FB: American Rivers Conference

[Walston Hoover]

I have no doubt the FA packages the IIAC puts out are just as good or better than any place they can get a scholarship to. Its amazing where kids will go just to get "football" in front of that scholarship.
Kids(and a lot of parents for that matter) don't look at the bottom line.
I heard countless times last season from parents, not kids, that if their kid couldn't get a football scholarship he would just go to Iowa or Iowa State to get a degree. I don't know if that only happens at Dowling or not but if not, then there's a lot of high-quality D3 athletes walking around at our state's public universities.

[DutchFan2004]

Walston, I think you are very right.  Two of the starters on the Dutch team are transfers from Iowa and Iowa State.  They (Brett Doud, and Cody Huisman) tried to walk on but still how many kids that would be very good d3 players are at those schools.  I know some at Iowa State are there for the Ag studies and there are no d3 schools offering that kind of program so I can understand that but many kids are missing out on a good brand of football.

[knightlife06]

footballdaddy,

I don't see scholarships helping here in Iowa.  That was the Upper Iowa claim to fame to recruit we can give a scholarship now that we are D2.  I don't see any great improvement from the Peacocks since bolting the IIAC to D2. 

Offering scholarships has helped UIU out quite a bit actually.  They are much improved from their IIAC days.  Still probably wouldn't be in the top 3 in the IIAC today but improved.

[The Show]

BV's LB, Cody Pierce, has been named to the Street and Smith's Magazine preseason All-America 1st Team.  He was the only IIAC selection from Street and Smith's.  Congrats!  BV could surprise...

[DutchHawk]

21 more players to go...

[sc_stormchaser]

Knightlife06- I think they were speaking more about recruiting Iowa kids and less about the actual improvement on the field. UIU thought they would be able to recruit in-state kids being the only d2 school, but that hasn't happened. They still have very few Iowa kids on the roster.

[footballdaddy]

D3 schools cannot offer FA for athletics,only for academics. But I know that a quality athlete will get aid to make IAAC prices competitive with the state schools.Couple the quality of education wth the ability to play football,why would anyone feel like thet were "settling" on a D3 school?

[DutchFan2004]

Thanks Stormchaser,

You made my point better than I did.  I don't think UI has had any more success with the Iowa kids and atheletic scholarships than the FA that IIAC schools offer the D3 kids here in Iowa.  As far as won loss I could not tell you as I don't follow them that closely.  I would measure success in championships or at least competing for them.  I have not seen UI winning their conference.  I believe this will be year #4 as a D2 school.  So the proof should be this year shouldn't it?  I mean the kids at UI will be seniors or red shirt juniors this year so this should be the payoff year or start of it I would think.  If they are improved but not in the top 3 then they still have a long way to go I'd say. 

[Walston Hoover]

D3 schools cannot offer FA for athletics,only for academics. But I know that a quality athlete will get aid to make IAAC prices competitive with the state schools.Couple the quality of education wth the ability to play football,why would anyone feel like thet were "settling" on a D3 school?

Like I said before-simply for that fact that it does not say "football" in front of your schollie.

[knightlife06]

You're right UIU still isn't getting the number and quality of Iowa kids I'm sure they were hoping for.  I was surprised at the number of Iowa kids they did get this year, I hadn't heard of any of them, but they are Iowa kids none-the-less. 

[duhawk11]

hey everyone, im new to the board and just wondering how you guys see the iiac finishing this year?

[Ralph Turner]

hey everyone, im new to the board and just wondering how you guys see the iiac finishing this year?

Welcome duhawk.  The IIAC is a very good conference and this is one of the better message boards.

As a South Region (ASC) fan, I lurk on this board to find out what is happening in the IIAC.  I always appreciate hyperlinks to other content, news articles and game stories.

Welcome!

[doolittledog]

hey everyone, im new to the board and just wondering how you guys see the iiac finishing this year?

Welcome duhawk11

I think Wartburg and Central will be the top two teams this year.  I think Cornell will be down at the bottom and then I think there will be a lot of parity with the rest of the teams.  I don't know how the rest will shake out.

I was in Dubuque this last weekend and drove by both the UD and Loras campuses.  Hard to believe all the changes those two schools have gone through since I was in school at Dubuque all those years ago. 

[DutchFan2004]

Welcome Duhawk11,

I think that Central, Wartburg, and Coe will be battling it out for the top spot.  UD, BV, Luther, Loras, and Simpson will fight for the next spots.  Cornell with the past and their last years record has to be picked last.  Though if they improve they could get out of the bottom.  I never thought that Luther would have had the season they had last year.  I know Coe lost many off the offensive side of the ball last year but having said that they have The 2 QB's back and Soukow so that's why I still have them in the top team mix.  Wartburg and Central have many of their starters back on both sides of the ball.  Anything can happen this year though.  With Central and Wartburg not meeting till the last game of the year the season will depend upon how both of those teams do the rest of the season.  If they go 9-0 and come down to the last game (and I am not saying they will)  That last week will be a barn burner.  The team that to me will be interesting is UD.  Can they improve on the 6-4 season last year?  If they do then I would say they are could be #2 or #3.  That will remain to be seen.   If Cornell improves then they may get out of the bottom spot but I just don't see it.  It should be a great year for IIAC football. 

[dutchfan1]

hey everyone, im new to the board and just wondering how you guys see the iiac finishing this year?

Welcome to the board!

Central and Wartburg battle it out for first place. Coe will be in the hunt for a while, but will lost again to UD. (Hi Charlie -- I put that in there for you!) After that, everyone else is battling for their place in the middle/bottom of the conference. People may be annoyed by the prediction (and how it is a re-run of my prediction from last year....and the year before that....and the year before that....) -- Prove me wrong, and we'll talk.