FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Not an Iowa guy but kudos, that's pretty cool.  The only thing I'm wondering is if there are only 25 teams in Iowa.  I thought that must be case when I saw Grinnell ranked.

Exactly 25 as of right now.

FBS - 2
FCS - 2
D2  - 1
D3  - 11
NAIA - 9

I believe Clarke, an NAIA school in Dubuque is adding football in 2018.
Mt. Mercy, an NAIA school in Cedar Rapids has been discussing adding football.  To my knowledge they haven't yet announced adding football.  I have been known to often be wrong.   

Since about the year 2000, Iowa has been about the only place NAIA football has grown.  Briar Cliff and Dordt added programs in the western part of the state.  Waldorf moved from a JC to a 4 year school and went NAIA. They are on the Minnesota border.  Grand View, in Des Moines added football.  William Penn, moved from D3 to NAIA around the turn of the century. 

Of course, Iowa Wesleyan moved from NAIA to D3.  Pretty much an even swap of bottom feeders trading William Penn for Iowa Wesleyan. 

[Klompen]

Welcome to the board, Ryan.  Glad to have you and hope that you will post more.  Checked out your site and it looked great. 

[Klompen]

Congratulations to the Dutch on cracking the Top 25 for the first time in 6 years.  It has been way too long a dry spell.  Not bad to leap frog over UD and WB who were receiving votes when Central wasn't and become the first ranked IIAC team.  Not sure why UD wasn't the first, but beating a previously ranked team after a LONG trip probably had something to do with it.  WB is probably lucky to still be receiving votes with one loss and spotting an unranked team a huge lead before getting things rolling.  But Central took a long time to get things rolling against Augustana so those things happen.

[Outside the Crate]

Heard Rick Willis at the Wartburg Booster Club luncheon today.  I knew they graduated 31 seniors, but I didn't realize how young this team is, especially given injuries in the first two games.  This is going to be interesting.  He argues they have a lot of talent but it's almost entirely untested.

[doolittledog]

Luther preview of this weekends Dubuque game.

https://twitter.com/Darinsvenson/status/778608761363574785

They say to expect a muddy field this weekend. Should we expect a muddy field for the rest of the season?


And the Dubuque football show with a recap of the UD/Simpson game and a preview of the UD/Luther game this weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtJ46xm7M5I

[HansenRatings]

Here's how my projections see the conference racing shaping up for the remainder of the season:

Team	Current W-L	Projected W-L	IIAC W-L	Pool A
Central	3-0 (1-0)	8.433-1.565	6.435-1.565	37.35%
Coe	3-0 (1-0)	8.125-1.875	6.125-1.875	30.64%
Dubuque	3-0 (1-0)	7.755-2.245	5.755-2.245	18.89%
Wartburg	1-1 (1-0)	6.405-3.595	5.410-2.590	11.56%
Simpson	1-2 (0-1)	4.375-5.625	3.375-4.625	0.63%
Luther	1-1 (0-0)	3.515-6.485	2.515-5.485	0.68%
Buena Vista	0-3 (0-1)	2.380-6.620	2.380-5.620	0.09%
Loras	0-3 (0-1)	2.230-7.770	2.230-5.770	0.11%
Nebraska Wesleyan	1-2 (0-1)	2.770-7.230	1.770-6.230	0.05%

Not too many surprises. The model still doesn't think it's very likely anyone runs the table in the conference. Central has the best odds right now at just a shade over 20%, and Wartburg's sitting at about 5% (Luther doesn't really has a chance). We all kinda knew it was going to be a 4-horse race going into the season (unless you jumped on the Loras bandwagon, only to realize they tried building it with square wheels), and those four teams haven't really changed, but their order has, at least in my model. Nebraska Welseyan looked better in their loss against Wartburg than I thought they would (at times), so I think it's entirely likely they sneak at least one game, and probably two from the four teams ahead of them right now.

If you want to see teams from every other conference, you can check it out here

[Phred]

Rain this week in NE Iowa .  Perhaps that will prompt Luther to install field turf.  Game with Wartburg several years ago was played in a marsh !  ......ankle deep mud. 

[Pat Coleman]

I would have thought running the triple option would inspire Luther to install turf ...

[HansenRatings]

I would have thought running the triple option would inspire Luther to install turf ...

If building a stadium in a flood-prone bowl hasn't inspired them yet, it seems unlikely that something as fickle as an offensive scheme would turn the tables.

Rain this week in NE Iowa .  Perhaps that will prompt Luther to install field turf.  Game with Wartburg several years ago was played in a marsh !  ......ankle deep mud. 

Played in that one. Ankle-deep is an understatement. The field was a mess before we got on it. I think they had three consecutive home games during three weeks with heavy rain. Trying to disguise your defense was impossible, because you had to be in position pre-snap or else you had no hope of getting through the mud in time.

[doolittledog]

Fayette, Chickasaw, and Floyd counties are in a flash flood warning now.  Floyd and Chickasaw are just north of Bremer county and Wartburg.  I haven't heard yet if the Decorah area will be flooding, other than the ground is saturated and the Luther field will be a mess. 

[DrDutch]

Living up here in NE Iowa has been pretty rough this past month with all of the flooding.  The Upper Iowa River won't be cresting until Saturday, so who knows what Luther/Decorah will look like come game time.  Luther isn't the most progressive in terms of their athletic expenditures, so I doubt a new field will be coming any time soon...

[doolittledog]

Mrs. Doolittle here  ... still time to get your pics in!  No worries if you've missed a week or two! 

[bleedpurple]

Hey guys,

I'm a huge D3 football fan (Loras-alum and former football team manager), and since the start of the season, I've been spending my entire Saturday afternoons putting together "Iowa College Football Round-Ups" for Around Iowa, the website I write for. I recap each game for all D1, D2, D3, and NAIA teams from Iowa, and do a weekly ranking of the top-25 teams in the state. I thought you guys might find it interesting. At the very least, it's a platform you can use to find all the box scores in one place. Hopefully you'll find it useful!

This is my latest one: https://www.aroundiowa.com/blog/2016/09/college-football-round-up-this-is-what-iowa-gets-for-scheduling-fcs-opponents/. Let me know what you think of my top-25. (It's probably wrong, I don't know too much about the NAIA.)

And yeah, the Loras offense looks miserable. I think Nate Even's graduation was a bigger blow than they imagined it'd be. Doesn't help that their next-best receiver, Josh Schulte, went down for the season with a collar bone. The running game looks fine, but I doubt we're going to see another 700+ yard explosion this season. They're moving the ball OK, they just need to limit turnovers. They would've won their first two games of the season if they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. (Two pick-sixes against Elmhurst in Week 1, lost 28-27; Four turnovers in Aurora territory in Week 2, lost 14-9.) Their defense looks improved, but that Coe game was rough.

Welcome to the Boards. Cool website!  Interesting method of ranking the teams. Remember when Morningside takes their loss, they are playing "up" against D-III. 

[Phred]

Living up here in NE Iowa has been pretty rough this past month with all of the flooding.  The Upper Iowa River won't be cresting until Saturday, so who knows what Luther/Decorah will look like come game time.  Luther isn't the most progressive in terms of their athletic expenditures, so I doubt a new field will be coming any time soon...

Luther's football field is not flooded by the river but becomes wet due to rain and poor drainage.  It was constructed 8-10 feet above the flood plain.  Rain and poor drainage is their problem.
Luther seems to invest athletic dollars in life-long sports, I.e. Swimming, softball, etc.rather than
Football.  They have built a state of the art swimming pool, new softball/baseball fields, running track , etc in the last year.

[5 Words or Less]

Baseball seating construction nearly complete