FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

NCC 31
Millikin 13

This game was basically over at halftime with NCC leading 28-6. The 2nd half was largely a bore with substitutions galore.

There were indeed some late hits out of bounds on both sides. Overall, the Cards were penalized 11 times for 104 yards. This involves the mental aspect of the game, and must improve if the Cards are going to come out on the winning end when they face tougher competition.

As I said after the NCC-Millikin game---If North Central is going to win against stronger opponents, it must cut down on the penalties. Evidently, stupid penalties continue to be a problem. If this continues, chances seem high that NC will screw itself out of a win somewhere down the road when they meet stiffer competition.

NCC fans----(and any others)

I'm sorry to keep beating a tired horse, but 15 more penalties for 191 yards. Wow! I was concerned after the Millikin game, and that concern continued following  North Park. Now as the competition gets stronger, the NCC penalty situation seems to be getting worse rather than better. As I'm more knowledgeable regarding the NCC basketball team, I would appreciate some insight from you more regular NCC football posters--as well as any other fans who care to comment. Based on what I've observed in the last 3 games, the following questions come to mind.
Not asking to be overly critical, just trying to get a handle on why so many penalties, and the possible solution to the problem.
Thoughts please----

1. Am I overly concerned about the penalties?
2. Who, (if anyone) is primarily at fault here. Players? Coaches?
3. What steps can be taken to cut down on the amount of penalties--especially the really stupid ones?
4. What are the chances for a victory over Wheaton if the Cards are heavily penalized again? Is cutting down on the penalties one of the main keys to the game?

Thanks to all for your insight.

[Carthage Fan]

In spite of giving up 434 yds of offense this was a very winnable game for the Red Men.    Credit the Cardinals for taking advantage of our turnovers and scoring on that last drive in the 4th quarter and stopping us when they needed to. 

Besides the 4th quarter Cardinal drive, the other key was our D holding NCC scoreless and only giving up 29 yds in the 3rd, but our O only being able to score 7.  We could not run the ball effectively and the Cardinals did a good job of pressuring our QB and forcing quick inaccurate throws and 4 sacks.  BTW, not sure about the stats, I am pretty sure we sacked their QB's more than twice.

Finally, some poor tackling by the Red Men gave up a TD and some big return yards.  We just can't seem to put it all together, but I am proud of our guys making this one close at the end. 



 

 

[Tailgater]

Congrats NCC  on a big win. This game was as competitive as I hoped it could be and very entertaining to watch. NCC's defense did a good job all day limiting and shortening the passing lanes of the Red Men. You gotta give the Cardinals credit for holding this potent offense to under 300 yards on the day. NCC's offense was effective when it had to be. Fanthrope (sp?) was a pretty impressive field leader. He really throws a nice ball. He was hammered all day long and spent most of his time viewing the turf after his release which frequently reached it's target. The final drive was text book. Great play calling, taking advantage of the middle of the field, as the Carthage defense looked like they were set-up to cover the sidelines to keep the ball in play and the clock running. Sulo had some key runs on that final drive. The final QB draw for the winning score was a great call as Fanthrope darted into the endzone virtually untouched.

There were a lot of bright spots for the Red Men today. They limited their mistakes to only 2 turnovers of which I think only 3 points were scored from. They showed their continued never die attitude as they were down all game, but continued to fight back to tie up the score in both halves. The defense played pretty well and they certainly laid some wood on NCC's receivers and QB. Some load hits you could hear around the stadium. I hope NCC's receiver (#3) is going to be OK. He went out of the game early with a leg injury and I saw him on crutches on the sideline later on. They created 3 turnovers which were crucial in this game. (2 interceptions were very outstanding plays). The offense was kind of average today, but they did move the ball and put points on the board even though the defense seemed to have their number. Interesting new wrinkle working in another Sophomore QB who is also a starting WR. It was certainly a disappointing lose for our boys, but it was one of those games you come away from feeling some satisfaction that this fairly young group is making strides toward improvement. Little good that does for this season. From here on Carthage can play a big role as to who will eventually be crowned CCIW Champion. Wheaton and Augie will need to be on their game.

[Son of Tailgater]

Just to piggy back on all of the Carthage v. NCC game reviews...

There were some MONSTER hits during the duration of this game. These hits were coming from both sides of the ball but I could recall at least 2-3 hits from NCC #40 who was by far the stand out defensive player for NCC (sorry I believe his name was Matt Wenger). In any case that guy would get my vote for all-cciw this year. Carthage had some big hits across the middle on some NCC WR's that ended up knocking them out for plays/game. Overall, a well fought physical game that was fun to watch on a great day.

ps. Did anybody else notice the NCC scoreboard when it kept flashing "Lean like a Sulo?" I guess they were trying to reference a rap song "Lean like a Cholo?" I was not sure if that was an inside joke or something but I was laughing because it was so cheesy with some other Carthage guys.

[Son of Tailgater]

i]more[/i] penalties for 191 yards. Wow! I was concerned after the Millikin game, and that concern continued following  North Park. Now as the competition gets stronger, the NCC penalty situation seems to be getting worse rather than better. As I'm more knowledgeable regarding the NCC basketball team, I would appreciate some insight from you more regular NCC football posters--as well as any other fans who care to comment. Based on what I've observed in the last 3 games, the following questions come to mind.
Not asking to be overly critical, just trying to get a handle on why so many penalties, and the possible solution to the problem.
Thoughts please----

1. Am I overly concerned about the penalties?
2. Who, (if anyone) is primarily at fault here. Players? Coaches?
3. What steps can be taken to cut down on the amount of penalties--especially the really stupid ones?
4. What are the chances for a victory over Wheaton if the Cards are heavily penalized again? Is cutting down on the penalties one of the main keys to the game?

Thanks to all for your insight.

To help answer the questions.

1. I do not think you are over-concerned about the penalties (especially the pre-snap penalties which can be drive killers and momentum swings).

2. It is always a combination of both. It comes down to mental mistakes for the players (pre-snap/ personal fouls - QB play calling, ect) and dis-organization for the coaching staff.

3. Practice, Practice and more practice. Practice game situations during the week and go about weekly plays AS IF. We used to practice real time game situations especially on Fridays so that everyone could be on the same page.

4. I would not count NCC out but it will hurt them. NCC will stuggle against Wheaton and playoff teams if they are losing 191 yards on penalties. Look at the box score and compare the yardage between NCC and Carthage and take note that Carthage was in the game until the last play.

Bottom line - NCC is a good team that finds a way to win. The penalties are something they need to work on correcting but they are winning games because they know how to find ways to win when adversity strikes.

[Tailgater]

Quoting Coach Tim Rucks on the Oct. 18 North Central Game:  "I give our guys all the credit for battling back and making a game of this.  Early on, it looked like we might get blown out, but we didn't allow that to happen.  I told the team at halftime that we were going to see what kind of team we were.  We didn't quit, and we came all the way back.  If North Central is the best team in the conference, then we can play with anyone.  It's disappointing, because we did so many things to ourselves to lose this one.  It was dumb and crazy stuff.  We're a good football team, but we do a lot of things that good teams don't do.  We needed someone to make a play on that final North Central drive.  They went down there with authority on that final drive and sort of took it to us.  If we make a play on that drive, we're in overtime.  North Central got the ball to Dominic Sulo, and he came through for them.  We can't play the what-if game and feel sorry for ourselves.  It didn't surprise me that we stood toe-to-toe with North Central.  I thought we'd win this game as long as we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot.  There's no team in this league we can't play with an no team we can't beat.  We just have to get better at some little things."

[79jaybird]

Some thoughts from the NPU/EC game.

I anticipated there to be a little "lull" from Elmhurst coming out of the gates after the big win last week in Kenosha.  3 plays into the game TD for North Park as Wood delivered a perfect ball downfield.  Wakeup call! 
If Elmhurst comes out of the gates like that next week (and virtually the rest of the year's opponents) they are going to get beat.

-Randy Wright would get my vote (along with Matt Wenger) as All-CCIW First Team.  Wright's intensity, speed, and alertness on the field is right there with the best of them in the CCIW.  He was all over the field again!
Jacob Mueller is a sturdy running back, just didn't have a lot of help on the O-Line.  He made some solid runs and (at times) was the only offense for NPU.
Kudyba ran the Elmhurst offense well.  He was able to get the Jays going after NPU made a statement early in the first quarter, and with the help of an established running game, the EC offense was able to move the ball well.
Now the negatives-  Elmhurst secondary had some voids that Shelby Wood was able to exploit.  Given sufficient time, Wood was able to convert some big plays passing.
-NPU victimized Elmhurst twice on fake punts (great calls by Scott Pethtel) and burned the Jays both times.  Once I can understand, but the second time c'mon be alert and be ready for a fake.

Looking ahead to IWU next week.  One major key is going to be controlling Ceisel who single handedly beat us last year.   The other is going to be the Elmhurst offense establishing a running game.  Against Carthage EC struggled to run the ball and became 1 Dimensional making it tough to get those long, time consuming drives.  Against North Park Elmhurst was able to find some holes and pickup some rushing yards.  What will happen against IWU?  I don't know- but I do know that if Elmhurst cannot run the ball next week, their offense will have a hard time battling the Titans.  Looking forward to a rare night game in Bloomington. 

[79jaybird]

Comet14-  I had a chance to call your son's name on the air yesterday.  Albeit it was "Jordan Edwards enters the game at wide receiver."
Just thought you'd like to know.  I was happy to see Lester empty his bench and let some of the 2nd/3rd stringers just some experience.

[New Tradition]

GET THE BELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[New Tradition]

I'm not trying to be harsh to these two young students who are attempting to call this game...but dear god...can we please get an Alum in the booth to help describe what is going on and to provide some meaningful color commentary?  This has bugged me for years.

Carthage driving but using a ton of time.  Carthage around midfield 25 sec left.

I agree, sometimes the call would benefit from having an alum providing color commentary in the booth.  The idea has been proposed before, but WONC is a completely student run station with only students serving as the on air talent.  The broadcasting program is one of the best in the area and has won many awards over the years including Marconis and recently quite a few Silver Domes, even competing against large market commercial stations.  I don't know who had the call yesterday but it may be somebody new to the radio program, as underclassmen are encouraged to "get their hands dirty" early on in their WONC tenure.  You can bet that they will improve as their broadcasting career progresses.  And SOMETIMES the underclassmen students can do a pretty good job in the booth.   

[cardinaldad]

Anytime you can cough up 191 yards on 15 penalties and still walk away with the W, it's a good day.

But Greg, that's very uncharacteristic of a John Thorne coached team!  8) ......they usually only have 10 penalties for 100 yds. 

Touche' usee! Not good for the Cards! They must improve in this area if they are to be in the game on Saturday.

[79jaybird]

WRSE is also a completely student run campus radio station too.  This is my 8th year and I enjoy every second of it, win or lose.  I tell my Fiance and friends that "It makes my weekends in the fall."
While I agree the Cardinals broadcast crew has had their problems, they aren't THAT bad.  I have heard worse and the NC crew at least can keep the game flowing.

As is the case with many other aspects of the D-III school, it takes involved Alumni to make a difference.  I know a few Alums that broadcast their respective schools and do a decent job.  Most (mine included) are not paid, therefore you are doing it A) Because you LOVE IT!  B) You want to see your Alma Mater succeed, and C) You do it out of the kindness of your heart, not expecting to get paid for it. 
This is just my two cents from my experiences.

For you Brass Bell folks you couldn't have asked for a better script as both teams are 3-0 heading into the duel.  This year I don't think you can point a finger at a favorite.  I think both match up pretty evenly. 
The other two intriguing matchups EC/IWU  AC/Car are eye opening too.  I think both games are pretty even, with maybe just a slight advantage for 1 side or the other.  I knew Carthage was going to give NC a fight.

What is going on with Millikin lately?  In my 4 years we never beat Millikin and they were a top 1-3 team each year.  Now they seem to be struggling.   Can any Big Blue fans tell me what they feel is the problem down in Decatur?

[cardinaldad]

     I guarantee both quarterbacks are real sore today. Both took some huge hits.
As previously posted, this was a very entertaining, exciting game. Carthage played real well. The posts, previous to this game, were very accurate. First - Carthage can play with anyone. Two- If Carthage limits their turnovers, they will be in the game. They did limit their turnovers and were in the game. Three- NCC must limit their penalties. They didn't (in fact, the penaty situation worsened). And, that combined with Carthage's good play and less turnovers kept them in the game. So, everyone was correct with their pre-game assessments.
    I heard that Fanthorpe didn't start because he missed a team meeting. Good for the coaches to enforce the rules. Kniss did a nice job while he was in there during the first quarter directing the offense. It was evident that Fanthorpe had to knock some rust off after his lay-off as he misfired on some passes that he would usually connect on early in the game. Carthage did bring a lot of pressure and put a lot of hits on him throughout the game. But, early, he missed some open receivers without pressure on him. He made up for those mis-fires later in the game.
    What a GREAT call by Jeff Thorne with the qb draw for NCC's final score!!

CARDS, LIMIT THE PENALTIES AND BRING HOME THE BELL!!!!!!!

[New Tradition]

Can any Big Blue fans tell me what they feel is the problem down in Decatur?

Who are you talking to, JB?   They're extinct on here. 

edited for spelling

[usee]

Guys,

The bell is home!!