FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Viking Mike]

Does anyone have some explanation for Augustana's struggles last year and their inability to close out games...they easily could have won 3 conference games (IWU/Wheaton/Carthage) and finished 6-1 with just a little better offensive execution at the end of the games.  I'm also still looking for the return of Augie's dominant defensive play of the past.  Will the new defensive coordinator revamp this defense and instill a little more aggressiveness?  Anyone have some info on him or where the program is heading?  Was 2007 just a bump in the road?
     
Interestingly, according to the IWU and Carthage websites, their games with Augie will be 6pm starts giving the Vikings a total of 5 night games this year!  Coe and Greenville at home and Platteville/IWU/Carthage on the road. 

[CardinalAlum]

North Central will certainly be stacked at the skill positions on offense in 2008. In addition to CCIW POY Fanthorpe and 2x 1st team rb Sulo, they will presumably have Perry Welch back at full strength after missing 5 games in 2007 to injury and freshman Steve Hlavac who, after going unnoticed in the regular season with 15 catches and no tds, caught 20 balls for 282 yds and 6 td's in 2 playoff games! Welch is a very dangerous reciever having caught 55 passes and 7 scores in 2006 but living through most of 2007 with injuries.

The biggest questions for NCC offense are their offensive line where they lose 3 of 5 starters including 2x all CCIW player Don Kasper. they have all CCIW tacke Josh Delancey returning along with Jr. tackle Brad Trepanier. 3 other OL played in spots during 2007 and they will likely make up the balance of the rotation. The 5 guys up front for the Cardinal are the key to them being the top offense in the league next year in my view.

On defense they return 5 starters and lose 2 of their 3 linebackers and their best defensilve lineman. They have 3 of 5 db's returning including Derek Sulo (brother of Dominic, the rb). By far the leader of their defense and probably their best defender from 2007 is sophomore LB Matt Wenger. They will need to replace most of the rest of their defensive front  with people who have very little experience. If the Cardinal have an achille's heel this year it may be on defense.

I would be surprised if NCC isn't one of the top teams in the conference in 2008.

Very well done, usee.  +K

[orsky]

That was a nice overview of the Cardinal.  What will Wheaton have this year.  I read the comments about the line coach, are his techniques that much better?

Monmouth - Zippers

[CardinalAlum]

That was a nice overview of the Cardinal.  What will Wheaton have this year.  I read the comments about the line coach, are his techniques that much better?

Monmouth - Zippers

Walt is a tremendous line coach that is very well respected around the circuit.  Him being gone last year made a huge difference in the Wheaton offense in my opinion.  I anticipate that they will be a force up front.  Having an impact player like Ittersagen will make Wheaton awfully tough.  Hopefully for the Wheaties he is healthy this year.

[Alma Scot]

New D Coordinator seems to be very intense motivator who will emphasize speed and aggressive attack of the ball.  Program just got a commitment from Danny Hess---Naperville North safety.  Super fast and a playmaker.  Six inches taller and he would have gone D-I.

[shepherd]

Does anyone have some explanation for Augustana's struggles last year and their inability to close out games...they easily could have won 3 conference games (IWU/Wheaton/Carthage) and finished 6-1 with just a little better offensive execution at the end of the games.  I'm also still looking for the return of Augie's dominant defensive play of the past.  Will the new defensive coordinator revamp this defense and instill a little more aggressiveness?  Anyone have some info on him or where the program is heading?  Was 2007 just a bump in the road?
     
Interestingly, according to the IWU and Carthage websites, their games with Augie will be 6pm starts giving the Vikings a total of 5 night games this year!  Coe and Greenville at home and Platteville/IWU/Carthage on the road. 

IMHO:  When Augustana played Wheaton most of their plays were (slow developing) delay plays.  The offensive line of Augustana would open the hole but it would close by the time the ball carrier got their.  I think they need to put in some speed options or sweeps.  Where the ball carrier gets to the sideline as fast as possible.  This is lost to today's game.  This should widen the d-line splits, and cause the d-backs to cheat to a sweep play.   Which in turn helps loosen up the inside running game. 

[washdupcard]

New D Coordinator seems to be very intense motivator who will emphasize speed and aggressive attack of the ball.  Program just got a commitment from Danny Hess---Naperville North safety.  Super fast and a playmaker.  Six inches taller and he would have gone D-I.

Six inches taller?  How short is this guy?  Are we talking Dwarfish?...or just small fry?

Not to mention...aren't most D-3 starters either...too short, too skinny, or too slow to play in D-I?  That's kinda the point isn't it?

[washdupcard]

Does anyone have some explanation for Augustana's struggles last year and their inability to close out games...they easily could have won 3 conference games (IWU/Wheaton/Carthage) and finished 6-1 with just a little better offensive execution at the end of the games.  I'm also still looking for the return of Augie's dominant defensive play of the past.  Will the new defensive coordinator revamp this defense and instill a little more aggressiveness?  Anyone have some info on him or where the program is heading?  Was 2007 just a bump in the road?
     
Interestingly, according to the IWU and Carthage websites, their games with Augie will be 6pm starts giving the Vikings a total of 5 night games this year!  Coe and Greenville at home and Platteville/IWU/Carthage on the road. 

IMHO:  When Augustana played Wheaton most of their plays were (slow developing) delay plays.  The offensive line of Augustana would open the hole but it would close by the time the ball carrier got their.  I think they need to put in some speed options or sweeps.  Where the ball carrier gets to the sideline as fast as possible.  This is lost to today's game.  This should widen the d-line splits, and cause the d-backs to cheat to a sweep play.   Which in turn helps loosen up the inside running game. 

I see your point...but isn't it a little difficult to widen your splits if you can't block anybody to begin with?  IMO that would invite way too much penetration to run Augie's classic wing-t bread and butter plays.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Andy Studebaker (Wheaton) gets a shout out today from SI.com in a feature on small school standouts to look out for on draft day.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/specials/draft/2008/04/14/sleepers/index.html?eref=T1

[usee]

That was a nice overview of the Cardinal.  What will Wheaton have this year.  I read the comments about the line coach, are his techniques that much better?

Monmouth - Zippers

There are a lot of stats to support the Wheaton OLine travesty that was 2007 but the most telling to me is the number of sacks the Thunder yielded:

2007-33
2006-11
2005-10
2004-9

They gave up more sacks (and hits on the qb) in 2007 than in the previous 3 yrs combined. The main difference? Walt Whitehead coached the first 3 of those teams.

I don't know that the Wheaton OLine will be 20 sacks better this year with Walt but I would be willing to guess they will be 30-40% better. Last year can be explained partially with injuries and talent depreciation but the 2007 Thunder were not 22 sacks worse than the 2006 team! Walt brings experience and a hard nosed approach back to this team.

[Mugsy]

That was a nice overview of the Cardinal.  What will Wheaton have this year.  I read the comments about the line coach, are his techniques that much better?

Monmouth - Zippers

There are a lot of stats to support the Wheaton OLine travesty that was 2007 but the most telling to me is the number of sacks the Thunder yielded:

2007-33
2006-11
2005-10
2004-9

They gave up more sacks (and hits on the qb) in 2007 than in the previous 3 yrs combined. The main difference? Walt Whitehead coached the first 3 of those teams.

I absolutely agree about the crazy number of sacks Wheaton gave up last year being a huge example of how Coach Whitehead was missed.  Yes Wheaton had some injuries to the OLine, but not as significant as in other positions.  Wheaton had a number of guys playing most of the season who were very experienced and All-CCIW players.  You just don't go from 11 sacks allowed one season to 33 the next with the same core group of players.

I'd also argue his missing last year was seen in the rushing game as well.

The inability to run the ball in 2007 hurt just as much, if not more than the pass protection, IMO.  I know this is over simplifying things a bit, but I think there is some basic correlation to running the ball and overall success:

Rushing statistics since 1999:

Year	Record	Yards Per Game	TD's	Yards Per Carry	Comment
1999	7-2	141.1	16	3.8	Lost last 2 games after 7-0 start
2000	8-2	152.7	15	3.7	Missed playoffs
2001	6-4	160.1	30	3.5	Worst year in a decade
2002	10-2	224.7	47	4.5	Prolific offense - nearly 500 ypg
2003	12-1	213.5	41	4.2	Quarterfinals in playoffs
2004	10-2	225.2	33	4.6
2005	7-3	220.7	26	4.5	Missed playoffs, rushing not everything
2006	10-2	187.9	25	4.7
2007	8-2	134.7	16	3.2	huge dropoff, very much like 1999

1999 and 2007 were eerily similar. Both seasons undefeated until the last 2 games of the season, both seasons lost last 2 games, both seasons missed playoff, both seasons could not run the ball effectively or control the line of scrimmage.

[Mugsy]

I can't wait to see what Rocky Gingg can do behind an OLine coached by Coach Whitehead.  I'll guarantee you if Gingg stays healthy Wheaton will average between 4.2 and 4.5 yards per carry.

[CardinalAlum]

New D Coordinator seems to be very intense motivator who will emphasize speed and aggressive attack of the ball.  Program just got a commitment from Danny Hess---Naperville North safety.  Super fast and a playmaker.  Six inches taller and he would have gone D-I.

Did I miss something here, but WHICH program?

[usee]

As far as Wheaton's outlook for next year:

They return 9 starters on a very good defensive team. The Thunder will return 3 dbs and will have arguably the 2 best corners in the conference with Ittersagen and Tyler Langs. Woodward returns as a sr at safety. At linebacker they get Pagh back at MLB and Mike McKinney comes back for a 5th year after missing all of 2007 with a knee injury. He was a 1st team all conf LB in 2006 and Wheaton's leading tackler. If he is healthy he will be a force. On the defensive line they get all of their DLinemen who started after the Studebaker injury including Theabold, Thiessen and Kuenzle. They also will get Reyes back who went down with a knee midway through 2007 (transfer from Air Force). Their defensive line is big and athletic. This could be one of the better wheaton defenses we have seen in a while.

On offense they return 7 starters including all 3 top runningbacks, both starting quarterbacks (norris, bradley) 3 OL and 1 WR (pokorny-the fastest player on the team). They need to find another WR from among 2-3 underclassmen who played a year ago and a new starting TE.

This Wheaton team has a chance to be very good again this year and I would expect them to contend for the conference championship.

[orsky]

Thanks all for the review and comments