By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

It’s that time of year again in the Midwest Conference.

It’s St. Norbert against Monmouth for conference lead and possibly the conference title. Well, frankly, the Midwest Conference had been all St. Norbert all the time until 2005, when Monmouth beat the Green Knights 28-20 and the Fighting Scots went on to win the conference title.

St. Norbert wasted no time getting even with a 48-0 pounding of Monmouth last year at De Pere, Wis. to reclaim its dominance in the Midwest Conference.

The two teams, picked to finish 1-2 in the conference once again, renew their rivalry Saturday at Monmouth, Ill. in a 1:30 p.m. CT tilt and the stakes are as high as they were in the previous meetings.

“These are different teams than what we’ve had in the past two years, so in that respect I don’ t think it’s the same,” said Monmouth coach Steve Bell. “But we’re going into this game at the same level. The implications are the same.”

Alex Tanney has a Mitch Tanney-like 8-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Photo by Ashlee Carmody for D3sports.com

St. Norbert (5-0 and 4-0 in MWC) is riding one of the nation’s longest regular season winning streaks at 22 games. The Green Knights haven’t lost a regular season game or conference contest since 2005 against Monmouth at home.

Monmouth (4-1, 4-0 in MWC) lost a season opener to No. 11 Wartburg 35-7. Since then, the Fighting Scots has reeled off four straight wins. St. Norbert and Monmouth are the last two teams in the MWC without a conference loss.

“I’m sure they’re going to have some memory of last year, the way our kids did have of the year before,” said St. Norbert coach Jim Purtill. “They have a lot of pride and tradition. The last couple of years they upgraded their athletic facility and are starting to recruit better, so they certainly have got our attention.”

Expect enough passes to be thrown to set off alarms at the nearest air traffic control tower as veteran St. Norbert signal-caller Cody Craig stacks up against Monmouth true freshman quarterback Alex Tanney. If the Tanney name sounds familiar, it’s because it was Alex’s older brother Mitch, who quarterbacked the Fighting Scots to that big win over St. Norbert two years ago.

“He’s doing a terrific job for us,” Bell said. “We’re expecting a lot of big things out of him. He’s very similar to his brother in that he’s very well coached coming out of high school. He’s very technically sound. He has good decision-making abilities, knowing where to go with the ball and when to go with it.”

Tanney has passed for more than 300 yards in two games this season. His 116 completions in five games is the best in the MWC.

“He’s gotten off to a very nice start,” Purtill said. “His brother was terrific his senior year. He was as good as anyone anywhere. (Alex Tanney) is completing a lot of high percentage passes and he’s just as talented and getting the experience to expand on the offense.”

St. Norbert is not exactly lacking at quarterback with Craig, who leads the MWC in passing yards per game at 258.8 yards a contest and has already thrown for 17 touchdowns against four interceptions this season. Senior wide receiver Judd O’Connell has been nearly unstoppable, averaging a whopping 137.6 yards and 6.2 receptions per game. He’s caught seven of Craig’s 17 touchdown passes.

“Throwing the ball has been our forte as of today,” Purtill said. “We’re a better throwing team than running team to date. We have a senior quarterback and a senior receiver who are clicking really well. From an offensive standpoint that is what we do best now. We’ve been very average in the run game but we hope that gets better.”

Monmouth’s Jeff Davis is averaging 95 yards per game, while the Green Knights A.J. Phillips and Joe Brogni are running for a combined 87.8 yards per game.

But what will it take for Monmouth to knock off the king of the Midwest Conference again? It happens so rarely. The Green Knights, under Purtill, are 71-3 in the MWC and 79-12 overall in nine seasons.

“We’re going to have to play our best game,” Bell said. “I told the kids if we bring 98%, we won’t get it done. I feel if we play our best, we definitely can win this game.”

Purtill said, though, Carroll (3-2, 3-1 in MWC), which lost to Monmouth 6-3 two weeks ago, and Ripon (3-2, 3-1 in MWC) are teams that will challenge for the title as well. Carroll and Ripon are the next two opponents for St. Norbert.

“Three weeks from now (the conference title chase) will be a lot clearer,” Purtill said. “There are four strong teams in a very competitive race. We’re looking at Monmouth now, but I’m certainly not going to take anything away from those other two.”

Big game week continues

Wheaton (4-0, 1-0), ranked No. 5 in the latest Top 25 poll, faces its toughest competition to date when the Thunder travels to neighboring Naperville, Ill., to take on the North Central Cardinals, one of the favorites in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Wheaton is 4-0 and won its conference opener 29-7 against Millikin.

North Central (3-1, 1-0 in CCIW), which was ranked No. 25 last week after a 16-13 loss to Washington U., beat North Park 61-34 in its conference opener but fell out of the Top 25 for the first time this season.

Wheaton, North Central and Augustana were tri-champions of the CCIW last year with Wheaton and North Central both advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Elmhurst (4-0, 1-0), the CCIW’s other undefeated team goes on the road to take on Augustana in an important league battle.

In the Illini-Badger Conference, Concordia (Wis.) plays at home against Aurora in the battle of stingy conference defenses. Concordia (3-2, 2-0 in IBC) and Aurora (2-2, 2-0 in IBC) have not given up a point in its two conference games.

Concordia has beaten Eureka 70-0 and MacMurray 50-0 while Aurora has won against MacMurray 47-0 and Greenville 16-0.

Mount St. Joseph (4-0, 2-0 in HCAC) is on its way to a big showdown with Franklin(3-1, 1-0) for the lead in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference on Oct. 13, but first the Lions must beat longtime nemesis Hanover (0-4, 0-1) at home on Saturday. The last time Hanover played at Mount St. Joseph, in 2005, the Panthers scored an upset 41-35 victory in overtime.