FB: American Rivers Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

W'loo Courier write up about Luther football is in tonights paper
http://wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/08/16/sports/local/doc46c46ca1ae39a795945523.txt

Headline "Luther eager to prove 2-8 season was a fluke"
"Sherden, who has put on 15 pounds since last season, had a lengthy rehabilitation process, not doing any football-related activities for six months."

Very tough opening to season

2007 SCHEDULE

Sept. 1 -- at St. Olaf (Minn.), 12:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 -- at Central, 1 p.m.

Sept. 22 -- Wartburg, 1 p.m.

From that article:

It didn't take long for Luther to put 2006 in the rearview mirror, either.

"Right after the season, there was nothing that needed to be said," Hefty said. "We don't talk about it. We've moved forward."

But the players still remember.

"It's discussed, but not publicly," Rost said. "We get asked a lot, 'How were you last year? Well, we were 2-8, but that's not us.' We're going to fix it, and we're going to go back out and do better."


I like what Kirk Ferentz did at Iowa during this preseason camp when he gave all of the Hawkeye players a schedule with the scores from the 2006 Big Ten season.  Sending out something talking about a 2-6 conference finish is not something that every coach would do.

Coach Hefty seems to be a positive guy and a coach who wants a very confident team.  Dwelling on losing might be foreign to how he runs a program.

You don't hear 8-2 teams saying, "that wasn't us" after barely winning a bunch of close games.
 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

From the Luther athletic site:

Returning letterwinners-
http://sports.luther.edu/men/football/season-2007/roster/returningletterwinners.html

Team roster-
http://sports.luther.edu/men/football/season-2007/roster/2007footballroster.html

[DutchFan2004]

Walston,

Thanks maybe I should not be offended now.  It still was a slap at the QB position.  The politically correct thing would have been to say football player or athlete.   

[sportsknight]

Wartburg photos from yesterdays practice are posted @
http://www.go-knights.net/photos/FBpractice81607/index.html

Is it not warm up in Waverly?  Both the pictures I've seen of Coach Toohey this week he's been wearing long sleeves.  You'd think dude would get pretty damned hot.  Although maybe he's trying to protect that fair Irish skin.

[DutchHawk]

Its hard for me to think that there is that much disparity in academic standards around the league. I understand that there are always exceptions at any school but I think that the majority hold a higher academic standard. For example I dont think there is much of a difference between Central Coe Wartburg and Simpson but Im no expert on this area. I prefer football talk. Although I have heard from a few sources talk about the Carter kid that wrestled at Wartburg couldnt get into some other schools that were public with lower academic standards but Wartburg let him in.

[Wartburg Fan]

My sons class had 90 report for the first day of football practice as a freshman when they graduated there was 9. I can't remember how many left during their freshman year.  We told our son that he made a comitment for at least one year to the school and the football coach. He did not play a down his freshmen year but he was a freshman in 03 does anyone remember that team ( Ha Ha). I'm glad he stay cause I really enjoyed watching him play for the next three years.

Walston Hoover  have you figure out who my son is?
       Go Knights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The amount of guys that left in that class and the following one were the big reason why Wartburg suffered its worst 2-year span record -wise in the last 10 years. It is also one of the big reasons to be excited about this season and the next. The Class that came in in '02 was extremely talented and many of the guys were starting by the time they were sophs. When the class of '03 (which was probably just as talented) came in, many, many of the guys didn't want to put in 2 years of being a back-up before they started, and a similar thing happened in '04. You saw in '05 a 2-deep at Wartburg of almost all Seniors and Freshman. Talent enough to win a title from the starters, but guys not ready to play that were forced to due to lack of depth. Last year a 2-deep of almost all sophs and freshmen saw some "youngster mistakes" but hopefully those will be rectified with a year of experience. Its nice to have the talent and coaching that a bad year with lots of mistakes still yields an 8-2 record.

[davedevine]

doolittle,

what areas do you do appraisals in?   We(Capital One) don't write a ton of loans in IA, but I could maybe get you on our appraiser database.  I'm sure you wouldn't mind an extra order or two here and there.

Speaking of Loans, I'm going to put a little plug in here(sorry Pat)
if you would like to get pre-approved for a  house, I'd be happy to help
email me: david.devine@capitalonehomeloans.com

Pat, I would love nothing more than Cap 1 to give you some money for advertising on your site, they did spend over $1 Billion on advertising in 2006.  We lend in every state, so there aren't any restrictions.

back to football.. there was a big article in today's USA Today about the wing T and how much success teams have using it.  it is difficult to defend at times, but to me it's a mini circus.  I know fans of Sigourney Keota would disagree...
also, I read online that IA is going to 32 team playoff format? what's up with that?  I can maybe see 24, but  32 teams is way too many. 
this is coming from someone who's team didn't make it @ 8-1 after  winning a state championship the previous year with a 7-2 record.
if there are still 8 districts? 4 from each one is ridiculous...

[Ash Park]

Honestly  there is probably 2 or 3 schools in the IIAC that would be considered to having lower academic standards  but really any school in the IIAC you can get a very good education. I will honestly say that the admissions people at Cornell think that Cornell is academically better than which they really are. Don't get me wrong Cornell is one of the top private schools in the midwest but academically we are the same as Luther, Coe, Simpson, Central etc. Until the people on the "hill" at Cornell realize that then they will continue to struggle with numbers. The football team did bring in a good amount of #s this year but with the rumor of the school upping the standards next year will that have an impact on the next years recruiting class? It sure could. I just think that the players already there busting their tails along with the coaches deserve better from their admissions people and whoever else is on the "hill".

[footballdaddy]

As far as academic standards,each school has a SAT/ACT,class rank,or GPA target that all students have to acheive to gain admission. I'm sure we all know the one who got the magic number on the ACT and was just able to qualify. On the other hand,seeing that most IIAC schools have a 4 year graduation rate in the 90% range compared to 30% for state schools, they must be getting a better class of student.

BTW,my son is a quarterback and was #1 academically in his class for all four years of high school.

[doolittledog]

Thanks davedevine, I emailed you some info on my company. 

I agree with you about the number of football teams making the playoffs.  It's always sad to see an 8-1 team miss out of the playoffs but rewarding half of the teams in your class with a trip to the state playoffs isn't exacly rewarding excellence in my opinion.  A bunch of 5-4 teams making the playoffs isn't my idea of a good idea but I'm guessing they want to improve the kids morale and self-esteem and make every one a winner.  Plus a coach wanting to move up the ranks and catch on at a college can now pad his resume listing all the state playoff appearences his team has made when in reality that won't be all that much of an accomplishment.  Then again that's just that much more film a college coach can look at when evaluating a kid to bring into his school. 

As far as college football and especially the IIAC.  I can't wait and am looking forward to some road trips this year for the first time in awhile. 

[DutchHawk]

Thanks davedevine, I emailed you some info on my company. 

I agree with you about the number of football teams making the playoffs.  It's always sad to see an 8-1 team miss out of the playoffs but rewarding half of the teams in your class with a trip to the state playoffs isn't exacly rewarding excellence in my opinion.  A bunch of 5-4 teams making the playoffs isn't my idea of a good idea but I'm guessing they want to improve the kids morale and self-esteem and make every one a winner.  Plus a coach wanting to move up the ranks and catch on at a college can now pad his resume listing all the state playoff appearences his team has made when in reality that won't be all that much of an accomplishment.  Then again that's just that much more film a college coach can look at when evaluating a kid to bring into his school. 

As far as college football and especially the IIAC.  I can't wait and am looking forward to some road trips this year for the first time in awhile. 

Rewarding half the teams in the class with a trip to the playoffs only happens in 4A. When dave played Denver was 1A and there are 90 ish teams depending on the year I think in the smaller classes so its much more of an achievement to even make the playoffs in 1A 2A 3A I think.

[Walston Hoover]

I don't like the new IaHS rule at all. To the state's credit, they aren't calling the first round of what we used to call "playoffs" the "Playoffs". I believe it is being treated like a substate round by them, similar to basketball and baseball.

[doolittledog]

Hmm, I thought 1A, 2A, and 3A all had 64 teams in them.  But I am usually wrong, just ask my wife!!!

[DutchHawk]

I could be wrong too, I was thinking before all this consolidation and 8 man back in the mid 90's

[Purple Heys]

Hey, how about some actual IIAC football talk?   Enough of the who's academics are better already.

Who's gonna be the leader rusher in the IIAC?

Leading passer?

Leading receiver?

Leading tackler?

Who are the players to watch.

Why should we wait for D3Football.com Kickoff on Monday when we can do it ourselves

How about IIAC order of finsh and records...anyone care to go out on a limb on that?

My next post answers these questions and more...