N.I.C. Week # 7

[ASJCPUMA]

NORTHERN INDIANA
ALL TIMES EASTERN
	CONFERENCE			ALL GAMES
	W-L	Pts	OP	W-L	Pts	OP	Streak
Penn	4-0	207	27	6-  0	256	62	Won 6
St. Joseph	4-0	137	27	6-  0	199	33	Won 6
Elkhart	3-1	143	84	4-  2	189	126	Lost 1
Riley	1-3	103	149	3-  3	171	155	Lost 1
Marian	1-3	56	113	2-  4	84	162	Lost 3
Adams	1-3	42	139	2-  4	83	200	Lost 2
Washington	1-3	57	150	2-  4	109	188	Won 1
New Prairie	1-3	120	176	1-  5	148	259	Wo

Friday, Oct. 3
Marian at New Prairie ©, 7:30 pm
Penn at Elkhart ©, 7 pm
Riley at St. Joseph ©, 7 pm
Washington at Adams ©, 7 pm

New Prairie hosts Marian after getting their first win.  The NP QB may decide this game as Marian has struggled on offense and defense.

Washington and Adams.  The Panthers come off a surprising win over Marian.  Adams got blitzed by Penn. A city rivalry game.  Hunch with the Panthers

Riley and St Joe at Fr. Bly field.  SJ comes off their first win over a 6A school after beating Elkhart.  They need to come to play to keep their season going. Riley lost to New Prairie in a high scoring battle.  SJ defense could determine this game.

Penn goes to Elkhart.  Both teams have good QB's, 2 explosive wide outs that can be game can be game changers, plus a good RB. Turn overs may be a key to this game.  SJ sacked the Elkhart QB 13 times last Friday night so how will the Elkhart line handle the Penn D.  Two good teams could be shoot out or could be a shootout.  Should be another great game at Rice Field. 

 

 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

18 hours ago, ASJCPUMA said:

NORTHERN INDIANA
ALL TIMES EASTERN
	CONFERENCE			ALL GAMES
	W-L	Pts	OP	W-L	Pts	OP	Streak
Penn	4-0	207	27	6-  0	256	62	Won 6
St. Joseph	4-0	137	27	6-  0	199	33	Won 6
Elkhart	3-1	143	84	4-  2	189	126	Lost 1
Riley	1-3	103	149	3-  3	171	155	Lost 1
Marian	1-3	56	113	2-  4	84	162	Lost 3
Adams	1-3	42	139	2-  4	83	200	Lost 2
Washington	1-3	57	150	2-  4	109	188	Won 1
New Prairie	1-3	120	176	1-  5	148	259	Wo

Friday, Oct. 3
Marian at New Prairie ©, 7:30 pm
Penn at Elkhart ©, 7 pm
Riley at St. Joseph ©, 7 pm
Washington at Adams ©, 7 pm

New Prairie hosts Marian after getting their first win.  The NP QB may decide this game as Marian has struggled on offense and defense.

Washington and Adams.  The Panthers come off a surprising win over Marian.  Adams got blitzed by Penn. A city rivalry game.  Hunch with the Panthers

Riley and St Joe at Fr. Bly field.  SJ comes off their first win over a 6A school after beating Elkhart.  They need to come to play to keep their season going. Riley lost to New Prairie in a high scoring battle.  SJ defense could determine this game.

Penn goes to Elkhart.  Both teams have good QB's, 2 explosive wide outs that can be game can be game changers, plus a good RB. Turn overs may be a key to this game.  SJ sacked the Elkhart QB 13 times last Friday night so how will the Elkhart line handle the Penn D.  Two good teams could be shoot out or could be a shootout.  Should be another great game at Rice Field. 

 

 

I clearly cannot figure out the rest of the NIC teams just don't want to fit in the box I am trying to put them into. 

NP v Marian, both teams are down I am hoping for a shootout. My guess is who knows anymore.

Washington v Adams, Adams is small in numbers but looked physical in their opening drive against Penn. Otherwise they got steamrolled. Washington has let me down this year. Another idk in this situation. I want a tie 

Riley v St. Joe, I am going to take St. Joe, but that could be the kiss of death for the Huskies as I don't pick games correctly. 

Penn v Elkhart, after the showing Elkhart gave against St. Joe, I want to assume Penn is better than St. Joe. There is zero way they were over looking St. Joe. I think Penn gives up a couple TD's but will score another 40 + points again this weekend. 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

Elkhart has wins over teams with a combined record of 6-18, this is not to downplay the importance of the win from St. Joe, but it is so hard to tell how quality a team is when we don't play top level competition on a regular basis. This includes Penn, with Penn's combined record being 15-20. I think it is time that the big schools in the NIC either leave or be asked to leave the NIC. 

This I think will help those two bigger schools moving forward but also help St. Joe and Marian possibly expand into the NLC or find better competition outside the South Bend area.

[ASJCPUMA]

I doubt that the NIC would ask them to leave.  I wonder if going independent in football would be a possible solution then who do you play.  With Carmel and Center Grove back in the MIC not many odd team conferences.  Just seems like a no-win situation right now.  The NLC I do not think wants to change.  The Duneland not sure but they seem to cover Northwest Indiana.

[BLACKGOLD2007]

On 9/30/2025 at 9:47 PM, ASJCPUMA said:

I doubt that the NIC would ask them to leave.  I wonder if going independent in football would be a possible solution then who do you play.  With Carmel and Center Grove back in the MIC not many odd team conferences.  Just seems like a no-win situation right now.  The NLC I do not think wants to change.  The Duneland not sure but they seem to cover Northwest Indiana.

So Penn will still need local games. But playing all three SB schools in a given season is not sustainable. 

Penn I think should keep Valpo and Mishawaka ( I would move Waka to game 9)

1 - Valpo

2 - HCC or MIC team 

3 - Fort Wayne School

4 - SB School (3 year rotation)

5 - Elkhart

6 - St. Joe/Marian (2 year rotation)

7 - Michigan school (OLSM or Brother Rice)

8 - Cathedral or Ohio team.

9 - Mishawaka 

Weeks 4-8 can be interchangeable. 

I understand conferences have their specific number of conference games, I think that the NLC/Mishawaka could understand why saving Mishawaka for week 9 is the best option for the two schools and area. The draw a Penn Mishawaka game would have if both are undefeated at this point would be huge. People would actually be talking about Northcentral Indiana football in a relevant way again. 

Penn depending on the Indy area team they play, the Fort Wayne game, and the week 7 and 8 games could easily be a 4 loss team any given year. But, we will actually know what Penn has going into the playoffs. Same could be said for Elkhart. 

 

 

[npcougar15]

NP v Marian - Should be a good game. NP offense isn't bad, NP defense is......

Washington v Adams - another competitive game. I'm thinking Panthers?

Riley v St. Joe - St. Joe is looking like mid 2000s St. Joe. They easily get by here

Penn v Elkhart - It seems year after year Elkhart never lives up to expectations. If you are a St. Joe fan you might travel over to this match-up and cheer on the Lions. Elkhart has the athletes but my head says Penn

[Bobref]

2 hours ago, npcougar15 said:

Penn v Elkhart - It seems year after year Elkhart never lives up to expectations. If you are a St. Joe fan you might travel over to this match-up and cheer on the Lions. Elkhart has the athletes but my head says Penn

I’ll be making the trip to Elkhart for this one. 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

4 hours ago, npcougar15 said:

 

NP v Marian - Should be a good game. NP offense isn't bad, NP defense is......

Washington v Adams - another competitive game. I'm thinking Panthers?

Riley v St. Joe - St. Joe is looking like mid 2000s St. Joe. They easily get by here

Penn v Elkhart - It seems year after year Elkhart never lives up to expectations. If you are a St. Joe fan you might travel over to this match-up and cheer on the Lions. Elkhart has the athletes but my head says Penn

I understand that St. Joe doesn't like Penn, but if Penn gets beat and then they beat St. Joe we are looking at a three way tie for the conference champ. If I were St. Joe I would rather be playing for the outright conference championship against Penn on week 9. 

Elkhart has athletes, but are they disciplined enough to execute and win the game? Penn has destroyed the teams Elkhart struggled with this season. I think Penn comes out the clear favorite, Rice field will be popping tomorrow night, but I think Penn drops 40+ and wins by at least 3 scores.

[BLACKGOLD2007]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

I’ll be making the trip to Elkhart for this one. 

Sitting on the Home side?

It should be an interesting game. I think Elkhart has the emotion in the beginning of the game, Penn overwhelms them in the end. 

[Bobref]

3 hours ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Sitting on the Home side?

It should be an interesting game. I think Elkhart has the emotion in the beginning of the game, Penn overwhelms them in the end. 

1st period in the pressbox. Remainder roaming the sidelines.

[Rocket]

Penn puts up a minimum of 40 for the win.

[BLACKGOLD2007]

13 hours ago, Rocket said:

Penn puts up a minimum of 40 for the win.

That is what I am feeling. The D has become very aggressive in the pass game, multiple sacks per game. I think Elkhart can score, but idk if they can stop Penn.

[Boilernation]

14 minutes ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

That is what I am feeling. The D has become very aggressive in the pass game, multiple sacks per game. I think Elkhart can score, but idk if they can stop Penn.

Is Bardo playing yet for Elkhart? A lot of good story lines in this one. Elkhart continues to garner attention in the offseason for the portal achievements and are often talked about as a program on the verge of leveling up. Good chance for Penn to remind Elkhart who owns Michiana.

[BLACKGOLD2007]

3 hours ago, Boilernation said:

Is Bardo playing yet for Elkhart? A lot of good story lines in this one. Elkhart continues to garner attention in the offseason for the portal achievements and are often talked about as a program on the verge of leveling up. Good chance for Penn to remind Elkhart who owns Michiana.

Yes Bardo has played in the last two games. St. Joe slowed him down enough that it forced the Elkhart O to hold the ball leading to 13 total sacks. 

If Penn can do half of that, this will not be a close game. Penn's return special teams are dangerous. The O for this area is dangerous. The D is becoming more aggressive as the season goes on. 

[Coach Lou]

The way Elkhart's defense has been playing and now St. Joe having shown how the O-line can be exploited I don't see this game being very close.

[ASJCPUMA]

St. Joe 21  Riley 6

Uninspired effort by the SJ offense  Too many motion and holding penalties

Riley had a couple of chances but could not convert until late in the game whe SJ faked a punt from their won 15 and did not make the first

Riley D played very well.  Took SJ out of some things they have done through the year

The kind of game I expected after the Elkhart game.

Now on to Washington to clean up a few things before the last game of the season

 

Not surprised by the Penn score.  Lot of hype about Elkhart but not producing

 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

Penn left a minimum of 14 points on the field last night. Elkhart cannot sustain blocks they have given up 20+ sacks in two games. Elkhart has athletes but against equal or better talent they are not competitive.

Penn has suffered from not playing full games over the past four weeks. Stupid errors, 3 turnovers and not able to execute and get the ball in the endzone in key situations will not get the job done against a CP, Carroll or anyone else south of us. 

Penn coaches and administration need to take a hard look at the schedule and find a way to ramp up their schedule. If you wont leave the NIC then send the JV to play the South Bend Schools. If that makes them mad oh well. We are having a hard time filling out the schedules for freshman and JV anyways, in situations where both squads need to play on Friday, 3rd and 4th string of the JV combine with the freshman team and they play the varsity teams from South Bend. At this point it does not matter if they win the game, this experience will help them more than playing no one. 

Penn HAS to get Ft. Wayne, Indy and at minimum another Region team on the schedule ASAP. 

[Yuccaguy]

1 hour ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Penn left a minimum of 14 points on the field last night. Elkhart cannot sustain blocks they have given up 20+ sacks in two games. Elkhart has athletes but against equal or better talent they are not competitive.

Penn has suffered from not playing full games over the past four weeks. Stupid errors, 3 turnovers and not able to execute and get the ball in the endzone in key situations will not get the job done against a CP, Carroll or anyone else south of us. 

Penn coaches and administration need to take a hard look at the schedule and find a way to ramp up their schedule. If you wont leave the NIC then send the JV to play the South Bend Schools. If that makes them mad oh well. We are having a hard time filling out the schedules for freshman and JV anyways, in situations where both squads need to play on Friday, 3rd and 4th string of the JV combine with the freshman team and they play the varsity teams from South Bend. At this point it does not matter if they win the game, this experience will help them more than playing no one. 

Penn HAS to get Ft. Wayne, Indy and at minimum another Region team on the schedule ASAP. 

I will say this until the "cow's come home"....  North of US24;  Every team that wants to be relevant needs to ramp up their schedule. 

In Penn's situation, why not even look at Michigan/Illinois schools? 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

1 hour ago, Yuccaguy said:

I will say this until the "cow's come home"....  North of US24;  Every team that wants to be relevant needs to ramp up their schedule. 

In Penn's situation, why not even look at Michigan/Illinois schools? 

The thing that is most frustrating is that in games like this, we should be excited about the victory, but the very obvious issues of not playing full games have become very apparent. The father's are very tired of playing this bad competition. 

[PDB26]

2 hours ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Penn left a minimum of 14 points on the field last night. Elkhart cannot sustain blocks they have given up 20+ sacks in two games. Elkhart has athletes but against equal or better talent they are not competitive.

Penn has suffered from not playing full games over the past four weeks. Stupid errors, 3 turnovers and not able to execute and get the ball in the endzone in key situations will not get the job done against a CP, Carroll or anyone else south of us. 

Penn coaches and administration need to take a hard look at the schedule and find a way to ramp up their schedule. If you wont leave the NIC then send the JV to play the South Bend Schools. If that makes them mad oh well. We are having a hard time filling out the schedules for freshman and JV anyways, in situations where both squads need to play on Friday, 3rd and 4th string of the JV combine with the freshman team and they play the varsity teams from South Bend. At this point it does not matter if they win the game, this experience will help them more than playing no one. 

Penn HAS to get Ft. Wayne, Indy and at minimum another Region team on the schedule ASAP. 

It’s an indictment on the administration that we can seriously suggest it would be better to have a program where the varsity team runs, at least, three in-season camps and intrasquad scrimmages, and in those three weeks some combination of depth juniors, sophomores, and freshmen play varsity games and freshmen and some sophomores play JV games.

Edited October 4, 2025 by PDB26

[Yuccaguy]

I officiated the Penn/Marian game, and honestly I was astounded that this was a "conference game".  Being from FW, I look the SAC in particular and I want to say that even MORE paring down of 'conference' games are needed. 

There is NO need for an undefeated (or 1/2 loss) 6A team to be playing a 3A squad in conference in the middle of the season.  i.e.: Carroll/Homestead/Snider/now Northrop in the SAC.  

It may be something to think about as some conferences have very divergent differences in size and quality from the top to the bottom on a regular basis. 

Yes, it helps the smaller schools with being prepared for the playoffs.  But what does it really do for the larger ones?  Give them that 'bye week' of playing Austin Peay or Truman State instead of another SEC school?  Ask East Saint Louis (IL) to head up your way... Even with a loss, you see a quality program. 

[PDB26]

7 minutes ago, Yuccaguy said:

I officiated the Penn/Marian game, and honestly I was astounded that this was a "conference game".  Being from FW, I look the SAC in particular and I want to say that even MORE paring down of 'conference' games are needed. 

There is NO need for an undefeated (or 1/2 loss) 6A team to be playing a 3A squad in conference in the middle of the season.  i.e.: Carroll/Homestead/Snider/now Northrop in the SAC.  

It may be something to think about as some conferences have very divergent differences in size and quality from the top to the bottom on a regular basis. 

Yes, it helps the smaller schools with being prepared for the playoffs.  But what does it really do for the larger ones?  Give them that 'bye week' of playing Austin Peay or Truman State instead of another SEC school?  Ask East Saint Louis (IL) to head up your way... Even with a loss, you see a quality program. 

This is an exaggeration, but it’s almost like Penn’s players don’t get a single quality rep until they’re seniors that start. And then there’s like a 50% chance they do when they’re seniors.

Edited October 4, 2025 by PDB26

[Yuccaguy]

1 minute ago, PDB26 said:

This is an exaggeration, but it’s almost like Penn’s players don’t get a single quality rep until they’re seniors that start. 

Exaggerated a bit.  But still a relevant observation.   

You really need those Varsity players for 4 quarters within conference games playing quality minutes at some point.  Marian was able to have that.  It helps them as they move forward, no matter their record.  

JV should NOT be the situation that allows Penn to get reps for those below the Varsity level.  Yes, the program is steeped in tradition, great coaching, and players... But they need at the highest level to find and compete against the BEST.  

I WANT and NEED a Northern school to stop the "donut"!   Its been far too many years!   (But yawl didn't see me post that)

[GOLDRUSH1985]

Brayson Hurley gets 7 catches for 209 yards . Anyone have Tashon Bardo's stats ?

[BLACKGOLD2007]

34 minutes ago, Yuccaguy said:

I officiated the Penn/Marian game, and honestly I was astounded that this was a "conference game".  Being from FW, I look the SAC in particular and I want to say that even MORE paring down of 'conference' games are needed. 

There is NO need for an undefeated (or 1/2 loss) 6A team to be playing a 3A squad in conference in the middle of the season.  i.e.: Carroll/Homestead/Snider/now Northrop in the SAC.  

It may be something to think about as some conferences have very divergent differences in size and quality from the top to the bottom on a regular basis. 

Yes, it helps the smaller schools with being prepared for the playoffs.  But what does it really do for the larger ones?  Give them that 'bye week' of playing Austin Peay or Truman State instead of another SEC school?  Ask East Saint Louis (IL) to head up your way... Even with a loss, you see a quality program. 

We have connections with the two schools up the Detroit area (OLSM and Brother Rice), the Catholic school in Toledo and we could even reach out to Chicago schools to see if we can get a game on the board. 

We could have had Carmel in the schedule the last two seasons. This year would have been very eye opening as how we measure up this season. 

2 minutes ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

Brayson Hurley gets 7 catches for 209 yards . Anyone have Tashon Bardo's stats ?

I know he had a TD, I would say he was around 100 yards with 3-5 receptions. They did not get the ball off to him often because the QB did not have much time to get the ball out.