FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CarollFan]

Well NCC got to 21 in the 2nd Q and Wheaton got to 35 early in the 3rd. Looking good so far.

Keep an eye on MU vs. JCU 7-7 in the 4rth Q.

[CarollFan]

MU JCU go to OT 7-7

MU gets a FG blocked.

JCU gets down to MU 1, incomplete pass on 3rd and 1 and then misses the FG

2nd OT
JCU gets ball first and hits 39 yd FG

JCU leads 10-7 2nd OT
MU had a 4rth and 2 at JCU 4 and went for it and got stopped.

JCU with the bracket buster beat MU 10-7.

[CarollFan]

Wheaton 49  DePauw 24 Final

Wheaton with 483 yds total offense. 293 passing and 190 rushing averaging 5.4 yds a carry.

[Crusader92]

What a game for Wheaton! Pretty much speechless. Was hopeful, but did not see such a dominant performance this deep into the playoffs. Couldn't be happier for the entire program!

[CarollFan]

NCC 35 UWL 27 Final

The guys wanted Donovan McNeal back and he was back with 149 yds rushing on 12 attempts and a TD.

Next is Bethel who beat UWP 35-24 but there will be no NCC vs. Mount Union match up as
JCU pulled off the upset and knocked out Mount Union.

[CarollFan]

Wheaton gets UWRF as UWRF beat St. John's 42-14.

[USee]

Wheaton 49
DePauw 24

Wheaton 483 total yards. 190 rushing and 293 passing
Matt Crider 22 carries 120 yds
Mark Forcucci 16-27 293 yds 4 TD's
Peter Johanik 2.5 Sacks (including a strip sack that resulted in scoop and score)

My game ball goes to the Wheaton coaches for a brilliant game plan. The players executed it exceptionally well. Jesse Scott is one of the best offensive minds in the game. DePauws defense was cause for concern as their scheme creates chaos with all their movement and penetration. Jesse came in and lined up in a 2 TE offense (without AA TE Ben Juska who was out due to injury) and just came right at this defense which effectively neutralized their ability to penetrate. The result was just 2 TFL for a team that averaged 7 a game. 1 sack for a team that averaged almost 4 a game. And Wheaton rushed for 190 total yards and had their RB rush for 120 against a DePauw defense that was giving up 13 yds rushing a game and no team had close to 100 yds total this season. And Forcucci did his thing with his WR group with Kortenhoeven leading the way (4 for 106 and 1 TD).

Defensively Wheaton played bump man against OPOY and Gagliardi semifinalist WR Robby Ballentine and had a safety over the top which allowed the cover corner to be very aggressive. They limited #84 to just 4 catches for 52 yds and he was a non factor in this game. The advantage of Wheaton's DE's vs the DPU OT's was evident as the Thunder sacked QB Ballentine 7x and pressured him regularly.

A dominant effort against a really good team.

[wally_wabash]

Wheaton 49
DePauw 24

Wheaton 483 total yards. 190 rushing and 293 passing
Matt Crider 22 carries 120 yds
Mark Forcucci 16-27 293 yds 4 TD's
Peter Johanik 2.5 Sacks (including a strip sack that resulted in scoop and score)

190 on a team that had allowed 143 total in 11 games this year. Bravo.  Outstanding effort everywhere, but especially that side of the ball today for the Thunder. 

This is why I do not coach. 

[USee]

DPU's slanting, penetrating defense was built for the modern spread offense. Very difficult to identify and block 8 different players in a spread offense. Jesse Scott knew this and lined up in an old school 2 TE look (no spread) and ran right at DPU which forces them to defeat blocks (double teams, etc). Effectively eliminates the penetration scheme. Brilliant move but also a testament to the versatility of the Thunder offense as they can go 4 wide or 2 TE. They also ran a veer dive offense in short yardage (ala Navy) which is tough for a 3-4 defense to defend.

I have to think playing Mt Union and NCC on the road early this season helped this team the last two weeks. They are road warriors. Hopefully the music continues next week but this will be the toughest challenge yet.

[CarollFan]

Logan's projections.

Wheaton 17.3% win %.

https://hansenratings.github.io/2025%20Round%204.html

[NCC2010]

We need to see what the post-blaha era brings. But I said to my brother yesterday, UWRF feels a little like 2003 SJU. A very good team, with a transcendent player, and a feeling of almost inevitability. That Mount team was also regarded like this NCC team. Supposedly the best ever and unbeatable.
 

We need to see what the post-blaha era brings. But I said to my brother yesterday, UWRF feels a little like 2003 SJU. A very good team, with a transcendent player, and a feeling of almost inevitability. That Mount team was also regarded like this NCC team. Supposedly the best ever and unbeatable.
 

Not sure who is saying NCC is the best ever and unbeatable...certainly not coming from NCC fans. Most of us realize that the team took a pretty sizable step back after last season, especially on offense.

I wasn't clear, I was meaning to say "best ever Mount team." That said ...

Logan's metric's earlier this year had NCC as the 5th highest since 1997, but all 4 above them achieved their peak in the post-season. Higher than peak 2022 NCC in Rd 4 and peak 2024 NCC in week 7. Even more interesting now that I'm looking back at the list, they are just ahead of 2003 Mount Union Rd 4.

Logan's regular season only list has NCC with the highest ever regular season rating.

Bringing this post over to the CCIW board, it is interesting to note that now NCC isn't even the highest team rated left in the field.  UWRF has surpassed them this week.

https://x.com/LogHanRatings/status/1997407900008931713?s=20

[NCC2010]

Logan's projections.

Wheaton 17.3% win %.

https://hansenratings.github.io/2025%20Round%204.html

Also, interesting to note D3football.com has the Wheaton-UWRF game not starting until 2PM CT, which is out of the norm as I thought all games were supposed to start at noon local time.  Very cool though that they are spreading them out so people can watch more of each game.

[New Tradition]

Logan's projections.

Wheaton 17.3% win %.

https://hansenratings.github.io/2025%20Round%204.html

Also, interesting to note D3football.com has the Wheaton-UWRF game not starting until 2PM CT, which is out of the norm as I thought all games were supposed to start at noon local time.  Very cool though that they are spreading them out so people can watch more of each game.

I guess RF has a graduation that conflicts with the noon start.  Let Wheaton host it, in that case 

[CarollFan]

I would think UWRF QB is front runner for the Gagliardi trophy.
He not only is throwing the ball all over the place, he has over 1,000 yards rushing this season. He had 26 rushing attempts against St. John's.

If you want to vote for the Gagliardi:

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/gagliardi-voting

[hazzben]

We need to see what the post-blaha era brings. But I said to my brother yesterday, UWRF feels a little like 2003 SJU. A very good team, with a transcendent player, and a feeling of almost inevitability. That Mount team was also regarded like this NCC team. Supposedly the best ever and unbeatable.
 

We need to see what the post-blaha era brings. But I said to my brother yesterday, UWRF feels a little like 2003 SJU. A very good team, with a transcendent player, and a feeling of almost inevitability. That Mount team was also regarded like this NCC team. Supposedly the best ever and unbeatable.
 

Not sure who is saying NCC is the best ever and unbeatable...certainly not coming from NCC fans. Most of us realize that the team took a pretty sizable step back after last season, especially on offense.

I wasn't clear, I was meaning to say "best ever Mount team." That said ...

Logan's metric's earlier this year had NCC as the 5th highest since 1997, but all 4 above them achieved their peak in the post-season. Higher than peak 2022 NCC in Rd 4 and peak 2024 NCC in week 7. Even more interesting now that I'm looking back at the list, they are just ahead of 2003 Mount Union Rd 4.

Logan's regular season only list has 2025 NCC with the highest ever regular season rating.

Bringing this post over to the CCIW board, it is interesting to note that now NCC isn't even the highest team rated left in the field.  UWRF has surpassed them this week.

https://x.com/LogHanRatings/status/1997407900008931713?s=20

Thanks NCC2010...My point above was simply that there's a feeling of inevitability to the NCC vs UWRF stagg (though I hope to be proved wrong Saturday). We didn't have logan's metrics in 2003, and while SJU didn't lose that year like UWRF has this year, they had a few close calls. But Blaha gives me serious Blake Elliot vibes. It remains to be seen if the rest of the team around him is as good as SJU's 03 supporting cast. And 2025 NCC may yet prove immortal, where 03 Mount got shocked.

I could be dead wrong, but I feel like we have the semifinal pairings a week early. NCC, UWRF, Wheaton, and Bethel are all playing really well right now on both sides of the ball. The biggest threats to an All Midwest Red Stagg Bowl IMO are Wheaton and Bethel. JHU and Sus are both really good teams with some awesome weapons, but I just can't see them as compete enough teams to win 3 more games. JCU v Berry feels similar. JCU is playing incredible D, has a very good QB and WR combo, and they just knocked off Mount. They might be the sleeper. But it's one thing to beat Mount, an opponent they are very familiar with. It's another to win on the road in the Semi's with a totally unfamiliar, physical, and balanced foe. Their posters assume NCC in the semi's is a fait accompli, but Bethel would fit that bill as well. I'll save my deep dive into these games for later in the week, both home teams are clear favorites. But they have two real hurdles to clear first.