Quote from: The Third Division on September 17, 2026, 01:08:14 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on September 17, 2026, 01:07:00 AM

Quote from: NCC2010 on September 16, 2026, 11:17:09 PM

Quote from: The Third Division on September 16, 2026, 10:53:39 PMBefore last saturday, when was the last time north central had a pick 6?

Demetreeus Loper, Millikin, 38 yards (10/3/15)

https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/sidearm.nextgen.sites/northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2026/9/3/Gameday_Program_vs_Bethel_Final.pdf

2015?

Didn't they have a whole bunch last year. I seem to recall one I think in JCU playoff game.

No, JCU only scored offensive touchdowns and extra points in that one

Don't engage with this clown.  He's got a lot of cajones showing up on this board after his remarks about Jeff Thorne.  Plus, he's just going to use that stat to talk smack. 

Quote from: hazzben on September 02, 2026, 10:43:19 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on September 02, 2026, 08:14:14 AMStory on high school football enrollment. They show a map that indicates high school football enrollment in the Midwest and East coast mostly on the decline since 2008 yet in the South it has increased. IL indicated as decreased 25% or more.

I wonder how much of this is owing to youth football playing time practices.

Half of the teams my 8th grade son plays only deploy a single team. They do this so that all the top players are on one team. 40+ kids out, but they will only play the best 15-18 kids. IMO it's all about youth coaches and their ego's, they want to win and go 7-1, rather than really develop all the players but go 4-4.

Fast forward to HS, our first opponent in 6A football this year does not have a sophomore team due to low numbers (Varsity is Top 5 in the state). Another top school in our league, at a HS with 4,000 kids, barely has enough for a freshman team (they run 3 teams in 8th grade but typically stack 1 team that will go 7-1 and two that will go 2-6 or 3-5). So many more examples I could cite.

It's clear that some programs know they'll have plenty of athletes, and have no problem running kids off who they don't project to play or might be a late bloomer. But when kids are going out for football in elementary school and barely seeing the field in 3rd or 4th grade, and not at all in 8th grade, there's a lot of attrition.

This is a wild trend that has been going on for a bit longer than 2008, I think.  I attended Glenbard North.  My freshman year of high school football season was 1998 and we had 110 freshmen out.  For the entirety of my high school playing career, we had Varsity, JV, Soph A, Soph B, Freshmen A, and Freshmen B--each with a full 9 game schedule.  Furthermore, we had enough kids leftover on the Freshmen B team to run 3-4 C games per year and a handful of "fifth quarters."  By the time I started coaching in the 2007 season, we were already down to 60 Freshmen and 35-40 sophs.  I'm not sure how much water this holds, but the rationale we came up with at the time was that there were a lot of concerned mothers not letting their sons play due to all the concussion hysteria that started in 2005.  I didn't realize that the declining player number trend wasn't nationwide, though.  I find that super interesting.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on March 24, 2026, 04:00:58 PM

Quote from: New Tradition on March 24, 2026, 12:28:23 PMI know conference realignment has nuked it, but Coe's traditional rival is Cornell, correct?  At least that's how I understood it when I was being recruited by Cornell a quarter century ago. 

This is correct. The two schools compete for a all sports trophy called the Bremner Cup. While it has not been competitive in football for almost a quarter century, the Bremner Cup has changed hands a number of times.

https://cornellrams.com/sports/2021/6/21/3057_132687561132739401

Interestingly, when I was being recruited, Cornell was coming off a 7-3 campaign in 2001, and head coach Steve Miller had just retired.  They hired Ray Reasland internally, and there was huge optimism for the direction of the program.  Conversely, NCC was coming off a 3-7 season, the coach was let go, and they hired a successful high school coach, but one who coached at a public school and had zero recruiting experience.  Had I based my decision strictly on football as a senior in high school, I'd have actually gone to Cornell.  I just felt NCC was a better overall fit for me personally--if we took some lumps on the scoreboard, at least I got to experience a bit of success with my high school team and what they accomplished.  Little did I know...

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on March 24, 2026, 09:49:29 AMWhile I totally agree with you on the front that the Wartburg/Coe "rivalry" is rather forced wouldn't most Central fans say that the team they need to beat is Simpson? Not a Central/Simpson fan or alum but that is the sentiment that had received when talking to fans/alums from those schools.

Now I have heard some stories from some older Luther alums about their distaste for "that orange school". I'm not sure how alive that rivalry is in most sports due to the one sided nature and the new conference realignment move.

I know conference realignment has nuked it, but Coe's traditional rival is Cornell, correct?  At least that's how I understood it when I was being recruited by Cornell a quarter century ago. 

Joke will be on them when they change the name of the college to Naperville. 

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 06, 2026, 01:57:53 PM

Quote from: WRMUalum13 on January 06, 2026, 01:47:10 PM

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 05, 2026, 03:38:08 AM

Quote from: Nate Riley on January 05, 2026, 03:27:44 AM

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 04, 2026, 10:43:49 PMIf NCC doesn't pull off the comeback, I really don't want to hear their "dynasty" compared to Mount or even UWW. 

I certainly wouldn't compare Mount or UWW of yester year to current NCC.
IMHO, dynasties repeat as champions during their reign. Unfortunately, on the national level, NCC does not qualify as "dynastic" for that reason. CCIW dynasty? Yes. D3 National dynasty? Not yet. Until NCC has an uninterrupted succession of championships, they can not be considered "dynastic" by definition. Congrats to RF on an outstanding effort all around, players and coaches. Congrats to NCC on their run this year. I feel for those players and coaches.

It is shocking that despite how much the D3 media entities slob all over NCC, that the Cards have never won back to back titles.  Especially in this era of D3FB...

NCC isn't as dominant as Mount or UWW were back in the day, but I think reaching 6 straight titles and winning 3 Stagg Bowls qualifies as some type of dynasty. It's definitely NOT NOT a dynasty of some sorts lol

NCC is on a historically great run, 99.9% of programs would kill for their type of success.  However, when you get into the rarified air of dynasty talk...I think not being able to go back-to-back, especially with no other super power at the top, is pretty damning. 

Mount's in the Dartt ages, UWW is no longer a thing, UMHB is an old Subaru running on fumes, Linfield has disappeared into the Oregon fog, St Thomas was ran out of D3 by a jealous rival, RIP Wesley....and still NCC can't win two in a row?

I bet 99% of NCC fans feel this way, also. 

Quote from: WRMUalum13 on December 23, 2025, 04:39:45 PM

Quote from: bluestreak66 on December 22, 2025, 09:30:07 AM

Quote from: CCIWFan69 on December 20, 2025, 07:41:41 PM

Quote from: BillyRayJimBob on December 20, 2025, 07:06:52 PM

Quote from: BillyRayJimBob on December 20, 2025, 06:44:04 PMNot to directly quote the idea of my D3fanboy buddy, from an earlier post: John Carroll, today ... "Woof."

How did Mount Union lose to this John Carroll team?

Good question.  They would be probably the 3rd/4th best team in the CCIW with WashU.

I'll compare John Carroll's game on Saturday to the Battle of Fredericksburg (because I'm a nerd lol)
It could have truly been a resounding success.....up until it clearly wasn't and it turned into something very ugly

I'm interested to see how this Stagg Bowl will play out. Knee jerk reaction is based on results, John Carroll, Mount Union, and Wheaton are all probably more or less within a certain variance of each other, but North Central is (on paper) leaps and bounds ahead of the pack

Clearly ahead of that pack, but I don't think they are leaps and bounds ahead of UWR or Johns Hopkins.

Weirdly we have 3 common opponents for the Stagg Bowl teams to compare:

Here's the results against common opponents

UWO 14           NCC 45
UWO 21           UWR 17

UW Lacrosse 7     UWR 41
UW Lacrosse 27   NCC 35

Wheaton 21        UWR 46
Wheaton 0          NCC 35

They've had pretty similar results with the obvious exception of UWO.

I think UWR has the size and speed to play with NCC, but NCC is probably still favored.

Keep in mind that UWRF played Lacrosse Sans Haas.  That has significant bearing on that outcome.  Also, NCC had comfortable enough lead in their game vs. LaCrosse that they were able to sub the second team defense in for the last half of the 4th q, in which LaX put up 14 extra points on the 2's.

Quote from: NCC2010 on December 08, 2025, 10:11:03 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on December 08, 2025, 08:27:12 AMLogan's projections.

Wheaton 17.3% win %.

https://hansenratings.github.io/2025%20Round%204.html

Also, interesting to note D3football.com has the Wheaton-UWRF game not starting until 2PM CT, which is out of the norm as I thought all games were supposed to start at noon local time.  Very cool though that they are spreading them out so people can watch more of each game.

I guess RF has a graduation that conflicts with the noon start.  Let Wheaton host it, in that case 

Quote from: blue_jays on November 17, 2025, 09:55:25 AM

Quote from: Jbothe on November 16, 2025, 02:54:31 PMNorth Central/IWU was closer than expected. Did IWU have a lot of time of possession?  NC miss some scoring opportunities? 

It was a Week 10 contest for a team that already clinched who just wanted to get into the playoffs healthy. Just playing with their food.

Don't discredit Wesleyan.  They came to play and Smythe and Nazha are the real deal.  Cardinal defense couldn't keep Smythe contained.  I feel like he could have rushed for a lot more than 63 if they wanted.  They had a great game plan and executed it as well as they could have.  Offensively, NCC had a ton of success between the 20s but due to some funky stuff had a rough time closing out drives.  Some drops on some shots they took on first down as well as penalties and a few tfls eventually got them behind the sticks a few times.  They should have it cleaned up in the next few weeks. 

On a somewhat related note--I think the CCIW as a whole is on the upswing.  On top of Wesleyan's obvious improvement, Augie's results looked good this year.   I think that both Millikin and Carthage are hugely improved over last season--I expect them to keep building.  We add the NACC champion next year.  Exciting time to be a member of the conference. 

Lastly--I'm personally bummed about the Wash U ouster.  Loved having them in the conference.  I think they greatly elevated the level of play.  Go beat Stout!

Quote from: lmitzel on August 26, 2025, 10:50:19 AMHold up, you can start a network to host all of your conference's live streams and not force it behind a paywall?

10/10 no notes, CCIW.

https://cciw.org/news/2025/8/26/general-cciw-partners-with-hudl-to-launch-cciw-network.aspx

I wonder what the status is going to be with archived games.  Typically, NCC coaches don't like having their entire season up for streaming until it's over with, as they don't like providing their entire body of work for their opponent's scouting eyes so easily. 

Hi, everyone.

I don't have any details beyond what is in the post, but I ask that you please keep Coach Jeff and the Thorne family in your prayers. His faith is as strong as any person I've ever met, and the power of prayer is real.

https://x.com/coachjeffthorne/status/1923144175727624206?s=46&t=fP006Hfqvj-sJCZ_1UUZ9Q

Quote from: WRMUalum13 on January 07, 2025, 04:37:56 PMHonestly any semi-finals win is a signature win in my book. Not sure why you're discounting Wartburg, did you forget the they had NCC on the ropes in 2023?

Talking to some prominent player's families in Houston over the weekend, they said that the thought among the team was that Wartburg was the toughest, most physical team they played last year.  Absolutely championship caliber. 

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 06, 2025, 10:41:39 PM

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 10:37:47 PM2019 NCC won their first Stagg and Gagliardi QB Broc Rutter was done and Cardinal fans were crying about the next year, which was Luke Lehnens freshman year. Boo hoo.....

NCC just got a commit from Ferris St QB Demir Ashiru. Maybe he can continue the run I'm sure you'd love that USee 😂

I think I've seen 2 transfers and 2 high school commits entering the derby on X.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 06, 2025, 02:36:21 PM

Quote from: Kira & Jaxon's Dad on January 05, 2025, 11:50:56 AMKeith picking NCC with a triple monkey stomp.

Late to reading this, but to be fair, 21 points is only one monkey stomp.

I've never gotten a clear explanation of monkey stomp math.

I wouldn't expect to see Quick Hits until tomorrow--it's usually day before.  There's also usually a pre-Stagg Bowl podcast in there with a musical number I'm hoping we get to hear before the game Sunday, too!