FB: Midwest Conference

[scottie]

The Good Guys convert on 4th and a mile with a twice-tipped TD pass completion to pull within 27-24 with 4:00 remaining.  Let's go D!

[scottie]

Almost.... IC pulls of a 4th and 8 followed by a 24 yard run on the next play to go up 34-24. 

[scottie]

Quick TD strike to make it 34-31 with 1:00 remaining.   On-side kick time....

[scottie]

IC wins 34-31.  Plenty of texts going out tonight.   

[gbpuckfan]

SNC wins 42-7

[TitanPride]

Back from Monmouth.  Fun afternoon for IC fans.  Finally broke what was a 15 year losing streak to Monmouth's football program.  I thought it was an entertaining game.  Although the final score was 34-31, I always felt like the Blueboys had control of the game.  To back that up, IC had the ball for over 38 minutes, totaled 565 yards of offense, including 311 rushing yards.  For the first time since Week 1, Cecil Brimmage looked like an elite back.  He finally looks healthy again after spraining his knee in Week 2 against Grinnell.  Big kudos to IC's offensive line who opened up huge holes for all of IC's backs.  The defense wasn't great --- a few too many missed tackles -- man, Yocum is tough to bring down.  All in all, a solid win on the road.  Gotta win the next two to have a chance...

[wnc52]

Good job IC!  Been WAY too long since we've beaten Monmouth!

[fulbakdad]

The Option pulls out of town.

And thank god.  LOL. 

The Ripon game yesterday with Lake Forest, like the past 8 Lake Forest games, came down to the final couple minutes for the decision.  Ripon's option gave LFC some fits, but I really liked the way LFC defended it.  I know I wasn't the only one who had to take a deep breath when the first play from scrimmage for Ripon went 97 yards for a TD!  But it looked like the Foresters settled down and went to work.


Defending the Option can be tricky.  Lake Forest did it yesterday by showing multiple fronts against it.  They went 4 down lineman, 3 down lineman with 2 inside linebackers right up on center, and then bringing in a new weapon, Mike Hilliard the freshman listed at 6-5 335 pound d-tackle Freshman.  Talking to a couple of the other football junkie parents last night, we all agreed that when he came in, it seemed to be a momentum shift.  He's obviously big, but also moves well for a big guy.  Ripon had trouble with all the zig-zag stuff needed for the option to be effective when he was stuffing the middle.  I really enjoy watching the young guys that can enter a game with little experience and make a differance. 

After that long TD, Ripon went on some long march's, but couldn't get the ball into the endzone.  An interception, a fumble, a 4th down stop ended each of thier drives.  And the problem with that option is when you get behind, it's difficult to play catch up.  They racked up yards, but not points.

In the 4th quarter Ripon got into the Lake Forest red zone, trying two field goals.  The first was blocked by Nick Waters (No int's, but I'll take that block instead anyday!).  That block with 3 minutes left would have allowed Ripon an onside kick attempt if they had made it.

So Hats off to-

First the Lake Forest Seniors- Yesterday was Senior day being the last home game of thier carreers.  Think about what it must be like to be one of these guys.  They have tuffed out being on a team that for the last three years had trouble staying on the road.  They're all top notch in my book and show that sticking with something can have great paybacks.  They stand at the top of the sand pile with one game left.

The Offensive line- They'll never be at the top of the stat page, but these guys came out and took care of business.  They allowed Mitchell to have another 100+ yard day, 1 sack, and no penalties.  Good day in the trenches.

Defensive unit-If you look at the stats, you might think "the Defense?".  They played bend don't break all day.  Gave up yards, but were opportunistic.  Either getting a takeaway or putting up a stand deep in thier own zone.  Well coached and played by these guys.

The whole Ripon team-Came out hard and fast.  Played till the final bell.  Never gave up.  I liked the effort.  But the Triple Option is a dying scheme not because it's so effective.  Now it gives defenses fits because they don't see if for 9 games and it comes into town.  It can be effective, but it has too many negatives to be sustained.  I wonder when Ripon will move on to something else?

So, on to Norbert for all the marbles!

[fulbakdad]

So the future is getting clearer.  I believe these are the possible season endings:

If LFC wins against Norbert, they win the conference and go the the NCAA's.

If Norbert wins against Grinell, then beats LFC, these two are co-champs of the MWC and Norbert goes on to the NCAA's.

If the Norbert winning the last two, and Ill Col wins out, we have tri champs and Norbert goes to the NCAA's due to beating LFC head to head.

Regardless of the Lfc/Norbert game.  If Ill Col wins out they wait for a pool C birth which is a stretch.

Boy what a mess this unbalanced schedule has the potential of having.  Norbert and Ill College don't play each other.  Lake Forest not playing Beloit.  Nobody would have guessed this ending from the start, but it has huge implications!

Am I right?

[sncsid]

No.

A three-way tie in that scenario throws out head-to-head and goes to quarters led.

[fulbakdad]

Every tie breaking scenareo is developed after the end of season comes and something that hasn't happened before happens.  I posed this question to somebody else who is in the know, and got the same response.  But when I asked if they had seen this in writing I got a no.

So has anyone seen this in writing?  I ask this because has the MWC ever had an unbalanced schedule before?  Where all the teams hadn't played each other and were at the top?  Because it might not be written correctly.

I'm just posing the question.  We're going for the win!

[sncsid]

It was confirmed with the conference office this morning.

[TitanPride]

As a Blueboys fan, I'm glad to hear about the tiebreak.  The unbalanced schedule screws everything up, and kudos to Lake Forest for playing and beating the top teams in the conference so far.  They didn't get any favors missing Beloit this year.  A similar situation is playing out in the NCAC, and it appears that they will use head-to-head and then fewest road conference losses to sort out of possible 3 or 4 way tie. 

Just did some research and found out that Cornell College has beaten Illinois College in all 15 matchups, stretching early 1980's to late 1990's (according to Massey's database).  Hopefully, it will be two straight weeks with long streak busting victories. 

I'm sure the off week is a nice time for the Foresters to rest up and get healthy, but I would hate to wait 2 full weeks to play for a playoff berth (assuming Norbert takes care of business in Grinnell).   

[fulbakdad]

I got a bit of a chuckle when I just realized that all of you at Ill Col will be pulling for us in two weeks.  Lol

[TitanPride]

I got a bit of a chuckle when I just realized that all of you at Ill Col will be pulling for us in two weeks.  Lol

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that will be the case.  Assuming St. Norbert wins in Grinnell on Saturday, IC fans will definitely be pulling for the Green Knights to knock off your Foresters.  That, combined with two Illinois College wins, would force the "quarters led" tiebreaker for the Pool A bid.  This represents Illinois College best hope for the playoffs.  (Although most people thought a Pool C bid was out of the question last year too.)