FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CarollFan]

Millikin 33 Luther 3 Final
Big Blue breaks 20 game losing streak
One thing I heard on their broadcast is Millikin due to injuries to kickers reached out and got a 31 year old kicker who had 1 year of eligibility left. I know Luther is not that good but Millikin did look improved.

How did they even find this guy?  Looks like he is from Decatur but still...

https://athletics.millikin.edu/sports/football/roster/blake-allison/12008
https://quhawks.com/sports/football/roster/blake-allison/2565

Millikin really hit the portal this year.

The new head coach is from Decatur. It sounded like he and the kicker went to the same high school, St. Teresa and knew each other.

[Gregory Sager]

Over the course of North Park's 67 seasons of football as a four-year school, NPU has achieved a pass play of at least 60 yards on 42 different occasions.

Jereme Ombogo is responsible for six of them, and Wesley McCloud has three.

(Incidentally, the Ripon broadcasters were wondering on the air if the 98-yard Green-to-Ombogo TD was the longest pass play in NPU history. It isn't. Vikings QB Gary Duesenberg completed a TD pass to Harvey King against Illinois Wesleyan in 1970 that was good for 99 yards.)

[Pat Coleman]

They did have a 93-yard fumble return TD, but it was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the ball carrier as he was running down the field -- first time I've ever seen that call made over something that happened in the middle of the play. It turned a TD into a mere gain of 41 yards on the fumble return, and NPU didn't score on the ensuing drive.

This is definitely a thing, though -- unsportsmanlike in the middle of a run like that is flagged and assessed at the spot.

[CarollFan]

We had a couple new starters slinging the ball around yesterday.

NPU's Justen Green with 312 passing yards and 4 TD's.

Augie's Jimmy Makuh with 375 passing yards, 4 TD's, 2 INT's. He is a transfer from Illinois State. Played at Hersey High school in Arlington Heights (Home of the Bears. ).

[WUPHF]

Ten years? Blake Allison wasn't in the portal; he was in the Springfield Mystery Spot.

Right, that, but they also really hit the portal.

In addition to the aforementioned Sam Houston QB, they also have guys from Western Illinois and Illinois Western (had to), Hawaii, Brockport, River Falls, Roosevelt, Knox, Grambling, Presbyterian College and more.

I do not remember if some of those guys were around last year.

https://athletics.millikin.edu/sports/football/roster

[Gregory Sager]

They did have a 93-yard fumble return TD, but it was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the ball carrier as he was running down the field -- first time I've ever seen that call made over something that happened in the middle of the play. It turned a TD into a mere gain of 41 yards on the fumble return, and NPU didn't score on the ensuing drive.

This is definitely a thing, though -- unsportsmanlike in the middle of a run like that is flagged and assessed at the spot.

Yes, it is definitely a thing. But that the thing includes high-fiving while in the middle of an uncontested touchdown run alongside a teammate means that there's a thing within the thing, and the thing within the thing is a thing of which many of us were completely unaware until yesterday afternoon.

[Pat Coleman]

Yep, I would totally consider that as a potential unsportsmanlike flag, a celebration taking place in the middle of the play.

[GusD]

Wheaton drops their opener on the road 29-37 to an obviously excellent Mount Union team. As has become a familiar refrain for Wheaton the last several years against the very best teams in D3, the Defense has just not been good enough. Do give the team huge credit for playing hard all game, when a lesser bunch might have thrown in the towel. This team never did.

With giving up 5 passing touchdowns, including 4 by early in the 2nd quarter to put them in an early hole, it appears the Orange & Blue might be especially vulnerable through the air.

[markerickson]

On the 98 yard TD, Green threw deep to Ombogo, just like I designed.

[GusD]

Ten years? Blake Allison wasn't in the portal; he was in the Springfield Mystery Spot.

Right, that, but they also really hit the portal.

In addition to the aforementioned Sam Houston QB, they also have guys from Western Illinois and Illinois Western (had to), Hawaii, Brockport, River Falls, Roosevelt, Knox, Grambling, Presbyterian College and more.

I do not remember if some of those guys were around last year.

https://athletics.millikin.edu/sports/football/roster

Reminiscent of a significant portion of the modus operandi of one of the CCIW 🏀 teams.   

[Gregory Sager]

We had a couple new starters slinging the ball around yesterday.

NPU's Justin Green with 312 passing yards and 4 TD's.

Justen, with an 'e'. I'm still getting used to that spelling, even though he's a senior.

[Gregory Sager]

Yep, I would totally consider that as a potential unsportsmanlike flag, a celebration taking place in the middle of the play.

I see the rationale behind it, as football rulebooks at all levels have grown more punitive in terms of both definition and enforcement regarding celebrations in recent years. It's clearly reactive to the fact that football players have progressively become more demonstrative after plays in the modern era. I don't blame referees for going by the book, because that's their job.

But flagging players who high-five in the middle of a play definitely falls under the category of harsh justice, because I doubt that any Ripon players (or Ripon fans) cared about that high-five. Most of them probably never even noticed it. (I didn't when I saw it live.) And even if they did, consider that the high-five is surpassed only by the thumbs-up as the most inocuous gesture of positivity that there is. Does anybody really get angry over opponents high-fiving? Heck, Americans teach their toddlers how to high-five even before they can speak in sentences or are toilet-trained. The high-five is to the typical end-zone TD celebration what ranch dressing is to seven-digits-on-the-Scoville-Scale hot sauces.

Nobody cares if you high-five your teammate after he makes a good play. Why should anyone care if you high-five him before the whistle blows?

[Gregory Sager]

In addition to the aforementioned Sam Houston QB, they also have guys from Western Illinois and Illinois Western (had to)

Heh. I'd forgotten that one!

Reminiscent of a significant portion of the modus operandi of one of the CCIW 🏀 teams.   

And, as is the case with that CCIW basketball team, I don't care one whit that Millikin football went transfer-heavy. More power to them, in fact. Do whatever you need to do to stock your team with more talent, especially if you're a new coach for a program with a comparatively bare cupboard by the league's standards.

[Cardinal773]

Around D3, Adrian of the MIAA beat Valparaiso (FCS school) 10-7.

Adrian with the former UMU QB.  Looks like that kid knew it was time to transfer.  That or be a senior backing up Maloney.

[Gregory Sager]

Mt Union 462 total yds
Maloney 19-24 307 yds 5 TD
Mt Union Rush: 39 rush for 155 yds ( 4 ypc)
Cockrell (Elmhurst transfer) 3 rec 106 yds 2 TD

Jacob Cockrell is a massive premature loss for Elmhurst. In three years he made a considerable impact on the Bluejays recordbook; he's ninth in career receiving yards for EU, and if he'd stuck around Langhorst Field for his senior year and even had only 80% as good of a season as he had in 2024 (when he was an All-CCIW first-teamer) he still would've ended his college career as EU's all-time leader in receiving yards. Likewise, a senior season in the same vicinity as his sophomore and junior seasons in terms of receptions would've put him in the Elmhurst top five career-wise in that category, and he's already tied for fifth in career TD receptions and would've had a decent shot at breaking Todd Evans's all-time Bluejays record if he was still wearing blue-and-white livery.