FB: American Rivers Conference

[Pakk]

Play-offs??  Play-offs??  34-7 and you're talking play-offs?  Let's review, Miliken finished at 5-5 last season and was not picked to be one of the better teams in their conference.  How about taking one game at a time and seeing how the season plays out before declaring an automatic bid to the play-offs.

[wartknight]

What a weekend this will be.
Saturday Notre Dame and Michigan kick off at 11, the Cyclones start their pounding of the Hawks at 2:30

I think you have your teams mixed up - The HAWKS will roll the Cryclones.

The Knights will be back this Sat... I was worried about this Miliken team. If The Blue keep their heads together, they are a team that could make some noise in their conference. The have the talent to do so.

[press_box]

Lance - I believe you're thinking of one of TeKippe's older brothers who went to Wartburg and then transferred to Iowa (not for sports obviously). I think that's right although I'm not sure, my wife's from West Union, that's the only reason I think I know that.

Walston-Hoover - Don't forget about Texas/Ohio State (although it's at the same time as Wartburg/Augs), that makes it a heck of a weekend!

[The Show]

Walston - Hopefully the Clowns were playing possum against Illinois St. otherwise Tate will be done playing again by the 2nd quarter!

Perry comes to our place this Friday.  If we play like we are capable, we should move to 2-0.  Good luck with Valley, your D-Coordinator has his work cut out for him.

[Hawks4life]

Im surprised that nobody thinks much about simpson this year, they return their starting RB,QB, all of the Wideouts , Dusty Kain is set to break all of simpsons receiving records, they only lost one starter the offensive line, the defense of lost Kyle Westphall, (the only big loss) they are returning an all american at DE in Jason Ripke, along with the starting D-line, the storm secndary has a couple of new players all of which are more than capable of outstanding play, i just cant belive the expectations in the IIAC are so low for the storm.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I think Simpson is among the four teams mentioned most (Wartburg, Luther, and Coe being the other three) in the IIAC title hunt, but they were 5-5 and lost their last three games of the season in 2004.  I do think they should be a contender this year based on returning players and the tradition over the last 20 years.

As this last weekend might have shown, the IIAC could be more wide open than some were talking about a couple of weeks ago.  Most people are going to give Wartburg and Coe the nod because they have tied for the lead in two of the last three years.

This weekend will help clear some things up.

[press_box]

Lance - I stand corrected. That TeKippe was at Wartburg at one time.

[WartTrainer]

OK so I might be jumping the gun a little with the auto into the playoff talk but you dont have to win your non-conference games to get there.  The Knights can lose again this saturday ( i hope they dont) and it doesnt matter.  All that matters is what happens on the 17th when the Storm comes to town.  That is when the real season starts and also the the march to 4 in a row.

Go KNIGHTS!!!

Go HAWKS!!!

[Lance Harbor]

Hawks4Life, WartTrainer, Pakk and everyone else - I think it's safe to say that we can officially call the IIAC race WIDE OPEN.  I'm looking forward to it.  The team that can overcome adversity the best will be the champs.

[Walston Hoover]

Pakk-
Millikin did win their last 4 games last year

[Pakk]

I do agree with lance Harbor.  The race is wide open in the Iowa Conference.  I'm hoping an Iowa conference team can have a decent showing in the play-offs this year.  The last time a team went anywhere was when Central got beat by St. Johns 10-7 in the 3rd round in 2000 I believe.  Other than that, the Iowa conference has been weak in the play-offs.  I hate to say it, but it's true.

[wartknight]

I do agree with lance Harbor.  The race is wide open in the Iowa Conference.  I'm hoping an Iowa conference team can have a decent showing in the play-offs this year.  The last time a team went anywhere was when Central got beat by St. Johns 10-7 in the 3rd round in 2000 I believe.  Other than that, the Iowa conference has been weak in the play-offs.  I hate to say it, but it's true.

I wouldn't say a last second defeat half way across the country against one of the top teams in the nation is weak.

[sportsknight]

With as wide-open as the conference is this year (I'm avoiding the word "parity" because that means that everybody is down, which isn't the case this year), I think that it might be tough to get two IIAC teams to the play-offs.  I think it could easily happen like last year where all the IIAC teams beat each other up and nobody looks that good when the NCAA is handing out at-large spots in November.

Also, I'd remain cautious heading into Saturday, Wartburg fans.  While it would be great to get the Knights back on the winning track, Augsburg is a real wild card this year.  They haven't played yet, and with a new head coach (coming over from Arena football) and O-coordinator, the Knights don't have a whole lot to go off of, possibly even less than last year.  On the other hand, though, Willis has only lost back-to-back games once in his time at Wartburg.  Should be a very interesting game.

[lorbec47]

I can't imagine that even if we beat most of these power conferences that it will give us all the benefits come post-season. If you do have that situation of last year (which I do see happening) and the conference champ has 2 league losses, there's just no way. Who knows though.
Looks like good games all over the place. The Duhawks will have their hands full down at Ambrose. Good luck to all.

[Southfan]

I think it's a little early to start raising the conference in Pella.  Don't think that Auggie is as good as they have been in the past especially on defense.  I think its a great win but lets not get the kegs and J D out yet in Pella!