FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augievike93]

I was right- Carthage is way overrated.  They have a defense, but I doubt much else.  Who is playing RB for them?  I thought they might move one of those athletes from defense to play TB.

As far as Augie's passing attack, I think that topic should be banned from discussion.  Sure, I'd never want to play for Augoe, but they have one of the most effective game plans out there offensively, however it seems their defense has been bad for a while,.  The thing about Augie the last two years was the defense was good early on, but now theyre allowing those kinds of stats to teams with non-returning starters in week 1 AT HOME- this is a bad, bad sign.  I heard ssomeone else is coaching on defense for them... what happened there?  Didn't they have like 5 DCs in the last 5 years?

And I truly disagree about NPU.  I'll stick by that.  They have a good coach, but they have a bad school. 

Barnes is now his own defensive coordinator and Lindmark is making the calls on the offensive side.  Neat story--Linkmark was a ball boy for Augie when he was growing up.  Went to HS on the Iowa side of the river, played for Augie 88-92, coached HS football and baseball, was coaching DBs until this year.  Now he is a full time coach.

[augievike93]

augievike-you are correct on roe last year. that was vs cciw champ wheaton. by the way, guess how many passes roe threw in that game?? before the desparation last possesion he threw 2 incomplete passes.

Yeah, why throw when you are gaining 8 yds a carry.  That was a crazy ending.  Augie scored too fast at the end of the game and Wheaton was able to score within the last one minute....heartbreaker of a game.

[HughJass]

Couchqb,

You've got it wrong when you talk about augies defense.  The defense has not been bad at augie the last 5 years.  4 years ago Ricketts was DC and he had a great defense.  He took a better job at Hope and that's where DeGeorge came in.  His defense was not bad either.  The fact that he kept the same defensive principles from his days at North Central might have been the downfall there.  The conference teams were used to his style of defense and that showed in the loss to NCC last year.  Their sidelines just watched the calls DeGeorge made and the offense for NCC just adjusted to beat the calls.  It was that simple.  The last two years Augie lost to Wheaton by 1 pt each time.  I'm not sure it had anything entirely to do with defense but offense has to be able to execute and get a 2 pt conversion when needed.  But back to defense, to say that augie hasnt had a good defense in the last 5 years is ignorant.  How many games have you seen augie play in the last 5 years? 

[diehardfan]

How do you post a picture under your user name?  Any help would be a Plus!

First go to your profile by clicking the link at the top... then on the left side under where it says "Modify Profile" click on "Forum Profile Information"

It can't be a file from your computer... it has to be up on a website somewhere.

Hope that helps!

So... has anyone heard anything about the Wabash- Wheaton scrimmage besides the stuff in the short brief on the NCAC board?

[Warren Thompson]

Hey, HughJass, does that handle describe your anatomy ... or your personality?

The world wants to know.

[DarrinC]

Couchqb,
A little early to write Carthage off. In truth, there is some trouble on offense, but things improved greatly as the game went on.

Game started with a returning senior (Sharp) starting at qb. He completed no passes before being replaced by a freshman from Florida (O'Boyle) in the second quarter. The offense never really got to full speed due to 7 badly dropped passes by recievers and some breakdowns at just the wrong times. For instance, Carthage also managed three measly points off of two different trips to first and goal. (Can't have lineman jump offsides on third and goal at the 1/2 yard line.)

I guess my point is, the opportunities were there. It is a young offense for sure, but way to early to write them off. O'Boyle provided a real spark, Namon Johnson (starting running back) ran hard (115 yards I think on 20 something carries) and the defense was again solid scoring a safety late in the game to put them up 4.

The offense will continue to be young and inconsistent. It will be an interesting journey for sure. The defense will keep them in games. They are well coached. Anything can happen.

FYI
Fox and Barnes were good in opener, but both are better than they played. UNBELIEVABLE interception by Barnes late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Another name that has to be mentioned is Franko Chenault (I have no idea how to spell his name.) He is another player in that secondary that is the real deal after starting last year as a freshman, he provides real strength at the safety position. He deserves to be mentioned whenever Barnes and Fox are mentioned. There were several other strong performances on the defensice side of the ball last night.  Seem to be strong from top to bottom.

[Redmen96]

I understand what everyone is saying, but when a team is 1 and 0  how can anyone think they are over-rated.  It is still way too early to know how these teams are going to be when they are in season form.   Oh yea we are still undefeated!

[Augie6]

HughJass,

Although Augie's defense should probably not be classified as "bad" the past few years, it is certainly the reason that Augie is not the dominant program it once was.  I would say that the D's performance in several key games during this time would have to be classified as "bad" and is the reason they didn't make more than one playoff appearance (when Augie scores 38 points, takes the lead with a little over 2 minutes left and they still lose, you cannot say the defense played a good game).  In my opinion, the defense takes a "play not to lose" attitude, and this won't get it done vs. the better teams that they play.  At best, I'd rank Augie's D as average to slightly below average over the past few seasons.  Not "bad", but certainly not good.  I think this was the point Couchqb11 was trying to make.  I have seen several of their games during the past few years and was a 3 year starter on defense during the DIII championship years, so I think this qualifies me to have an opinion on the subject.

[Tailgater]

DarrinC
You are right on when saying it is to early to write off Carthage. Those who were not at the game fail to give Carroll College credit for vast improvement over last year. With 17 returning starters they showed that experience is a great teacher.

Some slight corrections. QB Mike Sharp is a junior and will certainly be the leader of the offense when a tender throwing elbow improves. There where 10 dropped passes by receivers, several of which were 20-25+ yards downfield. Not to take anything away from the well played tight coverage from Carroll defenders ( & some questionable no calls on interference), dropped passes are real drive killers. The offensive line are all juniors of which 2 are returning starters and 2 had considerable playing time last year. The tight end is a sophomore who started as a freshmen. So yes the offense is young, but has considerable experience and talent. Consistency will come as execution sharpens. The Freshmen QB (O'Boyle) did an admirable job. His stats would be great without the dropped passes. Your offense is going to have some consistency problems when you change QB's mid-stream in the game and the field leader becomes a freshmen with no game experience.

Defense did it's job! They won the battle of turnovers as has come to be expected of them and paced their nation leading turnover margin from last year. They bent at times but broke only once. I believe the redmen are off and running again!!

[Augie6]

Have to agree with Redmen96 and DarrinC about writing off Carthage this early in the season.  It will take a little time to get the offense rolling and it sounds like the offense played better than the final score indicates from DarrinC's post.  During the 86 season at Augie, we started off the season with a lot of new starters on offense and opened with a 0-0 tie against a mediocre Elmhurst team.  However, after the 3rd or 4th game of the season, our offense started to click and was a dominant as ever when we reached the playoffs and won our 4th straight national championship.  If Carthage's defense can get them to the middle of the season and the offense continues to improve, they will have as good of a chance as anyone to end the season on top of the CCIW.

[HughJass]

Well Warren I've been waiting for this question for some time.  I knew it would come and the answer is...the handle is neither.  I have the unfortunate luck of having crappy parents and believe it or not my name is Hubert Jass.  My friends gave me this handle in jr high and I've been stuck with it ever since.  

Darrin C,

Sounds like you do know a little bit about augie and I'm not attacking couchqb, but I'm sure that was the point he was making.  To clarify i was just pointing out that the defense has not been terrible, but in crucial games I guess they could fall under the bad category.  I agree that the defense hasnt been dominant but at the same time...in the wheaton game theirs was not either against us the last two years.  Can we say that bad offensive calls are to blame?  

[HughJass]

and where the hell does this negative karma come from anyway?

[jcu87alum]

First, my belated condolences from a visitor from the OAC world to the IWU family on the loss of Doug Schmied.  What a tragedy.

In the face of that tragedy, Doug's parents were incredible at the IWU opener yesterday.  This link takes one to a great article on the emotional opener:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-0509040291sep04,1,6670754.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed

Good luck to the Titans this season.

JCU87ALUM

[Warren Thompson]

OK, Hugh, and your 'crappy parents' also burdened you with that e-mail address. Right?

[blue_balls]

Congrats to my Big Blue on a great opening weekend victory against a Wartburg team that is supposed to be pretty tough.  Nathan Wallick once again showing why he is the best back in the CCIW.