FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[SonsofThunder]

If I'm not mistaken, the co-champion Augustana team from 2006 finished in a 3-way tie for the conference, at 7-3 while NCC 8-2 won the AQ and Wheaton Pool C at 9-1.  It's not surprising to see a team at 7-3 left out considering there are 9-1 teams left off.

[redman04]

I am not sure if this is from this past weekend or not but it might be one of the greatest (craziest) plays in the history of college football!





http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3083220&categoryId=2378529

[usee]

I am not sure if this is from this past weekend or not but it might be one of the greatest (craziest) plays in the history of college football!





http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3083220&categoryId=2378529

Yes, it happened saturday when Trinity Tx beat Milsaps on the last play of the game. It is featured on the front page in the daily dose and on the various South region message boards if you want to read more about it.

Very Cal/Stanford like.

[redman04]

I am not sure if this is from this past weekend or not but it might be one of the greatest (craziest) plays in the history of college football!





http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3083220&categoryId=2378529

Yes, it happened saturday when Trinity Tx beat Milsaps on the last play of the game. It is featured on the front page in the daily dose and on the various South region message boards if you want to read more about it.

Very Cal/Stanford like.

Thanks.... I just read the daily dose... Should have done that first! Shared it after my friend emailed me the link!

[Carthage Fan]

I am not sure if this is from this past weekend or not but it might be one of the greatest (craziest) plays in the history of college football!





http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3083220&categoryId=2378529

Yes, it happened saturday when Trinity Tx beat Milsaps on the last play of the game. It is featured on the front page in the daily dose and on the various South region message boards if you want to read more about it.

Very Cal/Stanford like.

Being a former band geek I favor the Cal/Stanford play because the Stanford trombone player gets owned at the end by the Cal player.  I heard the tbone player broke his leg......I think his horn was trashed too..a fine resolve for a flatulent sounding instrument.  Its OK any tbone player here will confirm the mutual dislike trumpet and trombone players have for each other! 
8)

[Bullrush97]

7 turnovers for the redmen..... Can't get away with that when you play Wheaton!

This very true... If the Redmen have another poor performance it could turn out to be like last years game. Theres no room for mistakes this weekend.

[Carthage Fan]

7 turnovers for the redmen..... Can't get away with that when you play Wheaton!

This very true... If the Redmen have another poor performance it could turn out to be like last years game. Theres no room for mistakes this weekend.

Roger that!

[AndOne]

The NCC-IWU game this weekend appears to shape up as a battle between two very evenly matched teams.

Without delving too deeply into a statistical analysis, I looked at some of each teams rankings within the conference only portion of this year's season to date.  In reviewing where the two teams stand in scoring offense /defense, passing offense/defense, run offense/defense, and total offense/defense, and assigning points according to the various rankings (for instance NC ranks 1 in total offense and IWU 4, while IWU is 1st in total defense while NC ranks 4th), both teams tallied 26 points. Evenly matched for sure!

Accordingly, IMHO, it seems that the outcome may hinge on the ever important issues of turnovers and penalties. NCC should derive a small edge from having home field advantage. However, one thing is for certain. If NCC comes anywhere close to committing 12 penalties for 135 yards as they did last week, the result will surely be that Wesleyan will be the team going home with the W.
In addition to playing a strong physical game, the Cardinals must also bring the mental aspect of the game with them when they take the field Saturday. In a contest of such evenly matched teams, the one that plays the smartest when the pressure is on is the one who will emerge victorious. 

[79jaybird]

I think the NC/IWU game boils down to focusing on 3 players.
Fanthorpe, Dunlop, and Ciesel.  If Fanthorpe has a game like he had in the second half of the EC/NC game,  I think he has the tools to lead NC to a close, second half win.
If Dunlop is able to run wild and Ceisel is moving the ball on his quick 10 yard outs,  I think IWU can really overpower NC on offense. 
Should be a great game similar to the NC/Wheaton game earlier this year.

[usee]

The NCC-IWU game this weekend appears to shape up as a battle between two very evenly matched teams.

Without delving too deeply into a statistical analysis, I looked at some of each teams rankings within the conference only portion of this year's season to date.  In reviewing where the two teams stand in scoring offense /defense, passing offense/defense, run offense/defense, and total offense/defense, and assigning points according to the various rankings (for instance NC ranks 1 in total offense and IWU 4, while IWU is 1st in total defense while NC ranks 4th), both teams tallied 26 points. Evenly matched for sure!

Accordingly, IMHO, it seems that the outcome may hinge on the ever important issues of turnovers and penalties. NCC should derive a small edge from having home field advantage. However, one thing is for certain. If NCC comes anywhere close to committing 12 penalties for 135 yards as they did last week, the result will surely be that Wesleyan will be the team going home with the W.
In addition to playing a strong physical game, the Cardinals must also bring the mental aspect of the game with them when they take the field Saturday. In a contest of such evenly matched teams, the one that plays the smartest when the pressure is on is the one who will emerge victorious. 

These are good thoughts (I have no idea what 26 pts mean?  8) ). I think you vastly underestimate the home field advantage in conference games between contenders. I think winning on the road takes a huge effort. I also think special teams will play a significant factor in this game. My impression has been that IWU struggled the first half of the seaon in this area but seems to have stabilized the ship. I know from my observations that NCC has really strong special teams and that will be a factor.

For the rest of the game I would focus on a few things: 1-NCC is a very good running team avging 225+ per game. IWU is 6th against the run at 111 yds per game. I suspect IWU is better than the stats indicate at stopping the run. 2-NCC is top the league in takeaways at +10; IWU is -5. He who loses the ball, loses the game.  3- NCC's defense is a 3-3-5 scheme. I think a young offensive line usually struggles with this scheme as it comes quickly and can be confusing. IWU's ability to sort out the gaps and protections will be key.

We will all be watching this one closely.

[Comet 14]

I am just a young whipper-snapper ( when it comes to ths CCIW ) but it appears to me that other than North Park all the road games are pretty tough. Maybe some IWU posters can help me out. I made my first trip to there stadium Sat and the Stadium was great.  I was just surprised that they did not have field-turf yet. Any plans in the near future for this?

I don't know how this got me - karma, but O'h well. Congrats to Wheaton on a complete butt whipping on Sat. It shows how far Elmhurst has to go to win a CCIW Championship. I'm with you Jaybird but I can't completely give a pass to the O' line. If you are going to give them credit for the pass protection you have to give them blame for the lack of a running game also. I think they need to run more than 4 pass plays and 1 run play the entire game. It seems like the Defenses know exactly whats coming. On Defense I think the D-line penatrates to deep letting the delays gain way to many yards. I don't know what the answers are but I hope the coaching staff comes up with something or it will be very hard to even finish .500

[79jaybird]

Comet14- I don't think/can agree with blaming the O-Line.  I think our O-Line has done a solid job.  I don't like pointing fingers, but our running game is struggling and in particular our backs.  We don't have an Eric Luna this year that can be counted on to really carry the team. Our backs have had their moments of brilliance, but have also had extended moments where there is no running game.  Furthermore, some of this is offensive playcalling.  Gosh, we are so predictable at times  you don't even need that crystal ball to figure out where we are running/aiming to move the ball.
I truly miss Tim Lester and his fun n' gun offense which Dom Demma and his offensive teammates really executed well.  That offense was fun to watch and were competitive with the Wheaton's/Augie's/NC's  that really gave Elmhurst a chance at 7 wins the last few years. 
I surely hope we finish 6-4 and equal last year's mark, otherwise this has been a VERY disappointing year.

[formerd3db]

In adding to the comments from those of you who commented on the Trinity-Millsaps game:

Yes, the only think missing was the band and its trombone player as you mentiond.  I agree that this "new play" has to rank right up there with the original "The Play".  Both have to be among the greatest plays ever in the history of college football at any level I would think, although I would agree that the "original" probably gets the edge in that category due to the band!  Regardless, they are both fantastic to watch and I just start laughing uncontrollably because it is just unbelievable/incredible to watch all those laterals in both versions.  Of course, it is not funny, nor ever will be to the losing teams.   Still, what an unblievable and fantastic finish to a game.  Now DIII has its own version.  Thanks for posting the video Pat.

[formerd3db]

Mr. Ypsi:

On a tangential topic, your Eastern Michigan seems to be doing better of late.  They beat Western Michigan yesterday.  That is good for their program.

Yeah, they're moving from pathetic to merely bad!  Out of 119 D1A teams, they've been in triple digits for about 150 straight weeks now; I'm hopeful they'll crack the 90s!

Mr. Ypsi:

You always have a great nak for words!  Fantastic - I love it!   I'm still laughing, but now down to a chuckle! 

[CardinalAlum]

I truly miss Tim Lester 

JB,

You can come over to Naperville any time and see him!!