FB: American Rivers Conference

[Schipper Strong]

Go Dutch! Finish strong today! The only bright side of not being in the playoffs is the opportunity to win your last game is far better.

[Schipper Strong]

Dutch up 7-0 after their first possession.  Coe moving on Wartburg at the 20.

[Schipper Strong]

Central 10-0 after trading fumbles at the 7 yard line. Disappointed we couldn't get a TD, but 3 is better than nothing. Coe up 7-3 over Wartburg.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Dug the UD marching band hald time show.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

What happened to the video?

[Schipper Strong]

Knew UD had what it took to give us another challenging game. Way to go Dutch! Couldn't see the end of the game, but the Dutch finally win one of the close ones. Happy to eat crow on my prediction. I can't believe how fast this season has gone. Congratulations to the 4 guys who came back for a 5th year. Nice to see Jason Hopp end on a quality game and win. Other 27 seniors, if you are getting playing time, don't you want to see what next year brings? Underclassmen work hard in the off season and return us to championship status and playoffs. 3 losses, but none by more than 7. Good things are ahead. Thanks for keeping my Saturdays fun. Why does it seem like I am always waiting for football season to start and then it flies by?

Congratulations to Wartburg on winning a tight one against Coe and winning the conference. I hope you make a deep run and get the ARC some more respect on a national level. I will be following your games as best I can.

[Next Man Up]

My Alma Mater, Nebraska Wesleyan needs a new Coach.
11-30 in the last 5 years, including an even more sickening 5-28 in the ARC. 

[doolittledog]

That was a cold one. My daughter took us to a Thai restaurant afterwards to help thaw us out. Would have liked to see UD complete the comeback but Central played a great game. Congrats to the Dutch on the 24-21 victory.

[MediaGuy]

Great game from Coe today.  They did a great job executing a game plan and playing their game.  Wouldn't let Wartburg get into rhythm on offense and only allowed Wartburg 3 meaningful possessions in the first half.  Also did a great job with field position for the majority of the game.  But now onto the postseason talk...
Using Hansen's rankings from twitter to guess the most likely Pool C teams (UWL, Bethel, Hopkins, Albion, Utica) and assuming the committee will use the plane travel to send someone to Linfield.  Here are the possible matchups for Wartburg in Round 1

Depauw (363 mi)
North Central (266 mi)
St Johns (218 mi)
Bethel (164 mi)
Lake Forest (241 mi)
Aurora (232 mi)
Northwestern (207 mi)
UWW (191 mi)
UWL (99 mi)
Albion College (497 mi)

I also think Wheaton 8-2 (Higher SOS, 2 losses but both to top ranked teams) has a much better resume than Albion 9-1 (beat WIAC team, better overall record) and has an arguably better resume than Bethel 8-2 (lost to St Johns but their loss to Platteville looked much better 4 weeks ago than it does now)

Recently the committee has tried to separate conference teams in separate pods so surprisingly I think the bracket with Bethel looks much different than the bracket with Wheaton.

I haven't watched near enough other teams this year to project a full bracket but I am going to make a few predictions.
1. WIAC, MIAC or CCIW Pool C teams will be in separate pods (i.e. won't have possible rematches until the quarter-finals)
2. Top seeds in regions are Delaware Valley, Linfield, North Central and Trinity (Possibly Ithaca instead of Delaware Valley, but Mount Union won't get a region)
3. Wartburg will host either Northwestern, Lake Forest, or Aurora in the first round, but have UWL, UWW, Bethel, Wheaton or St Johns in the second round.

I'm really curious to see if the committee rewards teams like St Johns, UWW, UMHB and Bethel for aggressive non-con scheduling or if they go more traditionally by the numbers and treat a loss to a top tier team better than a win over a below average team.  Might influence how teams schedule in the future.

Just my observations and I'm not an expert so I'm just trying to see what everyone else thinks

[Schipper Strong]

I thought Central had a great team and season last year and deserved a bunny first round game. Instead we got Bethel, then Wheaton, followed by UWW. Had we won that it would have been North Central then, and only then, could we get to the championship round. ARC champ may get a home round or two, but it kind of felt like they thought we might be the bunny team. Maybe Wartburg being in playoffs more frequently than Central for a few years gets you more respect. I wouldn't count on anything and just wait for the official bracket. Good luck!

[hazzben]

Looks like the committee just figured they'd make it a short road trip ... UWL (99 mi).

That's a pretty brutal draw for a very good Wartburg team (not saying anything about how far they can go). The problem is so many quality teams in Region 5 and Region 6 make travel impossible and basically guarantee two stacked quads, just like we got.

[Schipper Strong]

UWL is a tough draw. Kind of a pattern of difficult schedule for our conference champ. We got Oshkosh first round in 2019. Was surprised UWL and UWW were in the same bracket. I think Bethel and Wheaton got an even tougher bracket. Face it there are too many good teams near us. Earn us some respect Wartburg. Go Knights!

[doolittledog]

Dubuque lost to UWL 30-3
Dubuque lost to Wart 25-0

I'll pick the home team to win this one.  Go Knights!

[hazzben]

UWL is a tough draw. Kind of a pattern of difficult schedule for our conference champ. We got Oshkosh first round in 2019. Was surprised UWL and UWW were in the same bracket. I think Bethel and Wheaton got an even tougher bracket. Face it there are too many good teams near us. Earn us some respect Wartburg. Go Knights!

Yeah, the challenge for Region 5 & 6 teams is exactly that. There's a ton of really good teams, and then the island factor.

[D O.C.]

"the island factor" thrown in as an aside.
The ONE island team that deserves a load of respect is in the tourney and ready to slog it out.
That's right, slog.