FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Probably not related but I did say back when the news broke that I was guessing Wash U was being kicked out bc  CCIW had someone else lined up to add as a full member 

The press release stated that the move was about expansion.

Yes. The departure of Wash U and the arrival of CUW are completely unrelated.

[D3fanboy]

NCC week 1 preview is out. Interesting that it doesn't include a 2 deep like usual, they are keeping everyone guessing on who is starting at QB on Saturday

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2025/9/11/football-week-1-preview-Oshkosh.aspx

It was posted for a few seconds and has Lavery starting with Ashiru as the back up. 

The document is still there actually, they just removed the link to it:

https://northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2025/9/11/football_gameday_program_vs_UWO_2025.pdf

All I will say is if that is the actual depth chart and not some sort of gamesmanship play to keep Oshkosh guessing, I would not have the Cardinals ranked #1 in the polls...

it's wild, that in '25 the big dogs of D3FB still think that delaying roster updates, playing game notes games, pulling replays of game streams is the thing to do.  NCC, Mount, the cheaters in TX, Cortland all do it, and they are all wrong.  No coach is sitting around waiting for the game notes, if somebody wants to analyze the game stream, they likely recorded it.  It's all fugazi. 

[GusD]

So the net result for football is that the CCIW has traded WashU for CUW. I'm not happy about that.

I really hope the Bears can get North Central, Wheaton and others on the schedule every so often. 

I second that motion.

[GusD]

NCC week 1 preview is out. Interesting that it doesn't include a 2 deep like usual, they are keeping everyone guessing on who is starting at QB on Saturday

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2025/9/11/football-week-1-preview-Oshkosh.aspx

It was posted for a few seconds and has Lavery starting with Ashiru as the back up. 

The document is still there actually, they just removed the link to it:

https://northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2025/9/11/football_gameday_program_vs_UWO_2025.pdf

All I will say is if that is the actual depth chart and not some sort of gamesmanship play to keep Oshkosh guessing, I would not have the Cardinals ranked #1 in the polls...

it's wild, that in '25 the big dogs of D3FB still think that delaying roster updates, playing game notes games, pulling replays of game streams is the thing to do.  NCC, Mount, the cheaters in TX, Cortland all do it, and they are all wrong.  No coach is sitting around waiting for the game notes, if somebody wants to analyze the game stream, they likely recorded it.  It's all fugazi. 

Just saw a very prominent member of the NCC staff at a local dining establishment. I said "So Lavery is starting"? His response was "We'll see. Maybe that's what we want them to think." So the mystery continues. 

I will say if Lavery does start it will be against all odds. Almost all the talk I've heard around campus the last couple of weeks, both from coaches and students, has had Wilson starting with Ashiru as the backup. At the women's volleyball game Tuesday night one of the guys basketball players told me he asked 11 people that night what their opinion was, and 8 said Wilson, 2 Ashiru, and 1 Lavery. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. 

[RFMichigan]

So CUW will be joining the CCIW, huh. I'd love to know the background and details of this from the CUW side but those folks are extremely tight-lipped about everything. I'm wondering if CUW's jettisoning of CUAA has anything - and I mean ANYTHING - to do with this.

Listen - the Concordia system is not all that healthy and have closed four colleges in the past five years. (Ann Arbor is all but closed.) I've always thought that CUW is among the two "healthiest" schools in the system but apparently Ann Arbor was a major drain financially. Now I'm not saying that CUW cut Ann Arbor just to get into the CCIW, but I'm not sure they could have been accepted into the conference with Ann Arbor still attached.

As a CUC (that would be CURF!) alum and fan I have mixed feelings about this. The reality is that CUW is in much better shape than CUC so realistically I can't be jealous that CUW will now be in a more prestigious conference (Okay there is a bit of envy!); I just hope CUC stays open in the medium-term. It is too bad that CUC and CUW will not be in the same conference any longer in that they will no longer be playing each other on a regular basis. After all they are sister schools. However, the missions of the Concordia are a lot different now than they used to be and I'm not sure they have all that much in common when you get down to the respective student bodies and athletic teams.

Having said all that, I hope they get crushed in the CCIW.😄

[D3fanboy]

NCC week 1 preview is out. Interesting that it doesn't include a 2 deep like usual, they are keeping everyone guessing on who is starting at QB on Saturday

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2025/9/11/football-week-1-preview-Oshkosh.aspx

It was posted for a few seconds and has Lavery starting with Ashiru as the back up. 

The document is still there actually, they just removed the link to it:

https://northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2025/9/11/football_gameday_program_vs_UWO_2025.pdf

All I will say is if that is the actual depth chart and not some sort of gamesmanship play to keep Oshkosh guessing, I would not have the Cardinals ranked #1 in the polls...

it's wild, that in '25 the big dogs of D3FB still think that delaying roster updates, playing game notes games, pulling replays of game streams is the thing to do.  NCC, Mount, the cheaters in TX, Cortland all do it, and they are all wrong.  No coach is sitting around waiting for the game notes, if somebody wants to analyze the game stream, they likely recorded it.  It's all fugazi. 

Just saw a very prominent member of the NCC staff at a local dining establishment. I said "So Lavery is starting"? His response was "We'll see. Maybe that's what we want them to think." So the mystery continues. 

I will say if Lavery does start it will be against all odds. Almost all the talk I've heard around campus the last couple of weeks, both from coaches and students, has had Wilson starting with Ashiru as the backup. At the women's volleyball game Tuesday night one of the guys basketball players told me he asked 11 people that night what their opinion was, and 8 said Wilson, 2 Ashiru, and 1 Lavery. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. 

it's all so lame and antiquated.  I expect that out of Mount, but if you are the new money teams...play into social media/streaming era.  More eyeballs = more tweets, transfers, exposure, etc

[WUPHF]

Yes. The departure of Wash U and the arrival of CUW are completely unrelated.

Right, I believed you when you said that the decision was based on other reasons.

I was just pointing out that it was not particularly prescient to have predicted that the league had expansion in mind.

[robertgoulet]

NCC week 1 preview is out. Interesting that it doesn't include a 2 deep like usual, they are keeping everyone guessing on who is starting at QB on Saturday

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2025/9/11/football-week-1-preview-Oshkosh.aspx

It was posted for a few seconds and has Lavery starting with Ashiru as the back up. 

The document is still there actually, they just removed the link to it:

https://northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2025/9/11/football_gameday_program_vs_UWO_2025.pdf

All I will say is if that is the actual depth chart and not some sort of gamesmanship play to keep Oshkosh guessing, I would not have the Cardinals ranked #1 in the polls...

it's wild, that in '25 the big dogs of D3FB still think that delaying roster updates, playing game notes games, pulling replays of game streams is the thing to do.  NCC, Mount, the cheaters in TX, Cortland all do it, and they are all wrong.  No coach is sitting around waiting for the game notes, if somebody wants to analyze the game stream, they likely recorded it.  It's all fugazi. 

Just saw a very prominent member of the NCC staff at a local dining establishment. I said "So Lavery is starting"? His response was "We'll see. Maybe that's what we want them to think." So the mystery continues. 

I will say if Lavery does start it will be against all odds. Almost all the talk I've heard around campus the last couple of weeks, both from coaches and students, has had Wilson starting with Ashiru as the backup. At the women's volleyball game Tuesday night one of the guys basketball players told me he asked 11 people that night what their opinion was, and 8 said Wilson, 2 Ashiru, and 1 Lavery. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. 

it's all so lame and antiquated.  I expect that out of Mount, but if you are the new money teams...play into social media/streaming era.  More eyeballs = more tweets, transfers, exposure, etc

Pretty ignorant to think this doesn't happen at any competitive level. High school included.

[Cardinal773]

What ever happened to The Red Zone on NCTV?

[Kovo]

Probably not related but I did say back when the news broke that I was guessing Wash U was being kicked out bc  CCIW had someone else lined up to add as a full member 

The press release stated that the move was about expansion.

Yes. The departure of Wash U and the arrival of CUW are completely unrelated.

But for me, I would have been thrilled to add CUW as a full member and keep Wash U for football.  In terms of NCC, we no longer would have to hunt for a non-conference opponent and the CCIW could stagger the bye weeks instead of having them on week one and two which doesn't help playoff contenders.

[Gregory Sager]

My impression is that the league's braintrust is not interested in turning CCIW football into an entirely in-house sport, as it is for the NESCAC. They like the idea of CCIW teams playing at least one non-conference game or match in every sport.

[washdupcard]

It's listed on NCC's 2025 schedule.

https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/football/schedule

Beat me to it; I just got the app ping that the schedule was out.

NCC hosts Oshkosh on Saturday 9/13.

Playing on September 13th at 1 PM. That makes perfect sense especially in the era of increased player (not to mention fans) safety. It'll probably only be about 90 degrees 🫠. The game should be played at 6:00. And if Oshkosh is coming in Friday, play at 11 AM. Avoid the hottest part of the day plus UWO gets home a lot earlier.

I could see your point if NCC was in the South, but it's in Northern Illinois...the average high temperature in mid September is 77 degrees. Referring to this as a player or fan safety is just absurd.

https://weatherspark.com/m/13359/9/Average-Weather-in-September-in-Naperville-Illinois-United-States

You should have seen my point the minute you knew the game was in September, washdupcard. At this moment the predicted high in Naperville for this Saturday is indeed 90 degrees! At that temperature it won't be at all surprising to see players cramping up like crazy, and possibly passing out. And the fans sitting in the west facing stands absent of even a bit of shade will be baking like a sweet potato pie, and subject to the same possible effects as the players. So referring to these conditions as a question of player/fan safety is absurd huh??
Think again. Perhaps you've forgotten that over the years there have been several September games with temps in the 80s. In the interest of safety, not to mention comfort, September games should be played at night.

A blazing 73 degrees at kickoff today in Naperville. 

[WLCALUM83]

The "Lutheran Bowl" CUW/WLC rivalry also would be shifted to a non-conference matchup-if it continues.

[CarollFan]

So Wilson, the Ok St transfer, is the starting QB?

NCC offense started slow in the first but D was solid from the start.
The OL looked like it was struggling in 1rst Q but got the running game going, Skokna doing his thing, Wilson running a little too.

[NCC2010]

Just got back from the game—here are my thoughts...

The defense looks great. Obviously, they are returning a ton of talent there, but the transfers also mixed in well. Maverick Ohle replaced Cortez at DT and already looks like an All-American-type talent next to Sullivan. They gave up the 1-yard TD after the blocked punt, but after that, Oshkosh couldn't do much until the backups subbed in during the 4th quarter. Renick, the transfer from Wittenberg, was coming in as a designated pass rusher on passing situations. Groark is back from injury and, instead of playing corner, is essentially replacing Orr at nickel/OLB. I talked to one of the coaches, and they think this defense has a chance to be the best in school history.

Wilson got the start at QB and is definitely the guy moving forward. Ashiru came in on a few short-yardage situations to essentially be a wildcat type, but otherwise he was in with the backups at the end of the game. Wilson started slow but really got in a groove as the game went along. I think he is more accurate than Lehnen was already, has more arm strength as well, but is definitely not the runner that Luke was—despite the nice zone read he pulled and ran in for the 60-yard TD. He's got what seems like pretty decent pocket awareness, and he is a really big kid—listed at 6'3", 225 lbs—and I definitely think those numbers are accurate.

The OL is definitely not as dominant as in the past few seasons, which is understandable after graduating Pryor and Maples, who are two of the best OL we've ever had. Cortez looks like our best OL, which makes sense why they moved him over from the defense. They still have more time to gel, but the running lanes were not as massive as we have become accustomed to.

Sean Allen got the bulk of the carries, but in my opinion, Donovan McNeal is the best pure rusher they have. They didn't give him any carries until the 2nd quarter, which I didn't understand, but he basically took over a drive on the way to their first TD. His explosiveness really stands out.

Skokna is an All-American WR, and clearly Wilson's favorite target—he was uncoverable today. The WR corps on the whole is stacked, with Skokna, Rummell, and NIU transfer Jalen Johnson getting the most reps along with Myles Walton. Johnson is actually the son of the assistant athletic director, was all-state in high school in track (300m hurdles), and is every bit of 6'5".

I think the offense will be slightly more pass-heavy than in the past few years, due to the depth at WR, Wilson's arm, and the lack of the rushing threat that Lehnen posed.

Aidan Ellison the new kicker transfer from Arkansas State (played in high school at Naperville Central) has an absolute cannon of a leg.  I couldn't believe it when they trotted him out there for a 56 yard FG attempt.  He missed wide but had enough distance.  Had multiple kickoffs out of the back of the endzone as well.

All in all, a great way to start the season after trailing 7-0 after the first quarter.  Very excited to see what this team can accomplish the rest of the season.