FB: Midwest Conference

[tm343407]

http://ripon.edu/athletics/football/2008/News/2008_Season_Preview.html

Ripon preview is up

[ahig]

Non-conference matchups:

I like the way the conference is headed with some tough scheduling.

St. Norbert vs. Wartburg - I wish it were going to be televised.
Ripon vs. UW-Oshkosh - a natural rivalry resurrected last year.  Hope it continues.  Any chance for the RedHawks to steal one in OshVegas?
What are the feelings on the other matchups.  Lots of struggling IIAC teams (from the '07 perspective) but is the IIAC still a superior conference to the MWC?
Predictions?

[tm343407]

Norbert's will have a rough time w/o Craig and O'Connell. Though I don't think Wartburg is as tough as they used to be. Should be a good game.

Oshkosh lost their starting QB and RB, but they're always going to be a tough match-up for Ripon. Although the last two year's scores should not have been that lopsided. If any year is the Red Hawks year to beat them, it's now.

[fightintitan2006]

Im not sure that Wartburg has really fallen that much, but moreso that the rest of the IIAC has improved.

I see Wartburg winning at home over St. Norbert, but the SNC defense should keep them in the game for a while.

I think there was a time when the thought was that the last place CCIW and IIAC schools could beat the MWC champ...not sure that is the case as much anymore, but the MWC has a chance to prove its worth a little bit if it can beat schools like Loras, North Park and Millikin this year.

[Pat Coleman]

I doubt there was a time when North Park was considered likely to beat the MWC champ.

[doolittledog]

We will get top and bottom clashes between the MWC and the IIAC this year.  Defending MWC champ St. Norbert plays Wartburg who has finished 2nd in the IIAC the last 2 years.  And Cornell, who has won 2 IIAC games over the last 4 seasons will take on Grinnell, a team that is usually near the bottom of the MWC.  It should be fun to see how the teams stack up this coming year. 

[Purple Heys]

You folks awake yet?

[Purple Heys]

Cornell fans are wondering how the Pioneers look this year...

[Mr. Ypsi]

I doubt there was a time when North Park was considered likely to beat the MWC champ.

Somehow missed this before.

There was A time - 1968.  The Vikes tied for second in the CCIW, with a 5-2 record including a win over Augustana with future NFL all-pro qb Ken Anderson.

Now it is, alas, true that that constitutes a noticeable percentage of their conference wins over the last 46 years, but, still, there was A time!

[Pat Coleman]

Don't know much about Ripon 1968 but they would have to be a component in that equation too, no?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Don't know much about Ripon 1968 but they would have to be a component in that equation too, no?

Since the context was 'last-place CCIW teams', the Parkers wouldn't be relevant that year anyway.  And that being the era of the 'big four, little four' (even if NPC snuck in for a season), I have no doubt that our worst could lose to the MWC champ!

Recently, there is no way that NPU would beat the MWC champ (though they might give the 3rd or 4th place team quite a game), and they WILL win a conference game before the decade is out!

BTW, 1968: IWU 34, NPC 7.

[Pat Coleman]

BTW, 1968: IWU 34, NPC 7.

The Midwest Conference board cares deeply about that result. Is it the last IWU football game you've seen, btw?

[Mr. Ypsi]

BTW, 1968: IWU 34, NPC 7.

The Midwest Conference board cares deeply about that result. Is it the last IWU football game you've seen, btw?

Nah - I saw all the games in 1969!  I'll be in Holland on Sept. 6 to see the Titans knock off the Dutch - I wonder if 39 years between games is a record?

[fightintitan2006]

Conference coaches poll came out...anyone think Monmouth or Ripon can unseat St. Norbert?

1. St. Norbert (7)
2. Monmouth (3)
3. Ripon
4. Lake Forest
5. Carroll
6. Illinois College
7. Lawrence
8. Beloit
9. Knox
10. Grinnell

[Maverick]

fightintitan - Very chatty, as usual, here on the MWC board.   To answer your question, I think either one of Monmouth or Ripon could knock St. Norbert from the top spot this year.  With the amount of starters and returning talent on both squads, coupled with fewer returning starters on both sides of the ball for SNC, this could be a year that they don't win the conference title.  But the Knights do have a strong run game coming back along with that winning attitude where they just re-load rather than re-build from year to year.  St. Norbert is still the favorite, as the coaches showed with the voting in the coaches poll,  but it appears to be a wide open race when you figure in other areas.  Lake Forest or Carroll could factor in the race, but both will have to win games on the road at the other top 3 contenders to do so--a very tall task for anyone.  As for the top 3, none have a distinct home-field advantage in their 2 meetings with the others as each plays one home and one road vs. each other (SNC - home vs. MC, road @ RC; MC - road @ SNC, home vs. RC; RC - road @ MC, home vs. SNC), so that could be a factor as well.  The match-ups between SNC, MC, and RC will certainly loom large as the season rolls along and should eventually determine who comes out on top this season.