FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CardinalAlum]

Regional rankings are out......interesting.....

North:

1. Wheaton
2. North Central
3. Mount Union
4. Ohio Northern

[Patrick Coleman]

http://d3blogs.com/d3football/2010/10/27/first-2010-regional-rankings/

[CardinalAlum]

Even more interesting was UW-Whitewater #2 in the West region behind St. Thomas...

[Mr. Ypsi]

The West was actually not unexpected - last year UWW was FOURTH in the first rankings!  Since they have only 4 in-region games, I'm surprised they are not lower than second.

What is a real surprise is UMU third, behind both Wheaton and NCC.  With the remaining schedules, it seems possible that the winner of NCC/Wheaton could actually finish ahead of UMU in the final rankings!

[usee]

That would be interesting. Maybe this is the committee's new way of mixing things up. seed UMU 2 and let em stay in North. That would be very interesting indeed. Of course last time they were seeded #2 in the north it didn't really matter.

[CardinalAlum]

That would be interesting. Maybe this is the committee's new way of mixing things up. seed UMU 2 and let em stay in North. That would be very interesting indeed. Of course last time they were seeded #2 in the north it didn't really matter.

I'm all for making them #1 and moving them East!   

[usee]

Why would you want that? doesn't NCC want a shot at the title? You gotta get your Mt Union fix in sometime. I've been there 6 times. You NCC guys ought to get to go at least once.

[ncc_fan]

It looks like the committee paid attention to strength of schedule, even going so far as to rank some undefeated teams below one-loss teams with stronger schedules.  The Wheaton-NCC-UMU and UST-UWW orderings follow the SOS.

[02 Warhawk]

My parents live a few towns over from Naperville...i would consider making the trip down from WI to see Mount visit Naperville, if that would happen.

But I have a feeling Mount will move to the north before they get ranked second in the North behind NCC (or possibly Wheaton). Don't get me wrong, I'm routing for NCC to get that #1 seed 

[bleedpurple]

What is a real surprise is UMU third, behind both Wheaton and NCC.  With the remaining schedules, it seems possible that the winner of NCC/Wheaton could actually finish ahead of UMU in the final rankings!

Maybe in the final "Regional Rankings", but I really doubt an undefeated Mount team will be anything other than a #1 seed. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

What is a real surprise is UMU third, behind both Wheaton and NCC.  With the remaining schedules, it seems possible that the winner of NCC/Wheaton could actually finish ahead of UMU in the final rankings!

Maybe in the final "Regional Rankings", but I really doubt an undefeated Mount team will be anything other than a #1 seed. 

I agree.  Since UWW is equally possible for 'west' or 'north', and UMU can be 'north' or 'east', my guess is they are both 'locks' for #1 somewhere as long as they win out.

In my mind, the questions are:

Can Montclair St. defend the east for the 'east'?

Will Wesley hold off UMHB for the 'south'?

IF UMU goes 'east', will the NCC/Wheaton winner hold the 'north', or will UST hold the 'west' when UWW goes 'north'?

To my mind, the key question is UST vs. the CCIW winner for a #1 seed.  But there are still 3 weeks to go before this is a REAL debate.

[hazzben]

What is a real surprise is UMU third, behind both Wheaton and NCC.  With the remaining schedules, it seems possible that the winner of NCC/Wheaton could actually finish ahead of UMU in the final rankings!

Maybe in the final "Regional Rankings", but I really doubt an undefeated Mount team will be anything other than a #1 seed. 

I agree.  Since UWW is equally possible for 'west' or 'north', and UMU can be 'north' or 'east', my guess is they are both 'locks' for #1 somewhere as long as they win out.

In my mind, the questions are:

Can Montclair St. defend the east for the 'east'?

Will Wesley hold off UMHB for the 'south'?

IF UMU goes 'east', will the NCC/Wheaton winner hold the 'north', or will UST hold the 'west' when UWW goes 'north'?

To my mind, the key question is UST vs. the CCIW winner for a #1 seed. 

That's a great point. The stickler is that both regions are typically very tough.

Leave UWW in the 'West', with UMU 'East', and I think the 'West' is pretty nasty.

Move UMU 'East' and UWW 'North' & suddenly the latter looks ridiculously tough.

Funny that in either scenario, UWW is in for a tougher road than UMU.

[hazzben]

I totally support the access philosophy, and would not want to see any change in it.  The problem is that there are only SIX pool C bids.  Every year some teams who would beat half or more of the field get left out, most recently NCC who could probably have won the East (had not UMU been sent there).

But that's the hand we've been dealt - to end all doubt, win your AQ!

Agreed, but can we all admit that when the UMAC champ gets an AQ it will be a sad day.

Yuck! I can't even imagine what UWW or UST would do to that conference's AQ in the playoffs...oh wait, UST beat NWC 63 - 14 last year & NWC was right in the conference title hunt

[Mr. Ypsi]

Maybe.

While the West (with or without UWW) is tough, the North (with or without UMU OR UWW) still has NCC, Wheaton, CWRU, Trine, Wittenberg, Wabash, etc.  It's not like we will be the little sisters of the poor without either of the big guys!

[Stagg Again!!]

OK, away from regional ranking talk and back to reality.  There is a lot of football to be played and a great slate in the CCIW this coming weekend -- WC @ AC, NCC @ EC, and MU @ IWU.  WC, AC, NCC, and EC, are all 1-0 in the last seven days.  WC is coming off of a great come from behind win against CC; AC and NCC are coming off games with less than stellar offensive output; and EC is coming off a dominating performance against MU. 

WC and AC have played some thrillers over the last few years.  While the Crusaders/Thunder have prevailed in the past, this game will only be a good test if AC has a few offensive players on the field.  What does the M.A.S.H. unit look like in Rock Island?  NCC always gets up to play EC (and vice versa) since most of the EC coaching staff was once in Naperville (including, most notably, Head Coach Tim Lester and QB coach, Aaron Fanthorpe).  Finally, if IWU wants to keep their dwindling playoff hopes alive, they have to take care of business against a team that somehow (still a mystery to me if you saw the game or looked at the statistics) knocked them off last year.  Oh the intrigue!! 

I think there will be plenty of time for regional ranking talk after we get through the next two weeks.  During that stretch we have:  #1 WC v. AC and #2 NCC; #2 NCC v. EC and #1 WC; and #3 Mount Union (I must confess that felt silly writing #3 in front of MTU) v. Otterbein and #7 Baldwin-Wallace.