FB: American Rivers Conference

[Charlie Kohawk]

I confess I don't give d3football.com the credit it deserves and often jump right to this chat room. Tonight I took the time to read Keith McMillan's Around the Nation and I recommend everyone do the same, if you haven't already.

I think it puts a lot of things in perspective, including things we may have come to take for granted -- like this very site. We each owe it to ourselves, the institutions we support and the IIAC to conduct ourselves in a positive manner.

The illusion of anonymity created by this chat board tempts us to post things for the world to see that we would never say face-to-face. I regret the tone this chat room has taken this year and I apologize for any instances in which I may have crossed the line.

I also forgive DowJones and hope we can all give him a second chance. Even if only for comic relief, I looked forward to his posts. Didn't you? You have to admire someone with so much enthusiasm for a program that's been so bad. I keep hoping for someone to represent Cornell here too.

Thanks for hearing me out. Good luck to all the teams on Saturday -- except Wartburg 

[The Show]

The illusion of anonymity created by this chat board tempts us to post things for the world to see that we would never say face-to-face.

Not everyone hides behind a screen name...

[Hawk Sighting]

As a Coe College fan, I have to say "Good Luck Central", Take out Wartburg, and let's help Coe seal 1st place.  As for the rest of the conference have a great sat.!!!

[DutchFan2004]

coocoo,

-13 on the Karma for DowJone$ is pretty high considering he has only 10 posts don't you think.  I see yours is fairly high.  I to am puzzled by what is bad karma and what is good karma.  I try to stay positive and do not use inflamitory language.  but as you see i have about a 10% negative karma.  If that is what it is then so be it.  As long as I try to have decent posts What ever the Karma is that is what it is.  Enough said about that. 


Now on to the subject I don't understand.  The lack of Love for the IIAC.  The regional rankings came out and COE is in but where will they be if we lose to Wartburg.  Seems like the IIAC will only get one team into the playoffs.  whitworth witha 4-2 record is ahead of Central at 7-1.  If we should lose and Wartburg has the automatic what do you think will happen to your KOHAWKS?  I don't understand the love for Whitworth as they don't have a full schedule and they don't even have all the teams that they do play at the D3 level.  Whatis the point to having a full schedule and play tuff non conference schedule (like Augustana) if it won't help you out?


CooCoo good luck at the Rock Bowl they were a good team when we went there.  21-0 win but it was a very tuff close game with that score. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Here are a couple of questions I have for this week:

Will Central protect the ball like they have for most of the games this season?

Can the Dutch establish the running game like they have for every other game this season?

What Wartburg passing game will show up?  The one that did not protect the ball against Luther, Loras, or Millikin?  The one that lit up B.V.?  Or the one that threw for very little but protected the ball against Simpson and Coe?  I would suspect the latter with conservative approach and trusting the Knight Defense, but it matters how well the Knight Defense plays.

How much will big game experience play since the current Central players have not had a game this big for a few years now?  The Dutch have had as many or more good wins this year than anyone else, but this should be the biggest hyped game for them in a few years.

Will Loras be able to move the ball and protect the ball against Coe this week?

[Floyd in Iowa City]

What a tough year for running backs in the IIAC!  Only Schuring from Central has been very productive overall and not missed some significant time.  He and Sherdan of Luther are the only two leading backs that have scored 10 or more TDs on the ground and Sherdan hasn't played since week 5.  No other back is even close in scoring TDs.

Central, Coe, and Wartburg can still run the ball and Luther was good at it until they had to start using fullbacks for the most part, but Central is the only team that has been able to both run the ball on a weekly basis and have a go to back that you can put your hat on.

Wartburg has a good running attack but has had to go at it by committee a lot this season.  I like the downhill style of Van Rees.

Who should even be in the running for all-conference at RB?  Pearson of B.V. is a good back but is hurt and has mediocre numbers.  Sherdan of Luther was having the best season before his injury, but he hasn't played since week 5 even though he is still 2nd in the league in rushing and leading in rushing TDs. 

Schuring seems like the only likely candidate at this point although Northern of Coe and Van Rees of Wartburg have a good shot since they both are the leading rushers for good teams.

[dbljay21]

Very exciting week of football in the IIAC with a conference title and an automatic bid still undecided.  Hope that saturday is filled with great games and that all teams come out healthy...Here are my picks for the week

Coe over Loras
BV over UD
Luther over Cornell...Norse end the season with another 6-4 year and on a positive note
Simpson over Waldorf

And the game of the week...Wartburg over Central in a close game.  I hate to say it, but the Knights are playing good football and the Dutch will be surrounded in a sea of orange and black.  Tough place to get a win. 

[KoHawk01]

Really looking forward to the game at the Rock Bowl in Dubuque tomorrow!  Should be a great one!  This will be one of the bigger tests for Coe in my opinion, that Loras  Defense always comes ready to play.  IT will be interesting to see if Loras LB's can slow down the Thunder/Lightning duo of Northern and Suckow.  From what I've heard Loras kind of has a thunder/lightning duo of their own at LB .  Buesing (sp?) is one of the best LB's in the conference and a big hitter, and Hall (Soph? someone help me out here) is one of the up and coming players in the conference who can run with about anyone.  This game really scares me, I know the KoHawks won't overlook Loras after last years game but it definitely scares me.  What do you guys think the keyes to victory will be for each team??

[Floyd in Iowa City]

The Loras Defense played pretty well against Luther and Wartburg the last two weeks in forcing turnovers and helping the Duhawk Offense, but against the Norse it was the Duhawk special teams that ultimately hurt the most by giving up 9 points.

I think Loras is going to have a hard time moving the ball on the Coe Defense unless the QB play is much more consistent.  Loras has throwing targets, but the QBs are inconsistent and the OL was handled by a struggling Norse Defense in the 1st half last week.

I personally think Coe has thrown the ball too much this year and should try to hammer the ball more with Northern on Loras.  Both Wartburg and Luther had more success running the ball than throwing the ball against the Duhawks. 

Loras needs a turnover and field position advantage to have a good shot.  IMO they need to force 4 turnovers to win.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

I wonder why Coe doesn't run the ball more often.  I guess they are trying to save their running backs or something.  It's like Rocky coming into the second fight against Apollo.  He became a right handed fighter when he was a southpaw.  Then Micky told him to switch to southpaw towards the end of the fight.  Well Coe might need to switch to southpaw against Loras.

Go Kohawks!

[Charlie Kohawk]

In eight games Coe has attempted 271 passes for 2002 yards and rushed 339 times for 1367 yards. In six conference games Coe has attempted 217 passes for 1535 yards and rushed 266 times for 1038 yards. Seems like a reasonable balance to me. At 7-1, you can't really argue with the results. Anyone who witnessed Andy TeKippe's pinpoint accuracy at last week's Cornell game might wonder why Coe doesn't throw more even.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Charlie,

You are right overall and I realized that I let the Wartburg game affect my perception.

Against Central (W):
30 passes
41 carries

Against Luther (W):
42 passes
39 carries

Against B.V. (W):
28 passes
46 carries

Against Wartburg (L):
52 passes
33 carries

Against Dubuque (W):
36 passes
59 carries

Against Cornell (W):
29 passes
48 carries

Against Wartburg was the only game with a huge passing percentage and against Luther was the only game with a balance around 50%.  Those were both close games with probably the main difference being that Coe trailed by 10 at one point against the Knights.

Maybe the other issue that tainted my perception (besides only seeing Coe once this year) is that Coe doesn't have the rushing stats that they had back in 2002, but the 2005 rushing numbers are about like 2004 and 2003. 

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Charlie,
My concern is not with Tekippe.  I saw so many dropped passes at the Wartburg game.  I am concerned that going up against a quality pass defense coupled with the weather that is predicted tomorrow that running the ball seems like the best option.  Although, the pass attack against Cornell was the best passing game I've ever seen in person for Coe, it was Cornell they were playing.  It was also a beautiful day for late October. What I do know is that I don't have the answer.  That is why we rely on great coaches like Raeburn and D.W. to have the answers.

Go Kohawks!

[Charlie Kohawk]

coocoo,
On this we agree -- the coaches have the answers and we don't. So why air our questions here where it might undermine the team? The coaches hold a weekly Quarterback Club where they take questions from all in attendance. Are you going to ask the coach of a 7-1 team why he's not utilizing his running game differently? I'm sure not.

Sure there were dropped passes at Wartburg. And penalties, sacks, interceptions and missed opportunities. It was Coe's worst performance of the year. But don't forget that Wartburg has a pretty darn good defense and Walston-Hoover is a tough place to win. They won. We lost. Move on.

Loras has an even better defense and the Rock Bowl is another unfriendly environment. I'm sure the coaches have a game plan that will account for whatever weather conditions exist. The Kohawks need to bring their A game to Dubuque and I'm confident they will.

P.S. Go Central!

[Charlie Kohawk]

Floyd,
In 2002 Coe had Freddy Jackson in the backfield. Enough said.