FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[D3FLETCH]

Big day for the Thunder! Road games in Elmhurst always a bit scary. Hopefully this game will show that Wheaton deserves a shot. Committee members take notice.

[TrueGreen]

More embarrassment from the Titan "Game Notes" for today. Please stop doing this!

GLASS HALF FULL: Despite a 55-7 loss at North Central this past Saturday, the Titan defense held the No. 1 ranked Cardinals to their second-lowest point total of the season. IWU trailed North Central by six points at halftime, which was the second-closest halftime margin the Cardinals have faced this season. Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

[TrueGreen]

This is how huge a NPU victory would be today. I'm one nervous Titan. Again from the "Game Note":

"The Titans have been even more dominant at home, owning a 33-0 record against the Vikings at Tucci Stadium."

[Next Man Up]

More embarrassment from the Titan "Game Notes" for today. Please stop doing this!

GLASS HALF FULL: Despite a 55-7 loss at North Central this past Saturday, the Titan defense held the No. 1 ranked Cardinals to their second-lowest point total of the season. IWU trailed North Central by six points at halftime, which was the second-closest halftime margin the Cardinals have faced this season. Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

Perhaps the author forgot that a game consists of two halves. 

[Gregory Sager]

Big day for the Thunder! Road games in Elmhurst always a bit scary.

[Next Man Up]

Ya, how are the Crusaders ever going to contend with the irresistible force from Elmhurst? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan's color commentator is very good. He's clearly a former player who knows what to look for on a play. I always respect football colormen who identify and discuss blocking and line play.

[kiko]

Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

This is by far the best part.

[D3FLETCH]

Norm calling an inspired game for the Titans 

[D3FLETCH]

The Titans are playing possessed! Can't even imagine the post game headlines.

[blue_jays]

More embarrassment from the Titan "Game Notes" for today. Please stop doing this!

GLASS HALF FULL: Despite a 55-7 loss at North Central this past Saturday, the Titan defense held the No. 1 ranked Cardinals to their second-lowest point total of the season. IWU trailed North Central by six points at halftime, which was the second-closest halftime margin the Cardinals have faced this season. Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

Yeahhhhh they'd be better off saying as little as possible about the NCC beatdown. It also reeks of desperation. Just take the L and move on.

[Gregory Sager]

More embarrassment from the Titan "Game Notes" for today. Please stop doing this!

GLASS HALF FULL: Despite a 55-7 loss at North Central this past Saturday, the Titan defense held the No. 1 ranked Cardinals to their second-lowest point total of the season. IWU trailed North Central by six points at halftime, which was the second-closest halftime margin the Cardinals have faced this season. Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

Yeahhhhh they'd be better off saying as little as possible about the NCC beatdown. It also reeks of desperation. Just take the L and move on.

Again, credit to the IWU color commentator (dunno his name, but his nickname is "Pup") in this matter. When IWU's PBP guy made reference to how well the Titans are playing today against NPU by saying, "They've clearly cleaned up their mistakes from last week. They played very well in the first half against North Central, but in the second half made a lot of mistakes ... although North Central's a good team ...", Pup jumped right in and said, "Yeah, it wasn't a matter of mistakes. North Central is just a great team. They showed why they're the best."

Clearly, not everybody in Bloomington has a chronic case of Normitis.

[blue_jays]

More embarrassment from the Titan "Game Notes" for today. Please stop doing this!

GLASS HALF FULL: Despite a 55-7 loss at North Central this past Saturday, the Titan defense held the No. 1 ranked Cardinals to their second-lowest point total of the season. IWU trailed North Central by six points at halftime, which was the second-closest halftime margin the Cardinals have faced this season. Seven points is also the second most points that the Cardinal defense has given up this year.

Yeahhhhh they'd be better off saying as little as possible about the NCC beatdown. It also reeks of desperation. Just take the L and move on.

Again, credit to the IWU color commentator (dunno his name, but his nickname is "Pup") in this matter. When IWU's PBP guy made reference to how well the Titans are playing today against NPU by saying, "They've clearly cleaned up their mistakes from last week. They played very well in the first half against North Central, but in the second half made a lot of mistakes ... although North Central's a good team ...", Pup jumped right in and said, "Yeah, it wasn't a matter of mistakes. North Central is just a great team. They showed why they're the best."

Clearly, not everybody in Bloomington has a chronic case of Normitis.

Credit to Pup, glad he avoided the kool-aid. NCC imposes its will on teams, they set the terms. Anyone who watches football knows that the Cardinals are a destructive force, and the second half wave was inevitable. And even if the first half literally repeated itself, IWU still loses by multiple scores.
As a corrolary, Grinnell and UChicago were tied 3-3 after the first quarter today. By halftime, it's now 43-3 UChicago. Anyone can look good for a quarter.

[D3FLETCH]

Wow!
429 Rushing Yards. Congrats to the Titans. They showed last week they could do it for a half. This week they looked liked the defending national champs. One of the most impressive wins in the Norm era. Lots of special players developing at Tucci. These kids will compete for a title in 2022/2023.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 56
North Park 6

The IWU O-line absolutely blew back NPU's defensive front all day, and got to the second level plenty and put pads on Vikings LBs as well. Titans RBs ran riot all day, often not getting touched at all on long runs into the end zone, but if the Titans had chosen to focus on passing they could've done that at will, too, as their QB had all day to throw.

The Vikings were embarrassed in all three phases of the game. The one guy who put up decent numbers was A.J. Harris (9 catches for 171 yards), and even he gets downgraded because, like his fellow NPU wideouts, he was unable to secure several catchable passes.

I don't typically come down hard on the Vikings, because I don't usually expect anything of them. But over the past four weeks the Vikings have earned enough respect to attain the level at which their fans can demand at least a competitive game against the other teams in the CCIW's bottom seven. In an odd way, then, my criticism is a compliment -- NPU fans ought to feel disappointed in the poor performance by North Park today, because the Vikings have earned the right to disappoint their fans.

IWU colorman Pup said of his team's O-line, "Imagine if they had performed like this all season," and IWU fans probably wonder about those what-ifs, especially since they bulldozed North Park to record levels on a day when the Titans didn't even have their best RB in uniform.