FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

One last comment from me...

I thought Sean Norris had a great game.  15 of 22 for 223 yards.  The one INT was the last play of the half, so it was just up for grabs.  2 of his passes were flat out dropped.  So that is 15 of 19... against the likes of Augie.

Plus he made a huge play when Wheaton needed it most... that TD to Pokorny was right on the money.

I think Wheaton has a solid QB in the making for the next 2 years.

[Tailgater]

For the better part of two quarters NPU did an epic face-plant that was memorable even by the dismal standards of North Park football. Before the game was a minute old Shelby Wood had thrown an interception and Carthage was in the end zone. NPU fumbled away the ball deep in its own territory, leading to another Carthage TD; the Vikings failed to recover a Carthage fumble on a Red Men first and goal, in spite of the fact that a Viking fell on the football first; Carthage scored a safety when Wood was called for intentional grounding in the end zone; and the Red Men scored yet another TD when a blocked North Park punt rolled into the end zone and was recovered by a host of Red Men.

It was 33-0 with plenty of time left in the first half, and it was looking as though Scott Pethtel was going to have to suffer through yet another one of those crushing humiliations that pop up all too regularly throughout NPU football history.

However, the Vikings snapped out of their zombie-like state at that point. Wood drove them down the field and completed a nifty pass to sophomore WR Chris Durr for a TD. The Vikings then drove the ball down the field again at the end of the half, only to have a Viking bobble away an end-zone pass that found its way into the hands of a Red Men defender for a touchback INT.

The ballgame was basically over at the half, so it was more or less just a test of character for NPU from that point forward. And the Vikings actually did show plenty of character. It's not as though they dominated the second half by any means, but they did outplay the Red Men and outscored them, 12-7, to make the final score a little more palatable. Carthage is by far the superior team -- the Red Men's O-line blew NPU off the line of scrimmage so badly that for most of the afternoon Carthage ballcarriers weren't even touched by a blueshirt until they were five or six yards downfield -- but the Red Men played the second half as though they were all deep in thought about what was going to be served for dinner in the Carthage dining hall this evening. They continually short-circuited their performance with penalties, and the Carthage pass defense turned into Swiss cheese. NPU, meanwhile, didn't show an ounce of quit and the Vikings could at least hold their heads up at the end of what turned into a 40-18 final score.

Durr, who caught a whole pile of passes (two for TDs) turned in a terrific game, and Wood was for the most part pretty good. Kelvyn West never got untracked; the game got out of hand so quickly that NPU had to abandon the run, and on most of his rushes before the game did get out of hand in the first half West was hit behind the line of scrimmage by defenders who swept through the NPU O-line like it was made out of paper.

The NPU defense had some good stops in the second half, but both the defense and the special teams need a lot of improvement when it comes to tackling skills. The first man to touch a Carthage ballcarrier very rarely brought him down, and the Red Men ran through a lot of listless arm tackles. Carthage also proved to be adept at cutting back against the grain and taking advantage of NPU overpursuit, particularly after catches.

Not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination for NPU, and since Carthage was probably North Park's best shot at a CCIW win this season my guess is that the final scores will not get any better than this one turned out to be. But for a team that's used to packing it in in the second half, the Vikings did show people something with a decent effort after they came out of the locker room.

Agreed, nice summary of the game. I'm sorry to say I to feel NP will indeed record a donut in the CCIW win column again this year. I was expecting a little better showing from NP, but instead saw a team (sorry to say) that showed little to no improvement from last season. There are a few very good looking players on NP's team. but not enough supporting cast around them to elevate their potential. Carthage was playing this game with serious personnel issues. 5 defensive starters were out, including the entire linebacker core, CB Franco Shenault limped through the game trying to cover NP's best receiver, QB Brennan O'Boyle was knocked out late in the first half and spent the remainder of the game on crutches on the side-line. The O-line resembles a mash unit. I wish I had picked up a game program so I could identify my own players. None-the-less Carthage pulled it together and got the job done in workman like fashion. The Red Men scored with Off., Def and special teams. The Carthage Coaching staff is once again challenged, like last season, to bandaid together different personnel packages week after week. So far they are doing a pretty good job of it. I have seen some real promise for the future with some of the depth Carthage has shown as they are tested to stay tough on the field.

[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.

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.

No question that Ittersagen is a great player.  However, one great player doesn't make a great secondary.  The plays I'm talking about where Augie receivers were open down field weren't the result of LB's blowing coverage.  Most of the plays I saw were when Augie lined up in a split / slot formation.  On the plays they threw to a back in the flat, the corner on that side let the WR run down the field prior to the throw going to the flat.  McGinnis just didn't look at these receivers.  On the plays McGinnis made poor throws, the receivers on the outside of the formation were the ones open, beating the CB/Safety down the field.  I doubt that Wheaton has any coverages where the LB's are responsible for these areas.  The dropped TD pass was to a RB, but it was 20 yards downfield and on the sideline.  May have been a LB responsibilty in a man coverage, but I like that match-up if a LB is covering 20 yards down field.  

If you look at the results going into this game, Wheaton was giving up almost 200 yards
passing per game.  Good, but not great.  Coupled with the fact that 4 of the 5 teams Wheaton has played wouldn't be considered strong DIII programs in recent years, makes me believe that Wheaton could have a difficult time with strong team with a good passing attack.

[usee]

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.

No question that Ittersagen is a great player.  However, one great player doesn't make a great secondary.  The plays I'm talking about where Augie receivers were open down field weren't the result of LB's blowing coverage.  Most of the plays I saw were when Augie lined up in a split / slot formation.  On the plays they threw to a back in the flat, the corner on that side let the WR run down the field prior to the throw going to the flat.  McGinnis just didn't look at these receivers.  On the plays McGinnis made poor throws, the receivers on the outside of the formation were the ones open, beating the CB/Safety down the field.  I doubt that Wheaton has any coverages where the LB's are responsible for these areas.  The dropped TD pass was to a RB, but it was 20 yards downfield and on the sideline.  May have been a LB responsibilty in a man coverage, but I like that match-up if a LB is covering 20 yards down field.  

If you look at the results going into this game, Wheaton was giving up almost 200 yards
passing per game.  Good, but not great.  Coupled with the fact that 4 of the 5 teams Wheaton has played wouldn't be considered strong DIII programs in recent years, makes me believe that Wheaton could have a difficult time with strong team with a good passing attack.

I think having the best defensive lineman in the country healthy and rushing the qb would make a pretty big difference. I am not to worked up about wheaton's pass coverage against augie. Mugsy is right, their pass responsiblity is much different against a team like Augie.  In the end Augie lost because of exactly that, they are not a passing team. In fact on the 4th down play Wheaton ran the same blitz they had run on the previous 3 plays (including the 4th down slant for a 1st). They brought the frenchman from the boundary in the G/T gap. He was blocked by the rb every time but the last play. Augie switched their lone back to the wide side on the last play and Lazire blitzed untouched into the ribs of McGinnis. I was certain Augie was coming back to the slant they had run on 4th down but inexplicably they didn't block the same linebacker who they blocked for the last 3 plays.

[Mugsy]

If you look at the results going into this game, Wheaton was giving up almost 200 yards
passing per game.  Good, but not great.  Coupled with the fact that 4 of the 5 teams Wheaton has played wouldn't be considered strong DIII programs in recent years, makes me believe that Wheaton could have a difficult time with strong team with a good passing attack.

I guess we'll see... though missing 2 starting D-linemen and the 3rd DE won't help with the pass rush.

[usee]

The fake punt by Augie was a gutsy call. I thought the formation they ran it from was illegal however. it looked to me like they threw it to the tackle on the punt team with a wide guy on the LOS outside of him. Ittersagen came up and missed the tackle. I thought Pete made a big impact on special teams but he missed several tackles on defense that hurt the Thunder. Wheaton also dropped 3 critical passes. Pokorny dropped 2 (one long pass with 2 wheaton defenders behind augie secondary and one on 3rd down) and dreyer continued to drop passes at critical times missing a key 3rd down that forced wheaton to punt.

Norris showed why he was a sophomore. he made some great plays and some boneheaded ones. He held the ball too long on a couple sacks, he didn't pitch the ball on one huge 4th down option play, but he did make a great TD run and thread the needle on the winning td pass on 3rd and 10. He is a keeper.

Wheaton's Kick off coverage has been really suspect. Augie was a guarantee 40 yd line starting point every time. This has been a strength and must be weaker because of the injuries is my guess.

#66 is CHase campbell (I had to look it up) and became wheaton's defacto DT for most of the game.

Wheaton has done an amazing job to remain undefeated with all their injuries. They are in the drivers seat in the CCIW race but may need a driver.

[usee]

If the Titans can win at home today, I think they become a legitimate CCIW championship contender.

The Titans MUST win this game to keep pace. I don't think it will say much about their ability to contend for the CCIW. The Augie win was the first game that turned heads. There are 3 teams that were expected to compete for the CCIW title (wheaton, augie and NCC). to be considered a CCIW contender you must win 2 of these AND all the other league games handily IMO.

If Wheaton beats Augie tonight, they will be in the driver's seat. NCC and Elmhurst winner will keep pace with a potential 1 loss championship.

My opinion is simply that in a 7-game league where 6 of the 8 teams have at least one loss, a 3-0 team is a "legitimate championship contender."     

I agree with this Q. I was focused on the fact that you pointed out MILLIKIN as a key win. certainly being 3-0 makes IWU legit. Especially since 2 of those were big games at the time.

[Pat Coleman]

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.

It definitely was NOT a catch.

[SonsofThunder]

A play like that one to end the game could not have happened to a better guy.  Jesse Laizure went untouched to put a hurtin' on the Augie QB.  What a play!

LAZE!

[RadioNotes]

Heard Pat on WETN at the half so I know he was at Wheaton--did you also catch the NCC game?  The announcers all said that the pass in question---That it bounced....too bad as it did turn the momentum down for the home team....but the reality is that D3 football is, what it is!  Great games & lots of close ones in the CCIW this year-- BUT as far as the officiating goes--there is/will not be replays/challenges.  SO, If you want to win games you CANNOT let them be close enough for a ref to make the difference.  Elmhurst let NCC dominate from that poing?  But in fairness NCC has been on the other end of the bad call just last week.  What goes around will come around.  So watch out Wheaton/ if you keep on with squeaking by as it will catch up eventually!!  Predictions sound like for the first round of the Playoffs--BUT hopefully the CCIW champion can do better than that!

[Pat Coleman]

Yes, Keith and I were at Elmhurst/NCC also. I know others have said it bounced -- just wanted to provide a view from the sidelines. Keith and I were pretty close to the play.

[usee]

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.

It definitely was NOT a catch.

I was listening to the NCC radio guys and they were adamant it wasn't a catch as well.

WONC guys did an excellent job on the game also.

[usee]

So watch out Wheaton/ if you keep on with squeaking by as it will catch up eventually!! 

RadioNotes,

What exactly do you mean by this? What does your post have to do with 2 hard fought wins in close games against the 2 top teams in the conference?

[Titan Q]

If the Titans can win at home today, I think they become a legitimate CCIW championship contender.

The Titans MUST win this game to keep pace. I don't think it will say much about their ability to contend for the CCIW. The Augie win was the first game that turned heads. There are 3 teams that were expected to compete for the CCIW title (wheaton, augie and NCC). to be considered a CCIW contender you must win 2 of these AND all the other league games handily IMO.

If Wheaton beats Augie tonight, they will be in the driver's seat. NCC and Elmhurst winner will keep pace with a potential 1 loss championship.

My opinion is simply that in a 7-game league where 6 of the 8 teams have at least one loss, a 3-0 team is a "legitimate championship contender."     

I agree with this Q. I was focused on the fact that you pointed out MILLIKIN as a key win. certainly being 3-0 makes IWU legit. Especially since 2 of those were big games at the time.

Yes, my point was not based on what a victory over Millikin would mean, but rather where the Titans would be in the standings with the W (and considering the wins vs Augie and at Carthage).

Understandably, IWU is going to have to keep winning to make believers.  After finishing 1st or 2nd in the CCIW 9 times in the 11 seasons from 1991 to 2001, the Titans are fresh off the worst 5 season stretch in school history (3-4, 3-4, 2-5, 2-5, 2-5 - 2002 through 2006 respectively).  If this same IWU team was 3-0 back in 1999, everyone would assume they were the real deal.  As it is, it looks like a surprising story.

The bottom line is that this is a good Titan football team.  They're led by a real solid defense and an offense full of dangerous weapons.  The Titans have several 1st Team All-CCIW candidates on both sides of the ball.  IWU's achilles heal has obviously been the punt team, but this past week they revamped everything they do in punt situations and executed very well for once yesterday vs Millikin.  If those problems are behind them, I think the Titans can play with anybody in the league.

What I like is that the Titans have to be in one-game-at-a-time mode.  Based on their 2 non-conference losses and how good Wheaton is, they don't have any margin for error in terms of making the playoffs and/or winning the CCIW.  They seem to genuinely just focus one week at a time.

[WahooThunder]

So watch out Wheaton/ if you keep on with squeaking by as it will catch up eventually!! 

RadioNotes,

What exactly do you mean by this? What does your post have to do with 2 hard fought wins in close games against the 2 top teams in the conference?

It means he is bitter about last week, and with North Central at 2-1 and seemingly improving each week, he is still holding out hope that the Thunder will falter.