FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SagatagSam]

How many SJ2 fans will make the trip to Wheaton this weekend? It's a little too far to drive. I figure the average Johnnie can't afford the airfare; the Bennies are in a tough spot given those pesky weight restrictions imposed by the airlines; and most local Stearns County fans still think manned flight is the work of the devil. Does this mean we'll see a poor turnout for the game?

The Toms D1 planning committee was discussing the appropriate body glitter coverage ratio for the campus coeds. Must have adjourned early enough for Rev to get lost back in D3land.

[New Tradition]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

[thunder38]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

There's plenty of talent in that area of the tri-state for Augustana to remain mildly competitive. A lot of the successful programs in that area (Lena-Winslow, Forreston, Geneseo, Rockridge, etc.) still run that as their base offense. Their biggest issue has been a lack of commitment to scheme. Following decades of wing T and option offense, their next coach implemented the spread west coast offense, which coming from the wing T, Augustana clearly did not have the athletes to execute. Just as they were getting the athletes in place to match the system, they made another coaching change that led Augustana to more of a spread option offense, which again the athletes did not match. By the time those athletes were in place, another coaching change had come about. In the midst of the Augie churn, NCC elevated itself as a program and became the bigger presence.

[OzJohnnie]

Oh, boy, it's going on in CCIW land.  Here we act like a-holes but (usually) don't mean it.  Over there it looks like they mean it.  Lucky it's via the internet as punches would be getting thrown soon.

[Jonny Utah]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

They rank 158th in TOP though.  This might be the end of the road as Wheaton is 42nd in TOP nationally.

[Jonny Utah]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

There's plenty of talent in that area of the tri-state for Augustana to remain mildly competitive. A lot of the successful programs in that area (Lena-Winslow, Forreston, Geneseo, Rockridge, etc.) still run that as their base offense. Their biggest issue has been a lack of commitment to scheme. Following decades of wing T and option offense, their next coach implemented the spread west coast offense, which coming from the wing T, Augustana clearly did not have the athletes to execute. Just as they were getting the athletes in place to match the system, they made another coaching change that led Augustana to more of a spread option offense, which again the athletes did not match. By the time those athletes were in place, another coaching change had come about. In the midst of the Augie churn, NCC elevated itself as a program and became the bigger presence.

Up here in Eastern MA, the Wing T has almost disappeared.  Although the clear #1 team in MA runs a Tight Double Wing package and I've noticed that a few "spread" teams here that win state championships consistently at every level often have a double wing package as well.  Just looking online through national HS coaching circles I follow I had the impression that many teams around the country (including the football heavy South) run the Wing T or a version of it.

[New Tradition]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

There's plenty of talent in that area of the tri-state for Augustana to remain mildly competitive. A lot of the successful programs in that area (Lena-Winslow, Forreston, Geneseo, Rockridge, etc.) still run that as their base offense. Their biggest issue has been a lack of commitment to scheme. Following decades of wing T and option offense, their next coach implemented the spread west coast offense, which coming from the wing T, Augustana clearly did not have the athletes to execute. Just as they were getting the athletes in place to match the system, they made another coaching change that led Augustana to more of a spread option offense, which again the athletes did not match. By the time those athletes were in place, another coaching change had come about. In the midst of the Augie churn, NCC elevated itself as a program and became the bigger presence.

Up here in Eastern MA, the Wing T has almost disappeared.  Although the clear #1 team in MA runs a Tight Double Wing package and I've noticed that a few "spread" teams here that win state championships consistently at every level often have a double wing package as well.  Just looking online through national HS coaching circles I follow I had the impression that many teams around the country (including the football heavy South) run the Wing T or a version of it.

What Augie was doing was a little different, though.  It was double tight wing t with a fullback and o linemen in 4 point stances.  They would throw the ball (not exaggerating) 1-2 times per game, and only when they felt that they'd lulled the DB's to sleep by pounding their infamous double dive 40 times.  You're right--I've seen many teams use it as a package and even as their base o, but only 1 other team I've ever seen used it like that, and that was a high school team in AZ on an Indian reservation. 

[Jonny Utah]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

There's plenty of talent in that area of the tri-state for Augustana to remain mildly competitive. A lot of the successful programs in that area (Lena-Winslow, Forreston, Geneseo, Rockridge, etc.) still run that as their base offense. Their biggest issue has been a lack of commitment to scheme. Following decades of wing T and option offense, their next coach implemented the spread west coast offense, which coming from the wing T, Augustana clearly did not have the athletes to execute. Just as they were getting the athletes in place to match the system, they made another coaching change that led Augustana to more of a spread option offense, which again the athletes did not match. By the time those athletes were in place, another coaching change had come about. In the midst of the Augie churn, NCC elevated itself as a program and became the bigger presence.

Up here in Eastern MA, the Wing T has almost disappeared.  Although the clear #1 team in MA runs a Tight Double Wing package and I've noticed that a few "spread" teams here that win state championships consistently at every level often have a double wing package as well.  Just looking online through national HS coaching circles I follow I had the impression that many teams around the country (including the football heavy South) run the Wing T or a version of it.

What Augie was doing was a little different, though.  It was double tight wing t with a fullback and o linemen in 4 point stances.  They would throw the ball (not exaggerating) 1-2 times per game, and only when they felt that they'd lulled the DB's to sleep by pounding their infamous double dive 40 times.  You're right--I've seen many teams use it as a package and even as their base o, but only 1 other team I've ever seen used it like that, and that was a high school team in AZ on an Indian reservation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7yVKwzAOkU

Holy **** you're right.  I've never seen anything like this before.  This looks like Wing T but the Wing is like 4 yards in the backfield instead of the regular "slot".  A lot of 2 TE sets too.

Go to 1:09:50.  Almost like the transition between the 1960s T formation into the Wing T......

[New Tradition]

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

In reading the notes about the CCIW, I was reminded that Augustana IL was in that conference. Those guys completely dominated D3 in my day. I'm curious as to what happened with that program? Teams that strong don't often drop into obscurity like they did.

They ran that ball control double tight wing T until 2005, which is also the last year they won the conference.  They were having a hard time recuriting to fit that scheme because, even in rural areas, nobody in high school runs that offense anymore.  The flip side to running that type of scheme is having a monster defense.  I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.  Their downfall also corresponds directly with the rise of NCC

There's plenty of talent in that area of the tri-state for Augustana to remain mildly competitive. A lot of the successful programs in that area (Lena-Winslow, Forreston, Geneseo, Rockridge, etc.) still run that as their base offense. Their biggest issue has been a lack of commitment to scheme. Following decades of wing T and option offense, their next coach implemented the spread west coast offense, which coming from the wing T, Augustana clearly did not have the athletes to execute. Just as they were getting the athletes in place to match the system, they made another coaching change that led Augustana to more of a spread option offense, which again the athletes did not match. By the time those athletes were in place, another coaching change had come about. In the midst of the Augie churn, NCC elevated itself as a program and became the bigger presence.

Up here in Eastern MA, the Wing T has almost disappeared.  Although the clear #1 team in MA runs a Tight Double Wing package and I've noticed that a few "spread" teams here that win state championships consistently at every level often have a double wing package as well.  Just looking online through national HS coaching circles I follow I had the impression that many teams around the country (including the football heavy South) run the Wing T or a version of it.

What Augie was doing was a little different, though.  It was double tight wing t with a fullback and o linemen in 4 point stances.  They would throw the ball (not exaggerating) 1-2 times per game, and only when they felt that they'd lulled the DB's to sleep by pounding their infamous double dive 40 times.  You're right--I've seen many teams use it as a package and even as their base o, but only 1 other team I've ever seen used it like that, and that was a high school team in AZ on an Indian reservation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7yVKwzAOkU

Holy **** you're right.  I've never seen anything like this before.  This looks like Wing T but the Wing is like 4 yards in the backfield instead of the regular "slot".  A lot of 2 TE sets too.

Go to 1:09:50.  Almost like the transition between the 1960s T formation into the Wing T......

Man, cool find!  I did not know this was out there.  +k

[Gregory Sager]

I think they're having a hard time getting the ball rolling because its hard to recruit to the quad cities when you don't have a winning tradition to sell, and when there are winning teams in gorgeous towns elsewhere in the CCIW.

Augustana has no problems whatsoever drawing students from Chicagoland's western suburbs. That's the meat and potatoes of their entire student body, as well as a huge proportion of their student-athlete cadre. The Quad Cities aren't nearly the turn-off that you're making them out to be. Like Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana somehow manages to combine a sterling academic reputation with a seemingly-contradictory reputation as a party school with a very active Greek life, which gives it a we-have-something-for-everybody vibe. And it pains me to say this, but Augustana has the most aesthetically pleasing campus in the CCIW. I'm pretty sure that even in this current dire climate for academia, Augie continues to hit its marks in terms of admissions.

As to why Augustana football went into eclipse over the course of the past two decades, thunder38 hit it on the head -- coaching changes and inconsistent offensive philosophies played the major role, although NCC's hiring of John Thorne certainly played a role as well by making it harder for everybody else to consistently stay near or at the top of the league.

BTW, to which CCIW locales are you referring as "gorgeous towns"?

Oh, boy, it's going on in CCIW land.  Here we act like a-holes but (usually) don't mean it.  Over there it looks like they mean it.

Paint with a broad brush much? It's one guy who is causing the problems over there.

Game notes!

https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2019/12/4//120719_WheatonNCAA_GameNotes.pdf?id=1426


What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We'll find out this Saturday. The Johnnies currently rank second in NCAA Division III in passing offense (370.9 yards), fourth in total offense (535.2 yards) and sixth in passing efficiency (184.9). Individually, senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann leads Division III in passing yards (4,291) and passing yards per game (357.6). Wheaton, meanwhile, boasts college football's (across all divisions) top scoring defense (6.8 ppg.), total defense (186.7 ypg.) and pass-efficiency defense (75.3).

They rank 158th in TOP though.  This might be the end of the road as Wheaton is 42nd in TOP nationally.

Liberty League in the house, ladies and gentlemen!

[New Tradition]

BTW, to which CCIW locales are you referring as "gorgeous towns"?

The ones that aren't the quad cities or Decatur 

[Gregory Sager]

BTW, to which CCIW locales are you referring as "gorgeous towns"?

The ones that aren't the quad cities or Decatur 

You clearly haven't spent any time in Kenosha.

(Although Carthage is blessed to be located on the far edge of town, protected from that particular tarnished stud of the Rust Belt by moat-like Pike Creek, as well as by Alford Park and St. George Cemetery.)

I wouldn't file Naperville, Wheaton, Elmhurst, or Bloomington in the "gorgeous town" category, either, although the three CCIW campuses in DuPage County at least each have the benefit of being located in older core villages that are surrounded by cookie-cutter suburban sprawl. And I'm the first to admit that Chicago's appeal does not extend to everybody.

If you want to go to school in a gorgeous town, you go to a MWC school.

[Tesomas]

They rank 158th in TOP though.  This might be the end of the road as Wheaton is 42nd in TOP nationally.

Liberty League in the house, ladies and gentlemen!

They've escaped the quarantine! Every man/woman for themselves!

[OzJohnnie]

http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2019/12/06/quick-hits-predicts-the-quarterfinals/

Let's go Johnnies!

[SJUrube]

Most Johnnie supporters are probably aware but there are 3 organized viewing parties for Saturday's game. Two are happening in the Twin Cities and one is in Sartell. Links to full event details are below.

1) Great River Bowl - Sartell - https://www.facebook.com/events/541098303137393/
2) Fulton Tap Room - Minneapolis - https://www.facebook.com/events/973918366328620/
3) Union 32 Craft House - Eagan - https://www.facebook.com/events/483056689233687/