FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[washdupcard]

Would be interesting to be in the NCC practices this week. Being the same age as Coach Spencer, we are at the tail end of the generation where you would run into the triple option in jr tackle/high school a couple of times/season.

I suspect that that depends upon where you attend high school. If you're way out in the country, where high schools are small and the student body is thus far less likely to have a sufficient number of big boys to properly staff a standard-issue offensive line, the triple option -- in which quick feet rather than gargantuan size is the primary quality preferred in offensive linemen -- has long been commonplace.

I'll admit that perhaps that's changed in the past dozen years, especially given the fact that King Corn Syrup has made obesity rampant in younger Millennials and in Gen Z. Today's big-boned fat kid trying and failing to climb the rope in eighth-grade gym class is tomorrow's 260-pound sophomore who is conditioned enough to thrive as an offensive tackle on the high school football team. But the entire reason why Scott Pethtel thought that he could build a successful program in that unlikeliest of locations, the North Side of Chicago, was because there were so many rural midwestern high school football teams that used the triple option -- football teams that were thus overlooked for the most part by college coaches who weren't interested in looking at kids from schools that never threw a pass if they could help it -- that he would have a vast recruiting footprint almost all to himself. It was a Moneyball solution to a Moneyball problem, even though Scott told me that he'd never read Moneyball or seen the movie, and to this day I still think that it was a think-outside-the-box stroke of genius on his part. The problem was that his staff just couldn't recruit well enough to allow North Park to flip the script in CCIW games, particularly on the defensive side of the ball (as one of his defensive assistants admitted to me, NPU had to use linebackers as safeties and safeties as cornerbacks). Ripon employed the same recruiting philosophy, as the Red Hawks featured a lot of small-town kids as well as kids from small private schools across the country when Ripon ran the triple option.

(The irony is that, despite the fact that the use of the triple option was supposed to bring in farmboy studs, the two most successful offensive players NPU had during the Pethtel era were Tyler Krebs from Cary-Grove and Matt Hassan from Glenbard West.)

Cary-Grove runs the Triple Option to a degree of success and precision few others ever have been able to achieve.

[robertgoulet]

Would be interesting to be in the NCC practices this week. Being the same age as Coach Spencer, we are at the tail end of the generation where you would run into the triple option in jr tackle/high school a couple of times/season.

I suspect that that depends upon where you attend high school. If you're way out in the country, where high schools are small and the student body is thus far less likely to have a sufficient number of big boys to properly staff a standard-issue offensive line, the triple option -- in which quick feet rather than gargantuan size is the primary quality preferred in offensive linemen -- has long been commonplace.

I'll admit that perhaps that's changed in the past dozen years, especially given the fact that King Corn Syrup has made obesity rampant in younger Millennials and in Gen Z. Today's big-boned fat kid trying and failing to climb the rope in eighth-grade gym class is tomorrow's 260-pound sophomore who is conditioned enough to thrive as an offensive tackle on the high school football team. But the entire reason why Scott Pethtel thought that he could build a successful program in that unlikeliest of locations, the North Side of Chicago, was because there were so many rural midwestern high school football teams that used the triple option -- football teams that were thus overlooked for the most part by college coaches who weren't interested in looking at kids from schools that never threw a pass if they could help it -- that he would have a vast recruiting footprint almost all to himself. It was a Moneyball solution to a Moneyball problem, even though Scott told me that he'd never read Moneyball or seen the movie, and to this day I still think that it was a think-outside-the-box stroke of genius on his part. The problem was that his staff just couldn't recruit well enough to allow North Park to flip the script in CCIW games, particularly on the defensive side of the ball (as one of his defensive assistants admitted to me, NPU had to use linebackers as safeties and safeties as cornerbacks). Ripon employed the same recruiting philosophy, as the Red Hawks featured a lot of small-town kids as well as kids from small private schools across the country when Ripon ran the triple option.

(The irony is that, despite the fact that the use of the triple option was supposed to bring in farmboy studs, the two most successful offensive players NPU had during the Pethtel era were Tyler Krebs from Cary-Grove and Matt Hassan from Glenbard West.)

Unfortunately that use for the triple option has disappeared as well. Now when you head out west those same schools who only had 15-20 kids playing varsity (mine was one of those class 1A co-op schools) are now part of 8-man leagues, which was something that was prevalent in Iowa when I was a kid but not in Illinois until the last decade or so.

[robertgoulet]

Admittedly, North Central fans did not have reason to follow the playoffs when Springfield made its deepest run, but Springfield did win a playoff game as recently as 2022.

Here's a little more on Springfield from Greg's column at the end of October:
https://d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2024/springfield-running-away-from-opponents

Are you trying to say that there was D3 football prior to the great and powerful Luke Lehnen?

And Broc Rutter. And even before Spencer Stanek.

You're going to make Kam Kniss and Aaron Fanthorpe angry, Pat.

[washdupcard]

I guess if there is one type of team you'd want to play when you have secondary injuries it's a team that doesn't throw.

Was wondering the same about the press man. A dangerous way to play when there's a mobile QB working out of a spread. Lots of DBs with their backs to the ball.

I'm disappointed you don't remember Coach DeGeorge's famous line "it takes 12 guys to stop the option..."  Apparently, just about everyone my class played against had 13 .

[robertgoulet]

I am having fleeting memories of an NCC playoff game vs a team that ran the option but my mind is gone enough that I can't remember if it even happened, let alone who/when it would have been.

[washdupcard]

Admittedly, North Central fans did not have reason to follow the playoffs when Springfield made its deepest run, but Springfield did win a playoff game as recently as 2022.

Here's a little more on Springfield from Greg's column at the end of October:
https://d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2024/springfield-running-away-from-opponents


Are you trying to say that there was D3 football prior to the great and powerful Luke Lehnen?

I don't get the shade toward Lehnan. I don't know the kid personally, but everything I've heard is that he's a great young man. Not to mention the fact that he's lost only 2 games in four years (both in the Stagg Bowl), started every game for the first or second best team in D3 since the day he arrived, set some insane school and NCAA records, and won every award thats available. I'd hope your sarcasm is more directed at some NCC fans. There are certainly some other great QB's in D3...but if anyone deserves the hype...it's this kid. He has most definitely earned it in literally every way possible.

[robertgoulet]

Admittedly, North Central fans did not have reason to follow the playoffs when Springfield made its deepest run, but Springfield did win a playoff game as recently as 2022.

Here's a little more on Springfield from Greg's column at the end of October:
https://d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2024/springfield-running-away-from-opponents

Are you trying to say that there was D3 football prior to the great and powerful Luke Lehnen?

I don't get the shade toward Lehnan. I don't know the kid personally, but everything I've heard is that he's a great young man. Not to mention the fact that he's lost only 2 games in four years (both in the Stagg Bowl), started every game for the first or second best team in D3 since the day he arrived, set some insane school and NCAA records, and won every award thats available. I'd hope your sarcasm is more directed at some NCC fans. There are certainly some other great QB's in D3...but if anyone deserves the hype...it's this kid. He has most definitely earned it in literally every way possible.

I think it was tongue-in-cheek referring to the earlier comments from the overly touchy NCC fan about Boyes/Lehnen.

[Pat Coleman]

Admittedly, North Central fans did not have reason to follow the playoffs when Springfield made its deepest run, but Springfield did win a playoff game as recently as 2022.

Here's a little more on Springfield from Greg's column at the end of October:
https://d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2024/springfield-running-away-from-opponents

Are you trying to say that there was D3 football prior to the great and powerful Luke Lehnen?

And Broc Rutter. And even before Spencer Stanek.

You're going to make Kam Kniss and Aaron Fanthorpe angry, Pat.

I only listed the All-America picks. Didn't want to main D3fanboy strain anything to figure out who I was talking about.

[GusD]

can we please get North Central and their QB some more publicity? please!

IDK if today was just a tongue-in-cheek reference to Lehnen or not. Perhaps just genuine dislike. Back on 9/5 D3fanboy seemed to lob the first barb in Lehnen's direction. So today's comment was at least his second referencing Luke.

Beware of the pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Jealousy (jealousy), misery (misery), envy (envy)

[robertgoulet]

can we please get North Central and their QB some more publicity? please!

IDK if today was just a tongue-in-cheek reference to Lehnen or not. Perhaps just genuine dislike. Back on 9/5 D3fanboy seemed to lob the first barb in Lehnen's direction. So today's comment was at least his second referencing Luke.

Beware of the pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Jealousy (jealousy), misery (misery), envy (envy)

Trying to give benefit of the doubt here.

[hazzben]

Pretty sure D3Fanboy is a Mount fan.

[NCC2010]

It will be interesting from a pure football strategy standpoint to see Springfield play such a very strong NCC team. Of course NCC should be very confident, but having watched Springfield over the last 10 years, this team is especially strong and powerful . The offense is full of guys that can crush you in the weight room with their leg strength...all of them have a substantial physical base to maximize power at the point of contact. NCC will most likely figure out how to win the game but it will be a brutal physical struggle every play. Cortland's QB was injured for last Saturday and would have kept Cortland in the game but the Cortland Defense was not strong enough to stop these players in the Option offense this year. We are very familiar with Springfield on the east side of D3, and all you have to do is get a 2 score lead which I think NCC should be able to do. But if you make turnovers , or you can't stop the train, it will be a very long day. Don't be overconfident , this Springfield group will draw strength from that. Good luck, but I will be rooting for Springfield to pull off the upset. Mostly I'm looking for a competitive game at the end of a day of four intriguing D3 football matchups.

Have now watched both of Springfield's playoff games and agree they are very strong upfront.  Their FB/RBs are also very physical, saw quite a few defenders in both games get up slowly or leave the field injured after attempting to make tackles. And as the games wore on, those defenders were less and less willing to take on that contact.  Especially their FB who is a semifinalist for the Gagliardi, he is an absolute load to bring down.

Their defense definitely played more man and brought pressure as the game wore on against Cortland.  While they still did blitz and play man behind it quite a bit against UMass-Dartmouth, it was not nearly as much as they did against Cortland. Good adjustment by their coaching staff once they saw how immobile the injured QB was. 

I brought this up last season but I will be interested in how Springfield handles the coin toss if they win it.  NCC has yet to trail this season, always chooses to receive and has started on offense every game but 1. Will obviously be vert important for Springfield to either get a lead or stay within 1 score for their offense to work best.  Looking forward to the matchup and how it plays out.

[D3fanboy]

Pretty sure D3Fanboy is a Mount fan.

nothing gets past you

[USee]

With the results last weekend North Central is in pole position to return to the Finals. With a win this week it looks like they will host through next weekend no matter the result. While Springfield poses some problems with their triple option approach, I also think it plays into NCC's strength. The extra bodies NCC has on defense are in the front 7 so they can move a guy like Orr to safety (who has moved between OLB and SS anyway) and add a bigger body at LB. Gaffigan really helps them on the back end as well. Offensively I haven't seen a team that can match up with NCC up front while containing Lehnen. Springfield is ranked #21 vs the run so could test the Cardinals up front. Bethel might be able to do it as they have one of the nations top run defenses (But who have they faced that runs it?). Otherwise I think Mt Union and UMHB are the most likely teams to have the studs for a game vs NCC.

It's not a secret how to defend NCC, yet no one seems to be able to do it. You have to stop the run and try to keep Lehnen in the pocket to face 2nd/3rd and long as a pocket passer. NCC's defense has been stout up front (top 20 against the run) and they get off the field on 3rd down (4th nationally). Much better defense this year vs last in the playoffs (healthier) and an equally potent offense. They continue to be the strong favorite IMO

As far as Springfield specifically, it's going to be a very physical game and if Springfield can match NCC's level of physicality, which they will very much believe they can, it will be a game. The X factor is Lehnen who is a complete game changer with his speed as a runner and accuracy as a passer. If Springfield can hang in there late in the 2nd half, their relentless attack can take it's toll. If NCC gets out a couple scores in the first half, it become much more difficult for Springfield who has not trailed significantly in any game this year (-7 early to UMass Dartmouth).

[GoldandBlueBU]

Bethel might be able to do it as they have one of the nations top run defenses (But who have they faced that runs it?).

Wartburg and Coe are certainly teams that had capable running games, and Bethel was able to slow them down.  IF Bethel is able to get past Susq, which I think is a rather large if, then I think the NC passing game is what is more likely to have success against BU.  Good QB's like Syverson have found a way to pass on BU's defense, so Lehnen makes me more nervous in that regard.

Who knows - Bethel might not even get there, and if they do - maybe I'm wrong and NC runs all over BU - just my 2 cents!  Happy to still be engaged as a fan at this point.