FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[robertgoulet]

Wheaton is peaking at the right time, imo. I smell an upset.

[79jaybird]

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.   

[emma17]

Just heard in 670 NCC kicker Ellison (sp?) wins the Fred Mitchell award. Big congratulations.

Sympathies to the Thorne family, very sorry.

[CCIWFan69]

I think Bethel needs to keep NCC under 21 pts to have a chanced to win. It will be tough for Bethel to score much more than that IMO. Lacrosse scored on the last play of the game to get to 28.

Another LaCrosse TD was setup by a 50 yd half back pass that got them down to the 1.  They then scored on 4th and goal from the 3 on a play where Haas was dead to rights in Renick's arms, escaped and then made a good throw and an even better catch by the TE for the TD.

I need to watch more of Bethel before I comment on their offense compared to UWL/Wheaton, etc.

UWL had 418 total yds, more yards then NCC. UWL had 347 passing yds. UWL WR #19 had 100 yds receiving and 4 TD's.

I think the NCC picks by Roby #2 were huge, stopping a drive and a pick 6 late in first half.

Turnovers could be huge this Saturday too.

Here is the press conference you were discussing earlier. Sound is a little off early but clears up after a minute or so.

Without a doubt Roby's 2 INTS were the critical plays in the game.  However, the total yards are a bit misleading IMO.  UWL outgained NCC 186 yards to 14 over the final 9 minutes of the game and closed the gap from 35-14 to 35-27 in that time.  Obviously not ideal to give up that much yardage, but their were backups mixed in the last 2 drives and UWL had 3 drives to NCC's 1 in that 9 minutes due to recovering the onside kick.

If there is snowfall on Saturday I'm hoping there isn't too much as Coach Spencer mentioned in either this press conference of the previous one that the field is essentially on top of rocks/the river and therefore they cannot use a bigger plow on it.

I never felt the NCC game was in doubt.  It is similar to a basketball team up 20 and the other team hitting a bunch of 3s at the end of the game but the game was pretty much over already.  Someone who didn't see the game may have thought the game was much closer that it really was.  As mentioned, NCC had a pretty decent edge in yardage until the 4th quarter.

NCC had a chance to really put the game away to start the 2nd half.  They were up 28-7, getting the ball to start the half, drove to midfield, and ended up punting.  They were running the ball at will and ended up throwing 2 passes once they got to midfield.  I thought it was an interesting set of play calls there versus pounding the rock.

Overall, it was a good game and feel like UWL would have finished 3rd in the CCIW.

Good luck to NCC and Wheaton this weekend.

[WRMUalum13]

Wheaton is peaking at the right time, imo. I smell an upset.

I can't figure out if Mount Union just really regressed since their week 1 game against Wheaton, or Wheaton just played a bad 1st 3 quarters against Mount and is in fact a semi-final level team

[GusD]

Looks like snow in the forecast. I'd say that's advantage NCC. Bethel will need to be able to throw the ball. It depends how heavy the snow is I guess.

Right now the predicted high temp for Naperville on Saturday is 12 with 1-3 inches of snow.

They've now taken any accumulation of snow out of the predicted weather for Naperville on Saturday. There may be some flurries but that's it. The current forecast shows a game time temp of 9, with a "feel like" temp of -5.

[USee]

Wheaton is peaking at the right time, imo. I smell an upset.

I can't figure out if Mount Union just really regressed since their week 1 game against Wheaton, or Wheaton just played a bad 1st 3 quarters against Mount and is in fact a semi-final level team

Wheaton had a lot of new faces week 1. 3 new OL, 3 WR that were like new to this qb (missed previous yr due to injury, 7 new defensive starters. Vs UMU Wheaton got smoked by Maloney and Co with a relatively new secondary. They actually held up well against the run and had little trouble moving the ball  but didn't finish a few early drives. Th Thunder certainly got hot and have stayed relatively healthy late in the season.

[CarollFan]

Predictions

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/quick-hits-playoffs-week15

Some people predicting Bethel to score 31 on NCC?

[CHUBBS PETERSON]

Predictions

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/quick-hits-playoffs-week15

Some people predicting Bethel to score 31 on NCC?

Not surprised that the panel was unanimous in picking NCC; picking against them would be completely daft.

Not unreasonable to assume that Bethel is a better, more balanced offense than UWL so putting up points on NCC as others have isn't out of the question. Problem is it likely takes 38 or more to beat them, and that's obviously a massive ask. As good as Bethel is (and I love them bigly!), not sure they have enough to get the result without some help from NCC mistakes.

Not hard to imagine the NCC kicker making a clutch FG to get them past Bethel, as some on the D3 panel predicted. Should be fun, either way!

Very sad to read about Coach Thorne, who was the HC when the schools last played in '18. By all accounts, a wonderful and rare gentleman!

[wally_wabash]

Predictions

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/quick-hits-playoffs-week15

Some people predicting Bethel to score 31 on NCC?

Bethel is really, really good offensively.  North Central is phenomenal on defense, as we know, but this one could absolutely turn into a track meet. 

[NCC2010]

Here are my thoughts on the Bethel/NCC matchup...
The first thing that stands out when watching the Bethel offense is the number of unorthodox formations they utilize and the tempo. Many formations involve multiple pre-snap shifts, with some crazy alignments. Often you will see a Bethel WR (or two) standing within a yard of the sideline.

The tempo is what concerns me the most. Bethel is often ready to snap the ball 10–15 seconds after the previous play. UWL had success in the 4th quarter playing with pace, and while NCC has great depth, they do not rotate players in and out on defense. Particularly, the defensive line almost never subs out unless dinged up, and I can see them getting worn down throughout the course of the game if Bethel is able to maintain a high tempo and convert first downs. They were gassed in the 4th quarter against UWL, with some of that due to the fact that the onside kick basically gave them no break. NCC also likes to match personnel, and on quite a few occasions has had to burn timeouts early in games to get the right personnel grouping or play call in to match what the offense has out there.

The running back duo will be the best NCC has faced thus far this season. Both are really strong, rugged runners. NCC probably had their worst tackling performance of the season last week, and combined with the cold, I can see these two RBs being very difficult to wrap up and bring to the ground on first contact.

Bethel's passing game looks efficient and relies more on YAC than downfield throws. This is a good formula against NCC, as they tend to allow teams to hit quick passes to the flats and perimeter, and rely on their tackling to prevent big gains. UWL was patient on their first drive of the game and dink-and-dunked their way down the field to a TD. Wheaton also had success doing this on multiple drives in the NCC game but was unable to convert in the red zone. NCC seems to bet on OCs getting impatient and eventually taking shots down the field, where they then can make a big play or get pressure with their front four. The first interception by Marey Roby last week was a good example of this. UWL had been methodically moving the ball down the field, decided to take a shot at a deep pass to the end zone, and Roby made them pay.

Drews is very impressive and utilized as more of a runner than I anticipated. He seems very similar to Garret Wilson in that aspect: you do not expect either of them to run, but when they do, it's usually a better result than expected.

It sounded like the broadcast last week said Bethel was without their starting center due to a concussion. The offensive line that played against UWP looked solid but not overwhelming. Not sure if they were dealing with other injuries—I think I saw somewhere they were without three starters? I do think the NCC front four could wreak havoc if Bethel truly is that beat up on the offensive line.

On the other side of the ball, I think this is the best defense NCC will have faced thus far this season. The defensive line is physical, and the LBs and DBs are all plus athletes. UWP had pretty good success running the ball before they got down, though, and I think NCC should be able to run the ball pretty effectively.

The big question for me is whether the Bethel pass defense will be able to confuse or force turnovers from Wilson when he drops back to pass. While he has been great so far this season, he's had a few instances of questionable decision-making and taking risks on some throws—he is still only a sophomore/RS freshman. If Bethel is able to pressure him, it could lead to a few risky throws where plays are there to be made by the defense.

I was only able to watch Bethel's games against UWP and Coe, plus the D3Zone highlights of the St. John's game, so I'm basing these thoughts on those performances.

I think this should be a really great game. Hoping the weather doesn't play too big of a factor.

[USee]

I'll be shocked if this is a track meet. JP Sullivan is the most unblockable Defensive player in the country and Bethel is gonna struggle with him like everybody else. Against Wheaton we got shut out and ran for -2 yds. That's almost exclusively because of JP Sullivan. On the other hand, I think Bethel is well suited to stymie the NCC offense and if they win it's a low scoring affair. Conant and Williams are playmakers. If NCC scores 30 I don't think Bethel has a chance. But I have been wrong many times before.....

[USee]

River Falls front's are huge:

OL Heights: 6-9, 6-5, 6-3, 6-6, 6-4,
TE: 6-5
WR: 6-5, 6-5, 6-3, 5-11
QB: 6-2
RB: 6-2

DL: 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
LB: 6-1, 6-0, 6-1
DB: 6-0, 6-5, 6-1, 6-0

1 starting player that's not 6'+

Even the Kicker and punter are 6-1