FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[robertgoulet]

Not sure how surprised I am, but no Garrigan, Williams or Rutherford on the 2 deep in NCC's program this week. Defensive backfield (specifically the safeties) will be an area to watch.

[NCC2010]

Not sure how surprised I am, but no Garrigan, Williams or Rutherford on the 2 deep in NCC's program this week. Defensive backfield (specifically the safeties) will be an area to watch.

From what i have seen throughout the season, the 2 deep they put out is just whoever started the previous game.

Garrigan will be playing with a club on his hand (not positive if he plays this week but will play at some point in playoffs).  Rutherford is out for the season and Williams is most likely taking a medical redshirt and coming back next year.

My guess is Kyler Green or Will Vernon will start at the other safety spot, with maybe a little Zack Orr mixed in.  LB Danny Nuccio also should be back for playoffs, he has not played since WashU. 

[Jbothe]

Are all playoff games on ESPN+ this year? 

Pay to watch? 

[CarollFan]

Are all playoff games on ESPN+ this year? 

Pay to watch? 

Yes

The Stagg Bowl (Championship) is on ESPN.

[GusD]

Game time forecast for Naperville:

Actual temp    22 🧊
Feel like temp 10 🧊🧊

Bundle up!

[CarollFan]

Hope next week for NCC.

Hope 49 Aurora 21 Final

Winners 2nd Round

Cortland
Springfield
Hope
NCC

St. John's
Susquehanna
Wartburg
Bethel

UMHB
Linfield
John Hopkins
DePauw

Salisbury
Randolph-Macon
Carnegie Mellon
Mount Union

[CarollFan]

Logan has next weeks spreads. https://hansenratings.github.io/

Hope @ NCC -21.7
Springfield @ Cortland -10.9

Susquehanna @ St. John's -12.9
Bethel -3.3 @ Wartburg

UMHB @ Linfield -10.8
John Hopkins @ DePauw -13.8

Randolph-Macon -.1 @ Salisbury
Carnegie Mellon @ Mount Union -9.1

Thru the first 2 rounds road teams are 3-21.

[NCC2010]

Observations from NCC's playoff win yesterday...

Offense was without 2 starters, center Jerred Durian and WR Jack Rummell.  This is the 2nd straight game Rummell has missed and including the bye week in there, he has not been able to play in 3 weeks. Hoping he is back soon as he is their clear #2 WR and deep threat. Also, they said on the broadcast that Coach Spencer revealed to them last week that Joe Sacco played last year's Stagg Bowl with a cracked pelvis.  He was unable to train at all from January until July this offseason due to it.  Explains why they have been very cautious with him throughout the season.  John Golden filled in at center and I thought the OL played ok, gave up a couple of sacks on blitzes. 

On defense, Garrigan and Nuccio indeed returned this week and both were starters. Nuccio is huge to have back as they were playing him on early/obvious run downs as the OLB/Nickel, which allowed Orr to move back to safety with Garrigan.  In obvious passing situations, Orr would stay at nickel and Will Vernon was playing the other saftety.  Freshman Matt Janiak continues to play a lot at inside LB, with Angelo Cusamano sort of being the odd man out now with Adamchik, Nuccio and Janiak all seeing more time them him yesterday. 

One great thing about all the playoff games being on ESPN+ is that you can watch any of them on demand.  First time i have been able to see Hope play and came away impressed.  Their QB is a good dual threat.  They have one pretty good WR, I'd say not as good as a Ben Bonga type but still pretty talented.  Their top RB only had a few carries before leaving, they said he has been dealing with injuries. The backup RB however was nearly as good and a transfer from a D2 Michigan school. Overall, they seemed like a very disciplined and well coached team.

Aurora was moving the ball well early and with the game tied 7-7, fumbled while driving at the Hope 23 yard line. They then fumbled again on their very next possession, this time at their own 18.  They gave up a TD shortly after to make it 14-7 and then the game got away from them.  They gave up a TD with a few seconds left in the first half and then Hope also scored on their opening drive of the second half to make it 28-7.

Looking forward to the game next week which is looking like possibly the last game for this amazing senior class at Benedetti Wehrli stadium. 

[NCC2010]

the AFCA All American team was announced. Congrats to NCC OL Sam Pryor for making 1st team and to Wheaton's WR Ben Bonga who made 2nd team. Those are the only 2 CCIW players I see selected.  Boyes and Syverson chosen over Luke Lehnen for the QB spots.

https://www.afca.com/currys-montie-quinn-and-bethels-matt-jung-headline-the-2024-afca-division-iii-coaches-all-america-teams/

[USee]

The D3Football.com All Region and All American selections are coming and I believe Ben Bonga has had a 1st Team AA type year as Wheaton's primary target at WR. After losing All CCIW Seth Kortenhouven in week 1 and then a couple others went down, the Wheaton passing attack centered on Bonga, a first team ALL CCIW selection and 1st Team All Region pick from 2023. His numbers this year are impressive:

11 games, 75 Rec, 1,323 Yds, 19 TD's, 17.64 yds per catch, 120.27 yds per game

The two first team AA's from last year and their stats:
Wayne Ruby, Mt Union:
12 games, 75 Rec, 1,124 yds, 15 TD's, 14.99 ypc, 93.64 ypg

DeAngelo Hardy, NCC
15 games, 75 Rec, 1,353 yds, 20 TD's, 18.04 ypc, 90.2 ypg

Others in the conversation this year:

Joey Kidder, Bethel
12 games, 109 Rec, 1,270 Yds, 18 TD, 11.65 ypc, 105.83 ypg

Dylan Wheeler, St Johns
11 games, 78 Rec, 1,093 yds, 20 TD's, 14.01 ypc, 99.36 ypg

Evan Liggett, Whitworth
12 games, 72 Rec, 1,313 yds, 19 TDs, 18.24 ypc, 109.42 ypg

Jack Studer, WLaCr
64 Rec, 1,081 yds, 9 TD, 16.9 ypc, 90.1 ypg

[Cardinal773]

Bonga certainly has the numbers to be a 1st teamer!  There are so many worthy players around the nation that it's an impossible task to pick just two.  Congrats to Ben on an outstanding year!

Congrats to Sam Pryor as well.  It's disappointing that the AFCA didn't recognize Jeske Maples or Luke Lehnen.  Thanks to some early [and sizable] leads, Lehnen has been working with some conservative play calling -- if he's even out on the field in the first place.  In the 10 regular season games I think he's only played the equivalent of about 6 full games.  Whatever.  I don't think anyone's crying on Luke's behalf.  He's had his fair share of recognition.

As for Jeske, ask Whitworth's DE if he's an AA or not.  On the first running play of the afternoon, #70 jogged that poor kid down the field 20 yards and pancaked him.  That was... awesome.

[robertgoulet]

Completely anecdotal but to me NCC only having 1 AA proves the field is more open this year than it has been any time in a while. Seems like the "favorite" typically would have a couple.

[NCC2010]

Completely anecdotal but to me NCC only having 1 AA proves the field is more open this year than it has been any time in a while. Seems like the "favorite" typically would have a couple.

I am pretty surprised that Maples wasn't named to at least the 2nd team. Him, Hardy and Ebgo were all 2nd teamers last year with Lehnen being 1st team.

[USee]

I wouldn't be surprised, nor do I pay attention to anything AFCA puts out. Compared to the D3Football.com lists, they aren't really all that credible.

[NCC2010]

I wouldn't be surprised, nor do I pay attention to anything AFCA puts out. Compared to the D3Football.com lists, they aren't really all that credible.

Yes, agree that D3Football.com is the standard, but the AFCA list still matters to some degree as its the other well known source for All American lists at this level. I know for NCC hall of fame consideration, I believe you need to have made an All-American team in order to be eligible for induction.

I posted this on the MIAC board, the stats of the 2 QBs who were selected as AA compared to Lehnen.  I tend to think these are the 3 main competitors for the Gagliardi as well.

Syverson 3,916 yards 46TDs 4INTs 76% completion  rush 48 att -41 yards -0.8 avg 1TD
Boyes    2,585 yards 25TDs 1INTs 68% completion  rush 93 att 542 yards 5.8 avg 6TD
Lehnen  2,355 yards 31TDs 4INTs 69% completion  rush 58 att 752 yards 13.0 avg 12TDs

I get that Lehnen is considered to have the best team surrounding him, but this is for sure the least talent he has had in a supporting cast in his 4 years starting and imo the best he has played.  His passing numbers do not match up with Syverson's, but I think most would agree that Luke is the best running QB in the nation.  He has TD runs of 53, 60, 83, and 95 yds and has a 20+ yds run in 8/11 games.

I have seen a lot of Boyes>Lehnen on other platforms due to Stagg Bowl result and I simply do not agree. One QB led their team to 38 points and the other 37, seems silly to say that one is definitively better than the other based on that. I have said this before but the NCC defense was getting shredded by that point of the playoffs, having already given up 42 points to Helterbrand and UWL only 2 weeks prior. They do have one common opponent in their careers.  Both played against Ithaca in 2022. Here are there stat lines for those games:

Boyes 13/29 117 yds 1TD 2INTs passing & 15 att 107yds 0TD rushing
Lehnen 18/25 200 yds 3TDs 0INTs passing & 13 att 144 yds 2TDs rushing

I found it interesting that Cortland took Boyes off the field on 3rd and 4th down to run wildcat on their last drive on Saturday against Endicott, where a 1st down would've ended the game.  They did not get it.  Cant imagine a scenario where Lehnen would ever leave the field for NCC, and we saw what their offense looked like without him against WashU for 2+ quarters, it wasnt pretty.

All this to say I think the choice between the 3 is very, very close and I can see it being decided by who plays better if both teams advance this week and matchup in the quarterfinals, and same with St Johns if they advance to the semis and play Cortland or NCC.