FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

(And, no, Goulet, that's not me telling you guys to take your "Ohmigosh, can we actually sustain drives when all we've shown thus far is the ability to score 80-yard touchdowns at will?" shtick off of this board and onto another one, as if I had the right to do so. I'm simply saying that it's misdirected conversation for this particular audience and much more relevant to a nationally-based topics board.)

I strongly disagree with this.  "This particular audience" includes any number of folks who support North Central, and a conversation about that team is not misdirected here any more than the 2,152nd regaling of the best peanut gallery insults from the Crackerbox in days of yore is misdirected.  Are you suggesting a board focused on the CCIW is the wrong place for North Central fans to talk amongst themselves about their team?  Nobody went out of their way to disparage another school in the conference, and it's not like the conversation popped up on the MWC board (or pick your conference) where talking about North Central would make zero sense.

I would also argue that the topic is relevant not just in November and beyond for reasons I noted above -- things surface now that may factor in down the road.  I see no reason why that space should be off-limits.  A lot of topics we discuss are relevant to only a portion of the people who venture over here.

Take it as humblebragging if you want; people are going to read whatever they want into what someone posts.  Or you can always scroll past it.

[Gregory Sager]

(And, no, Goulet, that's not me telling you guys to take your "Ohmigosh, can we actually sustain drives when all we've shown thus far is the ability to score 80-yard touchdowns at will?" shtick off of this board and onto another one, as if I had the right to do so. I'm simply saying that it's misdirected conversation for this particular audience and much more relevant to a nationally-based topics board.)

I strongly disagree with this.  "This particular audience" includes any number of folks who support North Central, and a conversation about that team is not misdirected here any more than the 2,152nd regaling of the best peanut gallery insults from the Crackerbox in days of yore is misdirected.  Are you suggesting a board focused on the CCIW is the wrong place for North Central fans to talk amongst themselves about their team?  Nobody went out of their way to disparage another school in the conference, and it's not like the conversation popped up on the MWC board (or pick your conference) where talking about North Central would make zero sense.

If you simply want to have a discussion amongst North Central fans rather than involve other people, that's certainly your prerogative. As I said, nobody's stopping you. But this is a North Central topic, not a CCIW topic. I can't see why any other CCIW fan -- save one lone Wheaton guy who is using it as a back-door means to talk about his own team -- would want to read it, let alone respond to it. The North Central fans here have always been great about fostering league-wide discussion. But I guess that we're on the road to becoming the new version of the OAC board, also known as the All-Mount-Union-All-The-Time board. Nevertheless, don't try to kid us that it isn't disparaging to the rest of the CCIW to, in Wally's words, claim you're upset about your defense playing 35+ minutes a game when they're playing with a 70-point cushion.

I would also argue that the topic is relevant not just in November and beyond for reasons I noted above -- things surface now that may factor in down the road.

Oh, please, kiko. Spare us all.

North Central 70, Carthage 0
North Central 59, Elmhurst 6
North Central 54, Wheaton 35
North Central 69, Carroll 24

The idea that some CCIW team is going to expose the Cardinals is patently absurd.

I see no reason why that space should be off-limits.  A lot of topics we discuss are relevant to only a portion of the people who venture over here.

Absolutely true. And I see no reason why someone shouldn't scoff at this nonsense about NCC vulnerabilities. After all, if you're going to post it on a board devoted to the whole league rather than to one team ...

Take it as humblebragging if you want; people are going to read whatever they want into what someone posts.  Or you can always scroll past it.

Done and done. I'm signing off on this topic.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Jaydin Miller, who just became the first-ever North Park player to make the D3football.com Team of the Week twice.

[USee]

NCC posters can post whatever they want. I have no problem with it, nor do most viewers/posters me thinks. I don't think we should be discouraging people from talking about their team, or whatever, on a public message board. Go for it. Pat is the moderator of these boards and will certainly let people know if anything is inappropriate.

Lester has only appeared in 3 games. The first two, missing Elmhurst, came back for Wheaton (where he was a shadow of himself) and didn't play vs Carroll. I have heard he is dealing with an injury and is questionable going forward. NCC's defense isn't close to what they were a year ago. I agree their offense is better than last year. I'll be interested to see how they do against a dominant defensive front (which they won't see until late November at the earliest I suspect). Hardy hasn't been needed and his efficiency is insane. Also Lombardi is quietly having a great year at WR. We really don't know how good Sacco and the RB's are because no one touches them for the first 20 yards. Whoever beats them is going to have to outscore them and get a couple stops along the way IMO (am I allowed to say all this? SMH)

[WUPHF]

NCC posters can post whatever they want. I have no problem with it, nor do most viewers/posters me thinks.

No one has a problem with it.

The one-dimensional nature of the d3boards led to an overreaction.

[Cardinal773]

Congrats to Jaydin Miller, who just became the first-ever North Park player to make the D3football.com Team of the Week twice.

Absolutely!  Congrats to Jaydin and the whole team.  NPU is doing some exciting things this year.  There are some great, kind-hearted people at the University and they deserve the success.  The conference is better when they are better.

[Pat Coleman]

To answer Greg's previous question, my observation is that there are, of course, mismatches all over the place in D-III. I don't know that the CCIW is significantly more represented in that or not.

[79jaybird]

20 years ago we had  the big 4 little 4
WHEATON
AUGIE
IWU
MILLIKIN 
(NOT NECESSARILY IN THIS ORDER)
THEN A CONSIDERABLE DROP
CARTHAGE
ELMHURST
NPU
NC
(AGAIN NOT ANY PARTICULAR ORDER)

Today,  IMO It's
NORTH CENTRAL
NOTICEABLE GAP

WHEATON
WASH U
ANOTHER BIG GAP

The rest

if you look over the years of the CCIW many schools have risen and fallen.   Wheaton owned the 50's Carthage was strong in the 70's Augie owned the 80's and now North Central has the present ownership.

NC's rise has made it challenging for other schools to recruit.  Also factoring into this equation is facilities.  In Elmhurst's case this is a double whammy, along with the history of not being very good overall, other than a handle of years being very competitive.

[lmitzel]

To answer Greg's previous question, my observation is that there are, of course, mismatches all over the place in D-III. I don't know that the CCIW is significantly more represented in that or not.

I had a reasonably slow work day. Looking elsewhere...

E8: 35.8
CCIW: 34.7
NCAC: 32.6
LAND: 32.0
MWC: 30.7
ARC: 29.8
HCAC: 29.5
NACC: 29.5
ODAC: 28.0
OAC: 26.1
NWC: 26.0
MASCAC: 24.3
MAC: 23.0
USAC: 22.9
MIAA: 22.0
NEWMAC: 21.8
ASC: 21.5
PAC: 20.8
SAA: 19.9
MIAC: 17.9
SCIAC: 17.2
WIAC: 15.9
NESCAC: 15.5
NJAC: 14.8
CC: 14.3
LL: 13.7
UMAC: 12.8

I was originally just going to do the top 10 conferences by Greg Thomas's most up to date conference rankings, but I was on a roll and said screw it. Our mean MOV across all conference play thus far is about 23.4 points; median is 22.9. So on average, we're looking at about a three to four score game. The CCIW is... more than that.

[cciwman]

NC's rise has made it challenging for other schools to recruit.  Also factoring into this equation is facilities.  In Elmhurst's case this is a double whammy, along with the history of not being very good overall, other than a handle of years being very competitive.

The rise of NC has made it difficult, but looking around the conference the one who is continually getting worse and WILL NOT improve under the current coaching staff is..... Norm's squad.  Illinois Weslyan has to figure out how to convince him to retire and enjoy life as a fundraiser for the program.  Five years ago they were competitive and now only with the bottom half of the conference.

[mr_b]

Final from Chicago: North Park 20, Illinois Wesleyan 18.  The Vikings pick up their fourth win of the season. 

[Gregory Sager]

To answer Greg's previous question, my observation is that there are, of course, mismatches all over the place in D-III. I don't know that the CCIW is significantly more represented in that or not.

I had a reasonably slow work day. Looking elsewhere...

E8: 35.8
CCIW: 34.7
NCAC: 32.6
LAND: 32.0
MWC: 30.7
ARC: 29.8
HCAC: 29.5
NACC: 29.5
ODAC: 28.0
OAC: 26.1
NWC: 26.0
MASCAC: 24.3
MAC: 23.0
USAC: 22.9
MIAA: 22.0
NEWMAC: 21.8
ASC: 21.5
PAC: 20.8
SAA: 19.9
MIAC: 17.9
SCIAC: 17.2
WIAC: 15.9
NESCAC: 15.5
NJAC: 14.8
CC: 14.3
LL: 13.7
UMAC: 12.8

I was originally just going to do the top 10 conferences by Greg Thomas's most up to date conference rankings, but I was on a roll and said screw it. Our mean MOV across all conference play thus far is about 23.4 points; median is 22.9. So on average, we're looking at about a three to four score game. The CCIW is... more than that.

Nice work, Lucas! Thanks.

[Gregory Sager]

Very exciting game today at Hedstrand Field, and a lot of fun to call. For the second straight week the Vikings were significantly outgained in total offense and yet still prevailed. They had a hard time stopping IWU's Seth Albin (28 carries for 174 yards), but they contained him in the second half, as almost two-thirds of his yardage came before halftime.

The game really turned on special teams. IWU got a big break when the Titans blocked a Carson Blatchford punt in the end zone and recovered it for their opening touchdown. But, aside from a terrific bouncing Matthew Noguez punt that hopped and rolled 69 yards all the way to the NPU one-foot line, all of the rest of the big special teams plays went against the Titans. Kicker Kaden Junge ganked the XP attempt after that blocked-punt TD wide left, then later missed a 31-yard field goal attempt that was a huge miss in such a close game. North Park's Juan Nieves, who had a monster day defensively (7 tackles, 2 1/2 of them TFLs, a sack, a fumble recovery, an interception, and two pass breakups) ran back the kickoff 90 yards to paydirt following IWU's second TD (which featured a missed two-point conversion). And after the Titans scored a mid-4th quarter TD on an Albin run to cancel out a great, thrown-against-the-grain 71-yard NPU TD strike from Matt Eck to Thomas Knight, NPU linebacker Theo Smith made an outstanding stop at the goal line to keep IWU QB Dermot Smyth out of the end zone and thus thwarted what would've been a game-tying two-point conversion for the Titans. That was a contender for biggest play of the game, along with a Thomas Ainsworth pass breakup on 4th and 4 for IWU from the NPU 39 with 1:14 to go and the Titans offense rolling in the hurry-up.

It's a big win for North Park, which has reached the four-win plateau for the first time since 1993.

The rise of NC has made it difficult, but looking around the conference the one who is continually getting worse and WILL NOT improve under the current coaching staff is..... Norm's squad.  Illinois Weslyan has to figure out how to convince him to retire and enjoy life as a fundraiser for the program.  Five years ago they were competitive and now only with the bottom half of the conference.

I'm not going to get into the details as to why, but let's just say that certain events this week demonstrated that Norm Eash has not read Dale Carnegie's classic tome How to Win Friends and Influence People since the last Titans visit to the Windy City two years ago.

I hate to keep bringing up this story, but when Eash first met former NPU head coach Mike Conway ten years ago, he immediately told him that North Park would never beat Illinois Wesleyan as long as he, Stormin' Norman Eash, was in charge of Titans football. Well, he not only lost to Conway two years later, he's now lost to Conway's successor at North Park, Kyle Rooker, as well.

It's so hard to resist the temptation to indulge in schadenfreude when your team beats Eash's.

[Gregory Sager]

20 years ago we had  the big 4 little 4
WHEATON
AUGIE
IWU
MILLIKIN 
(NOT NECESSARILY IN THIS ORDER)
THEN A CONSIDERABLE DROP
CARTHAGE
ELMHURST
NPU
NC
(AGAIN NOT ANY PARTICULAR ORDER)

Today,  IMO It's
NORTH CENTRAL
NOTICEABLE GAP

WHEATON
WASH U
ANOTHER BIG GAP

The rest

Looks like Augustana proved you wrong in a big way today, Mark.

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 35, Wash U 17 (@ St. Louis)
Carroll 62, Elmhurst 14 (@ Waukesha)
Wheaton 50, Carthage 13 (@ Wheaton)
North Park 20, Illinois Wesleyan 18 (@ Chicago)
North Central 75, Millikin 3 (@ Decatur)