FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

Just my opinion here, but I would concentrate and focus on the current, rostered players  and be interested in their well being- as opposed to putting a lot of emphasis on a possible recruit.  Yes, if NC gets the EIU transfer that can only help the Cardinals' and their recruiting effort.
Still, there are 10 other players on the field that have to work together to make each and every play work.

Elmhurst will be traveling to Italy here shortly.  I know Augie is also making a trip to Europe.  Scott Pethtel told me that North Park hopes to travel to Sweden soon. 

[Mugsy]

I realize LK has somewhat of a unique situation but it appears Coach Swider has the same belief and trust from his players and did use a dual QB last year. Wheaton made it to the second round again only to come to Alliance and die. Nothing new there but I don't think it had anything to do with the use of two QB's. I guess I would ask, did he use both of them the entire season? Did they basically get equal time?

Coach Swider without a doubt has the belief and trust of his players...

For anyone who watch last years game against Mount Union, while each QB made some significant mistakes as well as a few good plays, it didn't really matter who was at QB.  Until Wheaton's defense can slow down the juggernaut Mount Union offense, it doesn't matter who plays QB.  In 5 playoff games against Mount Union, Wheaton has allowed an average of 40.0 points a game.  It would take an extremely special offense to hang over 40 on Mount Union.  IOW... the chances of Wheaton outscoring Mount Union is slim.

Wheaton has had some reasonable success offensively (in terms of total yards) against Mount Union in 2 of the 5 meetings, but even then Wheaton had difficulty in the redzone.  It seems like every year Wheaton has had at least 2-3 turnovers in the redzone.   The key to each game has been the inability to stop the Mount Union offense.

The rotation of QB's was for the most part consistent across the entire season, unless one of the QB's was having a horrible day.  Without looking at the specific details, I would estimate Chupp took about 65% of the snaps and Ullrich took the other 35%.  Typically Chupp would play most of the 1st quarter and then Ullrich would take the first few series in the 2nd quarter.  I can't remember if the rotation was similar in the 2nd half, but I suspect it depended on how close the game was.

From a raw stats perspective:

QB	GP	Effic	Att-Cmp-Int	Pct	Yds	TD	Lng	Avg/G
Chupp, Jeremy	12	144.54	238-130-12	54.6	1969	22	73	164.1
Ullrich, Zach	11	147.75	91-47-4	51.6	822	8	65	74.7

A few things stand out to me:
1.  Nearly identical efficiency rating
2. Combined stats would represent a pretty good year for a QB, minus the completion percentage - below 55% isn't very good.  145 efficiency rating, nearly 2800 yards, 30 TD's and an average of 238 yards per game.

[robertgoulet]

bottom line is they play defense at another level in the OAC. NCC is finding that out as well today.

usee - I don't know if it was the defense that really hurt North Central, they had 270 total yds and only 1 TO at halftime. What hurt was:

1) Pentenello

2) Pentenello

3) Not getting TD's on the first half possessions that ended up being FGs.

4) Pentenello


Sad to see the Kam Kniss era come to an end at North Central. I don't know how the legs are on this one....but I have heard that this may not be the last time we see a Kniss starting at QB for North Central......

Just wanted to go on the record while I certainly had inside information and 'lit the fire' Re.....BIG.........BIG........BIG......News coming soon! Shark56 is the one who broke the story...........Not the Brass Bell!

I'll back you on that one.  Although you did get the thing rolling! 

I actually mentioned this sometime back (back in the winter), but many of the other NCC posters said this wasn't going to happen.  I didn't have the "inside info" but I had heard the rumor mill at NCC was that Kam's brother might transfer.

I think this would be a good thing. Especially if Kam and Kyle work together during the offseason on the offense.  I'm not trying to crown anyone, but just because he hasn't seen significant playing time at EIU doesn't mean he hasn't been participating in a D-IAA lifting/conditioning program and possibly running a scout team during the week.  Its seems as though the previous Kniss had a pretty good work ethic... I would imagine it just might run in the family.

can i get in on the e-fame too!? 

[Gregory Sager]

The odd thing about baseball is that I believe the college was thinking about nixing the team years ago... maybe even while i was a student there (?)... but the alums protested... you'd think they'd protest the fact that our facilities are lame and it makes it really difficult to recruit, but oh well. 

Sorry to address a two-week-old post, but I was off the site over the past three weeks and I'm only now catching up.

According to Article III, Section 2 of the CCIW Constitution, baseball is a core sport. In other words, each school in the league is required to field a baseball team every year. It's possible that Wheaton could've filed an appeal to drop the sport (unlike football, women's volleyball, and men's and women's basketball, it's possible to file for an exception to Article III, Section 2 in the case of baseball under Section 3 of the same article), but there's certainly no guarantee that the other seven schools would've agreed to allow Wheaton to do so. Aside from the inter-school politics involved, it would set a dangerous precedent if a CCIW school was ever granted permission to exercise Section 3 in order to opt out of a core sport simply because it never does very well in that sport -- especially since Wheaton is the wealthiest school in the conference and is clearly not suffering on the baseball diamond because of a lack of institutional resources.

North Park students, faculty, and alumni have wondered aloud for eons why the school has continued to field a football team in the face of decades of utter futility. The answer has always been the same: Football is a core sport within the CCIW according to the league constitution, so NPU has never had the option of dropping it. Now, of course, the gender imbalance on campus (NPU has a 62/38 women-to-men ratio) has made it a moot point, anyway; a football program is one of the best means to rectify a shortage of Y chromosomes in a school's student body. And we Parkers hope that a rise to at least minimal competence on the gridiron by the Vikings will make the issue moot in a competitive sense as well.

[NCC_alum62]

NPU is going to continue to improv.  I think they've lack any form of continuity for the last decade. Now it seems they have some facilities, a coach willing to stay the course, and an administration not completly unwilling to support him.  They'll surprise some people in the next few years.  They have a long LONG way to go...I'm not crowning them the comeback kids, but I have optimisim for the vikings, just like I'm sure some had optimism for NCC when Thorne took over.

[matblake]

NPU is going to continue to improv. 

That's where I've seen Coach Pethtel before, Second City!!!!!!   

[matblake]

NPU is going to continue to improv.  I think they've lack any form of continuity for the last decade. Now it seems they have some facilities, a coach willing to stay the course, and an administration not completly unwilling to support him.  They'll surprise some people in the next few years.  They have a long LONG way to go...I'm not crowning them the comeback kids, but I have optimisim for the vikings, just like I'm sure some had optimism for NCC when Thorne took over.

For a program that hasn't won a CCIW game in close to a decade, they do have a long way to go.  That weight room is awesome though, at least what I have seen from the pictures.  And Coach Pethtel seems to trying to keep the team doing cohesive activities in the offseason.  For what I know about NP football, which is nothing basically, former coaches could have tried this same technique and failed.  However, it seems he is trying hard to build chemistry.  And based on some earlier discussion on the board, it looks like he is getting anybody and everybody that might have an inkling of going to North Park to the campus as a recruit.

[NCC_alum62]

I know that many previous coaches had ZERO support from administration in terms of new facilities and committment to the program (why some of the recent coaches left) and thats from thier point of view (connections during a coaching clinic between them and my h.s. coaches).  I think that with this newfound support and a cohesive coaching staff and getting players to stick around all four years they can make noise.

They've had some skill here and there. They've had some great INDIVIDUAL performers, but they lacked any true team cohesion.  This new coach seems to really be trying to address that.  I'm not saying that they are ready now, but half of the battle in the beginning is instilling the right attitude, seems like they are on the way to doing that with the new facilities and coaching attitude.  Like I said before I'm not ready to say watch out for NPU, but they're taking the steps that poorly performing teams need to take to get better.

[79jaybird]

Part of the building process of a program is to make your facilities inviting and make the incoming recruit feel at home.  The Helwig Recreation Center and the Weight Room are very, very nice.  If you haven't had the chance to go and see it, I suggest you do so.  They have 2 full bball courts, a large astroplay surfaced field that you can use to run passing routes, linemen can work on their footwork and stances, as well as a track that runs the perimeter. 
The weight room is a gem.  I think I counted 10 stations which you can do deadlifts, power cleans, squats, bench, etc. 2 full racks of dumbbells, and then a generous amount of weight machines. There is enough space that often the Football and (another Vikings Team) can lift simultaneously without crowding each other.

The old slogan "If you build it, he/they will come" is very true.  You have to make your facilities/stadium/environment exciting and create a great football atmosphere to attract the eyes of others. 

[79jaybird]

I was just thinking of some of the things I like about the various CCIW Stadiums.
Wheaton- I love the painted end zones with the orange/blue lettering.
IWU- I like the "closed in" fortress look and that you can sit anywhere.
Elmhurst- I like the setting moreso than anything.  Looking at the Stadium and the stands, with the old fashioned campus buildings in the backdrop is appealing to me.
NC- I like how they blow up a huge Cardinal Helmet for FB games, and like the Stadium.
Millikin-  I like that electronic jumbotron on the north side of the Stadium.
Carthage- I liked the old couch on the Southeast end of the Stadium where the rowdy fans would be drinking their apple juice and drive the visiting team nuts.  I used to hate that as a player, but now I think that is great fan support.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU is going to continue to improv. 

That's where I've seen Coach Pethtel before, Second City!!!!!!   

LOL!

I know that many previous coaches had ZERO support from administration in terms of new facilities and committment to the program (why some of the recent coaches left) and thats from thier point of view (connections during a coaching clinic between them and my h.s. coaches).  I think that with this newfound support and a cohesive coaching staff and getting players to stick around all four years they can make noise.

All of the previous NPU coaches have claimed lack of administration support as the reason for their inability to gain any traction in moving the program out of the cesspool, and in some cases there's been a certain degree of truth to that. But for the most part it's just been a convenient excuse for coaches looking to shift the blame onto someone else's shoulders. Why? Because you can't squeeze blood from a stone. North Park just has not had the financial resources available to pour into athletics that its CCIW peers have had, and football is such an expensive outlay in terms of the athletic budget that it's particularly sensitive to institutional poverty. Beyond that, NPU has had other built-in problems vis-a-vis football that are beyond the power of the school's administration to solve, such as the fact that it's an urban school and this is an era in which high school football is dying in the city and thriving in the suburbs (and a large percentage of suburban high school students are reluctant to consider attending college in the city).

Part of the building process of a program is to make your facilities inviting and make the incoming recruit feel at home.  The Helwig Recreation Center and the Weight Room are very, very nice.  If you haven't had the chance to go and see it, I suggest you do so.  They have 2 full bball courts, a large astroplay surfaced field that you can use to run passing routes, linemen can work on their footwork and stances, as well as a track that runs the perimeter. 
The weight room is a gem.  I think I counted 10 stations which you can do deadlifts, power cleans, squats, bench, etc. 2 full racks of dumbbells, and then a generous amount of weight machines. There is enough space that often the Football and (another Vikings Team) can lift simultaneously without crowding each other.

The old slogan "If you build it, he/they will come" is very true.  You have to make your facilities/stadium/environment exciting and create a great football atmosphere to attract the eyes of others. 

Exactly right. This is the first recruiting cycle in which the NPU football staff has been able to use Helwig as a recruiting tool, and the coaches tell me that it's made a night-and-day difference. They've made Helwig the last stop on the campus tour when prospects and their parents come to visit, and the oohs and ahhs when the prospects see that weightroom are like music to the coaches' ears. At this time last year, NPU had eight tuition deposits from new recruits, and that was a situation in which the new coaching staff was simply taking anyone who walked in the door who claimed to be a football player. This year they have twenty tuition deposits in thus far, and they're from targeted recruits. There's one player whom NPU beat out Carthage to get, another whom they beat out Illinois Wesleyan to get, and a third whom NPU beat out Millikin to get. Who knows whether these guys will pan out or not ... and who knows just how hotly those other CCIW schools pursued those guys. But the point is that North Park is now starting to actually beat out other CCIW schools for recruits here and there, and that almost never happened in the past. The Vikings were always left with players whom their CCIW peers (and frequently even some IBFC schools) didn't bother to pursue, and it showed on the scoreboard. It's the first step on the road to competitiveness. As NCC_alum62 said, there's a long long way ahead for North Park on that road, but at least the program is now moving down it rather than standing still.

[Titan Q]

An article on IWU's recruiting class...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/09/sports/126008.txt

[matblake]

That seems like a lot of QB's to be bringing in.  If those kids are good athletes, some of them may end up playing another position.  IWU does seem to do a good job of getting children of alumni to attend as well.  However, I have a feeling like that is the case with a lot of CCIW schools. 

[matblake]

There's one player whom NPU beat out Carthage to get, another whom they beat out Illinois Wesleyan to get, and a third whom NPU beat out Millikin to get. Who knows whether these guys will pan out or not ... and who knows just how hotly those other CCIW schools pursued those guys. But the point is that North Park is now starting to actually beat out other CCIW schools for recruits here and there, and that almost never happened in the past. The Vikings were always left with players whom their CCIW peers (and frequently even some IBFC schools) didn't bother to pursue, and it showed on the scoreboard.

That is very interesting.  Any idea if any of these kids have ties to North Park?  If they don't, it is certainly a trend in the right direction. 

[NCC_alum62]

Gerg:

I didn't want to quote the whole thing but in response to city football dying...

I have to disagree with you on this one.  The city WAS dead as far as getting teams past the first round of state play-offs...but there have been a few schools (granted a minority) that have really imroved and challenged getting as far as the semi-finals in the last 4-6 years.

The city is coming back and coming back strong and signing day shows us that there is great talent if not always great coaching.  Martez Wilson to IL, the hubbard RB to ND, Allthough Mt. Caramel is a Catholic school it is still a city team and they continue to challenge every year in state (granted WWS trounced them, but they trounced everybody this year).  The CPS is taking the steps to get out of the cellar and they are starting to beat good suburban teams.  This was unheard of between 1995-2000.  I hardly consider football to be dying in the city of Chicago high schools.

If the state can ever find a way to equalize the funding between suburban and city schools then we will see greater parity in terms of facilities, staffing (more paid coaches), and equipment. Until then subruban teams will have an advantage in coaching (because they can actually hire more coaches) and training (better weight rooms, traning staff)

I'm pretty passionate about this because I played in CPS system and I take pride in it.