FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[markerickson]

North Park has legitimate QB and WRs, but lacks a forceful running game and pass rush.      Inexplicably, in the homecoming game against Elmhurst, NP did not blitz one time nor did NP substitute for a DL.  Excluding Augie, NP has done well against the rush.  IMHO., NP should throw deep more often.  Haehn definitely has the arm and touch.

[usee]

interesting day in the cciw:

first, congrats to ncc for a big win. they proved again that they are the real deal. carthage has effectively relegated themselves to spoiler for the rest of the way (millikin recieved that role last week). the cciw title hunt is now a 3 team race with augie still the favorite and ncc very close on its heels.

were the reports of the injured carthage players true?

augie still has to play @millikin and  @wheaton while hosting ncc adn elmhurst

ncc  hosts millikin and is @augie (and @elm this weekend)

wheaton is not playing well (at least their qb isn't) and will struggle to be a factor if that doesn't change. they are at iwu, v carthage, at np and v augie down the stretch.

I don't think ncc will have any problem w millikin because they match up well w them. the only issue i see is ncc has had  a problem stopping the run and millikin and augie both feature that. ncc will shred millkin's defense.

augie won't have any trouble w millikin either. i think they match up will w the big blue. augie/ncc has a chance to be another epic battle in the cciw and likely will determine the conf winner. my hope is that wheaton is not in the role of spoiler on the last day of the season. but if chupp can't do better than 6 for 20 they won't be in any position worth mentioning. not sure what is up w chupp this year. he seems like a much different qb than the guy who led us to muc a year ago. i hope he can figure it out before carthage comes calling in two weeks or wheaton will be on the outside looking in down the stretch.

[washdupcard]

Usee,

I respectfully disagree.  No way Augie is the front runner over NCC.  I have been very hesistant to elevate NCC to the best team in the conference on potential alone.  They have proven themselves this year by beating Wheaton and Carthage.  Moreover, they absolutely destroyed Augie last year.

Therefore, NCC has beaten two of the top four and destroyed the other team a year ago.  Augie beat Carthage.

Consequently, I respectfully dissent.

[sica-sica]

Washedupcard,
                            I agree.NCC is the front runner in the cciw.I think you will see the same results as last year in the Augie/NCC game.

[Tailgater]

I want to add my congrats to NCC on a big win for their program on a beautiful day for football. The posts I have read so far are flavored with a lot of cardinal Kool-aid. The game was a story of two halfs. NCC controlled the game all first half leading 23-3 at intermission. For NCC backers to belittle their team's 2nd half effort by saying they played sloppy is simply disrespect for the Redmen effort. Carthage finally got it's legs under their totally restructured offense and simply took over NCC's defense late in third and early 4th quarter. Two impressive drives put Carthage in the lead with a little over 6 minutes in the game. Momentum was totally on the Redmen side. The turning point of the game was during NCC's first possesion after Carthage took the lead. I know Kniss is a good QB, but how many pics or should have been pics did he throw in the game? Earlier in the 4th a Carthage DB cut in front of an out-route and could have walked to the end-zone, but got hand-cuffed with the ball. During the critical drive, which eventually put NCC up for good, Kniss threw for sure 2 balls and I'm thinking a third that went threw the hands of Carthage defenders. Now here goes the what-if scenerio. If anyone of those balls gets picked off none of the sequences that led to the 3 scores in the final 6 minutes happen. In fact Carthage may have very well run down the clock or potentially put another score on the board as the Cardinal D stopped nothing in the 4th quarter. I would be willing to bet that many in the NCC locker room were releived to escape with a win. The final score does not depict how close the game truly was.

[Tailgater]

i dont know if carthage has always been like this, or if this was just a one time deal.....but they seemed to play really dirty. a lot of late hits and trash talking by their players throughout the game....and it seemed most of them happened when they were losing. i can count at least 4 blatant late hits/cheap shots by the Carthage team throughout the game.

Surprised you could here trash talking from your seat. What was that the soft spoken NCC players were saying? Nice day hey? If the hits were so late and blatant where were the flags? Most people would call what was going on football. If you weren't overdosed on Kool-aid you would have noticed the same going on from NCC as well.

[sica-sica]

Tailgater,
                 Boy.You sound sorta bitter that NCC won.You don`t win games on what ifs.The score does`nt reflect how the game was,it was alot closer.But regardless of how many pics Kniss threw ,he did get the job done.

[washdupcard]

I believe there were many "what if's" for both sides.  Fortunately the game is decided by "what was done."  What if all you want.  Carthage imploded.  NCC took advantage, that is what championship teams do.

We just had this conversation about Carthage's "dirty" tendancies a couple weeks ago.  Seems things haven't changed.

[robertgoulet]

tailgater - you're right, i cant see or hear the trash talk from my seats, but i could see late hits....and i wasn't the only one that mentioned it during the game (and the refs apparently saw it as well, as carthage was flagged for a couple). hey, for all we know, the North Central players could have been saying some outlandish stuff to the carthage team.....but that still doesn't warrant late hits, at least not in my book it doesn't. i guess until someone backs me up, it's just one man's opinion at the moment, but i thought they played a little on the "not clean" side.

what if mario smith hadn't been out with a broken wrist? what if bellazini hadnt been playing with a seperated shoulder? what if augie hadn't elected to throw that pass last weekend? what if north park fielded an entire team of mini-ditka's!!!!? boy we'd be in trouble. let's all hope and pray that never happens!

carthage played well....and it's sad to see them go down to 2 losses in conference.....it would be nice to have a straight 4 team race to the championship......but North Central played better football for 3/5 of the game and that got it done. say what you will, their D might not be the greatest, but they create breaks for themselves....they're a turnover forcing D (a "bend but don't break" D). i dont believe that the final score was indicitive of the game....i think taht it's padded about 1 TD.....a final of 36-24 would have been about right as far as giving scoreboard watchers a relative idea of how the game went.

i'm interested, what kind of runners are augie's backs? are they scat backs that dance or are they straight line pounders?

[NCC_alum62]

robertgolet and tailgaiter...

I am backing rob big time.  I was at the game too and they played dirty and there were two huge penalties late in the drive that gave NCC the lead.  A roughing the kicker on the field goal attempt that gave the cards first and goal on the 2 and a personal foul late hit after holden scored the go ahead TD that allowed NCC to kickoff from the fifty.  They had about 3 personal fouls that were called on lates hits and a couple that the refs missed, but the fans didn't.

I don't like to talk about what-ifs...when I payed they were just excuses.  We lost to Wheaton 17-7 when Knis and Holden were out, but we still could have won that game had we stepped it up, but we didn't.  We lost to Carthage by 3 because of a miss aligned onside kickoff and Millikin because of a fluke tip ball with :02 seconds left in the game.  But I am not bitter...kind of...sh!t happens in football games and its the better team that takes it in stride and either outplays it or puts themselves in a position to not be affected by it. 

I think Carthage played great in the second half, the D couldn't stop thier option and i was impressed with how thier backs ran the ball and caught some big passes out of the backfield, as well as thier QB for standing tall after getting crushed on a couple of plays. But the penalties and the fumble and pic late gave the game to the Cardinals.  Good luck to the Redmen on the rest of the season I think they have a heck of a team.



 

[washdupcard]

A team of mini-Ditka's would be an unstoppable force!

[augievike]

Come on everyone from carthage knows they are dirty players.  The personal fouls alone show that.  They have always been dirty.  And this year it looks like it got them beat twice against NCC and Augie.  So keep up the good work carthage

[usee]

washdup- let me add to my thoughts on why i think augie is the front runner. both teams are undefeated in conference and ncc has to travel to rock island. ncc has won 2 big games this year but both were at home. I believe (as i have stated all along) that they are the best team but ncc hasn't proven they can win the big one on the road. last year you will remember wheaton was the only team with a big road win. carthage's schedule last year favored them because all their big games were at home (their only loss was a big one at augie).

having said that, augie still has to play at millikin and at wheaton. but they have already proven they can do it w a huge win at carthage. the cciw title will be won by the team that shows they can win the big one ON THE ROAD. augie has done that, ncc hasn't (but will get its chance)

by the way, there is a real chance ncc could lose at augie and still easily get into the playoffs w the expanded format. so in many respects ncc's biggest game is at elmhurst this week and v millikin next week. they win those two and the augie game might be moot (assuming they can handle np at home).

i put wheaton third because, although they have their big games at home, they just aren't playing well enough yet to beat carthage and augie. no question ncc is in good shape having beaten wheaton and carthage. but travelling to augie won't be easy

[augiedogie]

Washedupcard:

I know your excited for the turnaround to NCC, but to base predicitions that NCC is the best in conference for beating an Augie team last year isn't justifiable. "A blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in awhile", or a NCC team wins for the 1st time in 25 years against Augie! Both teams are different this year, and I guarentee you the outcome of the game will be different.  NCC might win, but to say they are the best because they beat a Carthage team and a Wheaton team, doesn't say much, because Augie can still do the same thing this year. Plus this year NCC has to come into Rock Island where it is a difficult place for opposing teams (minus Wheaton) to win. It should be a great contest in a couple of weeks and I would have to say at this point in the season its a virtual tie between Augie and NCC on who will win conference. No disrept to Wheaton, but I think it is mostly a 2 team race this year.

[washdupcard]

I"m going to hold you to your guarantee.