I think most people are ranking Wheaton based on more than just that win. They made the quarterfinals last year with a lot of key pieces still on the team... I also don't care for D3FB Huddle or Frank Rossi's opinions, though.

The final stats look decent, 38 carries for 227 yards, but it was not as good as it appears.  Definitely not to the level they had when McNeal got rolling in the second half of the season. Ballard had a 47-yard TD run that was a jet sweep/reverse that sort of caught NP off guard. If you take that away, they had 43 yards rushing in the first half. They added another 60 yards rushing on the scoring drive that started with 6 minutes left in the game. The NP announcers rightly pointed out that NCC basically went hurry up offense to score another TD and make it 45-10 when they could've easily run out the clock instead. 

I think the center they started the season with sort of has the yips with his snaps, as he came in on the very last drive with the backups and immediately had another high snap. So they basically started their 3rd string center, since the 2nd stringer had a concussion and the original starter can't figure out the snaps. They also just don't have a RB as dynamic as McNeal, and Wilson is not close to the running threat that Lehnen was, so they have to rely on the offensive line to win at the line of scrimmage, and that is not happening at the moment.

The running game did take awhile to gain some traction last year as well but not sure if that was more them coming together or McNeal taking over as the main RB, as he was not the featured runner to start last season. 

Observations from NCC's 45-10 win over North Park...

Third game, third different starting offensive line combination. Sophomore Dennis Dracup started at LG instead of freshman Tyler Nevious. Apparently, Dracup got hurt on the very first play against Bethel and has been out since. At center, senior Jorge Ortiz got his first career start. He had only played in three varsity games over the course of his career thus far, all late in games last season. Freshman center Jack Iakiri, who played the entire second half against Wartburg, was out with a concussion. I expect the starting line for Augustana to be Cramer at LT, Dracup at LG, Iakiri at center, Cortez at RG, and Buckley at RT.

Duke Guenther got the start at RB and had the most carries on the day, followed by Jordan Williams. However, WR David Ballard III might just be the best RB at the moment and seems to be lining up more often in the backfield as the season moves along. IMO, he is their best player with the ball in his hands. Jack Rummell had a career day, and it could have been even better as he dropped a wide open 70 yard TD. WR Jim Curtin did not play due to injury.

Overall, the offense was not very sharp and pretty choppy throughout. Wilson had an errant swing pass to Ballard that turned into a fumble recovery by NP after Coach Rooker successfully challenged that it was a backward pass.

I thought the defense played to their normal standard despite giving up 10 points. As mentioned by others, Paul Palmer made some really nice throws. He had four or five deep passes that were perfectly thrown, and not much a defender could do to prevent them. Starting CB Kenny Rutherford was out with injury.

Feels like the bye week is coming at a pretty good time so they can get a few guys healthy and hopefully figure out the plan on the offensive line moving forward.

Quote from: CarollFan on September 20, 2026, 08:28:34 PMThis article has an update on Augie QB. Also mentions IWU QB Dermot Smyth hurt his shoulder in Augie game.

https://qctimes.com/article_08ab9e9a-0824-4f80-88c8-833a69e36fe2.html

Was going to ask if anyone knew what happened to Smyth. When I turned on the game, I saw the backup was in.  Hard to tell based on the play-by-play when he got hurt as IWU only attempted 1 pass in the 4th qtr.

The NCC broadcast crew said Rundell was out with a hand injury during that game. Not sure how accurate that report is but that's what they said on stream.

Yes, I believe he meant when was the last time NCC threw a pick 6.

I included the link to the game notes as they put all that info in there. When was the last time a Cardinal player did X, when was the last time an opponent did X. Fun to look at.

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

Quote from: AndrewB on September 14, 2026, 09:40:49 PM8-2 UWW won't make the playoffs if the loses are to River Falls and Platteville.  What Top 25 would they have beaten then? 

7 D3 victories:
Carlton
Keystone HA HA 😂
S Point
EU Claire
La Crosse
Oshkosh
Stout

Not 1 signature win, by Whitewater or any of these teams.

Welcome to the Culver's Bowl.

UWW will be right on the borderline at 8-2.  They will definitely be in at 9-1 at-large.  They need a combination of Carleton going 6-4 or better like last season plus depends on how many at-large teams go 9-1.

Per Logan's site, if Carlton finishes 6-4, Whitewater would have an average NPI of 65.464 which would have made them the 12th at-large team last year or the first team out this season (only 11 at-large bids this year). Obviously the NPI cut off will be different this year but it seems to be tracking for UWW to be very close to the edge at 8-2.

A couple of injury updates for NCC:

Starting DE Troy Kashul broke his hand against Bethel and had surgery last week. The hope is that he will be back for the Wheaton game sporting a club, but that will only be 4 weeks post surgery.

Starting safety Brayden Garrigan's knee issue from camp continues to bother him, and the hope is he will be back for the Wheaton game.  I don't think we will see him on the field before then.

Observations from NCC's 26-20 win over Wartburg...

They benched the center at halftime and went with a freshman at center for the second half, so they are now starting a freshman at LG, C, and RT. Not sure how that bodes for the rest of the season. The kids will have to grow up very quickly, but the sophomore center basically became unplayable with how badly he was snapping the ball.

Penalties were super lopsided, with NCC having 10 for 103 yards to Wartburg's 1 for 10 yards...I will just leave it at that.

Wilson threw 2 picks, and by my count it could've easily been 4. Wartburg obviously has a good defense, but it was not his best showing. The offense looked better in the second half with the snaps being better, but I would not be shocked if UWRF beats Wartburg much more soundly next week.

Dawson Rud was an absolute stud at RB for Wartburg today. He basically made both TDs the NCC defense gave up happen on his own. On the first TD, he turned what should've been a 5 yard gain into a 50+ yard run by breaking 3 tackles. And then on the last TD drive, he had catches of 31 and 19 yards that were both dump offs over the middle where he broke multiple tackles to get huge gains.

Starting safety Brayden Garrigan and starting DE Troy Kashul both did not play today. Garrigan had a brace on his right knee and was dressed in pads but never entered the game. Kashul was not dressed. They will definitely need both back by the Wheaton game.

Also, on the huge 4th and goal stop from the 1 in the second quarter, none other than Cortez Jones was brought in at DT and helped stuff Wartburg on that play.

The offensive line will determine how deep this team goes into the playoffs, but they are asking a lot having 3 true freshman playing the majority of the snaps IMO.

Well, that's a rough first half...

I'd say 50% of the shotgun snaps for NCC have been high or errant, literally ending 7 or so plays before they even started. Credit to Wartburg's front four, but the young offensive line is going through some definite growing pains, especially with the 4 holding calls added in.

On defense, other than the one long run that set up the first TD (which was horrible tackling), they've been playing solid. I don't think Wartburg's QB can throw past his first read.

I was going to say that going into halftime at 7-7, the offense just had to not lose the game, since I don't think Wartburg will move the ball much in the second half, but then Wilson threw a pick 6. I'm very interested to see if he bounces back. We saw in the Stagg Bowl and WashU games last year that he can tend to let his mistakes snowball.

Johns Hopkins going undefeated would also be close per Logan's NPI tool.  If Ithaca and Susquehanna both go 9-1 with their only loss to JH, JH's average NPI is 81.437.  IF NCC goes 10-0 and Bethel goes 9-1 and Wartburg 8-2 (assuming a loss to UWRF) they average out at 81.145.  Wheaton 10-0 the highest I can get their avg NPI to in his tool is 80.672.

https://hansenratings.github.io/2026%20Season%20Scenarios.html

CCIW with the top 2 teams in the latest D3 poll. Will be pretty fun if both are undefeated heading into the Little Brass Bell game on 10/10.

https://d3football.com/top25/2026/week1

Here are my observations on NCC's 44-21 win over Bethel yesterday.

First up, I have to admit I was completely wrong about the kicking game from what I saw at the scrimmage. I was absolutely blown away that Ryniec now has a 56-yard kick in his bag. This is the same kicker who, as a freshman, the coaches didn't trust to attempt a 35-yard FG in the 2023 Stagg Bowl and instead opted to go for it on 4th and goal from the 18. Kudos to how much improvement and trust he has gained over the past three years. His previous career long was 41 yards, so I was definitely questioning the decision to even attempt it from 56 yards out.

On offense, I agree with others' assessment that Bethel controlled the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game in the run phase. I do think NCC pass protected pretty well, as Wilson was only under duress a few times throughout. It appears that the starting offensive line moving forward will be Cramer at LT, freshman Tyler Nevious at LG, sophomore Austin Roush at center, Cortez at RG, and freshman Jake Buckley at RT. Two freshmen and a center playing his first varsity snaps against a very good Bethel front was definitely a lot to ask. I do think they found some success running off-tackle and on the perimeter on a couple of drives in the second half, but there was not a lot of movement on the interior for the entire game. The hope is this will continue to improve as the season goes on as these young guys all get more reps; the coaching staff obviously believes the talent is there. Also, the offensive line makeup is eerily similar to 2021, when NCC started freshman LT Jeske Maples, freshman RG Sam Pryor, and sophomore center Jarod Thornton. It would be pretty awesome if these three young guys have similar careers to those three, who were the foundation of the team from 2021 to 2024.

Jordan Williams was clearly RB1, and they sprinkled in Guenther and Rashid, but I expect Williams to be the guy they lean on. David Ballard III is going to be the next great NCC WR. The kid is clearly super explosive, and I believe Spencer said last year he was the fastest guy on the team as a freshman. Rummell was super reliable as always; Jake Vitel looked really good as well as another up-and-coming WR. Jim Curtin was the #4 WR behind those three, which gives them four really good WRs to work with. I know the identity of this team will always be the run game, but you have to think they will be more open to throwing the ball more often with this group of skill guys and Wilson's second year in the system.

It was great to see Wilson playing with confidence again. I thought he made some really good decisions and looked super comfortable in the offense.

On defense, they rotated a ton of guys throughout, and I'm not positive if that was due to the heat or just what they plan on doing with how much depth they have. Chase Osborne actually started at safety over Brayden Garrigan, which I am assuming maybe means Garrigan is working through some sort of injury, as he didn't participate in the open practice or scrimmage. Those two rotated throughout the game. They played three corners, Rutherford, Hartnett, and Khan, all of them rotating drives. All three looked really good, although there were a few plays where they were beaten deep and I thought the throws were left short, allowing them to make a play on the ball. Obviously Bethel not having Rundell was a huge factor in the game, and I'm hoping he gets healthy quick. He's very fun to watch.

Groark, Janiak, and Carlton were basically the only guys that didn't rotate, and I thought all three had excellent games. They had seven guys rotating on the defensive line, with Medina, Ohle, Wight, and Kashul starting, followed by Tucker Johnson, Daito Watanabe, and Shamus Straub.I thought the defense played really well overall. They gave up some chunk runs, but I don't think they will face another RB duo as good as Bethel's until deep into the playoffs. They definitely didn't look "small and gassed," nor did they give up 40+ points like one poster predicted they would due to the graduation of Sullivan and Roby.

Great day for the CCIW, and congrats to Wheaton on pulling out the big win over Mount. Not only did I think of the St. John's 2019 game, but also the 2022 game they lost to Trinity in OT on a blocked XP.

IWU, Augie, Carroll, and Carthage all winning should help for NPI too.

The game felt way closer than the final score. I thought Bethel controlled the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game. The heat may have definitely been a factor. NCC has incredible depth, especially at the skill positions. Obviously, not having Rundell was a huge loss for Bethel. I'll post some more observations tomorrow, but it was a great win to start the season over a very good team.