FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WahooThunder]

And I failed to mention, we now have late night quality stand up comedy on the board... Jesse "the guillotine" Laizure... awesome.

[cardinaldad]

NCC gets a debatable turnover at midfield and they capitalize. Fanthorpe 39 yd td pass

NCC 27 ELm 24

With the visotors' bleachers being so low, I couldn't see the debatable play of the turnover, but with the honest, excellent call by jaybird, he was so adament(sp?) that it was not a catch, I believe him that it wasn't. Unfortunately, once again, it wasn't a very good game for the CCIW officials. There were some BAD calls going both ways. Right jaybird? It just so happened that the momentum turned after that particular, debatable turnover. After that, there was a barrage of NCC picks.

[Mugsy]

Very good synopsis.

A couple questions:
1. What are the top 3 Thunder defenses since you were a player/coach?
2. For anybody - In the last decade (or so) what are some of the leagues best defenses?

I'll respond more about the best Crusader/Thunder defenses later night or on Sunday.  I don't have enough time to type it up now.

As for the best defenses league wide... hands down the Augustana defenses of the mid-80's during their NCAA championship runs.  Those defenses were downright nasty and the stats were sick.

After watching the game tonight, this Wheaton's defense would not make my top 5 all time.  That is no knock on the unit.  They have incredible heart and desire to overcome soooo many injuries.  They lost another DT tonight, so they now have 2 starting d-linemen out and 1 that saw significant time.  Studebaker was on crutches and had a cast on his ankle.  I would have loved to watch what this unit could do if they were completely or even partially healthy.

Against a team like Augie, that is a huge task to overcome.

But they did...  Not many Wheaton teams in the past could overcome the injuries this team has.  Hopefully they can heal up for the final push through the conference schedule, because there is still a lot more work to go.

[burly]

And I failed to mention, we now have late night quality stand up comedy on the board... Jesse "the guillotine" Laizure... awesome.

Ba ba ba ba baaaa, I'm lovin' it!

[Mugsy]

I certainly think the MUC defense of this year as well as a couple other years would certainly make the hands come up a bit.

Agreed, but the question was all-time CCIW defenses.

[Mugsy]

Augie fake punt on their own 25.  1st and goal on the 4 yard line - 71 yard pass completion by the Vikings.

Technically it was a 4 yard lob pass or shot put, followed by a 67 yard run.

[Mugsy]

The french Thunder LB puts the Augie QB in the guillotine and it's over.  Wheaton wins.

lol... that made me chuckle.  The french LB...

[burly]

Augie fake punt on their own 25.  1st and goal on the 4 yard line - 71 yard pass completion by the Vikings.

Technically it was a 4 yard lob pass or shot put, followed by a 67 yard run.

Yes, I agree.  The kid that caught him from behind (Woodward?) has some wheels.

[cardinaldad]

Jaybird, do you know what Maple injured and the extent of his injury? The way he went off the field in apparent, great pain, I was surprised to see him return. Only to leave again with what appeared to be the same injury. It almost appeared to be a bad stinger.

[cardinaldad]

Congtrats to IWU and Wheaton on your wins. Now, things start getting interesting.........

[Mugsy]

One of the most bizarre stats I've seen in recent memory:

Augie pass attempts: 19
Wheaton pass attempts: 22

Never thought Augie would be within 3 pass attempts of a Wheaton team.

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others, but I'm not 100% sure I would have passed 4 times if I had 1st & Goal from the 7 with 42.1 seconds in the game.  Yes I know Augie needed to be careful not to run the clock out, but Augie is not exactly a precision passing team. 

When Augie is successful passing, it is when they get you leaning to stop the run.  But when you know they are going to pass, that doesn't really work in their favor.

Hindsight makes an idiot look like a genius, but...

What about running an offtackle play that was gouging Wheaton for 4-5 yards at a time?  Then spike the ball to stop the clock.

Then you've got 3rd and goal from the 2 or 3 yard line with 20 seconds or so.  Now you've got some options on what play to call and Wheaton doesn't know you are going to pass.

[Augie6]

Just got home from the Augie/Wheaton game.  Congrats to Wheaton on winning an exciting game.  Augie certainly had their chances, but a dropped touchdown pass on the final drive and some questionable play-calling on a first and goal from the 7 prevented them from pulling out a W. 

Based on Augie's inconsistent play this year, I was a bit surprised at how close the game was.  Even though Augie played well, I would have to say that Wheaton is not the #5 ranked team in the country.  I realize they have had significant injuries on their defense and this has had an obvious impact.  What I didn't expect to see, however, was Augie receiver's consistently getting open down field.  I can think of 5 times where Augie had a receiver wide open deep down the field but were not able to convert (two on poor throws by McGinnis, two when he inexplicably threw to a covered back in the flat and the dropped TD pass on the last drive).  Augie also had good success with a some of their short passes and turned one of these into a long gain setting up a TD.  If Augie is able to get receivers open like they did, a good team with a strong passing attack could cause some serious problems for Wheaton.

Unfortunately, I think this will probably be a rough year for the CCIW representative in the playoffs.  Based on the results we have seen so far this year in the CCIW, I think the best in our conference (which will be Wheaton) would have a tough time placing in the top 3 in the OAC.  And as we all know, that's where the playoffs start and end for teams in the North Region.  Hopefully, Wheaton can get healthy and get on a roll going into the playoffs.  If it ends up being someone other than Wheaton, then it should be a short post-season for the CCIW.

[Mugsy]

Just got home from the Augie/Wheaton game.  Congrats to Wheaton on winning an exciting game.  Augie certainly had their chances, but a dropped touchdown pass on the final drive and some questionable play-calling on a first and goal from the 7 prevented them from pulling out a W. 

Based on Augie's inconsistent play this year, I was a bit surprised at how close the game was.  Even though Augie played well, I would have to say that Wheaton is not the #5 ranked team in the country.  I realize they have had significant injuries on their defense and this has had an obvious impact.  What I didn't expect to see, however, was Augie receiver's consistently getting open down field.  I can think of 5 times where Augie had a receiver wide open deep down the field but were not able to convert (two on poor throws by McGinnis, two when he inexplicably threw to a covered back in the flat and the dropped TD pass on the last drive).  Augie also had good success with a some of their short passes and turned one of these into a long gain setting up a TD.  If Augie is able to get receivers open like they did, a good team with a strong passing attack could cause some serious problems for Wheaton.

Unfortunately, I think this will probably be a rough year for the CCIW representative in the playoffs.  Based on the results we have seen so far this year in the CCIW, I think the best in our conference (which will be Wheaton) would have a tough time placing in the top 3 in the OAC.  And as we all know, that's where the playoffs start and end for teams in the North Region.  Hopefully, Wheaton can get healthy and get on a roll going into the playoffs.  If it ends up being someone other than Wheaton, then it should be a short post-season for the CCIW.

I agree with some of your points... like Wheaton doesn't seem like the #5 team in the country and no CCIW team will make it far in the playoffs this year (hope I'm wrong).

But Wheaton wasn't exactly lining up in a typical pass defense alignment.  Some wide open receivers were due to a LB totally blowing coverage by biting on a run fake.  It wasn't like an Augie wide receiver burning the defense on a precision route.

Wheaton's pass coverage against top passing teams in the conference has been reasonably sound.  After all... they do have one of the best DB's in the country.

[Augie6]

One of the most bizarre stats I've seen in recent memory:

Augie pass attempts: 19
Wheaton pass attempts: 22

Never thought Augie would be within 3 pass attempts of a Wheaton team.

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others, but I'm not 100% sure I would have passed 4 times if I had 1st & Goal from the 7 with 42.1 seconds in the game.  Yes I know Augie needed to be careful not to run the clock out, but Augie is not exactly a precision passing team. 

When Augie is successful passing, it is when they get you leaning to stop the run.  But when you know they are going to pass, that doesn't really work in their favor.

Hindsight makes an idiot look like a genius, but...

What about running an offtackle play that was gouging Wheaton for 4-5 yards at a time?  Then spike the ball to stop the clock.

Then you've got 3rd and goal from the 2 or 3 yard line with 20 seconds or so.  Now you've got some options on what play to call and Wheaton doesn't know you are going to pass.

Exactly the thoughts that all of the Augie alum had watching from the sidelines.  They had plenty of time to get a play called (the clock stopped to move the chains when they converted the 4th down) and none of us could understand why you would waste a down spiking the ball.  Then, to throw the ball 3 times in a row just didn't make a lot of sense. 

It's always easy to question calls when things don't work out.  If they had happened to convert, we be saying it was a great play call.  I guess that's probably the toughest part of being a coach, handling the criticism of play calls when they don't work.

[Mugsy]

Another key stat in the Wheaton/Augie game:

Punt's downed inside the 20 yard line - Wheaton had 4.

Wheaton only had 83 yards rushing on 41 attempts.  2.0 yards per carry. They will not go anywhere unless they start running the ball effectively.  With how the oline has been blocking... it may not matter who carries the ball.

Where's Coach Whitehead?