FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CardinalAlum]

If Elmhurst is to garner a victory this season it looks like this Saturday at North Park is their chance. Massey gives the Jays a 40% chance of winning, and predicts a score of NPU 28, EU 24.

Having seen both, North Park is better. I also thought they were better than the Big Blue but NP didn't win that one. 

[New Tradition]

Well, here be the first set of (alphabetical) regional rankings.  Am I correct in thinking that the loser of the Wash U/Wheaton tilt this weekend is not necessarily eliminated from the rankings (especially if it's Wash U)?  Does anyone know what teams might be just on the other side of the rankings who could slide in?

Aurora                    7-1   7-1
Lake Forest            7-1   7-1
North Central (IL)    8-0   8-0
Ripon                    8-0   8-0
Wartburg                    8-0   8-0
WashU                    7-1   7-1
Wheaton (IL)            6-2   6-2

[wally_wabash]

Well, here be the first set of (alphabetical) regional rankings.  Am I correct in thinking that the loser of the Wash U/Wheaton tilt this weekend is not necessarily eliminated from the rankings (especially if it's Wash U)?  Does anyone know what teams might be just on the other side of the rankings who could slide in?

Aurora                    7-1   7-1
Lake Forest            7-1   7-1
North Central (IL)    8-0   8-0
Ripon                    8-0   8-0
Wartburg                    8-0   8-0
WashU                    7-1   7-1
Wheaton (IL)            6-2   6-2

You're going to love today's ATN!

[Next Man Up]

Well, here be the first set of (alphabetical) regional rankings.  Am I correct in thinking that the loser of the Wash U/Wheaton tilt this weekend is not necessarily eliminated from the rankings (especially if it's Wash U)?  Does anyone know what teams might be just on the other side of the rankings who could slide in?

Aurora                    7-1   7-1
Lake Forest            7-1   7-1
North Central (IL)    8-0   8-0
Ripon                    8-0   8-0
Wartburg                    8-0   8-0
WashU                    7-1   7-1
Wheaton (IL)            6-2   6-2

in Region 5, I'm not sure there are any other teams with a very realistic chance to slide in.

[New Tradition]

Well, here be the first set of (alphabetical) regional rankings.  Am I correct in thinking that the loser of the Wash U/Wheaton tilt this weekend is not necessarily eliminated from the rankings (especially if it's Wash U)?  Does anyone know what teams might be just on the other side of the rankings who could slide in?

Aurora                    7-1   7-1
Lake Forest            7-1   7-1
North Central (IL)    8-0   8-0
Ripon                    8-0   8-0
Wartburg                    8-0   8-0
WashU                    7-1   7-1
Wheaton (IL)            6-2   6-2

You're going to love today's ATN!

You're right!  That was great!  Thanks for putting that together.

[USee]

Huge game about to start in St Louis. The two best QB's in the conference both putting up insane numbers this year. I believe the battle will be won in the trenches (no surprise) and the team with the more effective run game will prevail.

[cciwman]

Can't wait to read Norms quotes tomorrow in the Pantagraph.

[USee]

Finals:
Wheaton 42
WashU 35

NCC 68
IWU 3

Carthage 37
Augie 30

Elmhurst 20
NPU 23

Carroll leads Millikin 26-18 with 4 min left

[blue_jays]

Can't wait to read Norms quotes tomorrow in the Pantagraph.

"We had em right where we wanted them, but due to a bunch of self-inflicted errors that had nothing to do with the quality of our opponent, we lost a close 68-3 game." - Norm, probably

[USee]

In St Louis:

Wheaton 42
WashU 35

Wheaton 78 plays for 505 yds (271 rushing/234 pass)
Bowers: 28-38-0 234 yds 3 TD's; 120 yds rushing
Gio Weeks 25 rush 145 yds 3 TD's

WashU 58 plays for 386 yds (161 rushing/225 pass)
Rush 13-17-1 190 yds 1 TD
Hamilton 10 rush 77 yds

The story of the game was Wheatons ability to run 20 more plays than WashU. That happened in large part because Wheaton converted 9-14 3rd downs (64%) and WashU was 4-10 on 3rd down. Will Bowers was spectacular completing 73% of his passes (with at least 4 drops---3 of which would have been TD's). He also ran for a season high 120 yds. WashU had no answer for Wheaton's run game. I was really flummoxed as to why the Thunder passed the ball more than they were running it in the first half when they were getting 8yds per carry.

Matt Rush went out of the game on the second to last series and was on crutches after the game. I hope he is ok, he has played incredibly well this year.

Wheaton hosts NPU next week in the regular season finale. WashU is at Carroll.

[kiko]

Can't wait to read Norms quotes tomorrow in the Pantagraph.

The audio on the IWU broadcast was slightly overmodulated, so I just pretended it was Norm yelling at me for three hours.

[Augie6]

Another embarrassing loss in the Bell era of Augie football, as they lose to a 2-6 Carthage team, at home, on Senior day.  Carthage was averaging 19.5 points and 321 yards of offense per game coming into the contest, but they marched up and down the field against a porous Augie D to the tune of 512 yards and 37 points.  Augie's defense completely laid down in the 2nd half, giving up 325 yards and 29 points.  I am thoroughly convinced that Augie will never become relevant again in the CCIW under the current coaching staff.  This is the 8th season under Bell's watch and, assuming they will not beat NCC next week (pretty safe bet), Bell's record at Augie will be 29-44, 22-37 in the CCIW with no better than a 5th place finish in the conference, with one winning season at 6-4 in 2019.  It's really sad to see what this program has become. 

[SpartanHouse]

Another embarrassing loss in the Bell era of Augie football, as they lose to a 2-6 Carthage team, at home, on Senior day.  Carthage was averaging 19.5 points and 321 yards of offense per game coming into the contest, but they marched up and down the field against a porous Augie D to the tune of 512 yards and 37 points.  Augie's defense completely laid down in the 2nd half, giving up 325 yards and 29 points.  I am thoroughly convinced that Augie will never become relevant again in the CCIW under the current coaching staff.  This is the 8th season under Bell's watch and, assuming they will not beat NCC next week (pretty safe bet), Bell's record at Augie will be 29-44, 22-37 in the CCIW with no better than a 5th place finish in the conference, with one winning season at 6-4 in 2019.  It's really sad to see what this program has become.

What is the ceiling of the Augie program?

[Gregory Sager]

North Park finally stopped with all of the almost-pulled-it-offs and hanging-arounds by securing a 23-20 Senior Day win on a Marcel Love TD catch out of the backfield with only 1:16 remaining in the game. The high winds that marked today's weather in Chicago played havoc with the passing and kicking games of both teams, but the biggest victim was Elmhurst's punter Ryan Brenner. In the fourth quarter with his team up 20-16 he had a punt go five yards past the line of scrimmage and then take an abrupt 90-degree turn before being pushed out of bounds by the gale for a net of zero yards. NPU thus got the ball at the EU 35, and, although the Vikings were stymied on 4th and 6 at the EU 7 with 3:16 to go, field position had been swung North Park's way. The 'jays had to punt again deep in their own territory after a three-and-out in which NPU used all three of its timeouts, and this punt traveled only 20 yards into the wind, giving the Vikings the ball at the EU 24 with 2:49 left. Four plays later, Matt Eck's swing pass to an all-alone Love on the left side flipped the scoreboard and led to the NPU victory that staved off a winless season.

I owe an apology to Elmhurst. I wrote off the Bluejays as a displaced UMAC team early on, but down the stretch this season they've come close to beating both Carroll and North Park, and they played Millikin tough as well. They showed a lot of grit today, and were just a play here or there away from winning the game.

[Augie6]

Another embarrassing loss in the Bell era of Augie football, as they lose to a 2-6 Carthage team, at home, on Senior day.  Carthage was averaging 19.5 points and 321 yards of offense per game coming into the contest, but they marched up and down the field against a porous Augie D to the tune of 512 yards and 37 points.  Augie's defense completely laid down in the 2nd half, giving up 325 yards and 29 points.  I am thoroughly convinced that Augie will never become relevant again in the CCIW under the current coaching staff.  This is the 8th season under Bell's watch and, assuming they will not beat NCC next week (pretty safe bet), Bell's record at Augie will be 29-44, 22-37 in the CCIW with no better than a 5th place finish in the conference, with one winning season at 6-4 in 2019.  It's really sad to see what this program has become.

What is the ceiling of the Augie program?

I think it is exactly what you are seeing the past few years with the staff that is in place, and that is average in the CCIW, at best.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a step back from that next year, as Augie graduates a fair number of Senior contributors from this year's team. I fully expect them to be closer to the bottom of the CCIW than the top.   I was somewhat encouraged this year given the way Augie played against Wheaton and Wash U.  Even with the losses, they were at least competitive in those games against quality competition, which is the first time I've seen that happen in more than a decade.  But to have losses to both Carthage and Carroll where they were clearly outplayed despite losing close games, takes away from any perceived progress of the program.  Since Coach Barnes left after the 2010 season, Augie has had a total of 1 winning season in the past 12.  Unfortunately, the program is now mired in mediocrity and it seems that the administration is perfectly fine with that as long as the program keeps bringing in the proper number of tuition paying, student athletes.  Clearly, wins are not being used as any type of performance measurement for this staff.  Bell has been unable to recruit the type of athlete needed to compete at the upper level of the CCIW and I have seen a lot of undisciplined play and questionable game management decisions during his tenure.  The program is light years away from consistently competing with the top of the CCIW.