FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[usee]

i put augie and carthage in a separate class because they have both won tough road games. I see carthage w 1 loss as better than ncc, wheaton, and millikin. we will find out this week w carthage at ncc but i give an edge to carthage because 1-their defense is dominant and 2-ncc's defense is not that good (which surprises me). any cciw team w a tough road win is a cut above in my opnion.

wheaton has the easiest path going forward since carthage and augie go there. ncc has to travel to augie and carthage has it tough because of road games at ncc and wheaton. augie has to travel to millikin and wheaton and they host ncc.

[augievike93]

i put augie and carthage in a separate class because they have both won tough road games. I see carthage w 1 loss as better than ncc, wheaton, and millikin. we will find out this week w carthage at ncc but i give an edge to carthage because 1-their defense is dominant and 2-ncc's defense is not that good (which surprises me). any cciw team w a tough road win is a cut above in my opnion.

wheaton has the easiest path going forward since carthage and augie go there. ncc has to travel to augie and carthage has it tough because of road games at ncc and wheaton. augie has to travel to millikin and wheaton and they host ncc.

Wow!  What a weekend.   I would like to point out that last weekend I already started asking about tie breakers.  If you were to tell me that the Augie rushing game would be shut out of the endzone and that they would have won, I would have laughed in your face.  I am glad to hear that I was wrong.  You know as little as Augie throws the ball, it is often a passing play that makes a huge contribution to the outcome of a game.  Of course when the opposition sets up to expect the run on each play, I guess the pass can always come as a surprise.  However, the execution must still be there.  That is where Roe can fail.  He often lays up a big hanger that is up for grabs. 

I would like to talk to Dave Wrath, the SID at Augie, to find out when the last time that Augie failed to score a rushing TD and when the last time that Augie failed to score a rushing TD and won the game.  Congrats to both Augie and Carthage's defences on being up to the task.  I am however happy to see that the Vikings were the team that emerged as the winner in this battle by the lake.

[robertgoulet]

i will go on record right now as saying no one in the cciw will be able to shut down North Central's offense. the only team that worries me right now is augie.....simply because of their running game. (carthage doesn't have much of an offense.....and no offense against a suspect D = no points...at least augie has an offensive strength).

And an injury report -

Mario Smith is most likely out next week (broke his hand......apparently happened before wheaton, but then aggravated it against wheaton......he's out 4-6 weeks, supposedly). Tim Bellazini (starting safety) seperated his shoulder vs. wheaton, but should be back against carthage after missing the IWU game. chuck ernest had a deep tissue bruise, he should be back against carthage after missing this week as well......i guess what it comes down to is that smith will most likely not be available for at least a couple weeks.....but everyone else should be a go.

[CardinalAlum]

i will go on record right now as saying no one in the cciw will be able to shut down North Central's offense. the only team that worries me right now is augie.....simply because of their running game. (carthage doesn't have much of an offense.....and no offense against a suspect D = no points...at least augie has an offensive strength).

RG,
That is an awfully bold statement to make after 2 conference games.  I'm still not sure how good the NCC o-line is.  The other factor to keep in mind is that the weather is getting colder and the wind is picking up and the rain is going to fall.  My feeling is that we have gotten away from the run too much and count on the pass.  Should be a great homecoming test this weekend. (15 year reunion by the way!)  I hope you are right, but I'm not quite as sure as you seem to be.

[usee]

goulet-you sound an awful lot like the augie faithful going into carthage week. while I agree NCC's offense will be carthage's biggest test, the opposite is also true. ncc has not seen a defense nearly as good as carthage. keep in mind wheaton held your offense to  points and a mere 160 yds in the first half. ncc got their yds when wheaton gave them 5 turnovers in the second half.....you can't give an offense that many opportunities.

carthage has a distinct style on offense and defense. on offense they snap the ball with the play clock near zero and committ to running it w play action involved. this effectively shortens the game (see play totals from carthage/augie vs. ncc/wheaton). in fact thru 4 games carthage and ncc have run virtually the exact # of plays offensively (289 and 290 respectively--roughly 70 a game) but defensively carthage has faced 52 less plays (227 to 279). that is an enormous difference and gets to the heart of the carthage defense. they are better at defending their style than you are at executing against it. also, ncc's defense is only better than IWU's thru 4 games. north park has a better defense than ncc statistically!! that's with the defensive player of the year on their team. that won't be good enough against carthage.

I am going on record as calling for a carthage win in naperville this weekend.

[Tailgater]

  He often lays up a big hanger that is up for grabs. 

Augievike93:
That's exactly what Roe's TD pass against Carthage was. Roe was back peddling for his life with a hard Carthage blitz coming down on him. He heaved a rainbow to the corner of the endzone where the taller Augie receiver was able to outjump the Carthage defenders. I'll give Roe credit as he did put the ball in a spot where it could be caught.......by someone

[Tailgater]

Auggiedoggie:
Missed you at the pre-game tailgate party. You didn't let vike35 shame you into not joining in our pregame feast I hope? Congrats to your team on a big win

[dansand]

augievike93,

Augie was shut out by Central 3-0 in a quagmire in week two of the 2003 season. I'm pretty sure that was the last time they went without a rushing TD. The last time they won without a rushing TD, near as I can figure, was a 14-6 win over Wheaton in '93. Both Viking scores came on Tommy King  TD passes. As far a projecting league champs and the like at this point, it's way, way to early for that. I think you could throw the top four (probably five) teams in a hat and any could be the best in a given week. Injuries and other surprises could still have a huge effect on the race. It is interesting to see who has who home and away the rest of their schedules though. Hopefully, Augie's ground game has passed its biggest obstacle (although they still have North Central, who shut them down last year), and the defense can continue what they've done the past three weeks. It'll be fun to see. Listening to the Carthage broadcast of last night's game, it was funny to hear their announcers comment on the dirty play of Augie. All I could think of was the Carthage gang taking pride in the fact that they were the dirtiest team in the league. Thankfully, there were no reports of nard-punching in last night's game. By the way, I hope Redmen96 is right about Carthage running the table the rest of the way. I'd love to see 'em do it.

[augiedogie]

Tailgator:

I was going to stop by, but I didn't get to Kenosha until probably 20 minutes before kick off. I some how found myself in Chicago's Greek Town at 4:30 Saturday morning trying to sober up with a gyros. It didn't work, and I was hurting trying to get up to Kenosha.    For people at the game, late in the 4th quarter, what did the Carthage player do to get the 15 yard personal foul penatly, because I couldn't really see what happened.

[Tailgater]

  For people at the game, late in the 4th quarter, what did the Carthage player do to get the 15 yard personal foul penatly, because I couldn't really see what happened.

augiedoggie:
I know too well what the penalty was. As I mentioned in an earlier post the penalty was on an O-lineman near and dear to my heart. He was flagged for a late hit (block) and it's no wonder you couldn't see what happened because a flag should never have been thrown. Although his second block came late in the play, it happened just prior to the play being whistled dead. I've watched my film and confirmed what I've said. This O-lineman is one of those guys that will hit you or the next nearest defender until he hears a whistle. I can tell you he was pretty upset after the game about it.

[Tailgater]

In my game summary on chances Carthage had to score, did I fail to mention Augie picked off 2 Sharp passes in the endzone? I know, get over it. By the end of the day I'll be thinking about NCC.

[Augie6]

What a great weekend in the CCIW.  Seems to me that this will be the norm until the end of the season.  I have to agree with several posters about Augie being in the driver's seat at this point in the season.  Over the past few weeks, they have been the most consistent team in the CCIW on both sides of the ball with the defense playing at a level that hasn't been seen over the past several seasons.  Carthage obviously has the best defense in the CCIW, but has not been able to score many points.  Wheaton, NCC and Millikin have put some big numbers on offense, but have also given up big numbers to their opponent's offenses.  As many Augie fans have posted over the past few years, the lack of a strong defense has been the primary reason for its inability to win the CCIW.  With the exception of the Central game, the defense has stepped up big-time this year.  If this continues, Augie has a great chance to end the year on top of the CCIW.

[washdupcard]

Here are my thoughts:

1.  Mario Smith being out is a huge loss for NCC.  Yes their reserves played well against IWU's QB (who they picked up off the street before the game,) but that doesn't mean much to me.

2.  The Carthage loss to Augie doesn't make Carthage any easier to beat this weekend in Naperville.  Augie's O is extrememly frustrating to play D against.  They get 3.5 yrds a play...and just kill the game.  Carthage needs this win to stay in the hunt...they will be fired up.

3.  I absolutely agree with Cardalum.  NCC living and dying by the pass...i would be more comfortable if they had a more consistent running game....the Spread offense is cool....but you're not going to beat Carthage D if you can't keep them honest.

4.  NCC at Augie scares me...Augie is going to be fired up (after getting destroyed last year by NCC)...Augie ball control O is perfect remedy for NCC air attack.

5.  Wheaton is not what they have been the last few years.

6.  Millikin will beat someone to shake up the standings.

[usee]

washdup-i would be interested to know why you think that about wheaton. have you seen them play?

[HughJass]

Yeah, Wheaton not as good as they have been?  By wheaton not being the same as they used to be do you mean not routing teams like they did?  Or does a loss to a tough NCC and a close win against a tougher millikin make that statement?  I don't doubt that they are good but you have to account for other teams stepping up and getting better...I think wheaton is the same, and others that much better this year.