FB: American Rivers Conference

[Charlie Kohawk]

Wish I could but I am in a wedding this weekend. Why do people schedule weddings during football season???

I'm with you Willie. I'm actually officiating a wedding of a Coe alumna in New Orleans this weekend. Much as I'd rather be roaming the sidelines of Clark Field, I could hardly turn down free airfare to and lodging in the Big Easy. I trust my contacts will keep me apprised of the action.

[kohawkfan]

I think the Kohawks are due for a win this Saturday against the Dutch!  They're hungry!  The Coe defense has been doing a great job but has had to play a lion's share of most of the games.  The offense has been effective with Wallace as qb -the Wartburg game was his first full game.  He's young but good on his feet.  3 best linebackers in the IIAC belong to Coe.  Go Kohawks! 

[Charlie Kohawk]

I think the Kohawks are due for a win this Saturday against the Dutch!  They're hungry!  The Coe defense has been doing a great job but has had to play a lion's share of most of the games.  The offense has been effective with Wallace as qb -the Wartburg game was his first full game.  He's young but good on his feet.  3 best linebackers in the IIAC belong to Coe.  Go Kohawks! 

Let's not cut any corners here. CJ Feller blew his chance.

[kohawkfan]

Yeah, just saying Wallace has been a nice surprise.

[5 Words or Less]

THIS POST IS BEING WRITTEN BY 5 WORDS OR MORE
(evil twin of 5 Words or Less)

You guys are runnin out of gas.  It's October 14th - the heart of football season and we can only muster one lousy page of banter???  C'mon, how many of us had to endure a winter of discontent by counting numbers, speculating on how many freshmen Wartburg would recruit or spewing out non-football related yak to generate pages.  We've got 5 weeks left before winter sets in again.  

To that end I have put together a few thoughts about this weeks contests:

Central @ Coe
Coe is gonna pound the livin' snot out of Central.  Why? Because Coe's defense will be fixtures in the Dutch backfield.  Jordan Wilkens DE and Aaron Hadenfeldt DL are the #1 and #3 leaders in sacks in IIAC contests.  Add Tate Harrison LB and you now have 3 of the 4 leading tackles for a loss in IIAC contests.  Forget Augsburg and Gustavus - Coe had a tough non-conference schedule.  A couple of plays made the difference in those contests, and yet they hang as two weighty losses around the necks of a talented group of coaches and players.  As far as Central goes, they can't settle in on a QB and their running game is lackluster.  Anyone who saw the Luther game in person or via webcast could've seen that the Dutch panniced when they fell behind, passing on every down.  The QB stopped throwing the ball and started hurling it.  The Norse DB's had a field day interceping the floaters and collected several souveneir helmets from the vulnerable WR's.  I look for Coe to do the same and for Central to finish 5-5 at best ... one upset away from the unthinkable.

Cornell @ Dubuque (HC)
Where the 773H is ShowMe.  That nuttering nabob of naivety oughta be all over this one.  The Spartans are one of the "Top Teams in the Conference" as ranked by the preseason Coaches poll, and to date, both teams are winless in the IIAC.  Cornell's players certainly have to be aware of this and I'll bet they leave nothing on the field.  My advice to Cornell's OC - get the ball into the hands of Travian Hardman as often as possible.  UD's passing defense is #1 in the IIAC but the rushing D is #8 (IIAC games only).  Use safe passes to the TE or WR's in the flat because turnovers are killing you! The Rams have gifted opponents their opponents 11 touchdowns off of turnovers in 6 games this season.  Whereas all of these points would not have changed the outcome of any of the games, they would have certainly added to opponents momentum.    As for the Spartans, Your O-line needs to suck it up.  They've allowed 11 sacks in the last 3 IIAC games.  This isn't allowing the speedy wideouts time to complete their routes and the QB has 6 hurried interceptions.  UD lives off the explosive play and since the running game is last in the IIAC, opposing defenses are teeing off on the QB.  UD also needs to improve on their 40% conversion rate inside the red-zone.

Loras @ Wartburg
Since the Warts have already lost their annual October gimme, they oughta win this one right?  Not so fast.  Loras is doing surprisingly well.  Before the season began, I thought Loras was destined to become the new tenant of the IIAC cellar.  But, NOOoooOOOoo, they go off and get themselves a freshman QB who has somehow rallied the skilled position upperclassmen to play at a higher level.  Vaughn Gesing is the most valuable freshman QB in the IIAC at this point in the season.  Senior Alex McGrew RB is battling with Simpson's Adam Reutzel for the rushing title and Senior Ben McMahon WR is one of the top receivers in the IIAC.  Loras' offense has been much maligned in the past, but with Head Coach Osterberg moving from DC to OC, a renaissance has happened at the Rock Bowl.  One other deserving mention is for kicker Taylor Buhmeyer and the kickoff special teams.  Together they lead the league in Kickoff distance and net avg. coverage.  Buhmeyer is also 9-9 in PAT's and 2-3 in FG's.  As for Wartburg, they are as solid a team as there is in the IIAC.  They will go the furthest in the playoffs IF they get in.  Both losses that the knights have suffered this season have been on the road and 3 of their 4 remaining games are at home.  The Warts have Yordi who is the most efficient passer in the IIAC.  But Yordi has also been sacked 11 times in the last 4 games.  I've observed that past Knight QB's have dumped passes to avoid sacks, why is this year different?  The Knight run game has picked up as of late; Spencer Herzberg K and Stevan Kingery P both have booming legs; Statistically, the Knights are above average in most all categories kept.  So why aren't they dominating.  The only thing unusual about Wartburg's game summaries is the fact that the allow a lot of VERY LONG scoring dirves.  The opposition has scored 17 times against Wartburg and only 4 of those have been on a short field (OT scores not included).  The average scoring drive length is 63.2 yards long.  The probability of scoring on that length of drive is only 23.2% so the odds are well against the opponent.  Explain that, I dunno, maybe the DB's fall asleep, maybe the DL gets fatigued, maybe the LB's are dreamin' about taking a whirlpool in the fancy schmancy new spa.  Whatever it is, I'm sure Wartburg's prez will call for more Outfly days if further losses ensue.

Luther @ Buena Vista
OK, I'll be the 7th to admit, BV surprises me.  What with 3 freshmen starting on defense, a small sophmore recruiting class and a downward slide in the standings over the past several years, I wasn't expecting much.  But somehow, Jay Anderson has assembled a team that is in control of it's own destiny.  Cory Donscheski RB is providing a steady ground game, nothing flashy, but consitent.  Matt Pearey QB has an accurate arm and the O-Line is finally offering some protection after several years of bloodshed in the backfield.  Alan Bladt LB is BV's leading tackler and surprisingly, is not on pace to make a million tackles.  BV also seems to know a thing or two about the red zone because they score 86.7% of the time while their opponents only score 64.3% (IIAC games only).  Other that that, I don't really see what makes BV so successful.  Statistically, they're pretty average.  They just get the job done.  Perhaps it's got to do with their location.  Everyone seems to grumble about how far BV is and how long the trip is.  It's made to sound as though the opponents are playing Napoleon and attacking Russia.  Get over it, BV has to tavel too.  So that's my segway into talking about the Norse, currently 3-2 and on pace to finish 4-6.  Luther's luck has got to run out at some point because it's so improbable that the running back of the week club is going to keep finding someone to carry the ball.  To their credit, however, the coaching staff has found a way for the O-line to open a hole wide enough to squeeze them through for yardage now and again.  Chris Reynolds at QB has provided Luther with skills that haven't been in Blue for several years.  The D-line of Kuennen, Edwards/Rickertson and Webb has been dominant and the secondary is vastly improved.  The thing about Luther is that you should never get your hopes up too high because they often times find ways to self destruct: ex: WR false start, dropped punt, WR false start, dropped punt, WR false start, dropped punt, etc.  Until they prove me wrong, I see "Bus-lag" as an insurmountable obsticle at Storm Lake.

Is the glass half full or half empty for everyone this week in the IIAC?  Tell me what you think, at least for the next five weeks.  5 Words or Less tells me that he enjoys stats, because numbers don't use up his word quota.

[the_mayne_event]

5 words...
Great post
Loras's QB is a freshman in IIAC terms, but spent a season at Winona (sp?) State as a redshirt.

[Klompen]

5WOL is feeling chatty this morning.  Here I was thinking the worst 5 words in the English language were, "And I approved this message."  Now I have 5 words giving my Dutch locker room incentive.  Thanks!  It might be just what we needed to keep getting better.  I think the Dutch did settle on a QB Saturday, but I also think they have an experienced back up who can step in if we need to switch tactics.  Only problem is you don't want such a loud announcement of what you are going to do on offense.  So far that chink has not been worked out.  I think things might have been different if Snead had not gotten hurt week one, but it is what it is, there's no going back.  So, we just need to keep getting better.  And we need to play 60 full minutes of football and not worry about records or streaks.  The second half of the UD game it looked like we started playing not to lose instead of going all out to win.  We have to play to win for 60 minutes.  

As to the best freshman QB, I think Reynolds from Luther has to be right up there.  I haven't seen the Loras kid yet, but Reynolds took it to Central like no QB I have seen as of late.  

In response to an earlier question, I think the top players have spread out more than in the past amongst the IIAC teams.  The result is that we have a very exciting conference season, but I don't think we have anyone that will go past game one in the playoffs.  Unfortunately, parity brings mediocrity with it exactly because the talent is spread instead of concentrated in one or two teams.  I think that is always going to be the case.    

[doolittledog]

Great post 5 Words.  I think the hot stove time of the year leads to more posting than during the season because of all the questions.  This time of year you can see those questions being answered out on the field. 

I believe it is nattering nabobs...not nuttering...though that works as well. 

Not that Central and Wartburg are having terrible years...but less than expected results tend to lead to less posting.  And Central and Wartburg each have 10-15 regular posters.  Each other school has 5-10 regular posters...with BV and Luther having better than expected seasons you are seeing their fans post more often...just not as many of them on here to send the page count rolling.

I liked your views on this weekends games.  Before the season started I noted that UD would need to replace a lot of losses on their O-line and how well they did that would determine how much success they would have this year.  A bad O-line has spelled a 1-4 start for them.  That issue has seemed to be getting addressed and improving.  Could a 1-4 start turn into a 4-1 finish or better???  I would like to think so

[kohawkfan]

I contacted the DOT quite awhile ago about private college plate-Coe in particular...What's up with only one IIAC school getting the nod?  Are they basing this on some sort of count request?  Come on Coe fans-REQUEST!!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Nice to see all the Norse supporters "talking" on the board.  That seems to be a step up from the last few years. 

Are we talking more as a group, or is that the Central posters are a little more quiet and the Wartburg postings have dropped off dramatically?

This was almost a Wartburg board, IMO, around 2005.  There were more Luther posters back then as well, but many of them dropped away during that crazy 2006 season.

[sc_stormchaser]

I contacted the DOT quite awhile ago about private college plate-Coe in particular...What's up with only one IIAC school getting the nod?  Are they basing this on some sort of count request?  Come on Coe fans-REQUEST!!

I know Simpson ran a "license plate" campaign a while ago and if I remember correctly, they needed 500 people to comment to it before the DOT would go forward. Again, it's been a few years ago, so I'm not 100% sure.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Chris Reynolds at QB has provided Luther with skills that haven't been in Blue for several years.  

Do you mean since Norse QB Zach Sweers in 2006?  That year he was all-conference while going 232-386 for 2652 yards (17 TDs, 12 INTs, 60.1 completion %).  He also ran for 308 yards.  The Norse averaged 445 yards total offense per game that year.

The main reason I bring this up is that even among some Luther fans the recent past has already turned into "I guess we had Sherden" as if there were never any other talented players on the team like Stavast, Pearson, Sweers, Jaeger, Webb, Romens, McDonald, etc.

That was a great post overall though!  Since some schools no longer give a good weekly preview (at least before the day of the game), you filled a void with that post!

[dutchfan1]

I contacted the DOT quite awhile ago about private college plate-Coe in particular...What's up with only one IIAC school getting the nod?  Are they basing this on some sort of count request?  Come on Coe fans-REQUEST!!

I know Simpson ran a "license plate" campaign a while ago and if I remember correctly, they needed 500 people to comment to it before the DOT would go forward. Again, it's been a few years ago, so I'm not 100% sure.

Central did the same thing a few years ago, and didn't get the 500 signatures.

[Charlie Kohawk]

I contacted the DOT quite awhile ago about private college plate-Coe in particular...What's up with only one IIAC school getting the nod?  Are they basing this on some sort of count request?  Come on Coe fans-REQUEST!!

I think it's a matter of funds. $5,000, so I'm told.

[Purple Heys]

Just to let you folks know...Don Hansen is ill and has been hospitalized.

Whether you agree or not with his poll and opinions, he's still a D3 supporter.

There is a link to send him a well wish if you are so inclined...

http://www.donhansen.com/