FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchHawk]

Good point DF04...+k...go Dutch....keep on getting those W's!!!

[MNbeev]

Thanks Norse, it looks as if Luther played a complete game.  And my beavers are playing a little better themselves.  Great games all around today, it was a good day to be a IIAC fan.

[doolittledog]

Just got back home after watching UD/Cornell in Mt. Vernon.

Purple, sorry to miss you at the tailgate this morning.  We got there about noon and couldn't find anyone wearing ram horns and ringing a bell.  Looking back on it we should have just asked someone if they had seen you.  It was misting pretty good at that point so we headed back up to town and made it to Chameleons. 

The bleu cheese burger at Chameleons has to be the best burger I have eaten in my life.  Fantastic,  my dad is already planning on grabbing his brother and heading down to Mt. Vernon in the near future to go there again. 

The game was fun to watch.  A lot of offense.  Cornell seemed well coached they just seem to not quite have the athletes yet to compete.  I think they will get there, just might be a year or two down the road. 

After years of having season tickets to Iowa my parents did not renew this year.  Age and health issues being among the reasons they did not renew.  After seeing this game today my dad is ready to hit as many Iowa conference games as he can.  He said he hasn't had that much fun at a game in a long time.  The fact that the 2 of us at at Chameleans plus bought 2 tickets along with 2 hot chocolates and popcorn at halftime and spent less than 40 bucks I think helped seal the deal for him. 

Next weeks Central/UD matchup along with Coe/Wartburg I am really looking forward to. 

[Norsedad]

Great day for the Norse and Sherden....from the Luther website

"Running back Tyler Sherden was the story of the afternoon as he set a single game school record with 269 yards on 37 carries. Sherden broke the old mark of 263 set by All-American Brad Hustad in 1957 against Upper Iowa University. This afternoon, Sherden averaged 7.3 yards per carry and got the Norse on the scoreboard first, with a two-yard plunge with 5:27 left in the first quarter."

[warthog]

I missed the Loras/Wartburg game today so Mrs. Warthog and I could attend what the pastor called  a mixed culture wedding.  A former Simpson softball player married a former Wartburg football player here in M-town today.  The pastor was a Luther grad so we really had a cultural awakening.  I was able to say hello to a dozen or more former Knights.  After hearing today's final score they all seemed shocked that Wartburg still can't be putting more points on the board.  Embarrassing is one term I heard used more than once.

I hope a week of practice can turn this offense around and get it clicking on all cylindars.  If not, there may not be enough beer at OctoberFest  next weekend to put a smile on anyone's face.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

24-17 Dutch Win!!!!

Great game like expected. Congrats to Coe on a great final drive and to the Central D on holding. Sounds like Wartburg was less than impressive again? Whats going on in Waverly??

On to Dubuque...

I thought the Loras Defense looked pretty good against the Norse last week.

Lots of close games around the league again this year.  I am not trying to defend how Wartburg played against Augsburg, but Loras plays good defense a majority of the time.  The league may not have a dominant team this year, but there aren't as many easy marks like there might have been several years ago. 

I also wonder if too much was read into the score when Wartburg beat B.V. 38-0 several weeks ago.  It was just one game.  The Knights have played good defense all season, but the Knight running game hasn't been quite as good as previous editions.  The Knight Defense and the Central Special Teams are the best units I have seen in the IIAC so far this year.  I have yet to see the Spartan Offense.

The Dubuque-Central game might be a little interesting.

Good win today Norse and Dutch! 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Yes !!  Luther 25  BV 22  Brief summary...
Tyler Sherden ran for 269 yards breaking Luther's single game rushing record of 263 set in 1957 by Brad Hustad against UIU.

Congrats Tyler on breaking the single game record!  He now has 2,620 yards in 16 games at RB.

Three in a row for the Norse!  I now have to find out something about Waldorf this year.

[sportsknight]

One quick note before bed...

Of the last 10 times a conference team has scored 50 or more points in a league game, Cornell or Dubuque have been involved every time.

[Purple Heys]

Just got back home after watching UD/Cornell in Mt. Vernon.

Purple, sorry to miss you at the tailgate this morning.  We got there about noon and couldn't find anyone wearing ram horns and ringing a bell.  Looking back on it we should have just asked someone if they had seen you.  It was misting pretty good at that point so we headed back up to town and made it to Chameleons. 

The bleu cheese burger at Chameleons has to be the best burger I have eaten in my life.  Fantastic,  my dad is already planning on grabbing his brother and heading down to Mt. Vernon in the near future to go there again. 

The game was fun to watch.  A lot of offense.  Cornell seemed well coached they just seem to not quite have the athletes yet to compete.  I think they will get there, just might be a year or two down the road. 

After years of having season tickets to Iowa my parents did not renew this year.  Age and health issues being among the reasons they did not renew.  After seeing this game today my dad is ready to hit as many Iowa conference games as he can.  He said he hasn't had that much fun at a game in a long time.  The fact that the 2 of us at at Chameleans plus bought 2 tickets along with 2 hot chocolates and popcorn at halftime and spent less than 40 bucks I think helped seal the deal for him. 

Next weeks Central/UD matchup along with Coe/Wartburg I am really looking forward to. 

Too bad we missed one another...They had me hanging up the Ram sign over the player entrance.  I was also talking to some recruits parents that are from the same part of the country I am from.  So I didn't get to ringing the bell until I went into the gate.

Otherwise there wasn't much opportunity to ring the bell for the Rams, as we were out of it quick.

[CollegeFootballFan]

Cornell Faithful,

I've been pulling for Cornell to make progress this season. I've made some bold predictions too.

Why were there so much enthusiasm, pride and predictions that Cornell would win games? What is different about this team from the last 3 years? What is wrong?

Looking at the results, Cornell is stuck in the pattern of giving up the leagues player of the week, the stat game for the leagues MVP candidates and highlighting the league record books.

If you back out the stats from the 2 non conference games, the stats show a history of the same pattern, failing to win.

It's time to win. You have 4 games to show any improvement, forget the first 2 games. I believe someone on the board summed those games up, 2 victories by 2 points and I'll add some good stats for bragging rights only. Stop speaking of moral victories in close games, you need to solve problems not use them as excuses for signs of improvement. It's the wins and losses that count and this team is losing and headed to another 2-8 season. .

If the team played its best players then that sends a message about the talent. If the team is not playing its best talent, then why not, you have a history and should have learned a lesson about the current talent, its 2-8 and haven't won a conference game. Its time to put your new talent (hope) on the field, it can't hurt; it's time to walk the talk. 

The losses are very painful to watch, listen and read about. It's going to be tough to recruit and keep young players.

[doolittledog]

Cornell Faithful,

I've been pulling for Cornell to make progress this season. I've made some bold predictions too.

Why were there so much enthusiasm, pride and predictions that Cornell would win games? What is different about this team from the last 3 years? What is wrong?

Looking at the results, Cornell is stuck in the pattern of giving up the leagues player of the week, the stat game for the leagues MVP candidates and highlighting the league record books.

If you back out the stats from the 2 non conference games, the stats show a history of the same pattern, failing to win.

It's time to win. You have 4 games to show any improvement, forget the first 2 games. I believe someone on the board summed those games up, 2 victories by 2 points and I'll add some good stats for bragging rights only. Stop speaking of moral victories in close games, you need to solve problems not use them as excuses for signs of improvement. It's the wins and losses that count and this team is losing and headed to another 2-8 season. .

If the team played its best players then that sends a message about the talent. If the team is not playing its best talent, then why not, you have a history and should have learned a lesson about the current talent, its 2-8 and haven't won a conference game. Its time to put your new talent (hope) on the field, it can't hurt; it's time to walk the talk. 

The losses are very painful to watch, listen and read about. It's going to be tough to recruit and keep young players.

Sounds like a player currently sitting on the bench. 

You can look at a team and see if they are improving even if it's not showing up in the results.  Bob Bowlsby stuck by Kirk Ferentz when the Hawks started out 1-10 and 3-9 his first 2 seasons.  The wins weren't there but you could see improvement.  Same thing with Dubuque with Brautigam.  2-8 for 4 straight seasons.  No improvement with results but you could see the team improving.  6-4 last season and 5-1 up to this point this year. 

From what I saw yesterday Cornell looked well coached they just aren't quite there yet.  Something the Central coach said about UD back in 2005. 

[DutchHawk]

Give the Cornell program a bit of time...you cant get a new coach and expect results in year 2...it happens but not at a program your trying to completely turn around.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

There is not much meaning in comparing scores other than entertainment, but St. Thomas (lost to Central and Loras) beat Augsburg (beat Wartburg) yesterday, 50-33.  The Auggies have given up a combined 223 points to the last four MIAC opponents.

St. Olaf (beat Luther), after losing 30-29 to St. John's last week, beat Concordia 52-51.  The Oles are now 6-1 and are missing their defense right now.  St. John's, Bethel, and St. Olaf are still at the top of the MIAC standings.

For the Central fans, does Vance Schuring appear to be getting healthy at all?  How many teams around the country could still be undefeated when their two-time conference MVP has 172 yards, a 3.4 YPC average, and zero TDs on the ground?

[Old Dutch]

Floyd;   

I thnk we saw some spark of the old Schuring in the 4th qtr yesterday.  He had a couple series in the first half, but Zachery was doing well and he was a little tentative.  In the 4th they got him in the open and he looked good.  From that point on there was definitely an emotional lift for him and his teammates.  Hoping for more of that next week, we'll need it.

Breitbach had a great day, I would say MVP caliber until he gave up the game winner in the 4th qtr.  we were wondering if fatuge is a factor, not only playing both ways but returning kicks all day has to wear a guy down.  He was very elusive on the first punt return then had no chance against Huisman's coverage on Central's last punt.  Talk about Luther using Sherden too much, what about this?   

The Dutch were leading in yardage at the half, but losing the game - good thing they got that straightened out!  Congrats to Coe on a great game.

[Thunderbolt]

 Congrats to the Dutch, for doing what the Dutch do. Same for Dubuque, and Wartburg for bouncing back. Knight fans, I won't try to justify what happened last week, but going into the Rock Bowl, and coming out with a W has to be enough. Thats a very good defense.
   I've seen Luther lose a lot of games like this one the last year and a half. Hopefully a new attitude developing. My hats off to the B.V. O-Line, who come into this game giving up 22 sacks and averaging about 65 yards a game running the ball. Should have been a big advantage for the Norse D-Line and LB's. Didn't quite work out that way. Norse O-Line and Sherden sealed the deal, only giving the B.V. offense about 2 1/2 minutes of the final 10 with the ball, against a tiring and soar Norse D.