FB: American Rivers Conference

[NorseFan]

Knight fans, 
I don't know if this was asked a while back or not but I saw that Hammes only had 3 carries?  Is that because of injury? 

[Confused77]

"Would any of the current Wartburg players be considered either the best or second best player at their position at Wartburg over the last 8 years?"

My Answer- A big huge No.

Here is a question- Does anyone think the supposed downfall of the Knights (or the absence of a truly dominant team in the IIAC) is due to the influx of new coaches at many schools who are now recruiting way better than the school did  in the past.Spreading the talent around the league more. Or possibly the walk-on kool aid that is being served at Iowa, where many athletes are walking on at Iowa and may not ever have a chance to contribute,but can say they played D1 ball. When if they played in the IIAC or another division they may have a more rewarding experience.

just a question. I am curious as to how people will respond.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

The recruiting of a d3 sport seems very difficult to me.

1.You have to find a kid smart enough to get into a premium private college
2.You have to find a kid who can afford or wants to mortgage his future in order   to go to a premium private college.
3.You have to find athletes with talent, but not too much talent to be taken away by a scholarship program ie. NAIA or d2 schools.

I would find it very hard to recruit under these circumstances.

Little known fact, Freddy Jackson did not start on his high school team.

[Oldknight65]

Why is it that when there is a vacancy on the Wartburg staff, Willis doesn't go after some of the alumni coaches? Matt Entz and Chad Klunder type of coaches.  (it might be tough to get Kunder away from ND). Only an alumnus could understand the gravity of playing in a dang Luther game!

I can't speak of what it is like playing for Willis. I posted after the first loss and was informed that Willis only deals with the defense. Well perhaps it is time for Willis to exercise some influence on both sides of the ball. It is obvious that mechanics suck with the turnovers and inconsistency on offense. It would be less painful if the Knights had played well and lost.

As much as it pains me - Congrats to the Norse.

[Walston Hoover]

I think the new coaches that have come in to the IIAC the last few years is what has lead to the talent being spread around more. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Willis the longest tenured coach in the IIAC? 9 years? It may or may not be that the coaches are good recruiters, I guess personally I think it may be more the novelty and excitement of a new coach at a school. Gone are the days of Schipper and Williams and Bierie.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and I welcome comments from anyone else who has been up there, but the pressbox atmosphere at Luther is the absolute worst in the IIAC. I especially felt bad for the coaches, all sitting there at the window with a small army of Norse standing right behind them cheering during the game.

[vinnysboy]

Well friends the trip went well with exception of the 3 1/2 hour turnover fest at simpson . I truly believe that the talentbis there. Heart is missing.No coach can give them heart. To my boys work hard eat your wheaties and keep your chin up. Reno you are a badass. Prince get right and keep being a leader. Tim keep hustlin. Travis don't play chase flatten out down the LOS. Justin beyourself loose the silver teeeth, ass. Vince lightem up oldschool.

p.s. i figured out that if you carry a sign that asks for all the loose women all you will get is alot of aughs and looks. Iowa rocked thanks to my hosts. Keg, sheri, anna ( and her nice rack) and even the new kid Matt I still don't like Coe but your bigger than me! V card is lucky i didn't f***** choke slam him!!!

[tributetothemaninblack]

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and I welcome comments from anyone else who has been up there, but the pressbox atmosphere at Luther is the absolute worst in the IIAC. I especially felt bad for the coaches, all sitting there at the window with a small army of Norse standing right behind them cheering during the game.

i agree the conditions of the luther pressbox are horrible.  There has been talk of making a few enclosed rooms for the coaches.  Something needs to be done to get peolpe out the caf during the game.  It is even worse during a poor weather conditions such as were experienced during the luther/wartburg game.  In my opinion it has the best view of the game compared to any other IIAC pressbox, just because it is higher.

[Confused77]

Walston- I am in agreement with the pressbox issue. I was very suprised by no privacy for coaches.  Hell, if I wanted to I could have walked behind the Luther coaches for a bit. The only redeeming quality was my ability to turn around and grab a cup and get a beverage of my choice while the offense was on the field and Coach Kileman was asking me what I was seeing before making his sideline adjustments.

Other than that...somethings needs to change.

[press_box]

With regards to the press box situations, Luther probably has the worst atmosphere (love hearing the clanging of plates and trays in the background of the broadcast), but it might not be the worst. Based on what I dealt with a couple of years ago anyway...at Dubuque visiting radio and visiting coaches are in the same space...BV visiting radio booth is about 5 feet wide...Cornell doesn't provide much room to look left or right, tough to see the nearside endzone corners...that's just a couple of them. Wartburg and Central have done it right.

[dbljay21]

Luther's pressbox was and is a pain in the ass...I hated being up there on Saturdays because there was no privacy.  There was always a small group trying to stand around the coaches, announcers, etc. Dubuque has a difficult box for visiting coaches because of the radio guys.  All of the other schools were pretty good. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

In MIAC games of note, Bethel beat Hamline 27-0, St. Thomas beat Augsburg 53-17, and St. Olaf beat Macalaster 71-0.  Augsburg at 0-3 has not had a close game since losing to Wartburg a few weeks ago, while St. Olaf has a big showdown with St. Thomas coming up this week.  This is another huge game for the Oles, as a win would put them in a good position to be 7-0 going into the October 29 game at St. John's.

There definitely looks to be an upper and lower division again this year in the MIAC.

In relevant non-conference action in the CCIW, Augustana pounded Wisconsin-Platteville 45-14, Illinois Wesleyan won their first game of the year against the University of Chicago 20-13, and Millikin beat Albion 21-20.

Congrats to Luther for being +4 in the turnover battle in the win over Wartburg on Saturday.  Wartburg was +4 last season in the 16-7 in over the Norse.  Hopefully WR Brett Scheetz is healthy and plays a more active role this week, as the Norse will need the offensive balance against Coe.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

There are more evenly matched or potentially interesting IIAC games this week than the past couple of weeks.  Here are a few of my questions this week:

Can Loras move the ball on Cornell, or are they going to have take advantage of turnovers by the defense to score more than two TDs?  I know they passed the ball well against St. Ambrose a few weeks ago, but they have been struggling lately.

How good is B.V.?  They are 2-0 in league play and were leading a pretty good Bethel team in the 4th quarter of the opener, but they haven't faced a good offense since the Royals.  I thought the Beavers might struggle more this season after losing so many players from the 2004 team, but the game this week at Waverly should be a good test.  B.V. won the opener between the teams last season, 17-14.

Should Central be favored over Simpson this weekend since the game is at Simpson, and for people that have seen the Storm so far this year I want to know if they are playing like a title contender?  I also have not seen Central this year, but from a distance it seems as if they have done a pretty good job so far this year considering how little experience they had coming back this season.

Is the Norse Defense capable of playing the Coe Offense as well as what Central did a couple of weeks ago?  Luther obviously has the capabilities to score more than what the Dutch did, but a true title contender almost has to have a consistently strong defense.  While Luther has had good defensive teams in the past, especially as it relates to forcing turnovers, the consistency to this point in the season has been lacking.  This is also at least the third year in a row that they have played Coe and Wartburg back-to-back early in the season.

[44blast]

Hello everyone, I've always read the I.I.A.C. message board but just decided to get my own screen name.  As a biased observer, I have to say that I was very proud of Luther this week.  Whether or not Wartburg is having a down season is beside the point.  Emotion was a key factor in the Norse victory on Saturday.  After being down 12-3 early in the first quarter it would have been easy to quit, but in front of a family weekend crowd Norse wanted it more and got the win after 13 seasons.  Whoever said that the winner of Coe-Luther next weekend will be in the "driver's seat" of the conference I think is somewhat correct.  However, the I.I.A.C. is a very competitive conference and it may take until the final weeks to settle who is the conference champion.  All teams have a chance to win every saturday which is going to make for yet another exciting race to the playoffs.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Central vs. Simpson used to be a big rivalry.  As a long time Central fan, I would gladly get the trash talking started, but unfortunately I know nothing about Simpson so I am having a hard time coming up with anything both relevant and insulting.  Can anyone help me out?  A couple of years ago Simpson had a reputation, at least on this board, of playing dirty.  How that is working out for them this year?  I don't usually let a lack of knowledge keep me from having strong opinions, but now I have to worry about my karma.

[dutchfan1]

Congrats to the Dutch, BV, Simpson, and especially Luther. It's nice to see all of the Luther fans coming out of the woodwork after a win over Wartburg. (It almost reminds me of Loras/UD week, when we seem to have an influx of UD fans for a good, solid week....)

For all who are trying to predict the outcoming of the conference race: There are seven weeks of ball to be played before a title will be doled out. I would worry less about November, and focus on this week's game.

Wartburg fans: your season is starting to remind me of the Central season a couple of years ago ... is Willis losing his edge? Maybe the talent just isn't there ... what's going on in Waverly??

Oh, and speaking of rivalries -- this is Central/Simpson week. Go Dutch.