FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[robertgoulet]

Final stats from North Central/Concordia, courtesy of North Central's website.

Final -
North Central 28
Concordia        7

Total yards -
North Central    345 (226 rush, 119 pass)
Concordia         180 (128 rush, 52 pass)

North Central individual stats -
Sulo - 32 rush, 172 yds, 4 TD
Kniss - 5/13, 50 yds, 1 INT
Fanthorpe - 7/13, 69 yds

LB Matt Wenger led North Central with 8 tackles (2.5 for loss, 1 sack). DE Zach Baldacci led North Central w/ 2 sacks.

Fanthorpe started but split time with Kniss behind center.

[DII/DIIIFan]

Game Summary - ONU 42, Millikin 0

ONU came out a little flat - not unexpected for any team in their first game (save for MUC who comes out and scores 52 in the first quarter  ).

Millikin was unable to capitalize on ONU's struggles early, despite the ability to move the ball a bit thorugh the air. MC had no running game whatsoever, with few backs getting to the line of scrimmage prior to contact from multiple defenders. Millikin does have a fine wide receiver who made several tough catches and absorbed some severe punishment post catch (Katzmark).

ONU's O-line had trouble early opening holes - due in part to two strong D tackes at Millikin (Bailey & Hampton). As the game went on, ONU's superior size, depth and strength wore down the Big Blue. Meadows had several solid runs and Pankratz made a number of first rate throws to Delk. In the open field, Delk appeared too quick and fast for the MC secondary.

By mid Q3, ONU was playing all second and third string players at the skill positions on offense, but left in the starting O-line until 11 minutes left in the game to get them reps.

The game was delayed almost 1 1/2 hours with about 11 minutes to go in the 4th quarter due to lightning. Give Neibuhr credit, he could have packed the buses and gone home down 42 - 0 at the time. But he held out to finish and try and score. MC got close, but WR Hampton coughed up a fumble at the goal line after catching a short pass followed by a solid hit.

In summary, ONU had far too much speed, depth and size for MC. One could tell fairly early in the game that with the heat and humidity, the Bears would wear down MC in time. The superiority of the OAC relative to a reasonably ranked team from the CCIW was clear.

One final thought - freshman QB Simmons from ONU looked very, very good. He was poised, in control and his passing was extraordinarily accurate. The 44 yard TD run by Bogner was set up by an option pitch from Simmons that could be used in a training video. He is slight (listed at 170 pounds), but appears to have quite a future. All his reps came against MC's first team defense.

[usee]

DIII,

thanks for the game summary. It is much appreciated.

[Mugsy]

High level stats from Wheaton/Albion game:

Wheaton tallied 406 yards of total offense, with 248 passing yards and 158 rushing yards. Albion had 230 yards of offense, passing for 178 yards, with just 52 rushing yards.

Ullrich completed 23 of his 37 passing attempts for 248 yards, with two touchdowns.  Senior Noah Dreyer caught eight passes for 60 yards. Fossum caught six passes for 73 yards, with one touchdown catch. Pokorny caught three passes for 60 yards with one touchdown. Senior Brett Jackson was the leading rusher for the Thunder with 14 carries for 74 yards.

Ittersagen led the Thunder defense with 10 tackles, including eight solos, and the 17-yard interception return that setup the Fossum touchdown. Ittersagen also amassed 118 yards on four punt returns, including the 78-yard return for the touchdown. Linebacker Jesse Laizure made eight total tackles, with two tackles for lost yardage (-7 yards). Defensive end Ben Kunzle made three tackles for lost yardage for -17 yards and two passes broken-up. Linebacker Jonathan Toal made six total tackles, including 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage of -12 yards.

For Albion, Evans completed 11 of his 27 passing attempts for 178 yards. Josh Silvernail caught seven passes for 83 yards. Robbie Moffett, Tommy Lefere, Chris Haines and Ryan Donahue each tallied eight total tackles. Lefere added a 44-yard interception return and Haines returned an interception three yards.

[usee]

I will add that the wheaton team was out of game shape. they were gassed and lifeless for stretches in the second half. can't say I have ever seen a Swider coached team not in game shape. WashU will be ready as this will be their 3rd game.

Mckinney didn't play after his injury, hope he is ok. Studebaker was not a factor and just ran into guys when he was in there. looked like not playing in camp took its toll on him too. he didn't play much in second half. Pagh was carried off in first half, probably his knee again like mugsy said. thats 5 defensive starters out for wheaton.

also, I saw Rowson wasn't playing on OLine. is he hurt?

[usee]

carthage up 28-3 in the 3rd vs Lakeland. different qb for carthage today. Jake Smith 3 carries 11 yds so far.

[Sterny]

The superiority of the OAC relative to a reasonably ranked team from the CCIW was clear.

What exactly did you mean by reasonably ranked?  Preseason DIII rankings:  ONU 17, Millikin 120.  btw, Averett was ranked 101 preseason by DIII.com.  Otherwise, great post, and thank you for the analysis.

[Mugsy]

I will add that the wheaton team was out of game shape. they were gassed and lifeless for stretches in the second half. can't say I have ever seen a Swider coached team not in game shape. WashU will be ready as this will be their 3rd game.

Mckinney didn't play after his injury, hope he is ok. Studebaker was not a factor and just ran into guys when he was in there. looked like not playing in camp took its toll on him too. he didn't play much in second half. Pagh was carried off in first half, probably his knee again like mugsy said. thats 5 defensive starters out for wheaton.

also, I saw Rowson wasn't playing on OLine. is he hurt?

One of my in-game comments was regarding "lots of hands on their hips".  I completely agree they did not look fresh.  I attribute some of the weird plays that Albion was successful on in the 3rd quarter to Wheaton's fatigue.  DB reacting slowly to balls in the air, a missed sack by a completely unblocked DE, etc...

I saw hints of the conditioning issue against Wabash, but there was some much substitution going on it negated it a bit.

[Mugsy]

also, I saw Rowson wasn't playing on OLine. is he hurt?

What I heard originally was that he hurt his knee, yet he played almost 3 quarters against Wabash in the scrimmage.  I was completely surprised to see him playing against Wabash.

I haven't heard anything about his status.

[NCC_alum62]

Glad to see Carthage up right now against Lakeland.  Carthage taking care of business.  I'm anxious to see what happens between NPU and BU.  Anyone with updates; it would be much appreciated!

[NCC_alum62]

I'd like to see the CCIW go undeaten against the IBC with all the smack they've talked.

[Mugsy]

The superiority of the OAC relative to a reasonably ranked team from the CCIW was clear.

What exactly did you mean by reasonably ranked?  Preseason DIII rankings:  ONU 17, Millikin 120.  btw, Averett was ranked 101 preseason by DIII.com.  Otherwise, great post, and thank you for the analysis.

Nice catch Sterny... I agree completely.  OAC posters are assuming the current Millikin team is on par with the Millikin teams of the 80's and 90's.  They are not...  Millikin is not the elite of the CCIW.  ONU did not beat a front runner from the CCIW by any means.

[NCC_alum62]

Agreed. Millikin has really taken a dive as far as fielding winning teams the past 5 years.  What happened?

They always seem to have some good players and big bodies and all, but they can't seem to get it together like they did in the late 90's and 2000-2001.

[matblake]

Finally able to post my thoughts after attending the Wheaton/Albion matchup (wife's work was taking up the computer all evening)

First of all, let me say that it was a beautiful day for football.  Also, the stadium complex Albion has is very nice.  

I am very concerned about Wheaton's offense.  They looked like they expected Albion to simply lay down for them.  The appeared to play really lackadaisical all day.  They did not adjust well to Albion's speed and pursuit on defense.  I agree that Ullrich looked a little off.  Overthrowing receivers on several occaisions and trying to force the ball seemed to be his biggest downfalls.  That said, he looked comfortable for most of the game.  

In addition on offense, they didn't show any speed capabilities from the wide receivers.  Perhaps it was the plays that were called, but most every grab seemed to be a posession catch and there wasn't really a chance to have many yards after the catch.  

The other thing that seemed to drive me nuts was the penalties by Wheaton.  Both out of bounds hits I believer were the result of finally getting to hit an opposing player when it counted i.e. being too aggressive because it was the first game.  The other personal foul of the facemask on the long pass I thought was incidental rather than the personal foul varieties, but the refs thought otherwise.  

Wheaton's defense seemed to have some trouble with Albion when Blake Evans their quarterback turned more into a runner.  I was a little surprised at how poor some of Wheaton's tackling was.  On a couple of occaisions the defensive backs were juked out of their socks and didn't seem to want to use their shoulder pads.

Several of those long plays by Albion were just how football goes sometimes.  I have to give Albion credit for playing tough all game.  Their backside pursuit on defense was excellent.  Wheaton's o-line just couldn't seem to solve it.  

Overall, a win was a win.  I'm sure some of these issues will get cleared up after having this game under their belt.  

One of the funny things about the game was how quickly the guys on the chain gang would drop the sticks and get out of the way.  Seemed to me like sometimes they were getting out of the way if play was headed toward them and a tackle was about to be made 10-15 ft from the sideline.

[RedmenBigD]

Final out of Kenosha, Carthage 35 Lakeland 16, congrats to the Redmen keep it going...