to get your picks in for the CCIW Pick Em's over on the Pick Em's board.  Hopefully we can get some new participants this year.

As for the game Saturday,  I don't expect the Jays to win, but what I hope to see if a little more consistency on both sides of the ball,  and if the Jays can convert on 3rd downs.   

[WUPHF]

WUPHF, when are you starting the thread!

Where do I place it, General or Anything Goes?

[GoIrish7]

Hoping I can get back to the boards this year! Millikin has new header with great energy, I think with what they are building, recruiting efforts will be much improved. Biggest question mark will be retention. Decatur, from what I have been told, is not the best college town. Schools like IWU, North Central, Elmhurst, WashU, Wheaton retention should be high if they have things cooking with the amount of options available for their student athletes.

I think NCC rolls this year. From what I have been told by staffs in the league - Carroll and WashU will be tough. Wheaton reloading with a large class leaving after this past season. Carthage brought in a monster of FR class. Hoping my Jays can get over the 2 win hump and get themselves back towards the middle of the pack / start closing the gap. I am completely removed and couldn't say I know much about the team heading into this weekend other than we have a top LB. New OC - really hope we make a big jump there. Since Derrickson (OC after Lester) left, the last 3/4 play callers seem like they are grabbing plays / concepts out of a hat weekly and hope they work. No identity when it comes to the Offense and anything we can hang out hat on. Way too much fancy formations, shifts, motions and asking kids to do too much rather than specializing in a smaller book and getting really good at it vs multitude of looks.

My wishful rankings

NCC
WashU
Wheaton
Carroll
Carthage
Millikin
Elmhurst
IWU
Augie
North Park

[kiko]

Feels like we're about a third of the way through the calendar year, but here we are!

Sept 3 Games:

Rhodes at Augustana
UW-River Falls at Elmhurst
Carthage at Albion
Greenville at Millikin
Manchester at North Park

Everyone else opens on 9/10.

[matblake]

Hey all,
Good to be back in the saddle.  I will attempt to be more engaged this year.  Glad to have the boards and the site to keep me going.  Here's to a safe season for all the players across the country. 

[GU1999]

Hey Everyone,

NEWS FROM DECATUR: Exciting time of year and can't wait for CCIW football to be be back in a few weeks. Even more exciting is the fact that Millikin has signed their LARGEST CLASS EVER (67 Freshman) which does not even include the 8 transfers they now have on campus as well. This will be one of the largest teams (if not the largest) in school history and its coming on the brink of a new 6-million-dollar weight room/locker room begging construction in the spring. It seems Millikin is not content with being left behind in a conference where the top teams are quickly widening the gap between the bottom of the conference. I think the Big Blue will have all the motivation in the world this fall as they were picked 8th in the pre-season coaching polls.

Plain and simple I think this is the 4th best team in the CCIW and I would bet they finish no worse than 5th considering the array of talent coming into Decatur this fall. The QB play last year was poor and with a competition taking place for the starting QB role it will be interesting to see who wins that job. Millikin brought in the most OL/DL in school history and I believe with 3 starters back on the OL they will be able to find 2 missing pieces amongst the freshman/tranfers now garnering the Blue and white in central Illinois. There are a lot of question marks as not alot of info has come out of Decatur but on paper the Big Blue are poised to rejuvenate a program that has struggled to keep a standing roster of 80+. As of right now Millikin now has 120+ men on the roster which should create an atmosphere of competition and growth as Coach Hall begins his era running the ship for the Big Blue.  Although i still do not think Millikin is ready to challenge NC/Wheaton I do think they have an opportunity to win every other game on the schedule. I think a successful season for the big blue would be 6-4 but I am not ruling out an 8-2 season with a trip to the Bowl game in November. Nevertheless, if Coach Hall can succeed where the previous 2 Millikin coaches have failed (retaining players) then I believe this ca be the start of something special in Decatur for years to come. Cheers to a new season, I will have a post put together to preview the week 1 matchup vs Greenville but I expect this to be an exciting year where new faces begin to make their mark on Millikin's rich football history.

Ben,
One of the problems in being able to get too enthusiastic about the chances of the Big Blue is that we've all recently been told a couple times that they were ready to make a move to the top or near the top of the second tier of the conference only to see them fail in that pursuit. Being picked 8th in conference would reasonably translate to two conference wins, most likely NPU and Elmhurst. Carthage got only 2 more points in the Coaches Poll so it would seem logical that MU would stand a decent chance to post a W in that contest.
That's 3 CCIW wins. Sorry, but I see no chance for MU vs WC, NCC or WashU. That leaves Augie, Carrol, and IWU. Let's say the Big Blue hits on all cylinders on both offense and defense in one of those games and completely shuts the opponent (most likely IWU) down. That would be 4 conference wins. Add a victory over Greenville in the season opener and you have a 5-5 season. Realistically, I think that would be about what MU could reasonably hope for this year. With being picked 8th it would seem like this could be considered to be a successful season. 5-4 in conference and 6-4 overall would make for an over the moon year. 

Week 1 will not be a gimmie for the Big Blue.  The GU team that beat Millikin last year returns a lot: 
- UMAC Offensive POY Paul Garrett (preseason 3rd team AA)
- UMAC Defensive POY Turjon McLaurin
- 16 total starters
- 7 of 9 1st Team All conf. players (even UMAC adjusted, that is a lot or returning quality)

Fortunate for the Big Blue, Nick Morrow will be playing his games up the road at Soldier Field this year along side Roquan Smith.   

[Gregory Sager]

Hey all,
Good to be back in the saddle.  I will attempt to be more engaged this year.  Glad to have the boards and the site to keep me going.  Here's to a safe season for all the players across the country.

Welcome back, MB!

[D3FLETCH]

Unfortunately for the Big Blue, Nick Morrow will not be playing in Decatur 

2014 MU 66 GU 24
2015 MU 34 GU 16
2016 MU 40 GU 21

[Next Man Up]

After a 3-7 finish in 2021, there will be a new starting QB in Green Weenieland this season as soph transfer Jay Lemenager has beaten out last season's starter junior Sage Shindler for the top job at IWU. Lemenager, a lefty, spent the first semester of his freshman year at powerhouse Mount Union where he saw action in exactly one JV game.
Irregardless of whatever level of passing talent he may have, indications are that he better also possess a fair degree of scrambling ability as the Green Team has had to replace the entire starting O line from last year. The projected starter at right tackle, Lemenager's blindside protector, is a 340 pound freshman.

[D3FLETCH]

After a 3-7 finish in 2021, there will be a new starting QB in Green Weenieland this season as soph transfer Jay Lemenager has beaten out last season's starter junior Sage Shindler for the top job at IWU. Lemenager, a lefty, spent the first semester of his freshman year at powerhouse Mount Union where he saw action in exactly one JV game.
Irregardless of whatever level of passing talent he may have, indications are that he better also possess a fair degree of scrambling ability as the Green Team has had to replace the entire starting O line from last year. The projected starter at right tackle, Lemenager's blindside protector, is a 340 pound freshman.

In Norm we trust.

[USee]

I expect the CCIW to be much stronger overall this year. Although I suspect our OOC record will be around 6-4 the teams should be much stronger that they were a year ago overall. I am posting my predictions for the league and a capsule on each team with some thoughts. I used only available online info and Wheaton hasn't yet posted their 2022 roster and I am not privy to the talent level of most newcomers. I will post the capsules for the 5 teams playing tomorrow now. I am still finishing the other 5 and will post them when they are done.

Here is my prediction for the league:

Overall non conference record: 6-4

1. North Central 10-0/10-0
2. Wheaton      8-2/8-1
3. IWU            7-3/6-3
4. Augie          6-4/5-4
5. WashU        6-4/5-4
6. Carroll        5-5/4-5
7. North Park  4-6/3-6
8. Carthage    3-7/3-6
9. Millikin       2-8/2-7
10. Elmhurst  0-10/0-9

[USee]

Elmhurst Bluejays

Roster: 90

GR: 8, Sr: 14, Jr: 12, So: 19, Fr: 37

Returning Starters:

Offense: 9 (4 OL, QB, RB, TE, 2 WR) Key Losses: WR McKinley. Key Returners: QB Henkel, WR Brown
Defense: 5 (1 LB, 4 DB). Key Losses: DL King. Key Returners: LB Bryce Gable

2021 Record 1-9

Elmhurst has 14 returning starters from 2021, 9 of them on offense including both QB's who player (Noah Henkel and Nick Eilers) and their leading WR Winston Brown (43 receptions 411 yds). They also have 4 OL returning. They only scored 17 ppg last year and gave up 42 sacks so there should be improvement with 9 starters back. Defensively they return LB Bryce Grable who is a legitimate DPOY candidate ((117 Tackles, 19 TFL, 6.5 sacks 3 INT)). With 4 DB's returning they should improve on the 40 ppg and just 14 takeaways. They host UWRF, Augie, Carthage, Carroll, WashU and IWU this year. Elmhurst has the least amount of total talent in the league and I expect a long year for the Bluejays, starting with Wisconsin River Falls tomorrow. My prediction 0-10.