FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

I grind on Norm a lot, so it is only fair to note that his comments post-game did not veer into the bluster that we've seen so often in the past:

"North Central is worthy of their No. 1 ranking in the country. They're an excellent football team. Credit to them and their coaching staff," said IWU head coach Norm Eash. "I don't think we played as well as we're capable of playing, which is disappointing. That has nothing to do with desire or effort. You can't make a good team better, and we did that at times."

and:

IWU won the coin toss and deferred, giving North Central the ball with the Titans electing to have the wind at its back in the first quarter.

"That's when we had to stand our ground," said Eash. "We had to make them punt into the wind, and we never did that. In the first quarter they got some points on us and once they got the wind and got on top, we were on a short field the whole second and third quarter."

[Next Man Up]

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.

I would question what statistic(s) determine the "best" QB. Is it completion percentage, yards gained, or most efficient?  Bowers and Rush have both certainly put up big and impressive numbers but neither has his team in first place in the conference let alone in the nation. North Central's Luke Lehnen leads in passing efficiency which takes attempts, completions, yards gained, TDs, and INTs into consideration, and thus perhaps serves as the best overall measure of success. No? Yes?

[Next Man Up]

Does Wheaton's big win over WashU now have them in good position for the playoffs?
WashU to the Isthmus Bowl?

[Thunderdome21]

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.

I would question what statistic(s) determine the "best" QB. Is it completion percentage, yards gained, or most efficient?  Bowers and Rush have both certainly put up big and impressive numbers but neither has his team in first place in the conference let alone in the nation. North Central's Luke Lehnen leads in passing efficiency which takes attempts, completions, yards gained, TDs, and INTs into consideration, and thus perhaps serves as the best overall measure of success. No? Yes?

Let's also look at the talent around Lehnen. The best O-line, the best receiver, and the best RB, not only in the conference but quite possibly in the nation.  He's rarely had to throw the ball under duress and he's attempted 103 fewer passes than Bowers and 61 fewer passes than Rush. With those advantages, I would've thought his completion % would've been higher than both of them.  At the same time, Lehnen is more of a true dual threat than both Bowers and Rush, which makes him very dangerous for opposing defenses.  For me, if I'm looking for a QB to place the ball in a tight window for my receiver while under duress, I'd rather have Bowers but very much respect Lehnen and he should be considered alongside Bowers and Rush as one of the best QBs in the conference.

[lmitzel]

I grind on Norm a lot, so it is only fair to note that his comments post-game did not veer into the bluster that we've seen so often in the past:

"North Central is worthy of their No. 1 ranking in the country. They're an excellent football team. Credit to them and their coaching staff," said IWU head coach Norm Eash. "I don't think we played as well as we're capable of playing, which is disappointing. That has nothing to do with desire or effort. You can't make a good team better, and we did that at times."

and:

IWU won the coin toss and deferred, giving North Central the ball with the Titans electing to have the wind at its back in the first quarter.

"That's when we had to stand our ground," said Eash. "We had to make them punt into the wind, and we never did that. In the first quarter they got some points on us and once they got the wind and got on top, we were on a short field the whole second and third quarter."

I saw on Twitter this morning a clip from the Pantagraph's pregame preview juxtaposed with the final from Tucci.

(I'm assuming Joyce's quote wasn't meant to be malicious or disrespectful in any way, I just think the whole thing is funny.)

[CardinalAlum]

I grind on Norm a lot, so it is only fair to note that his comments post-game did not veer into the bluster that we've seen so often in the past:

"North Central is worthy of their No. 1 ranking in the country. They're an excellent football team. Credit to them and their coaching staff," said IWU head coach Norm Eash. "I don't think we played as well as we're capable of playing, which is disappointing. That has nothing to do with desire or effort. You can't make a good team better, and we did that at times."

and:

IWU won the coin toss and deferred, giving North Central the ball with the Titans electing to have the wind at its back in the first quarter.

"That's when we had to stand our ground," said Eash. "We had to make them punt into the wind, and we never did that. In the first quarter they got some points on us and once they got the wind and got on top, we were on a short field the whole second and third quarter."

I saw on Twitter this morning a clip from the Pantagraph's pregame preview juxtaposed with the final from Tucci.

(I'm assuming Joyce's quote wasn't meant to be malicious or disrespectful in any way, I just think the whole thing is funny.)

It's not the first time either Norm or one of his players has said something in the Pantagraph before the game that has given the Cards an extra bit of jump. They may want to quit with those game week interviews!

[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.

I would question what statistic(s) determine the "best" QB. Is it completion percentage, yards gained, or most efficient?  Bowers and Rush have both certainly put up big and impressive numbers but neither has his team in first place in the conference let alone in the nation. North Central's Luke Lehnen leads in passing efficiency which takes attempts, completions, yards gained, TDs, and INTs into consideration, and thus perhaps serves as the best overall measure of success. No? Yes?

Luke Lehnen is good, very good. But he isn't even the best offensive player on his own team. I would actually vote for Jeske Maples as OPOY in the CCIW (I think either Greenfield or Hardy will win it). Their OL is somehow even more dominant than last year's, which had Sharmore Clarke an all time great CCIW player. Lehnen is a great fit for NCC because he can run and throw. But North Central is a dominant running team and the reason Lehnen has high efficiency numbers is because of their OL and Ethan Greenfield. He throws it 11x a game and completes 7-8. His success is predicated on play action and his completion rate is really high because their running game gets receivers open. He is not a good drop back/pocket passer. MHB was able to limit the NCC run game and make Lehnen a passer in last years Stagg and he threw 3 INT's. Compare his style to Bowers and Rush and it's different offenses.  Both of those guys operate in schemes that are 50/50 run vs pass. Bowers and Rush are required to do more in their offense than Lehnen. North Central is 70% run and 30% pass. And 77% of those passes are play action or RPO.

While I think Lehnen is a great talent and one of the better players in the CCIW, I think he is the 3rd best passer in the league and the 3rd or 4th best offensive player on his own team. Bowers has established himself as the best and Rush is close behind.

[kiko]

I grind on Norm a lot, so it is only fair to note that his comments post-game did not veer into the bluster that we've seen so often in the past:

"North Central is worthy of their No. 1 ranking in the country. They're an excellent football team. Credit to them and their coaching staff," said IWU head coach Norm Eash. "I don't think we played as well as we're capable of playing, which is disappointing. That has nothing to do with desire or effort. You can't make a good team better, and we did that at times."

and:

IWU won the coin toss and deferred, giving North Central the ball with the Titans electing to have the wind at its back in the first quarter.

"That's when we had to stand our ground," said Eash. "We had to make them punt into the wind, and we never did that. In the first quarter they got some points on us and once they got the wind and got on top, we were on a short field the whole second and third quarter."

I saw on Twitter this morning a clip from the Pantagraph's pregame preview juxtaposed with the final from Tucci.

(I'm assuming Joyce's quote wasn't meant to be malicious or disrespectful in any way, I just think the whole thing is funny.)

It's not the first time either Norm or one of his players has said something in the Pantagraph before the game that has given the Cards an extra bit of jump. They may want to quit with those game week interviews!

I opted not to mention this because an undergraduate may not have the media experience that a 35-year coach does, so I didn't want to throw the player under the bus.  (Though he is a senior so in theory should understand how this might land.)  But yes, this was a fascinating exercise in how to almost premeditatedly create bulletin board material.

[USee]

Big shout out to Jesse Scott and his staff. They have done a tremendous job with this year's team, both in assembling the talent and coaching guys up. They started the year with 1 returning defensive starter and 5 offensive starters. I think that's probably the lowest amount of returning experience of any of the top 15 teams. And this team is now playing like a top 10 team in my opinion.

Coach Scott inherited one of the best teams Wheaton has ever assembled in 2019 and most of those guys stayed through last year. This year's team is decidedly Jesse's guys and his staff has had to put the right guys in the right positions. I was skeptical going into this season simply because of the lack of returning experience but Coach Scott (who was the recruiting coordinator for the last 10 years) has reloaded and this group has been fun to watch. Will Bowers has become one of the best QB's in the division and we now have multiple reliable WR's and a great young TE. The OL has stayed healthy and are playing at a high level. And our secondary is better than it was a year ago with a defensive front that has outperformed most expectations. Record wise these guys are right where I thought they would be at 7-2 with one game to play, but this team has found their identity and if they make the dance, is capable of beating anyone in my opinion. Well done!

I also applaud Coach Scott for his scheduling. A year ago Wheaton was "on the bubble" because of their historically weak SOS, despite having a top 10 team. This year he took a risk and went to Trinity in September. I know Coach Swider philosophically focused on playing lower top 25 teams because the CCIW is a grind and a 2nd loss usually means no playoffs. I hope this team is rewarded with a bid for their performance this year, despite the OT loss @Trinity. I am also excited for the next two years and the opener against UW Oshkosh, which again is a departure from the historical philosophy of this team.

[USee]

I am not confident of the Thunder's chances at a bid should they finish 8-2 but I do know this: WashU has to appear in the final regional rankings for the Thunder to have any consideration. That makes them 1-2 against RRO's with a road win and 2 close road losses to regional #1's.

[hazzben]

I saw on Twitter this morning a clip from the Pantagraph's pregame preview juxtaposed with the final from Tucci.

(I'm assuming Joyce's quote wasn't meant to be malicious or disrespectful in any way, I just think the whole thing is funny.)

It's not the first time either Norm or one of his players has said something in the Pantagraph before the game that has given the Cards an extra bit of jump. They may want to quit with those game week interviews!

I opted not to mention this because an undergraduate may not have the media experience that a 35-year coach does, so I didn't want to throw the player under the bus.  (Though he is a senior so in theory should understand how this might land.)  But yes, this was a fascinating exercise in how to almost premeditatedly create bulletin board material.

Textbook "that didn't age well"  It actually got me to crack the boxscore on a blowout of this magnitude. Quote looks even worse when you see the details 

[USee]

Thunder fans in Pool C watch need to watch the following games this weekend:

Region 1:  Kings (8-1) at  Wilkes (6-3)
Region 2:  Johns Hopkins (8-1) vs McDaniel (3-6)
Region 3: Hardin-Simmons vs 4-5 Texas Lutheran (4-5)
Region 4: Albion (9-0) at Alma (9-0); John Carroll (7-2) vs Otterbien (2-7)
Region 5: Lake Forest (8-1) @ Chicago (7-2); Aurora (8-1) v Concordia, WI (8-1); Ripon (8-1) v Lawrence (0-9); WashU (7-2) at Carroll (6-3)
Region 6: Bethel (8-1) @ St Johns (8-1); UWL(8-1) vs UW Platteville (5-4)

Wheaton absolutely has to have WashU win this weekend and find their way into the rankings. Tough duty because there are only 7 ranked teams in each region (vs 8 last year). Without that RRO, Wheaton will be DOA on Sunday. Then I believe they have to have Chicago beat Lake Forest this weekend which would give the AQ to Monmouth and might allow a spot for WashU to sneak into the RR's.

A Wilkes loss would loosen the grip on a Pool C bid for a 2 loss team. A UWL loss makes them far from a lock for Pool C. The loser of the St Johns/Bethel matchup is going to have a stronger 2 loss resume than Wheaton most likely.

There are a bunch of other games that could (and likely will) impact Pool C. First thing is to find out how the Regional Committees order the teams. That comes out Wednesday afternoon. There are a bunch of other places on the boards this is being discussed and Pat and his team will be all over it (today's podcast, a Thursday podcast after the RR emerge), a projection on Friday, a projected field and bracket late Saturday.....all leading to the selection show Sunday afternoon.

[hazzben]

Thanks @USee. Watching these for Royal's biased reasons as well. Also really wishing I'd gotten my deer this past weekend. Talk about the worst time to be in a tree stand with limited cell service!

[Thunderdome21]

Big shout out to Jesse Scott and his staff. They have done a tremendous job with this year's team, both in assembling the talent and coaching guys up. They started the year with 1 returning defensive starter and 5 offensive starters. I think that's probably the lowest amount of returning experience of any of the top 15 teams. And this team is now playing like a top 10 team in my opinion.

Coach Scott inherited one of the best teams Wheaton has ever assembled in 2019 and most of those guys stayed through last year. This year's team is decidedly Jesse's guys and his staff has had to put the right guys in the right positions. I was skeptical going into this season simply because of the lack of returning experience but Coach Scott (who was the recruiting coordinator for the last 10 years) has reloaded and this group has been fun to watch. Will Bowers has become one of the best QB's in the division and we now have multiple reliable WR's and a great young TE. The OL has stayed healthy and are playing at a high level. And our secondary is better than it was a year ago with a defensive front that has outperformed most expectations. Record wise these guys are right where I thought they would be at 7-2 with one game to play, but this team has found their identity and if they make the dance, is capable of beating anyone in my opinion. Well done!

I also applaud Coach Scott for his scheduling. A year ago Wheaton was "on the bubble" because of their historically weak SOS, despite having a top 10 team. This year he took a risk and went to Trinity in September. I know Coach Swider philosophically focused on playing lower top 25 teams because the CCIW is a grind and a 2nd loss usually means no playoffs. I hope this team is rewarded with a bid for their performance this year, despite the OT loss @Trinity. I am also excited for the next two years and the opener against UW Oshkosh, which again is a departure from the historical philosophy of this team.

Completely agree. Props to Jesse and his coaching staff for putting together this team that didn't have a lot of playing experience, but was loaded with 4th and 5th year seniors.  And the team continues to improve from week to week. The O-line had a tough time opening holes for Gio at the beginning of the season, but has gradually fixed their issues and has dominated the line of scrimmage since the middle of the season, including Saturday's game.  I've also been impressed at the job Nightingale's done in getting the maximum return out of this year's defense. In 2021, Wheaton D relied on a star-studded dominant front-7, while this year's "no-name" defense has several more contributors. Rotating Kuhn and Lochirco at the weak-side DE position has been brilliant, who together have 13 sacks between them.  Also, working through injuries at the LB position throughout the year. By the second half of the Carthage game, Wheaton had 5 of their 6 two-deep LBs that they started with at the beginning of the season either out with a significant injury or recovering from an injury which meant relying on 3rd, 4th, and 5th string players. They are finally getting healthy enough at the right time and should be more cohesive as a unit going forward. And the defensive backs have come up big with key interceptions throughout the year. Corner transfer Max Wilson having an Odell Beckham moment with his one-handed acrobatic catch for an interception at the end of the first half against WashU nearing the red zone was huge for Wheaton. 

Hoping for a few wins and losses to happen next week (Go Maroons) so Wheaton can slip in as a pool C team. If I remember correctly, last year I was rooting for Lake Forest to beat the University of Chicago so that WashU could slip in the regional rankings and strengthen Wheaton's case as a pool C team.

 

[tf37]

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.

I would question what statistic(s) determine the "best" QB. Is it completion percentage, yards gained, or most efficient?  Bowers and Rush have both certainly put up big and impressive numbers but neither has his team in first place in the conference let alone in the nation. North Central's Luke Lehnen leads in passing efficiency which takes attempts, completions, yards gained, TDs, and INTs into consideration, and thus perhaps serves as the best overall measure of success. No? Yes?

Luke Lehnen is good, very good. But he isn't even the best offensive player on his own team. I would actually vote for Jeske Maples as OPOY in the CCIW (I think either Greenfield or Hardy will win it). Their OL is somehow even more dominant than last year's, which had Sharmore Clarke an all time great CCIW player. Lehnen is a great fit for NCC because he can run and throw. But North Central is a dominant running team and the reason Lehnen has high efficiency numbers is because of their OL and Ethan Greenfield. He throws it 11x a game and completes 7-8. His success is predicated on play action and his completion rate is really high because their running game gets receivers open. He is not a good drop back/pocket passer. MHB was able to limit the NCC run game and make Lehnen a passer in last years Stagg and he threw 3 INT's. Compare his style to Bowers and Rush and it's different offenses.  Both of those guys operate in schemes that are 50/50 run vs pass. Bowers and Rush are required to do more in their offense than Lehnen. North Central is 70% run and 30% pass. And 77% of those passes are play action or RPO.

While I think Lehnen is a great talent and one of the better players in the CCIW, I think he is the 3rd best passer in the league and the 3rd or 4th best offensive player on his own team. Bowers has established himself as the best and Rush is close behind.

Congrats to Will Bowers being named the D3 football QB of the week.