My sympathies and condolences to the Thorne family and North Central community.  Jeff and his father John were always open minded, welcoming personas that valued the person, more than anything on the athletic fields.
May the good Lord comfort him and his family.   God Bless.   

Meanwhile I hope to see both Wheaton and NC advance to the next round.   

Congrats to Heff and the Bluejays on a opening day win.  While it is nice to pick up a win and feel good about the team,  other than possibly Millikin,  Rockford is not really reminiscent of what the Jays will see the rest of the season.  EC improves to 3-0 vs. RC all time.

It is something for Heff and the staff to build on, but I fear it may be a long year for EC during the conference slate.  Most of the CCIW defense's will have a stronger pass rush,  making Odom have less time to distribute the ball. 

Some of the turnovers could be opening day jitters,  but the EC defense looked porous at times. 

Elmhurst opens up the 2025 season by renewing a match with Rockford.  Elmhurst had a home & home back in 2002 & 2003 and took a pair.  Elmhurst IMO was much stronger back then.
Rockford will have already played their opener when these teams meet. 

New Tradition- Thank you for the post.  My thoughts and prayers are with the Thorne family.

Elmhurst's name change had little to nothing to do athletics and was more academically minded.  Elmhurst change was hopes to recruit a more international focus for their academic programs.   
I wonder how much changing NCC's name would be driven because of academics or athletics?

Slightly off subject but regarding name changes-   Before Elmhurst adopted Bluejays as their mascot,  (at one time)  Elmhurst used  Goldenrod  as their nickname.   I recall using this as a trivia question on the air once.   Could you imagine,  "Touchdown Goldenrods".       Thankfully Bluejays was the name that stuck. 

CardinalAlum- I agree. I was thinking it was going to be Furco, but just happy the selection involved a Alum.  There are some challenges ahead for Elmhurst to get back to respectability, but 1 day at a time. 

I like the hiring of Mike Heffernan.  Mike is a veteran, good family man, and a trustworthy sole.   I got to know Mike and his father a little better when I was still calling the games for EC.   I like that Elmhurst chose a true blue Bluejay to knows what it means to play for the blue & white, our traditions, and the culture both at EC and the community.   I wish Mike all the best.   

Good points Greg.  Sadly the bar for Elmhurst historically has never been very high.
Look at how long Elmhurst kept Paul Krohn.  Greatest man you'll ever meet, but the Wins were not there for most of his tenure. 

IDK-  Going to be interesting to see what Elmhurst will value the most for the prospective candidate and whom they will select. 

Furco would appear to be a solid, leading candidate. 

One other note,  I'd be in favor of a Elmhurst football Alum to take the reigns.  I.e. Spencer, Scott,  somebody who has donned the blue & white, left it all on Langhorst Field during their playing days, etc. and truly loves Elmhurst. 

Mike Murray was not pushed out at Elmhurst.  If anything Elmhurst would praise Mike Murray because he has helped Elmhurst attain more wins and started to rebuild the program.   

IMO- Elmhurst needs a strong recruiter more than anything.   North Central is dominating the DuPage and Chicago suburbs the last 10-15 years.   3 rings will do that        But added to this rise in NC and before that Wheaton,   Elmhurst is still "too close to home" for many kids.   So, many whammies and obstacles will be faced with whomever signs on.   It's a tough gig.  Many have tried and very few have had success

Murray has left Elmhurst on the upswing.  The next HC needs to pick up where Murray left off and continue to build the foundation.     

I was not at the game, but the first thing that comes to mind, when you look at the box score and recaps (of both schools) is,   Adrian made halftime adjustments and Elmhurst either didn't and/or didn't make the right adjustments.  Once Adrian was up to speed, Elmhurst has little/no answer and it was not a good outcome.   Ugh1   

The good news is they get a bye week to look at what went wrong and gear up for IWU. 

It's a short sample of course, but appears CCIW's overall prowess is down this year. 

Ah, best time of the year,  college football season is back.

For Elmhurst I hope to see some improvement from last year.  The wins may not be there yet, but I'm hoping some of their (many) deficiencies from last year can be polished up.

**Reminder**  Opening week for the CCIW Pick Em's is up, so log onto that board and make your picks each week.

Looking at the conference as a whole, the real race will be who takes second place.   The on paper pick would be Wheaton, but I have a feeling there will be 2 teams ready to compete for that #2 spot.   

Congratulations North Central on another strong season.   Brad Spencer is showing he is a players coach and somebody you can really root for.   I especially like he went for the win, and put it in his player's hands to (hopefully) pull out a W.   
I know the result is not what we all wanted to see,  but sheesh!  This was a great game to watch.   

Good SID's are hard to find.   Makes you appreciate legends like Dave Wrath,  Steve Marovich,  Dave Hilbert, etc.   People who put a genuine interest and detail into their writings. 

20 years ago we had  the big 4 little 4
WHEATON
AUGIE
IWU
MILLIKIN 
(NOT NECESSARILY IN THIS ORDER)
THEN A CONSIDERABLE DROP
CARTHAGE
ELMHURST
NPU
NC
(AGAIN NOT ANY PARTICULAR ORDER)

Today,  IMO It's
NORTH CENTRAL
NOTICEABLE GAP

WHEATON
WASH U
ANOTHER BIG GAP

The rest

if you look over the years of the CCIW many schools have risen and fallen.   Wheaton owned the 50's Carthage was strong in the 70's Augie owned the 80's and now North Central has the present ownership.

NC's rise has made it challenging for other schools to recruit.  Also factoring into this equation is facilities.  In Elmhurst's case this is a double whammy, along with the history of not being very good overall, other than a handle of years being very competitive.