FB: American Rivers Conference

[Charlie Kohawk]

From the aforementioned Web site: "Liberty Mutual will donate $100,000 to the charitable or civic organizations of the coach's choice, as well as a $20,000 scholarship fund through the alumni association of his school."

$100,000 would go a long ways toward paying for field turf at Coe. Erik Raeburn may not be your favorite IIAC coach, but isn't this sufficient incentive? Coe gets field turf and everybody wins! A vote for Raeburn is a vote for the IIAC.

Besides which, I think he's deserving as Coe pursues its third consecutive conference championship and fourth in five years. In his seventh year at the Kohawk helm, Raeburn is the dean of Iowa Conference coaches. More than that though, he's a good man with a great wife and cute kids. This former national champion linebacker and assistant coach at Mount Union has built quite a program at Coe College.

Vote early, and vote often.

[The Show]

Field turf would look better than mud in mid October...

[Kohawk Krazy]

Coach Raeburn is currently ranked 15th, I think he needs a few more votes...Keep them coming...

[coocooforcoekohawk]

He is up to 12

[Turf Guy]

This week's picks;
Coe
Central
Wartburg
BV

[ramfan27]

My picks for the week

Coe over Simpson 31-7
Luther over Simpson 17-14
Warburg over Loras 24-14

And just for fun, my upset special of the week....
UD stuns the Dutch 31-21

Good luck to everyone this week

[The Show]

Looks like Simpson's in for a rough week...

[sc_stormchaser]

Geez, ramfan. I know we're pretty bad, but two losses in one week. Give us a break.  It's been a rough year for Storm fans...worst start since 1987, topped off by an embarrassing loss at BV. I wasn't at the game, but I had some friends that left at halftime because they said BV couldn't do anything in the first half. In fact, the one friend was absolutely shocked to see the final score on the evening news. When it rains, it pours.

As I have said before, I'm a former player under Williams, so I don't have many connections on the current staff. But Niemann's record has been less than impressive. Yes, his first two years were winning seasons (playoffs in '03) but most of the players were kids recruited by Williams' staff.  The following two seasons ended with 5-5 records and this year will likely be worse. It will be an interesting to see what happens at the end of the season.

[dbljay21]

Can't wait any longer.  Time to make the picks.  Lets hope this week goes better than the past two weeks have.

Coe over Simpson in a good, old-fashioned beatdown  35-7.
Wartburg over Loras by a touchdown 24-17.  Chalk it up to the homefield advantage for the Knights.
Luther gets a much needed W at the Lake 35-20.
Central gets the W in Pella over an inspired UD squad 21-20.

Good luck to everyone this weekend.  Time to go vote for Coach of the Year and support the IIAC

[dutchfan1]

sc_stormchaser -- wasn't Niemann wooed away from a pretty sucessful program at UNI? It looks like his coaching resume includes stints at UNI, Drake, Western Washington University, University of Washington....it seems as though Simpson was an interesting jump for him. According to the Simpson website, this seems to be his first taste of small college football. I'm wondering if he's not having a bit of difficulty in adapting to IIAC football more than he would have anticipated, unlike McMartin and Willis (who both had IIAC/D3 experience before taking over as head coach). Thoughts?

[dutchfan1]

OK, my picks for the week --

Coe over Simpson
Wartburg over Loras
BV over Luther
Central over UD

By the way, no one in Pella is taking UD's success lightly -- I think this Saturday is going to prove interesting on several different levels.

GO DUTCH!

[Walston Hoover]

I just voted for Koehler and he is 9th in D3.
Come on Knight fans!
Actually is there any prize for the winning coaches at each level or is it just for the overall winner.

[Walston Hoover]

Kohawk fans prepare to be disappointed. This conference doesn't believe in  honoring coaches who win year in and year out.
Willis only won the honor once in his 8 or 9 years even with 4 titles. Even losing the title to a 6-4 coach 1 year and rolling through the conference in 2003 with arguably one of the best teams in this conf in the last 10 years.
For some reason the coaches in this conference don't like it when guys win year-in and year-out.

[Dsquared]

Going away from Walston Hoover's lines, time to make the predictions...

Easiest game of the week to pick -- Coe over Simpson in a laugher
The "will there be a winner" game of the week -- BVU over Luther (credit the stiff breezes off the Lake.  The Norse are taken back to their heritage, but can't get the sails up in enough time to avoid the "upset")
The "luck of the (Irish) Dutch" game of the week -- After Wallner Belleus explodes for 2 TDs and 200+ all purpose yards in the first half, Central's D buckles down, their O gets nasty in the trenches, and they pull out another squeaker in OT.
Finally, the "Homecoming curse" game of the week -- After losses in 2 of the last 4 years, the Knights avenge the 2004 blowout to the Duhawks.  The Evil Empire has to retain the title SOMEHOW!!

Other lines for the week:

The Hawks travel east for their 1st game of 2 out of the confines of Kinnick.  Overlooking the Hooooosyer daddy's this weekend will be VERY evident leading up to what could be the make or break point for the 2006 Hawkeyes.  With their sights set to the northeast, the Hawkeyes running duo of Shonn Greene and Damian Sims will have to carry the load this week.  Iowa will win, but a LOT closer than the Purdue game was.  Line: Iowa -10.5

The Clones, on the other hand, will have to test their resiliency this weekend against a running back who is BETTER than the two-headed monster they faced last weekend.  Seriously, unless Mac can recruit size on both sides of the line for years to come, the Cyclones fate will mirror the Cubs fate.  Always optimistic, but never reaching expectations.  For this week, Adrian Peterson (with father fresh out of prison) will put on a show for all those present.  This won't be a beatdown reminiscent of 2003, as the Cyclones ARE leaps and bounds better than that team.  It won't be pretty either.  If Mac thought his team got their butts kicked last week, they have another thing coming in Norman.  Line: Iowa State +14.5

[Walston Hoover]

Both your spreads are too low.