My pre-season picks...

1. Central - air tight offensive line, smooth qb, stud rb. defense solid.
2. Wartburg - same...except for qb- unproven
3. Luther - awesome offense, adequate d. good depth across the board
4. Dubuque - same soup, just re-heated. always talented, always inconsistent
5. Cornell - making strides, still need to add depth but front line players are quality
6. Buena Vista - keeps losing playmakers and not replenishing...still have a D tho
7. Loras - offense is questionable. defense, especially LB's are top notch
8. Coe - rebuilding mode...
9. Simpson - just kinda there...anymore stud d-linemen left?

I'm shocked someone associated with Wartburg couldnt sift through the literary symbolism.  What they don't teach this stuff in football class? Knightlife, if this happens again just call the first available person with a cornell degree, in return just let them know how to win in the IIAC.  

I think its a stunning metaphor and commentary on the position of the evil empire of Wartburg (the Dark Side), the transfer of Suckow (Anakin turning to the Dark Side), and the fall of Coe (the Republic, jedi order, etc...)

If thats not right than I have no clue either and will insert foot into mouth

I know the WIAC has an intra-conference transfer rule that requires the player to sit out one season before being eligible.  I am not a fan of such a rule at the d3 level.  I think someone was saying it before, this is supposed to be one of the attractions to this level of play.  If a kid is paying for his education than he deserves to control the decisions about where he plays, you can't put a lot of red tape at this level or the commitment to playing athletics simply won't be worth it to some...you might lose a lot of talent to the "anything goes" NAIA, or d2.
I hope the conference considers this, and also considers the absolute freak of a situation this is.
Suckow deserves to be happy with his college experience.  He is paying for it.  Plus none of us can fully know any of the extraneous conditions (educational, personal, athletic) that caused him to leave Coe, personally i'd only need a sign pointing me in the right direction...ha.  In all seriousness though, this does not excuse how he left the school, just like he deserves to be happy his teammates deserved to be the first to know after he made his decision.  Coe, I feel your pain and sympathize.  I wish you all the luck this year against the evil empire, the new york yankees of the iowa conference...beat the knights!   

just throwing my hat in the ring so to speak on the rushing leader talk...sorry for any misspelling, but you'll get the idea...
1. Schurring
2. Sherdan
3. Hardman
4. McCarron
5. Van Rees

I'd have put a Wartburg back up at the 2 or 3 but its unclear who is getting carries...talent wise they both are up there, although i have my doubts that suckow is an every down back..extremely talented football player but i think he's more of a game breaker at receiver.  By the way, no one talks about the Dubuque running back, Clayton i think is the name. he's a scat back that can rack up yards in a hurry in that offense.  Anyone know if he is still at dubuque?

The IIAC is one of the toughest leagues in D3.  I forget where I saw it but a national publication ranked it as either 4 or 5 out of the nearly 30 conferences.  The Ohio and Minnesota athletic conferences are in the top 5 respectively as well as the Wisconsin-Illinois Athletic Conference (WIAC).

CollegeFootballFan, I would encourage you to check out the Cornell College recruiting DVD available for free viewing at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wZZxJRm9vc

there are also a few other cornell videos there

CollegeFootballFan...let me just echo Ash Park's take and maybe add a bit here and there...you asked why the fewer numbers and dismal predictions for Cornell.  As far as the numbers go, Cornell is arguably the most selective school in the conference as far as admissions go, in part due to their unique academic calendar, they draw from a national/international base of students.  This obviously narrows the field for would-be student-athletes.  Secondly, Cornell went through a coaching regime change a year ago, its recruiting numbers temporarily suffered as a result of the switch...it had also had a couple years with light recruiting numbers a few years prior.  Finally, the on-field success of the program has dwindled as the lack of depth has hurt the team...a losing record is a hard sell for recruiting, and of course until the school does anything different than post losing seasons than predictions must continue to label them as bottom dwellers.
That having been said, there are some reasons to look long and hard at Cornell as a recruit.  First, the program is in good hands with Coach Dillon who took over the program last year.  He is an extremely successful coach with a reputation for turning programs around...albeit to this point they've been high school teams.  He seems though to have translated that experience to recruiting...again, word through the grapevine is to expect the largest and most talented recruiting class ever to arrive in Mount Vernon next weekend.  The roster should inflate from a pre-graduation 50 or so to 65-70.  Like I said earlier, Cornell draws from a national base of applicants and its football recruiting is no exception. For this reason you won't see their recruiting class getting a lot of hype on an Iowa Conference board. Cornell's roster is nearly half and half iowa kids to out of state.  Places such as Cali, Texas, Arizona, and Florida are producing the next group of prospects.  Beyond the encouraging progress in recruiting is the progress in the program itself.  Cornell is one of only a handful of IIAC schools to now have a dedicated Strength and Conditioning Coach.  The school also doubled the size of its weight room, upgraded all equipment, and re-furbished its indoor arena this summer.  If your young guy is looking for a place to have an impact and get in on the ground floor of what could be an improving program...all while earning a nationally respected degree, then look into Cornell and see if its a fit.  I'm not going to come out and say the Rams are going to tangle with the Wartburgs or Centrals this year but I'd recommend keeping an interested eye on the program over the next few years, it seems like they might be on the upswing compared to their rivals 17 miles to the west...

Just curious, why do you think wartburg's passing game will greatly improve, and as a corollary, do you really want it to improve much? last year their pass game, as usual, was a distant second choice to their run attack.  None of their QB's or WR's seemed anything but ordinary.  The O line and RBs on the other hand are as good as there are.  If I were an Iowa Conference team I would absolutely welcome Wartburg to try and beat me through the air since I think their ability in this area is average.  Their defense is productive but benefits a lot from the time consuming zone run attack of the offense.  If I was the knights I'd dance with the girl that brought me, and run run run

Hey everyone, I too am a first time poster but a long time reader.  In the spirit of pre-season I was wondering if anyone cared to offer their pre-season all-conference team(s)?