FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Jbothe]

I generally like the new NPI system as it takes away some of the variance due to subjectivity of different committee's year over year. That said I think the biggest drawback is the lack of mechanism to reward top teams with higher seeds.  I'm ok with Mt Union as a 1 seed and NCC as a 2 seed (though common result would argue that) but NCC at a 5 seed is totally ridiculous.

Let's see what happens when North Central runs through the field untouched as a #5 seed.

[CarollFan]

Looks like NCC is locked into the #4 spot unless teams ahead of them lose.

WashU is not a lock yet for the Isthmus bowl. Augie is the other team still in that race.

The 2 games this week that have the potential for being close are IWU @ Augie and Carthage @ NPU.

What if Wesleyan beats Augie and Augie beats WashU?  I have not played that scenario out yet. 

Kudos to Carthage this year.  Much improved team.

In that scenario assuming both WashU and Augie finish 7-3 it comes down to tiebreaker. Augie would have the head to head win. Not 100% sure on the tiebreaker rules.

[USee]

IWU, WashU and Augie would all finish with 3 conference losses in that scenario. IWU would have a 4th loss to Central in non-conf play. I don't know the tie breaker. I believe the WIAC had to figure this out at one point in the last couple years.

[CarollFan]

Here are tiebreaker rules. Now I got to sit down and map this out with this scenario

At least I'm assuming these are the rules.

https://cciw.org/sports/2010/6/29/Gen._0629100226.aspx?id=616#:~:text=The%20following%20tiebreaker%20procedure%20will,action%20involving%20all%20tied%20teams).

So head to head.
IWU beats Augie
Augie beats WashU
WashU beats IWU

I think this scenario could come down to point differential between tied teams.

Other scenarios:

WashU wins out and they take 3rd place.

Augie beats IWU, that takes IWU out (still play NCC) and WashU @ Augie last week of season would be for Isthmus.

If IWU wins this week, Carroll could play spoiler next week @IWU.

[USee]

This is the tie breaker rules for the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It has come down to this a couple times. I am not sure this is the Isthmus Bowl tie breaker but it could be. If so, WashU is currently +2 and IWU is -2 by virtue of the 42-20 win by WashU on Oct 4. If each of these teams win their other games and all finish with 3 conference losses (each lose to NCC and Wheaton and then to each other) the tie breaker comes into play. Here are the scenarios:

WashU beats Augie: WashU gets bid by virtue of 2 conf losses.
IWU loses to Augie: bid is determined by HTD Augie v WashU.

IWU beats Augie by 5. IWU would be +3 and Augie -5, and WashU +2 in the point differential. That means Augie would have to beat WashU by 9 points to earn the bid otherwise IWU goes and WashU would have no chance.

IWU beats Augie by 1. IWU would be -1, Augie would be -1 and WashU would be +2. Augie would need to beat WashU by 3pts to earn the bid otherwise WashU goes and IWU would have no chance.

Simply put, IWU needs to beat Augie by at least 5 and preferably as many points as they can to give themselves the best chance. A double digit win by IWU over Augie makes it very difficult for Augie to earn the bowl bid and WashU has a slim window via the tiebreaker either way.

I think his is correct, but I may have missed something (such as there is a totally different tie breaker for the bowl bid!)

[CarollFan]

Listening to latest ATN podcast, a couple things mentioned.

https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2025/10/29/atn-podcast-393-a-chat-with-the-chair-2025-style/

They still publish regional rankings although not used anymore.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/d3/regional-rankings

NPI formula could be updated next year but changes wouldn't take effect until 2027 season.

Top 24 teams should get a bye but Endicott and Ursinus did not last year.

[Pat Coleman]

Listening to latest ATN podcast, a couple things mentioned.

https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2025/10/29/atn-podcast-393-a-chat-with-the-chair-2025-style/

They still publish regional rankings although not used anymore.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/d3/regional-rankings

NPI formula could be updated next year but changes wouldn't take effect until 2027 season.

Top 24 teams should get a bye but Endicott was the only one who did not last year.

Actually, Ursinus did not either -- and Greg and I address that in that break between the two parts of the interview.

[Jbothe]

This is the tie breaker rules for the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It has come down to this a couple times. I am not sure this is the Isthmus Bowl tie breaker but it could be. If so, WashU is currently +2 and IWU is -2 by virtue of the 42-20 win by WashU on Oct 4. If each of these teams win their other games and all finish with 3 conference losses (each lose to NCC and Wheaton and then to each other) the tie breaker comes into play. Here are the scenarios:

WashU beats Augie: WashU gets bid by virtue of 2 conf losses.
IWU loses to Augie: bid is determined by HTD Augie v WashU.

IWU beats Augie by 5. IWU would be +3 and Augie -5, and WashU +2 in the point differential. That means Augie would have to beat WashU by 9 points to earn the bid otherwise IWU goes and WashU would have no chance.

IWU beats Augie by 1. IWU would be -1, Augie would be -1 and WashU would be +2. Augie would need to beat WashU by 3pts to earn the bid otherwise WashU goes and IWU would have no chance.

Simply put, IWU needs to beat Augie by at least 5 and preferably as many points as they can to give themselves the best chance. A double digit win by IWU over Augie makes it very difficult for Augie to earn the bowl bid and WashU has a slim window via the tiebreaker either way.

I think his is correct, but I may have missed something (such as there is a totally different tie breaker for the bowl bid!)

I assume if WashU wins out they get the Isthmus as long as Wheaton gets into NCAA?

[CarollFan]

I assume if WashU wins out they get the Isthmus as long as Wheaton gets into NCAA?

Yes we are assuming Wheaton gets in the playoffs. They are in a better position than last year.

We have to see who is left in the WIAC to play in the Isthmus. They are saying it's possible a 7-3 team from the WIAC could get in the playoffs.
I'm thinking UWS may be in the Isthmus again. We have to see how that shakes out next couple weeks.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 14
Carthage 10

Exciting end to this one, as NPU, whose offense had really not done much of anything all day (the first Vikings TD was from a pick-six in the first half), mustered up an end-of-game drive to win it in comeback fashion. It involved freshman QB Carson Lewis -- the fourth QB the Park has used this season -- taking the Vikings 92 yards in ten plays, featuring a 58-yard catch (mostly YAC) by Wesley McCloud on a 4th and 2 from the NPU 35 and a jump-ball catch in the back of the end zone by Micah Catron with 1:55 left that won the ballgame for the Vikings.

[Gregory Sager]

Meanwhile, on the ho-hum side of things:

North Central 65, Carroll 7
Wheaton 65, Elmhurst 0

[CarollFan]

Some of the streams having a rough day today.

Lost the NCC/Carroll stream late in first half and IWU/Augie freezing up in 4rth Q Augie 28-21.

[CarollFan]

WashU 38 Millikin 7 Final

Augie 42  IWU 21 4:23 left in 4rth

[Gregory Sager]

Wash U 38, Millikin 7
Augustana 42, Illinois Wesleyan 21

[CarollFan]

Looks like WashU/Augie have a play in game for the Isthmus the last week.

In the WIAC:

UWRF 52 UWW 14 Final
UWL 31 UWS 14 Final
UWP 21 UWO 14 Final