FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[themadswede]

I'm sure Hiker won't like this if he's still around, but (sadly) the most amusing part of the Wheaton-Gville game this afternoon was the PA system constantly twisting Gville's Mark Shopp's name into former Cinci legend "Marge Schott".  That said, Marge played relatively well.

What up MattyB?

[mr_b]

According to the D3football scoreboard, North Park defeated Eureka 34-6 to go to 3-0 on the season.  It looks like another strong week for the CCIW teams!

[washdupcard]

http://www.noctrl.edu/x14157.xml

NCC game Recap.

[Jim Matson]

Another amusing fact from today's game: the Greenville punter was their leading rusher at the half.

[Mr. Ypsi]

hiker,

That IS a classic - was it an intentional fake punt, or a scramble for survival?

[formerd3db]

It appears North Park has already gone beyond the amount of wins some poster now erroneously predicted earlier this summer   See, like some people have said..."you never know as nothing is impossible".  Makes taking a "wait and see attitude" worth considering!  

[Mugsy]

Mr. Ypsi,
It was a botched snap that the punter had problems handling.  At least 5 Wheaton players right there, but no contain.  Once the punter got around the corner it was off to the races... over 40+ yards.

Oddly enough... the punter was probably one of the best athletes on Greenvilles team.  I think he was a starting guard!  Not the largest guy, but probably at least 240lbs and quick!

My Wheaton recap thoughts to come...

[Mugsy]

formerdb,
Yes. NPU is continuing to show improvement.  Let's see what they can do in conference.  Their non-conference schedule continues to be one of the weakest around.  Not to rain on their success.  Congrats on a 3-0 start.  Let's see what happens from here.

[Mugsy]

Wheaton vs. Greenville: 58-7 was the final

Hard to truly gauge where Wheaton is at given the opponent.  I will say the new coaching staff at Greenville is way better than the former staff - they just didn't have the horses.

Offense as expected looked much, much better.  Ran the ball very effectively and Chupp was much more accurate other than one interception in the first half.  Should note that the Wheaton receivers were WIDE OPEN all day.  Chupp had his choice of targets all afternoon.

Special teams looked great, with exception to one missed extra point.  Punts were booming and high... with good coverage.  Kickoff coverage was amazing - I'd say Greenville's kick returns failed to reach the 15 yard line on all but 2 returns.  Greenville's kick returns were brutally enept.

To me the most impressive area was Wheaton's D.  I thought their D line looked very good and deep - lots of substitutions.  I was very impressed with the LB speed, particularly McKinney - a sophomore OLB.  He has the makings of a true stud LB in the next few years if he stays health.  Again... this is all tempered by the opponent. 

Most of the starters were out of the game by mid-3rd quarter.  Looked like Greenville would score a few times as Wheaton came out flat to start the 2nd half - allowing a long run... 50+ yards.  But RB was caught from behind inside the 10 or 15 yard line.  Greenville then turned the ball over.  Greenville almost returned an interception for a TD shortly after this, but the LB or DB was caught from behind and I believe they turned it over to Wheaton shortly thereafter.  (I had one twin in backpack and another on my lap, so some series my focus wasn't 100%, or even 50% on the field  )

Well get a more adequate gauge next week against Hope.  Ok... maybe not.  Just saw Hope lost to DePauw 38-12 or something like that.

[Mugsy]

Didn't have the stats to support my impressions on the Wheaton game.  Just saw them... 86 total yards for Greenville - only 1 yard passing!  Considering they had 40+ yards on the botched punt and another 40+ yards on a run early in the 3rd quarter, they had little else all game.

Wheaton had 282 rushing and 204 passing.

[Mr. Ypsi]

CLEAN SWEEP for the CCIW, 4 of the 6 by blow-outs!

BUT, is this something to be proud of, of a function of 'cup-cake' scheduling?

I'm  NOT a sports historian, so I may be wrong on long-term statuses, BUT...

Benedictine is a worthy bball opponent, but do they belong on anyone's fball schedule?  Unless there is some other justification, do Eureka or Greenville belong on anyone's schedule in either fball or bball?  These are just the opponents that jumped out at me; I'm sure there are many others.  Part of me is proud of the sweep, another part is embarrassed that the sweep was a fore-gone conclusion.

Even if it means more nail-biting, or even losses (or even pummeling, like IWU suffered last week), if we want to claim to be an elite conference, shouldn't we schedule elite opponents?  This week I felt that whoever finishes #8 in the CCIW would probably still have gone AT LEAST 5-1 against the opposition.  NOT a competitive week!

[Pat Coleman]

Kickoff readers know all three have brand-new coaches and could raise their level in the near future.

[RedmenFB44]

Carthage dominates! I don't care who it was against. Their offense got going and just in time for conference play. Defense showed why they are the best in conference. Sharp played great (3 passing TDs and ran for another).

As for the polls, yeah I know its not a big deal to the players, trust me I know, but for alum and other team followers its nice to see our team move up and get some respect when our team wins rather than move down behind a team that had a bye. Hey this isnt the BCS Pat 

Congrats to all the CCIW teams this weekend and to North Park for going 3-0 in non-conference play. Its nice to see that this is a great conference all around. Whos ready for some CCIW conference play?

GO REDMEN!!!

[Pat Coleman]

Hey this isnt the BCS Pat

Exactly, which is why our pollsters are a little smarter.

No comment at all about Whitewater pounding Lakeland?

[markdamaker40]

Pat you were right I was wrong. See I can admit my mistakes.