FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[matblake]

Well Ypsi, you may be right.  But I was hoping someone would agree with me on Brylka.  Was I the only one who thought he was great at his position?

I only saw Brylka play once, and that was on tape.  I thought that as a football player he was amazing, the difficulty with him was that a lot of his success had to do with his elusiveness.  As a result his talent is a tough thing to pin down unlike some other great quarterbacks that have played in the CCIW like Bishop (great passer), Anderson (NFL), Kniss (IMO the catalyst to the turnaround at NC).  He was so tricky to try and get down.  In the game that I saw he made only one bad decision too, fortunately the DB dropped a sure INT. 

[ncc58]

A lot of people expected NCC to take a drop this year after losing several star players. What was unexpected was some of the players, especially freshmen, that were not expected to start and exceeded expectations.

This year, NCC loses 5 starters -- 3 on offense, 2 on defense. Kniss, Stuedeman, and Bellazini  are huge losses. It is likely that all five seniors will be All Conference selections. But the returning starters look pretty darn good. At the start of the year, the coaches said they would be leaning on the defense hard because of the losses at receiver and running back. Next year, the defense will be expected to be dominant.

NCC has gone 3-3 over the last three years against Wheaton and Augie. All three wins have come at home, all three losses on the road. The next objective has to be to beat one of those teams on the raod and beat both of them in the same season. If North Central can win their next two games, they will join Augie and Wheaton on the top tier of the conference, especially if they get another playoff berth. Carthage had a great 2004 season, but fell off.

[79jaybird]

HikerJim-- I agree with you that Brylka was a great QB.  He murdered us a few times (then again, a lot of teams did that to us at that time!)
Brylka was an accurate passer and had pretty good mobility.
I played against Patrick Brown in both HS and at Elmhurst.  He was a very QB and as USee points out, a very gutsy hard nosed type of guy.
Winning on the road vs. any team (well, NPU maybe is an exception)  is difficult and usually the CCIW champ  is the one that can win 2-3 of their road games.

[NCC_alum62]

CardAlum,

That being said, I would say that there is some frustration from the Alumni, but I don't think you can put everything on the coaching staff.  Of the players from my era, it's probably fair to say that our expectations are pretty high and maybe a little unrealistic.  When you look at Coach Barnes' record and accomplishments during his time at Augie, 90% of the DIII programs in the country would love to have that type of program.  Sometimes it's hard for us to keep that in perspective.  I do know that Coach Barnes would love nothing more than to bring the program back to competing for national championships every year.  For whatever reason, he's not able to recruit the level of talent needed to get this done.  

I think it has to do with the wing-T.  Yes when run correctly and with a powerful offensive line and backs it can be dominant, but one demensional does not win championships anymore.  It takes being able to take advantage of the opponents weaknesses game in and game out.  A team with a poor secondary doesn't need to worry when they play a team that runs the wing-t.

These days there is so much hype and spotlight put on throwing the ball downfield to speedy recievers and being more balanced.  Spread and Pro style offenses are winning championships at all levels of competition.  If I was a high-school QB(balanced passer), WR, TE I would never choose a school like Auggie, it means not contributing in the way that best highlights my position. Kids want the ball and want to be playmakers and Auggie doesn't offer that too much except for the RB's and an option QB.  From a recruiting aspect yes Auggie wins games and that is attractive, but when they play the higher level of competition in the play-offs they get beaten becasue I think they are too one demensional. Phasing in a better passing attack with a QB that can run and pass would give them new bubbles to work with.  The best players/athletes want to win championships.  Even a top RB may not choose Auggie because thier system doesn't have a feature back it has three (it may mean earlier playing time but less carries).


Also this seems to be one of the smaller O-lines I've seen at Auggie...not sure how true that is.  They were not at all dominant against the NCC D-line and LBs

[TitanBacker]

CardAlum,

That being said, I would say that there is some frustration from the Alumni, but I don't think you can put everything on the coaching staff.  Of the players from my era, it's probably fair to say that our expectations are pretty high and maybe a little unrealistic.  When you look at Coach Barnes' record and accomplishments during his time at Augie, 90% of the DIII programs in the country would love to have that type of program.  Sometimes it's hard for us to keep that in perspective.  I do know that Coach Barnes would love nothing more than to bring the program back to competing for national championships every year.  For whatever reason, he's not able to recruit the level of talent needed to get this done.  

I think it has to do with the wing-T.  Yes when run correctly and with a powerful offensive line and backs it can be dominant, but one demensional does not win championships anymore.  It takes being able to take advantage of the opponents weaknesses game in and game out.  A team with a poor secondary doesn't need to worry when they play a team that runs the wing-t.

These days there is so much hype and spotlight put on throwing the ball downfield to speedy recievers and being more balanced.  Spread and Pro style offenses are winning championships at all levels of competition.  If I was a high-school QB(balanced passer), WR, TE I would never choose a school like Auggie, it means not contributing in the way that best highlights my position. Kids want the ball and want to be playmakers and Auggie doesn't offer that too much except for the RB's and an option QB.  From a recruiting aspect yes Auggie wins games and that is attractive, but when they play the higher level of competition in the play-offs they get beaten becasue I think they are too one demensional. Phasing in a better passing attack with a QB that can run and pass would give them new bubbles to work with.  The best players/athletes want to win championships.  Even a top RB may not choose Auggie because thier system doesn't have a feature back it has three (it may mean earlier playing time but less carries).


Also this seems to be one of the smaller O-lines I've seen at Auggie...not sure how true that is.  They were not at all dominant against the NCC D-line and LBs

Many option offenses are winning championships at higher and lower levels.  Yet, I agree that you also have to have a quarterback that can throw and run.

High school teams run option offenses in order to confuse defenses and set up play action passes.  In addition, offensive lineman have defined blocking assignments and are not "zone blocking."  The option scheme takes into account the defender having to make decisions and the offensive backfield being able to read and react to that defense.  (Probably a big tangent that people already knew.)

Yet, the Atlanta Falcons are running a very similar offense with Michael Vick and are kicking butt.  Their dominant rushing attack sets up play action downfield passes to Algie Crumpler and others.

in effect, I agree with NCC_alum62 that Augie needs a more balanced attack in the future IF they cannot recruit the specific people they need to succeed.

On a side note, I dont' think i added much to the topic, but we'll see 

[lakeshore]

the Falcons are a 100% zone running team so Im not sure of your point Titanbacker

[TitanBacker]

the Falcons are a 100% zone running team so Im not sure of your point Titanbacker

You wouldn't call them an option team?  IMO, they run an offense very similar to a high school option offense and are doing very well with it.

[usee]

Regional rankings are out:

1. Mount Union 8-0 8-0
2. Mount St. Joseph 8-0 8-0
3. Concordia (Wisconsin) 9-0 9-0
4. Capital 7-1 7-1
5. Wheaton (Illinois) 7-1 7-1
6. Franklin 7-1 7-1
7. Baldwin-Wallace 6-2 6-2
8. North Central (Illinois) 6-2 6-2
9. Wabash 6-2 6-2
10. Wittenberg 5-2 5-3


this means if the season  ended this way the 1st round would likely be:

Hope@ MUC
Wabash/Witt @ Mt st joe
NCC @ Concordia WI
Wheaton @ Capital

Wheaton/capital would be headed for a 2nd round matchup in Alliance. Wabash/Witt would get a huge break in going to MSJ and avoiding alliance until the regional final. based on Pat and others comments a 1st round rematch of ncc/concordia isn't as unlikely as I had thought. the possibility still remains that wheaton goes to concordia and ncc to capital. also, if cap loses to BW its clear the committee would promote a 1 loss franklin ahead of BW. either way that team goes to the #5 spot and travels to wheaton if that happens....still a 2nd round matchup in alliance for the winner.           

[79jaybird]

USee, do you know why Capital is #4 and Wheaton #5?  They are both identical records wise.

[Mugsy]

USee, do you know why Capital is #4 and Wheaton #5?  They are both identical records wise.

Top of OAC is stronger than top of CCIW, Capital's only loss is to the #1 team in the country, Capital has a stronger defense, etc...

[dansand]

USee, do you know why Capital is #4 and Wheaton #5?  They are both identical records wise.

Cap's loss was to Mount Union and Wheaton's was to Augie. I think that pretty much sums it up.

[matblake]

That translates into the QOWI.  Cap is #9, Wheaton is #15

[Mugsy]

That translates into the QOWI.  Cap is #9, Wheaton is #15

And Capital starts with a 'C', which comes before 'W' (no comparison to the relative importance and validity of the QOWI implied - well kinda...  )

[matblake]

Besides, the NCAA likes conservative haircuts on coaches
http://www.capital.edu/internet/default.aspx?pid=5596

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, Franklin also has the same record - they have to order them somehow!  Without looking it up, I would guess that that is the order of QOWI, OR Cap's loss was to the region's #1 while Wheaton's loss was to a team no longer in the rankings.

IF Augie were to stumble in Decatur (I doubt it, but it is not outside the realm of possibility), Wheaton moves to the AQ.  I previously thought that would mean the conference DEFINITELY gets no C, but with NCC now up to 8 it may not be hopeless afterall.  Since both NCAC possible AQs (Wabash and Witt) are below NCC already, as is the MIAA AQ (Hope OR Olivet - Hope hasn't got it wrapped up unless they beat Olivet this Saturday), NCC needs to reach #6 to have a realistic shot (it still wouldn't be a guarantee, since the 8 teams in the north region PLAYOFF need not all come from the North Region).  But Franklin plays at Defiance Saturday; I foresee Franklin's hopes going down the drain.  And Cap and BW play the following Saturday; one of them has to pick up another loss.

I think NCC would still be a long-shot for a C, but it COULD happen.