Congratulations to Wartburg. You took advantage of our mistakes and outlasted us. Everything that could go wrong for Central did in the first quarter. Wartburg of the last two years would have been ahead 21-0 at halftime. So to the other teams, they are beatable. We did not do that, so obviously we are too. Exceptional defense by the Dutch today and offensive lapses by the Dutch was the difference. I really wish the coaches would have given Brady Ketchum a series with the wind, but I don't get to coach from the stands.

On the plus side it was amazing to see probably 50 players, a few coaches and a couple of cheerleaders and maybe a trainer back to celebrate the 1974 national championship team. They even looked good for 68-72 year olds! They showed some pictures from the game, the video where Central stopped the most prolific runner in D3 on 4th and goal from the 1 with time running out and Central up 10-6, the irony of that score! At the end we ran out the clock and gave up a safety intentionally to preserve the win 10-8. Central was the only team to hold Ithaca without a TD. I may be old, but I have a good memory! Central is still the only conference team in the conference with a national championship in football. We also finished second twice. Loved those days.

So hoping Central wins out and Coe beats Wartburg. We should have lost by more and our defense was amazing. I still have hope.

Funny how I'm in a better mood when my favorite team wins.

Stayed home this weekend and let our kids have fun on their own in Dubuque. Next weekend we're making the drive down to Cedar Rapids for the Coe game. Possibly visiting 30 Hop after the game for refreshments.

Quote from: Schipper Strong on September 21, 2024, 05:52:37 PMCongratulations to Wartburg. You took advantage of our mistakes and outlasted us. Everything that could go wrong for Central did in the first quarter. Wartburg of the last two years would have been ahead 21-0 at halftime. So to the other teams, they are beatable. We did not do that, so obviously we are too. Exceptional defense by the Dutch today and offensive lapses by the Dutch was the difference. I really wish the coaches would have given Brady Ketchum a series with the wind, but I don't get to coach from the stands.

On the plus side it was amazing to see probably 50 players, a few coaches and a couple of cheerleaders and maybe a trainer back to celebrate the 1974 national championship team. They even looked good for 68-72 year olds! They showed some pictures from the game, the video where Central stopped the most prolific runner in D3 on 4th and goal from the 1 with time running out and Central up 10-6, the irony of that score! At the end we ran out the clock and gave up a safety intentionally to preserve the win 10-8. Central was the only team to hold Ithaca without a TD. I may be old, but I have a good memory! Central is still the only conference team in the conference with a national championship in football. We also finished second twice. Loved those days.

So hoping Central wins out and Coe beats Wartburg. We should have lost by more and our defense was amazing. I still have hope.

Very good defensive game on Saturday.  Both teams appear to have strong defenses and a work in process on the offensive side.  It was a beautiful day and wish I was able to attend the game. 

Wartburg defense appeared much better on Saturday vs the Jonnies the previous week.   

Best of luck to the Dutch for the remainder of the season!

Quote from: Knights88 on September 23, 2024, 02:15:20 PM

Quote from: Schipper Strong on September 21, 2024, 05:52:37 PMCongratulations to Wartburg. You took advantage of our mistakes and outlasted us. Everything that could go wrong for Central did in the first quarter. Wartburg of the last two years would have been ahead 21-0 at halftime. So to the other teams, they are beatable. We did not do that, so obviously we are too. Exceptional defense by the Dutch today and offensive lapses by the Dutch was the difference. I really wish the coaches would have given Brady Ketchum a series with the wind, but I don't get to coach from the stands.

On the plus side it was amazing to see probably 50 players, a few coaches and a couple of cheerleaders and maybe a trainer back to celebrate the 1974 national championship team. They even looked good for 68-72 year olds! They showed some pictures from the game, the video where Central stopped the most prolific runner in D3 on 4th and goal from the 1 with time running out and Central up 10-6, the irony of that score! At the end we ran out the clock and gave up a safety intentionally to preserve the win 10-8. Central was the only team to hold Ithaca without a TD. I may be old, but I have a good memory! Central is still the only conference team in the conference with a national championship in football. We also finished second twice. Loved those days.

So hoping Central wins out and Coe beats Wartburg. We should have lost by more and our defense was amazing. I still have hope.

Very good defensive game on Saturday.  Both teams appear to have strong defenses and a work in process on the offensive side.  It was a beautiful day and wish I was able to attend the game. 

Wartburg defense appeared much better on Saturday vs the Jonnies the previous week.   

Best of luck to the Dutch for the remainder of the season!

As a Central fan, I am still fuming over the QB decisions on Saturday. While you are happier with your defense, our offense is actually pretty good with Ketchum at QB. He started Saturday and we were going against a very strong wind the first quarter especially, though it was windy throughout. Ketchum was 10-12 against that strong first quarter wind. Unfortunately one lateral pass got blown back a bit by the wind and the receiver missed it, then watched WB pick up the "backward" missed pass and run it back for the TD. I don't think it even dawned on him that it wasn't an incomplete forward pass. The other missed pass was intercepted. I don't recall for sure, but I think that was just a bad pass. Even still his passing was 83% completion rate. Then the coach takes him out. Understandable as the two misses were horrible results. But after two quarters of not getting anything accomplished on offense with Hoffman at QB, I think they should have given Ketchum a chance with the wind in the 4th. Hoffman finished with a 50% completion rate and one interception. We had weapons we didn't use based on one quarter of play. Kudos to Wartburg for taking advantage of our mistakes, but it was a winnable game IMO. I wear rose colored glasses though. Two years ago it was Ketchum who came in during the second half and got us back in an incredibly lopsided game at the half. I imagine there must be something that the coaches see in practice or something that happened, but from this fan in the stand perspective, Ketchum isn't getting a fair shake.

After giving myself a couple days since I was in Dubuque for the Loras/BV game I have come to a few conclusions.

Playing with a back up Qb is not ideal for any team. But when the #2 goes 6-16 for 86 yards with 4 INTs it is hard to not be incredibly discouraged for what the rest of the season holds. Especially when the #3 comes in and goes 4-11 for 81 yards and in my opinion looked to have a much better arm and pocket presence. This makes myself and many other alums that I have talked to wonder about the talent evaluation and development happening inside of the program. I am one of the program's biggest supporters and will continue to be but it is tough when the program continues to either tread water or, in the case of this year, relapse. The team is void of any big play makers without England under center. The team was decimated from the transfer portal this year, especially in the skill positions, and in return, the coaches did not take one single player out of the portal to my knowledge. This simply is not sustainable in the current landscape of college football. The team is also lacking on the recruitment front. Loras used to do very well in Chicago, especially the Chicago Catholic League. This is almost nonexistent on the current roster. The team also has no current freshmen from the state of Wisconsin. Iowa is incredibly oversaturated with college football teams. On top of this, there are many other options in the conference that have achieved much more success than Loras (Wartburg/Central/Coe/UD). I find it hard to believe that if Loras is ever going to improve that it will happen because they are able to attract the best D3 talent out of Iowa. All of this combined makes it hard for me to continue to optimistic about the current trajectory of the program. I figured that even with the injury at Qb the team would be able to keep their head above water against the lower tier of the conference, but as we saw this weekend this is simply not true. I would like to be optimistic about this weekend in Indianola but I am running out of straws to grasp at.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 21, 2024, 11:09:26 AMIf the ARC is slumming it, then the MWC would be even more so, I would think.

While I agree the ARC is in a better place football-wise I wonder if WashU feels that the ARC schools are worthy adversaries as peer institutions. I know that they would not be a full conference member and as such could probably stomach it a little easier. I think that geographically the ARC and the Midwest are its best options. I have no inside knowledge if either of these leagues have any interest in an addition at this time.

As for my thoughts around the conference:

I was very intrigued by the UD/Simpson score as it appeared to be closer than I would have thought it would be. After reading the game notes (and doolittle's synopsis) the game makes much more sense. While I don't doubt Simpson is better than last year I was not expecting that much of a jump. UD seems to be solid once again but I will be holding further judgement until I see if they can clean things up against a much better team in Coe this weekend.

I was a little surprised by the score of the Central/Wartburg game as well. While I figured it would be a close game I would have thought there would be a lot more points scored. I was not able to catch any of the game so I am not sure if the defenses should be praised or if the offenses should be scorned (probably a bit of both by reading this board). Either way, I think that these two teams are still at the top of this league even if they are not as balanced as they have been in the past.

Coe did to Luther what a good team should do to Luther. The Luther program has been struggling to find an identity for years and I'm not sure they have found it yet. Props to Coe for taking care of business. I feel that Coe does not get the respect nationally that it should. Whether rightly or wrongly they did receive an at large bid last year and have posted results against inferior teams that look right for a nationally ranked team. They held a large lead against UWEC (21-0 in the first half) but then struggled down the stretch. UWEC is not a powerhouse in the WIAC but I believe they are steadily improving. Any WIAC team is a good team and a win on the road in Wisconsin is nothing to scoff at. I think their result against UD this week will tell us much more about what type of team they are.

NWU has played two NAIA teams and as such I'm not really sure what to make of them just yet. If they can go to Waverly this week and keep things respectable I think that will raise a few eyebrows across the league. If I was a betting man I would not put my money on this.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on September 24, 2024, 11:15:09 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 21, 2024, 11:09:26 AMIf the ARC is slumming it, then the MWC would be even more so, I would think.

While I agree the ARC is in a better place football-wise I wonder if WashU feels that the ARC schools are worthy adversaries as peer institutions. I know that they would not be a full conference member and as such could probably stomach it a little easier. I think that geographically the ARC and the Midwest are its best options. I have no inside knowledge if either of these leagues have any interest in an addition at this time.

They may not see ARC schools as peer institutions but it's
an affiliate membership.

Hey Driftless. I certainly feel your pain on the QB situation. I really feel Central would have won Saturday if the coaches had not been so determined to only allow Hunter Hoffman for the last 3 quarters. Ketchum definitely outplayed him if you look at the stats.

The defenses far outshined the offenses Saturday in Pella. I am not sure I have seen Central's defense look better in recent years.

I think Coe is going to be the team that wins the conference this year. They are playing great and after seeing Wartburg play, I just wasn't impressed. They still beat us, so aside from my QB selection gripe make your own determination on that. They will beat most teams, but I think Coe wins the conference. Or hopefully ties with Central.

I'll join Driftless and Schipper on the QB situation.  UD's Gultig was back against Simpson but you can see his leg is bothering him and it looked like that contributed to some underthrows that turned into INT's against the Storm.  Hoping another week will get him back to full strength, because Gultig is a weapon!  Rhomberg looks like a great future starter for UD (two time 1st team all-state in high school), but it's a lot to ask of a freshman to turn up on campus and start at QB. 

Agree with Schipper that so far, Coe looks like the strongest team.  But as always, we'll see how the season plays out.  I'm hoping UD and their 20+ seniors on the roster can put a special season together.  A repeat of 2015 would be OK by me!

Halftime in Cedar Rapids

Coe - 3
DBQ - 3

Coe running a lot
Dubuque passing a lot
Neither team scoring a lot

Overall I am happy with what I'm seeing from Dubuque against a strong Coe team.

End of 3rd quarter.
Coe - 17
DBQ - 10
Dubuque QB Gultig injured in the 2nd quarter and is replaced by freshman Rhomberg

Final score
Coe - 27
DBQ - 10

My Dutch teams did me proud today. Central had a decisive win on the road in spite of a very boring first half. I was so bored I started watching the Hope-Alma game and Hope was rolling. I lived in Holland, MI right out of college for a short time and went to all the home Hope games. So it was fun watching them play again. Thankfully Central opened up the playbook in the second half. They made it worth watching again.

Sounds like UD played a really good game against Coe. Did I over estimate Coe or underestimate UD? I imagine a bit of both. Simpson must have something going for the first time in a few years. It is rivalry week and maybe there will be something to it this year. Plus it will be homecoming for Central. Interesting reading Driftless Duhawk's comments on what may be going on at Loras. I did not expect what we are seeing this year. If you had a successful recruiting strategy going, you really should have kept at it. Too bad seeing them drop this far.

2023
Loras beats Simpson 82-16

2024
Simpson beats Loras 66-14

The older I get, the less this game makes sense. But it's a fun ride.

Quote from: doolittledog on September 28, 2024, 06:55:13 PM2023
Loras beats Simpson 82-16

2024
Simpson beats Loras 66-14

The older I get, the less this game makes sense. But it's a fun ride.

Wow! That is crazy! I think we all agree Loras is down this year and Simpson is up, but that is still a major change. Is this the first or second season for Simpson's coach?

Central's defense played amazing again today. Wartburg's offense only scored a FG against us. I am not sure they have actually been tested by a strong offense yet. Will Simpson be that test?

Quote from: doolittledog on September 28, 2024, 06:55:13 PM2023
Loras beats Simpson 82-16

2024
Simpson beats Loras 66-14

The older I get, the less this game makes sense. But it's a fun ride.

Hey Driftless, this wasn't meant as a dig at Loras.  Just meant to show what a difference a year can make and what a crazy game this is.