By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
To say last week was a good week, even if it was a little wet, for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin would be an understatement. Wheaton and North Central both knocked off Top 25 teams to re-establishing the conference's football stature.
That was in question a somewhat last season when the CCIW was only able to get one team in the Division III playoff when it had been accustomed to getting one at-large team as well as the conference champion.
With Wheaton's 10-7 victory over then No. 5 Bethel and North Central's 20-3 win over then No. 16 Ohio Northern, the CCIW could regain that extra playoff spot again.
"This team played hard," Wheaton coach Mike Swider told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald as both teams played through a storm that dumped several inches of rain in the Chicagoland area over the course of the game.
"There were many opportunities that they could have let the game get away and our entire team didn't."
But, then again, it's a long season and funny things have been known to happen, particularly in Division III.
For example, Wheaton, which was ranked No. 17 last week, managed to leapfrog conference favorite North Central, then No. 15, in the Top 25 poll this week. Wheaton is now at No. 10 and the Cardinals are No. 12. The great thing is that both teams will get a chance to settle that on the football field Oct. 25.
In the meantime, Wheaton will settle for a road game this week against 0-2 Concordia (Wis.) while North Central takes a short bus ride from Naperville, Ill. to Lisle to take on Benedictine (0-1).
The team that is probably making everyone a little nervous right now is Carthage after its 70-46 win over Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association favorite Hope last week.
Needless to say, Carthage quarterback Evan Jones was the conference's offensive player of the week, passing for school-record 428 yards. He missed most of last year with a knee injury.
Carthage takes on 0-2 Lakeland, a team the Redmen have beaten but had their problems with in the past.
The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference favorites, No. 17-ranked Franklin and Mount St. Joseph will both get a rest after not disappointing fans in the teams' first two games. Franklin quarterback Chad Rupp continued to impress, throwing for nearly 400 yards in a 31-28 win over Butler last weekend.
Mount St. Joseph shut out Lakaland 20-0 last Saturday. It's shaping up against to be Franklin's offense against Mount St. Joseph's defense again like last season. Franklin has scored 73 points in its first two games (36.5 per game) while Mount St. Joseph has given up a single two touchdown in its first two contests.
With Franklin and Mount St. Joseph both on the sideline Saturday, that means the big game in the HCAC will be Rose-Hulman (2-0) at home against Greenville (0-2). The Engineers will be trying to go 3-0 for the first time in 1995 when they beat Washington University-St. Louis, Millsaps and Sewanee to open the season on their way to a 6-4 record.
It has not been so good for the favorites of the Northern Athletics Conference, Concordia (Wis.) and Lakeland. Both are off to a 0-2 start and things aren't getting any easier for them this week.
Concordia takes on No. 10 Wheaton while Lakeland plays Carthage, a team that whipped Hope 70-46 last weekend.
Now, in Concordia and Lakeland's defense, both teams have played difficult non-conference games which will serve both quite well once they get into conference play. Concordia has lost to then No. 5 Bethel and Division I Football Championship Subdivision member Valparaiso by identical 38-10 scores.
Lakeland's offense has yet to score this season, losing to No. 9 Central 41-0 and 20-0 against Mount St. Joseph, a team that has been to the Division III playoffs for the past four seasons.
Fortunately for Concordia and Lakeland, both will get a week off to lick their wounds before the start of conference play on Oct. 4 at home. Concordia will host Maranatha Baptist while Rockford will visit Lakeland for the first time.
One more point is interest from last week is that St. Norbert kept its Midwest Conference winning streak alive at 26 games after administering a 55-7 thumping to Grinnell. The Green Knights open with a rough 44-20 loss to Wartburg on Sept. 6.
Expect St. Norbert to extend its win streak another game this Saturday on the road at Lawrence as it moves toward its Oct. 11 MWC showdown at home against Monmouth. Monmouth (2-0) continued to hold up its end of the deal by spanking Lawrence 47-2 last Saturday.
Despite playing in that same Chicago rainstorm Wheaton played in, Monmouth quarterback Alex Tanney completed 24 of 36 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns. The last time Monmouth beat St. Norbert in 2005, Tanney's brother Mitch was quarterbacking the team.
