FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

GS - what are your thoughts concerning NPU's chances vs. Wash U on Sat?

I don't wanna give away too much of my material for Saturday's inaugural North Park football broadcast. I will say that Wash U's defenders appeared to be a little quicker than Aurora's or Benedictine's, so NPU is going to have to execute the option even more sharply than it did in the first two games, and the execution in those wins have already set a pretty high standard. Wash U didn't go any deeper defensively than did the Spartans or the Eagles, though, and that could tell in the Park's favor in the fourth quarter. I'm also curious as to the health of Easton Knott, Wash U's best receiver. He went out with an injured leg in the fourth quarter of last Saturday's loss to Wittenberg, and although he returned to the game for Wash U's final desperation drive, he was clearly slowed and was favoring the leg.

Wash U goes with two quarterbacks, and they look pretty interchangeable. I'm curious to see which one gets the nod on Saturday.

Having watched the webcast of Wash U's narrow loss to #19 Wittenberg, my take is that the Bears are a narrow favorite on Saturday ... but it definitely appears to be a winnable game for NPU, based upon what I've seen of the Vikings in those two wins.

actually NPU games were broadcast live on the web in 2007 & 2008 by the Illinois Center for Broadcasting

Really? Wow, this is the first that I've ever heard of that. I guess that that tells you how well it was publicized.

[HoosierRedMan]

That being said, what threat does Carthage pose to NCC next   weekend? For whatever reason, whenever we travel to Carthage I get a little worried about the outcome.

You'll see a much improved defense from the Redmen as the new D coordinator has them playing very well.  So hopefully, NC won't put a bunch of points on the board and it'll be a close hard fought game.

 

[LETS ROLL]

Both Jordan Langs and Scott Roche made the d3football.com team of the week for their performances last week at UWP.


http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/9/20/FB_0920110131.aspx

[Always.A.Titan]

Both Jordan Langs and Scott Roche made the d3football.com team of the week for their performances last week at UWP.


http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/9/20/FB_0920110131.aspx

I feel like Jordan Langs has been playing at Wheaton for about 8 years now

[Always.A.Titan]

Stagg Bowl is on the move....

http://d3football.com/notables/2011/09/stagg-bowl-moves-to-friday-night

[Mugsy]

Both Jordan Langs and Scott Roche made the d3football.com team of the week for their performances last week at UWP.


http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/9/20/FB_0920110131.aspx

I feel like Jordan Langs has been playing at Wheaton for about 8 years now

Likely because he overlapped with his brother Tyler Langs.  A pretty decent brother duo I'd say.

[hazzben]

Stagg Bowl is on the move....

http://d3football.com/notables/2011/09/stagg-bowl-moves-to-friday-night

In the long run, I like the move. Primetime exposure for DIII is a good thing. Most high school playoffs are finished by this point in the season so you're probably not competing against that niche. Now they can turn on their TV for great DIII football during a dead season in the FBS calendar.

In the short run, if a non purple power was to make the stagg this year against either Mount of Whitewater, they'll be at a disadvantage, IMO. They would have been anyway, given that it would be an entirely new experience for players, coaches and everyone juggling all the details. The move to Friday makes the crunch and novelty that much harder. Seems like it would be an added hurdle to a new program playing against a program that is used to the Stagg and simply adjusting to it a day earlier.

It would also be an advantage for a team that hosted a semi-final and plays a team that had to travel and/or fly. Makes it that much more important to host a semi and that much more egregious if the committee doesn't get the #1 seeds right. If this had been last year, Whitewater would have flown to Wesley, played their game, jumped back on the plane for Wisconsin and had to turn around on a short week to get to VA. If they'd lost a day during Stagg week, I've got to think Kehres would have been using every second of Whitewater's extra travel pains to his advantage, like he was probably trying to do already.

That said, great teams find ways to win and overcome adversity, travel eccentricities included.

And now here's to hoping someone can actually break the purple stranglehold and make this potential disadvantage a reality they strive to overcome!

[Patrick Coleman]

It's the time slot that used to be occupied by the FCS title game, before FCS added a round to its playoffs and pushed its title game back three weeks.

[Always.A.Titan]

Both Jordan Langs and Scott Roche made the d3football.com team of the week for their performances last week at UWP.


http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/9/20/FB_0920110131.aspx

I feel like Jordan Langs has been playing at Wheaton for about 8 years now

Likely because he overlapped with his brother Tyler Langs.  A pretty decent brother duo I'd say.

That is exactly why. I remembered playing against a Langs DB and that seemed out of place that he could still be there. Luckily, it turns out, Wheaton has had 2 Langs.

What would everyone say the best brotherly duo in the CCIW was?

Recently, and it pains me to say this a little bit, but the Sulos would have to be right near the top of that list.

[LETS ROLL]

There was actually a third Langs brother on the roster for the thunder last year as a freshman, however, he did not come back to Wheaton this fall. I believe he had some nagging injuries that never healed quite right.


After playing with the Langs brothers and playing against the Sulos, I might have to give the nod to the Sulos as well. While both Langs brothers were great athletes, The Sulo boys were more physical, and Dominic had a greater impact on each game as a running back.

[LETS ROLL]

Correction: The Studebaker brothers had to be the best duo considering Andy now plays in the NFL and Dan was a solid Defensive Tackle at 300lbs for Wheaton.

Besides the Chupp brothers (Jeremy QB, and Joe WR) I don't know of any others in recent years.

[ncc58]

interesting article quoting UWP coach Mike Emmendorfer and how he thinks Wheaton has the most difficult offense to prepare for in the country.  He says it is the toughest offense they will play all year.  (Whitewater?) http://www.swnews4u.com/section/135/

It's all gamesmanship lakeshore. He's trying to keep a non-conference series going. He has to say these things - Whitewater? He's thinking one game at a time. He'll probably have a different opinion on or about Oct 1st. 

BTW, couldn't get that link to work.

Agreed that a lot of it is gamesmanship. However, there's no secret with the UWW offense. UWP has seen Coppage three years now, and probably on other game films too. It seems that UWW limit his carries until the really important games. UWP may have recruited many of the kids playing for UWW. None of them are secrets. They also know the coaching staffs, and probably know how they are going to gamecall.

Wheaton, on the other hand, is more of a mystery. Their roster takes on more of a national flavor. UWP may be seeing some of the players for the first time, even if they're sophs or juniors. And, they probably don't know the Wheaton coaches as well, so the play calling may seem more unpredictable.

[Gregory Sager]

Just a reminder that tomorrow's Wash U @ NPU contest will have a live audio webcast. Click on the Listen Live link to catch all the action. Kickoff is at 1 pm.

[BoBo]

interesting article quoting UWP coach Mike Emmendorfer and how he thinks Wheaton has the most difficult offense to prepare for in the country.  He says it is the toughest offense they will play all year.  (Whitewater?) http://www.swnews4u.com/section/135/

It's all gamesmanship lakeshore. He's trying to keep a non-conference series going. He has to say these things - Whitewater? He's thinking one game at a time. He'll probably have a different opinion on or about Oct 1st. 

BTW, couldn't get that link to work.

Agreed that a lot of it is gamesmanship. However, there's no secret with the UWW offense. UWP has seen Coppage three years now, and probably on other game films too. It seems that UWW limit his carries until the really important games. UWP may have recruited many of the kids playing for UWW. None of them are secrets. They also know the coaching staffs, and probably know how they are going to gamecall.

Wheaton, on the other hand, is more of a mystery. Their roster takes on more of a national flavor. UWP may be seeing some of the players for the first time, even if they're sophs or juniors. And, they probably don't know the Wheaton coaches as well, so the play calling may seem more unpredictable.

All good points Il Gator. The UWW offense is no secret to UWP or anybody really - they know what's coming, but still have a difficult time containing it for a complete 4 quarter game. Platteville hasn't been able to do it in many years.  Wheaton comes with a bit of the unknown. +k

[Stagg Again!!]

The Cardinals may have eviscerated (thanks GS) the Comets, but at least Olivet was principled enough to honor their contract.

One of North Central's non-conference games this season was supposed to be with Cornell IA) with whom they signed a home and away contract last year. However Cornell called the NCC athletic office in January and said after being stomped 41-7 at home by the Cards last year, there was no way they were coming to Naperville for a beat down this year. You would think that with the former NCC top ass't basketball coach now the head bb coach at Cornell, that enough of a relationship would have been established wherein such type of conduct would not have occurred.

Anyone know if there are any general implications/penalties involved with breaking a contract in D3land? Maybe it depends on the individual contract between the 2 schools.

I met some of the Olivet parents after the game. First class people who strongly support their son's efforts no matter how they compare to the competition. Hope they had a safe trip home. That white Explorer would have been a little lighter minus the baskets of apples and bananas and the cases of pop. Hope the Comets at least enjoyed their post game pizza if not the game.

Agreed (belatedly).  Olivet College's administration earned my respect by continuing to honor their contract.  The OC student athletes on the field Saturday (and last year) earned my respect by playing hard to the last minute of the game (check the box -- they scored both TDs fairly late in the game).  The OC parents and fans earned my respect by continuing to support their team at this time when the program is clearly in a rebuilding mode.  I look forward to playing OC again when they have turned the corner.  Until then, I wish the Comets the best with the remainder of their season.

I understand the sentiment towards Cornell backing out of their contract with NCC.  But didn't NCC then have a contract with Coe, only to back out because it was only for 1 year and Redlands offered a 2 year contract?  That game with Coe was showing up on the schedule.  I didn't think they released a schedule if the contract had been signed?

Hopefully, I can add a little clarity around this whole NCC/Coe matter that will help put this to bed once and for all (even for Pat).  No, there never was a contract between NCC and Coe, and no there never was a date agreed on by NCC and Coe.  Period. 

If you go back in time, you will see that NCC had three open slots on its schedule for 2010 - 9/3, 9/10 and 9/24.  NCC was having a bit of a challenge filling its schedule with local schools.  Long-time partners such as Benedictine were not interested in losing by wide margins any more (2008:  NCC 49 IBC 9; and 2009:  NCC 55 IBC 0), and other logical new partners such as Concordia of Illinois were not interested in adding more challenging opponents to their schedules.  (To avoid taking HUGE karma hits AGAIN, I thought I'd pause here for a moment and say that I am fine with the strategic decisions made by both of these schools.  I am only trying to address the issue at hand. )  NCC's administration, as you can imagine, was in discussion with every DIII college which had open dates on 9/3, 9/10 and 9/24.  Many of those schools had no interest in playing, and some of the ones that were interested in playing only wanted one year deals on their home fields.  Coe was one of those schools.  While discussions were going on with Coe regarding having a game on 9/3 or 9/10, they were also going on with Redlands and others.  Redlands came back and indicated an interest in a two-year home and away deal while the folks in Coe were still mulling things over.  The folks at Coe may have thought that once they unilaterally made a decision regarding the date that a contract would be drafted.  This was NOT the case.  NCC moved forward with their agreement with Redlands before Coe came back with their decision.  In the interim, the SID at Coe jumped the gun a bit (IMO) and posted the game on the school's website before a date was ever agreed on.

In retrospect, had the folks at NCC known that Coe was going to have a bit of an off year while Redlands was going to be able to replace its all-world QB with another talented athlete, I wonder if they would have opted for the game at Coe.  I personally doubt it as the appeal of the two year contract, the recruiting benefit of having a game on the west coast, and NCC's belief that Redlands shares many of its own core values would have led them to the same decision. 

As a fan of DIII football, I am elated that the school decided to enter into what I hope will be a long-time partnership with Redlands.  There are not enough inter-region games nationally.  The only schools which regularly are willing to travel are Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin Baylor, as well as a couple of the west coast schools.  Games like the NCC v. Redlands matchup will help teams like Redlands get the attention it deserves comes playoff selection time.