FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

Devildog29-- likewise.  From up in the booth it sure looked like EC got away with some contact before the ball arrived and then there was no knee touching as you mention.
Actually, the best officiated game I have seen all year was up at Olivet College (week 3) and a MIAA Crew!
I know officials are human and they are doing their best, but I agree we could expect a little more from such a prestigious conf. like the CCIW.
I don't know, I was impressed with the sleak movements and change of direction ability of Dunlop.  As somebody mentioned earlier, he doesn't have a big FB in front of him to bulldoze his way up front.  His O-Line is decent, but especially in the game yesterday, were beat at the line of scrimmage.  Most of the gaps were Dunlop's 2nd and/or 3rd efforts.
Ciesel is going to be a star in a few years.  He ran some beautiful routes and seemed to get open when his QB was in trouble.  Same thing with Panno.  Man that guy can scramble and buy time very well!  There were at least 4-5 times I thought our D-Line was going to get the sack, and poof! He scrambles to at least get back to the LOS.
All in all,  a great fb atmosphere at Langhorst Field.  I will say that if the offense plays like it did yesterday, EC will be in trouble next week at Wheaton.  The defense can only keep you in it so long and the Thunder are stacked at every position.

[79jaybird]

Kind of funny that the Augie guys are debating with each other about CCIW Championships.  Can't you guys be happy that your team is winning the title(s) 
If you asked the other 7 schools what is their goal at the beginning of the year, each player/coach would say, "Win the CCIW".
So I can't understand why Augie nation is not happy winning the CCIW.
IMO, who cares what the coaches are doing/what the players are doing/etc. if the team is poised to win another CCIW title?

Now, the game of the year in the CCIW next week is Augie and NC.  Couple points here.
A) The real battle is Augie's Offense vs. NC's defense.  Both Elmhurst and Carthage hung tough with the Augie running game for 3 qrtrs., but fell short in the end.  If Augie is able to get that running game going, nobody is going to stop them.
B) NC's O-Line and Kam Kniss-- Will the O-Line be able to give Kniss enough time to make plays?
C) (as always) Turnovers and special teams.  Who will execute?  Who will turn the ball over?  and who is going to make the special teams plays?

[usee]

If you asked the other 7 schools what is their goal at the beginning of the year, each player/coach would say, "Win the CCIW".
So I can't understand why Augie nation is not happy winning the CCIW.
IMO, who cares what the coaches are doing/what the players are doing/etc. if the team is poised to win another CCIW title?

I don't know about all the cciw schools but I do know that just winning a cciw championship is not the goal for wheaton and augie. they have both won enough of those and tasted the level of play in Alliance, Ohio that the goal of those teams is to get to Alliance and win. Wheaton expects to win the conference title. They are focused on a level of play that gets them a different piece of hardware.

[79jaybird]

Usee- I agree with you for the most part.  When I talked with Mike Swider prior to the season and asked him what his goals were he said:  "Mark, our goal is to win the CCIW and do well in the playoffs. (most likely meaning give Mt. Union a fight).  We also want the kids to have fun playing the game.  My other goal is to have the team executing the plays each and every down."
I agree that the teams that have won the CCIW and tasted playoff success recently have a secondary goal of advancing deep in the playoffs.  Teams like Elmhurst/North Central/Millikin/IWU that haven't won the CCIW in awhile have their immediate goal of winning the conference.  Augie and Wheaton I agree have a goal of beating the Mount.

[usee]

Big week in the CCIW coming up. Augie/NCC will tell us all we need to know about the conference race. Augie wins and its a cake walk to the undisputed title. They lose and its up to wheaton and NCC to win a couple tough games to create a 3 way tie. Keep in mind NCC still has a slim shot at the playoffs, even with a win over Augie (because they trail in the tie breaker formulas). But they have no shot if they don't beat Augie.

[TitanBacker]

DD29-Good to hear you got to go see the team play.  I last saw them play Coe this year. 

The overwhelming thought i've heard over the past few years about IWU football is that they can't finish games.  This is really starting to annoy me as a former player and now a spectator.  I really dont' understand why IWU doesn't have the "killer instinct" that every good team has.  It's not the 90's where we won our fair share of CCIW titles and teams just gave up after they were losing by two touchdowns.  I hate to say it, but IWU needs to blow out a few teams to get the swagger and confidence back.  Maybe that will still happen this year!

fightintitan-It's NPU week where a special man will make a special appearance on the sidelines for NPU.  Hopefully that will fire up some of the IWU guys to make a big win.

[dansand]

Kind of funny that the Augie guys are debating with each other about CCIW Championships.  Can't you guys be happy that your team is winning the title(s) 

TAA is really the only Augie poster who's been too negative. I wasn't too optimistic when the Vikes were 1-2 with losses to two teams that were thought to be, at the time, pretty weak. As it turned out both BW and UWP are better than expected, but those are still games that Augie and their fans expect to win, and rightfully so.

The offense seems to have started to click. It reminds me a little of the '86 offense (I know I'm not supposed to mention past teams--but what the hell?) who were miserable at the start of the year (0-0 tie with Elmhurst) and dominant by the end (31-3 Stagg Bowl win). This offense is surely not dominant but they've gotten better all year. It's a very methodical, grind-it-out offense even by Augie standards. I just don't think they have an explosive, break-away threat at the half or wing like they've had in the past.

The defense has been similarly good but not spectacular. They've given up a fair amount of yardage, but have been able to keep teams from putting up points. They've forced nine turnovers and are +6 in TO's in CCIW play. They obviously face another big challenge with Kniss and Sulo this week.

[augiedogie]

Kind of funny that the Augie guys are debating with each other about CCIW Championships.  Can't you guys be happy that your team is winning the title(s) 
If you asked the other 7 schools what is their goal at the beginning of the year, each player/coach would say, "Win the CCIW".
So I can't understand why Augie nation is not happy winning the CCIW.
IMO, who cares what the coaches are doing/what the players are doing/etc. if the team is poised to win another CCIW title?

Now, the game of the year in the CCIW next week is Augie and NC.  Couple points here.
A) The real battle is Augie's Offense vs. NC's defense.  Both Elmhurst and Carthage hung tough with the Augie running game for 3 qrtrs., but fell short in the end.  If Augie is able to get that running game going, nobody is going to stop them.
B) NC's O-Line and Kam Kniss-- Will the O-Line be able to give Kniss enough time to make plays?
C) (as always) Turnovers and special teams.  Who will execute?  Who will turn the ball over?  and who is going to make the special teams plays?

I don't really think Augie nation is upset with winning conference championships except for the new "Augie" poster who has just ripped the team apart.  As it's been said in the past a 7-3 season isn't a good season for Augie, because most of the time it won't win a conference title. If 7-3 is good enough this year, then for the most part I believe Augie fans will be happy with winning a share of the title.  Good luck to all teams next weekend. I wish I could be at the NCC Augie game.

[79jaybird]

Dansand good points.  It's not how you start, but how you finish.  Look at the Augie/EC and NC/EC games.  NC was down 6-3 at the half, but dominated the 3rd quarter and won.  Augie's offense was relatively quiet in the first half, but McGinnis took control in the second and when it mattered.
One thing that I always think  is good that Augie does is schedule perennial playoff caliber and/or WIAC teams.  They might not win all of these games, but it gets them conditioned for the 7 week CCIW marathon and playoffs if they make them.
Titanbacker-- you hit the nail on the head.  IWU had us on the ropes with an offense that couldn't get 2 consecutive first downs going in in the 3rd/early 4th quarter.  The Titans only real offensive threat was that 72 yd TD that was called back.  I think If IWU even gets 2 FG's on some of those drives, the game may have been sealed.  From up in the booth, I thought we were in trouble right to the end, but you can't underestimate the heart of the players (on both sides) playing.

[fightintitan]

DD29-Good to hear you got to go see the team play.  I last saw them play Coe this year. 

The overwhelming thought i've heard over the past few years about IWU football is that they can't finish games.  This is really starting to annoy me as a former player and now a spectator.  I really dont' understand why IWU doesn't have the "killer instinct" that every good team has.  It's not the 90's where we won our fair share of CCIW titles and teams just gave up after they were losing by two touchdowns.  I hate to say it, but IWU needs to blow out a few teams to get the swagger and confidence back.  Maybe that will still happen this year!

fightintitan-It's NPU week where a special man will make a special appearance on the sidelines for NPU.  Hopefully that will fire up some of the IWU guys to make a big win.

Backer, I agree that the "nail in the coffin" instinct just isn't there for IWU and hasn't been for a few years.  I just really don't understand it and I really don't know what to do to get it back.  To me it seems like in a pressure situation anymore the Titans tense up and start playing not to lose.  After playing well all day against Carthage, 19 pt lead late in the 4th, offense can't generate a first down and the defense lets them off the hook too (2nd and goal from the 26, 26yd td pass???)  Same story this week at Elmhurst, late in the game, offense just needed to get one, maybe two first downs and went three and out and the defense gives up a 92 yard td drive in the last 2 or 3 min of the game.

As for the special guy making a sideline appearance this week, I'll definitely be at the game and I hope everything works out for you to make it here too.  Regardless, we're sending him green and white flowers this week, right?

[knarocky22]

AugieAlum, if you really want Augie to switch up their offensive game plan, would you be willing to go through AT LEAST 2 or 3 years when Augie is mediocre?  The players they have now are recruited because they fit into the Wing T system.  They can't just switch offenses.  They'd have to recruit players who would be able to run a more pass-oriented offense.  It would take at least 2 or 3 years (probably more) of recruiting for Augie to get the players they needed into the system to make it work. 

[devildog29]

Jaybird -

That was me referring to getting a FB in front of Dunlop more often and needing to rethink the run blocking schemes.  Perhaps I'm being a little too critical of Dunlop because I'm disappointed with what I saw with the overall team yesterday.  We are always most critical of ourselves first.  I mentioned he didn't seem to have the abilility to make guys whiff yesterday, but I forgot that he still might not be 100% healthy yet.  He was even on the sidelines being retaped in the middle of the game, so his ankle might not be all the way back.  As for the run blocking, Titanbacker has mentioned our scheme before.  It's more of a pro style run blocking scheme with multiple player responsibilities, and I think it's just too complicated for our lineman.  Less is more sometimes.

Titanbacker and fightintitan -

We've talked about it ad nauseum, but they just don't know how to close.  Case in point.  Sitting behind the bench in the 4th quarter, Ceisel comes over to the linemen and says "We have to make a decision.  It's a decision to win this game or not."  I understand what he was saying about getting in that mindset that we just aren't going to lose this game.  The sad thing to me is that he should even have to say it at all.  I don't want to be "that guy" who keeps bringing up "back when I played," but in my 4 years, we won the CCIW twice, and got second twice.  We never had to decide whether we were going to win the game or not.  That decision was made on Tuesday when practice started for the week.  It's a very subtle difference, but I think former players will understand what I'm getting at.

BTW, I notice NPU happens to have a former all-CCIW O-lineman from IWU on staff.  Not that I know him personally myself, but I'm sure you'll be giving him a hard time about his loyalties this week.  (And before anyone gets the wrong idea, I know a person's loyalties lie with his current team and his employer, not his alma mater.)

[usee]

New poll up for the week. log your predictions on the clash in naperville.

[Mugsy]

Latest QOW rankings:

Rank	School	QOW Index
#16	Wheaton	10.571
#19	Augustana	10.429
#29	Elmhurst	9.857
#35	North Central	9.714
#54	Carthage	8.857
#104	Illinois Wesleyan	7.714
#148	Millikin	6.714
#195	North Park	5.000

[vikes35]

I agree with augiedogie and dansand about the Augie situation. Augie nation is no where near as disappointed with a 4-0 conference start as TAA is.  The goal for Augie is not just to win the CCIW, but as many said also play in Salem at the end of the year. Jaybird we are happy that they win the CCIW, but also disappointed because we know they can do more. As Usee mentioned it is that Augie is expected to win the CCIW (just like Wheaton), and then the fans are happier as we get further in the playoffs. The game in Naperville should be a start to something if they win, not a finish to another probable CCIW title. This isn't me saying that they will win, it is just me saying that if they do win they can't be satisfied with it, they need to want more.


augiedogie,

You would want to be at the Augie game Saturday, but Ann Arbor is a little bit bigger of a stage.