FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CarollFan]

The reporter and the NCC people interviewed seemed to have overlooked the fact that there's already a D3 school called North Central University here in the midwest.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/02/north-central-college-naperville-name-change/

Article discussing possible name change for NCC. Its behind a paywall but  I think you get a free view, at least I did.

Is "we're very good at football" College one of the options?

It probably has slightly more cachet than We're Very Good At Women's Wrestling College.

Naperville University (NU) similar to Aurora University

[CHUBBS PETERSON]

Yes, two non-conference games. Last we heard, North Central is playing Wartburg but still needs a second non-conference game for 2026.

Field was tough, for sure. Very surprised it wasn't better cared for. It snowed here on Thursday and never got above freezing after that. Also, the big south grandstand kept the field in shadows the whole time, not the the sun ever came out.

They ought to have tarped the field, clearly.

Have possibilities like San Antonio or a city along the central Gulf Coast been explored? Something like Mobile or Gulfport/Biloxi would almost certainly mean better playing conditions and a site more desirable from a tourism perspective. Yes I know it was at the Pro Football HoF, but an Ohio Hockey rink in January is no time and place to decide a national championship. Has to be a better, workable solution.

[mr_b]

The reporter and the NCC people interviewed seemed to have overlooked the fact that there's already a D3 school called North Central University here in the midwest.

Well, there are two schools named Wheaton College, so you see (IL) and (MA) after "Wheaton" when there is any chance of confusion.

I recall being in faculty meetings when North Park College was considering a name change back in the late 1990s to reflect its wider range of degree offerings.  Several names were being considered: North Park University, the University of North Park, and Nyvall University, in honor of the founder of the school.  While the third choice garnered some support, many faculty and administrators felt that they would lose name recognition among alums and prospective students. This was also during the heyday of the printed Peterson Guides (and other such publications) which listed institutions alphabetically.  The listing for "University of North Park" would have been placed along with a panoply of other institutions that began with "University of...," and prospective students looking for "North Park..." would have come up empty.  I'm not sure how much that weighed in on the final decision, but I'm sure it was a consideration.  I think everyone wanted to continue with the already familiar name, but with "University" replacing "College" in the name.  It seemed to be a logical progression of when North Park went from a Junior College to a four-year institution, starting in 1958.

[ncc_fan]

One thing that completely missed me when I was thinking about this matchup was that Wilson is in his 1st season as starting QB, is only a true sophomore and has not really been tested for more than 1/2 a game. Should have expected some growing pains, I guess.

Going to take a look at the NCC 2 deep and see what they lose going into next year, at some point.

Stagg Bowl passing stats of NCC first-year QBs

	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Long	Sack
Lehnen vs. UMHB	18	27	202	1	3	30	3
Wilson vs. UWRF	18	28	194	0	2	30	3

Eerily similar, eh?
I recall vaguely that Lehnen went on to do pretty well in years 2-4, so I'm hoping for the same from Wilson!   

[cubs]

It's interesting/entertaining to go back and read some of the predictions from before the game... The common theme seemed to be that the River Falls defense would struggle to stop North Central. Ironically, that unit posts a shutout in the second half against the vaunted North Central offense despite just one turnover, albeit an incredible individual play by a d-lineman in the 4th quarter.

While Blaha was the best player on the field, that that River Falls defense stood tall and deserves a ton of credit for the Stagg Bowl victory!

[ncc_fan]

It's interesting/entertaining to go back and read some of the predictions from before the game... The common theme seemed to be that the River Falls defense would struggle to stop North Central. Ironically, that unit posts a shutout in the second half against the vaunted North Central offense despite just one turnover, albeit an incredible individual play by a d-lineman in the 4th quarter.

While Blaha was the best player on the field, that that River Falls defense stood tall and deserves a ton of credit for the Stagg Bowl victory!

Agree!  If some omniscient being had told me before the game that the NCC defense would limit UWRF's offense & Blaha to 24 points, I'd have felt pretty confident the Cardinals would win.  UWRF D vs. NCC O was the difference.

[Gregory Sager]

The reporter and the NCC people interviewed seemed to have overlooked the fact that there's already a D3 school called North Central University here in the midwest.

Well, there are two schools named Wheaton College, so you see (IL) and (MA) after "Wheaton" when there is any chance of confusion.

That's true, and I thought of that while I was writing the post, but there's a couple of important differences:

1) Both Wheatons were already called "Wheaton College" when they entered D3 upon the NCAA's inception of the division in the early 1970s, so, unlike the North Central situation, there was nothing that anybody could do about it; and

2) There's extremely little interface between the two Wheaton Colleges, given the fact that they're over a thousand miles apart. Thanks to the trustworthy recordkeeping of Wheaton (IL) SID Brett Marhanka, I can pretty much guarantee that the Thunder and the Lyons have only met twice in athletic competition: two softball games played in Florida, one in 2002 and the other in 2019, both won by the Lyons. The only real potential for confusion is among D3 men's soccer fans, since that's the only sport in which both of the Wheatons excel, and even when posters in the d3boards.com soccer rooms neglect to put (IL) or (MA) after "Wheaton" it's always easy to pick up which Wheaton is being discussed via context.

North Central (IL) and North Central (MN), on the other hand, are only 400 miles apart, and, while the CCIW and the UMAC don't cross paths often, a lot of teams (especially WIAC, MWC, and NACC teams in Wisconsin and ARC teams in Iowa) periodically encounter both/either the Cardinals and/or the Rams on the court/field/pitch/course/whatever.

Of course, if our friends in Naperville do choose to recast their institution as NCU, this will give USee and his orange-and-blue tribe ample opportunities to taunt the southernmost DuPage County CCIW school by pointing out that Wheaton was the first school in the division to have a D3 doppelgänger.

I recall being in faculty meetings when North Park College was considering a name change back in the late 1990s to reflect its wider range of degree offerings.  Several names were being considered: North Park University, the University of North Park, and Nyvall University, in honor of the founder of the school.  While the third choice garnered some support, many faculty and administrators felt that they would lose name recognition among alums and prospective students. This was also during the heyday of the printed Peterson Guides (and other such publications) which listed institutions alphabetically.  The listing for "University of North Park" would have been placed along with a panoply of other institutions that began with "University of...," and prospective students looking for "North Park..." would have come up empty.  I'm not sure how much that weighed in on the final decision, but I'm sure it was a consideration.  I think everyone wanted to continue with the already familiar name, but with "University" replacing "College" in the name.  It seemed to be a logical progression of when North Park went from a Junior College to a four-year institution, starting in 1958.

My alternate suggestion at the time, Axe-Wielding Norse Marauders University, seemed to fall upon deaf ears. I couldn't understand the lack of enthusiasm, since it dovetailed perfectly with my other idea to replace "Hail to the Varsity" with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" as the school's fight song.

[Toby Taff]

One thing that completely missed me when I was thinking about this matchup was that Wilson is in his 1st season as starting QB, is only a true sophomore and has not really been tested for more than 1/2 a game. Should have expected some growing pains, I guess.

Going to take a look at the NCC 2 deep and see what they lose going into next year, at some point.

I actually sent a message to our UMHB group chat during the game that said, "this is starting to feel like 2021."
Stagg Bowl passing stats of NCC first-year QBs

	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Long	Sack
Lehnen vs. UMHB	18	27	202	1	3	30	3
Wilson vs. UWRF	18	28	194	0	2	30	3

Eerily similar, eh?
I recall vaguely that Lehnen went on to do pretty well in years 2-4, so I'm hoping for the same from Wilson!   

[Pat Coleman]

One thing that completely missed me when I was thinking about this matchup was that Wilson is in his 1st season as starting QB, is only a true sophomore and has not really been tested for more than 1/2 a game. Should have expected some growing pains, I guess.

Going to take a look at the NCC 2 deep and see what they lose going into next year, at some point.

Stagg Bowl passing stats of NCC first-year QBs

	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Long	Sack
Lehnen vs. UMHB	18	27	202	1	3	30	3
Wilson vs. UWRF	18	28	194	0	2	30	3

Eerily similar, eh?
I recall vaguely that Lehnen went on to do pretty well in years 2-4, so I'm hoping for the same from Wilson!   

Lehnen was hurt in that game, too!

[CarollFan]

Stagg Bowl Highlights.

[lmitzel]

I recall being in faculty meetings when North Park College was considering a name change back in the late 1990s to reflect its wider range of degree offerings.  Several names were being considered: North Park University, the University of North Park, and Nyvall University, in honor of the founder of the school.  While the third choice garnered some support, many faculty and administrators felt that they would lose name recognition among alums and prospective students. This was also during the heyday of the printed Peterson Guides (and other such publications) which listed institutions alphabetically.  The listing for "University of North Park" would have been placed along with a panoply of other institutions that began with "University of...," and prospective students looking for "North Park..." would have come up empty.  I'm not sure how much that weighed in on the final decision, but I'm sure it was a consideration.  I think everyone wanted to continue with the already familiar name, but with "University" replacing "College" in the name.  It seemed to be a logical progression of when North Park went from a Junior College to a four-year institution, starting in 1958.

My alternate suggestion at the time, Axe-Wielding Norse Marauders University, seemed to fall upon deaf ears. I couldn't understand the lack of enthusiasm, since it dovetailed perfectly with my other idea to replace "Hail to the Varsity" with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" as the school's fight song.

If it weren't for the religious ties NPU has, I'd be advocating for "Swedish Pagans" because it would A, go with your "Axe-Wielding Norse Marauders University" name, and B, that song goes hard.

[Gregory Sager]

I used to think that North Park should swap out "Vikings" in favor of "Fighting Swedes", because: a) even though "Vikings" is a fitting nickname for a school founded by Swedish immigrants and whose student body for generations primarily consisted of Swedish-Americans, it's too generic. High school teams that are called the Vikings are thick on the ground across America; heck, there's a Chicago public high school called the Vikings that's only a mile and a half east on Foster Avenue from the NPU campus, and another one nine miles away in Skokie. There are five other schools in D3 with that nickname -- including, annoyingly, conference rival Augustana, whose followers never stop reminding North Park's that Augie, which is older than North Park, had the nickname first. Uff da.

The only school in America nicknamed the Swedes, as far as I know, is Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS, an NAIA school that, like NPU and Augie, was founded by immigrants from the land of sauce-free meatballs, ABBA, and big-box stores that sell ready-to-assemble modernist furniture. And Bethany isn't the Fighting Swedes; Bethany's full nickname is "Terrible Swedes". That wouldn't fit North Park, which, although it is terrible at some things, is actually pretty good at being Swedish. Just ask our tennis team.

My suggestion of "Fighting Swedes" isn't as funny as it used to be, though; it raised a chuckle when Sweden was still in the midst of its 200-year history of neutrality, but now that it's in NATO they have to prepare to fight again ... which of course would be terrible.

Nowadays, of course, I can't back the name "Swedes", no matter which adjective gets attached to it. Too many Norwegians on the NPU campus, many of whom are great athletes, and while there's plenty of great North Park athletes from Sweden as well, trying to recruit Norwegians to attend a school whose teams are called the Swedes would be like telling Cubs fans -- or Wheaton fans -- that their favorite team has changed its name to the Cardinals.

[CardinalAlum]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/02/north-central-college-naperville-name-change/

Article discussing possible name change for NCC. Its behind a paywall but  I think you get a free view, at least I did.

Is "we're very good at football" College one of the options?

Go away.

[SpartanHouse]

On to 2026.... do we have 2 non-conference games this year?  Anything scheduled yet?  Is Wheaton playing Mount Union again and is NCC playing Oshkosh again?

Yeah, the Wheaton/Mount and NCC/Oshkosh were home-and-home's that flip locale for 2026. And yes, 2026 will be the one season of back to two non-conference games with CUW coming in in 2027.

Posted on FootballScoop.com today that NCC is looking for a week 1 game.

Wonder what happened??

[SpartanHouse]

On to 2026.... do we have 2 non-conference games this year?  Anything scheduled yet?  Is Wheaton playing Mount Union again and is NCC playing Oshkosh again?

Yeah, the Wheaton/Mount and NCC/Oshkosh were home-and-home's that flip locale for 2026. And yes, 2026 will be the one season of back to two non-conference games with CUW coming in in 2027.

Posted on FootballScoop.com today that NCC is looking for a week 1 game.

Wonder what happened??

Bethel is looking for week 1 & 2 games as well. Be great if they linked up together.