FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[blue_balls]

http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/headlines.asp?ID=19086

Wrap up on Big Blue vs. Albion....Nathan Wallick another solid effort for the Big Blue.

[b_holmgren]

First Wheaton/Hope game we've seen in a while, where the Dutchmen didn't keep pace with the Thunder offense. I take it the Hope offense isn't what it was the last couple of years.

[vikes35]

Anybody at the Augie game today? Sounds like a dominant performance against another solid foe. Also a good confidence booster going into the CCIW season.

Go VIkings

[sica-sica]

Was at Ncc game.Defense dominated WU.By 3 quarter many guys were getting in game. it could have been worse.Can`t wait till next week.

[usee]

I was in wheaton today for the game. a few observations:

wheaton had the ball and was driving when the lightning delay occurred. they came back out and finished the drive w a td. the PA announcer proclaimed "the wheaton scoring drive was 9 plays, covered 77 yards and took 1 hour and 15 minutes".

all the concern about jeremy chupp can go away. he looked great. made some great throws w the exception of the int. that was late. he had his man but waited too long. bazacas runs the ball hard and doesn't appear to fumble.

the wheaton offfense, while not as potent as years past, looks just fine to me.

the biggest difference i see in this wheaton team is on defense. they are athletic and make plays. more so than any wheaton team i have seen since the lundgren, knapp, diggs era. even more than that defense this defense has a secondary that is good. I don't know who #21 is but he is a stud. and travis at safety is fast and physical. the linebackers couldn't have been worse last year and they look like studs this year. what a difference. this is the first wheaton defense i have seen that has a chance to dominate.

now, i understand the implications of stating all this with the little brass bell game upon us. we will see just how good both ncc and wheaton are this week in naperville. as impressive as the thunder have been, they haven't exactly been playing cciw quality opponents. now they get to turn around and play the best team in the conference. prior to seeing wheaton play i would have said they have no chance vs ncc. after having watching this wheaton team today i would say we could have ourselves a ballgame. i still give the edge to ncc for next week because they have so much senior talent but it won't be easy for either team.

this will be one for the ages.

[usee]

as for the other action in the cciw:

wallick had 35 carries to get to 116 yds. thats a lot of carries in d3 for just 116 yds. millikins other offense seems to come from big plays.

augie result is no surpise to me

IWU must really be struggling to have to come from behind at home to beat u of c. they gave up 444 yds to chicago??!!!

the strong undercard to next weekend is carthage at millikin. the cciw pick ems get interesting from here.

[augievike93]

Well, the Augie D was certainly much different today versus the Pioneers then what showed up against Central.  They really came to play.  Call in particular was impressive.  He had within a four play span a batted pass, a sack, and a blocked punt!  With the exception of one play this was a great day for Augie at home.  They did lose their starting center in the middle of the 1st quarter--he suffered a compound fracture on his leg just above the ankle.  It was really bad.  However, despite the loss of him, the O line didn't skip a beat.  Augie had 30 first downs.  29 by rush and 1 by penalty.  They sweep play that Central easily shut down was very effective and Augie was able to spread the wealth with their offensive backfield.  There actually was one punt by Augie -- a quick kick by Roe that went into the endzone for a touchback.  Next week should be interesting with North Park figuring out where the win column is located.  The big question is which defence will show up?  I hope to see more of today's, that is for sure!

[Mugsy]

USee,
I concure with your comments about Wheaton's defense.  Although you failed to mention the DLine.  Another 7 sacks against Hope and who know how many hurries.  6-7 different guys getting shuffled in...  Trey Andrews goes down in practice a week ago after being named CCIW D-player of the week, his replacement (Studebaker, I think) comes in with at least 2 sacks.  Not to get ahead of myself in the discussion for next week, but I think the matchup between Wheaton's DLine and NCC OLine will be the key to the game.  If Wheaton's DLine can pressure Kniss like they have against their 3 previous weaker opponents, Wheaton has a good change of taking "the Bell" home.  They've got to pressure Kniss.

The other area I think Wheaton is even better than the last few years is on special teams.  Other than giving up a few moderate length kickoff returns, very strong across the board.  Special teams can make the difference in key games (roughly 1/3 of total plays in a game).

I've been impressed with the guys who are "filling the shoes" of the All-American's and All-CCIW from last year, without much previous experience.  A good sign for the program - retooling instead of rebuilding.

Next week against a VERY tough NCC should be a potential CCIW game of the year.  Let's see just how good Wheaton is - they'll need plays in all facets of the game against NCC.

[Mugsy]

First Wheaton/Hope game we've seen in a while, where the Dutchmen didn't keep pace with the Thunder offense. I take it the Hope offense isn't what it was the last couple of years.

b_holmgren,
After conversing with a few Hope faithful last week, the Hope OL has really struggled.  QB is running for his life in all 3 games, plus I think his completion percentage is in the low 40% at best.  It'll be a tough year for the Dutchmen.

[usee]

mugsy- i agree about the dline, they are very athletic, but it is amazing how good your defensive line can look when you actually cover people.

[Tailgater]

as impressive as the thunder have been, they haven't exactly been playing cciw quality opponents. now they get to turn around and play the best team in the conference.

usee:
I'm curious to know your thought process (other than bias) as to how you proclaim NCC as already being the best team in the CCIW without ever lining up against a conference opponent? Nothing in NCC's past history had them as the best, why now? NCC has a steadily improving program, but their are many challenges that will face all CCIW teams throughout the conference schedule.

[Pat Coleman]

I hardly think Usee is biased towards North Central, tailgater.

[washdupcard]

Yea...I almost choked on my food when I read USEE's comments.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm looking forward to calling that game on Saturday night. Should be a good one.

[Tailgater]

Pat:
I'll retract my assumtion. I am not always completely familiar with whom each poster backs either vocally or silently. So what you are saying is usee is the Lou Holts (when Lou was at ND) of posting as Lou would always state that his next opponent (no matter how good or bad)  was the best team he ever saw, should be ranked #1 in the nation and that his team was in for a whooping next week? Then when ND won the game it was even more of an accomplishment.