FB: American Rivers Conference

[Oakrugnuck Tree]

Klop, I was serious. The smell of hot chocolate in the morning is heavenly!
As for IIAC towns
Pella-Very clean, you would think it is kind of close to Des Moines until you make that first trip down 163 and realize that is the longest hour you've spent in your life.
Dubuque-"Big" city feel, and both campuses (campi?) are very nice. Loras is Old and UD is new, but both have their place. No flat ground
Decorah-VERY nice. A bunch of penny-pinching, rich Norwegians (a lot of my relatives) settled in the "Mountains" of Iowa. Picturesque, but probably the farthest away from any bigger-town feel than any other school.
Indianola-as one of the kids at Dowling says--Its KKK country. Nice campus, but I always get a kick out of driving through town and seeing every store's weekly Skoal special. Its a no-fail
Storm Lake-Campus is nice, but driving to it makes me want to shower
Mt. Vernon-very old, reminds me of Loras a bit. Someone may have to correct me, but it seems like a very quiet town.
Coe-Being a small-town kid, I get nervous driving to Coe.
Waverly-I grew to love the town. Great facilities at the high school, and the town very much emraces the college. Lots of student specials at places in town from Joe's to the movie theatre.

Well, BV easily has one of the nicest campuses in the IIAC, probably only behind Luther IMO.  But you're being a little unfair of your assessment of Storm Lake.  The houses around the lake and most of the town are extremely nice, or at least average.  Sure, there are bad parts, just like every other town of that size.  A lot of that blame goes to the large amount of Vietnamese and Mexicans in the town, but it shouldn't, a lot of it is white trash.  But anyway, it is a pretty nice town, granted not as nice as Waverly, but it's probably better than most of the towns/cities in the IIAC.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Our biggest rivalry is Cornell

Our biggest threat is Wartburg

I hate Cornell much more than the Wart.

I hate Wart posters much more than Cornell's

[Oakrugnuck Tree]

If BV can provide an offense line next year, look for Cory Donschecki to make an impact.  In his freshman campaign he has rushed for 569 yards on 147 attempts.  That roughly 3.8 yards a game.  He has spent this season sharing the role with two upperclassman. 

Couldn't agree more Klop.  Donscheski has looked pretty darn good all year for a freshman running behind a pretty below average line.  He looked especially impressive against UD on Saturday.  His 44 yard TD run down the sideline was a heck of a run.  If BV can get a line next year we could see the second coming of Chad Pearson in Cory Donscheski.  Next year could be rough with the graduation of Chris Hawkins.  Although a poor decision maker at times he has done pretty well with an average line and a young running back (even though Rowedder and Moss do sub in with Donscheski).  Who do you think will replace Hawk, Klop?  Perry or Phelan?

[DutchHawk]

Looking ahead to next year already WH with your 9 starters returning?

I think Central and Wartburg match up well on paper, but we all know how much stats and rankings mean in the scheme of things....nothing at all.

[Walston Hoover]

guys were talking about who they looked forward to seeing.

As good as this game should have been in the past. IIRC, last year was the first time in a LOOONG time that the game was within 2 scores.

[doolittledog]

Becks and Bratwurst for me.

I caught my wife putting our last Becks into a beer bread she was making last night.  She quickly decided not to put all of it into the bread.  So at least the two of us got to share half of the last Becks in the house.  And the bread was quite tasty as well.  Then this morning she made scrambled eggs with bratwurst mixed in. 

So apparently we are already in tailgate mode 5 days early!!!  Good luck to all IIAC teams for the final game of the season.  Hard to believe we are here already. 

[Klopenhiemer]

W-H.  Got ya on the Nestle comment.  Never thought about it that way.  I also agree with your assement if IIAC town and will admit to busting out laughing after reading the comments regarding SL.  

When you have a town like SL and you bring in Sarah Lee, Tyson, and some other packing house the town tends to suffer.  SL has it high rollers and has it low rollers.  There is such an income divide in that town.  And the high rollers are all sporting old money.  There isnt a ton of new money coming into that town.  

In regards to Indianola...Growing up in Des Moines we were not to fond of anything in Warren County.  The analogies that have been made are not far off in my opinion.  Probably why I never gave Simpson a chance.   

[Klopenhiemer]

If BV can provide an offense line next year, look for Cory Donschecki to make an impact.  In his freshman campaign he has rushed for 569 yards on 147 attempts.  That roughly 3.8 yards a game.  He has spent this season sharing the role with two upperclassman. 

Couldn't agree more Klop.  Donscheski has looked pretty darn good all year for a freshman running behind a pretty below average line.  He looked especially impressive against UD on Saturday.  His 44 yard TD run down the sideline was a heck of a run.  If BV can get a line next year we could see the second coming of Chad Pearson in Cory Donscheski.  Next year could be rough with the graduation of Chris Hawkins.  Although a poor decision maker at times he has done pretty well with an average line and a young running back (even though Rowedder and Moss do sub in with Donscheski).  Who do you think will replace Hawk, Klop?  Perry or Phelan?

We will also be losing some guys on the O line.  I believe Hobart, Christiansen, Schulz, and McKee are all seniors.  Lueders and Urich will be back and are both pretty decent lineman.  Lets hope there is some talent waiting in the wings. 

I would make a case for Phelan...He is considerably taller and bigger than Perry.  Perry is a nice little QB who can make some things happen.  I just see Phelan as a taller ranger kid who has a better chance to make plays.  It is my understanding that he has made some plays on the JV squad and is also comfortable running with the ball. 

Hawkins has always been kind of a mystry to me.  He came in a highly touted recruit.  I believe that he was offered a scholorship by a large D-IAA team and chose to come to SL.  I believe he has the chance to leave with school records or is very close going into the final week.  He came from a high school that didnt loose much if any over his time there. 

[sc_stormchaser]

BV's campus is very nice and if you say the town isn't too bad, then why are they having to close down floors of dorms because there aren't enough students? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think BV has had an entering class of more than 275 students in at least three years. 20 freshman on the football team just doesn't cut it. I'm not trying to pile on....any insight Klop?

[Walston Hoover]

Is the BV Phelan related to Wartburg's freshman starting QB Justin Phelan?
I see they are both from Lemars.

[dutchfan1]

So, the Central-Wartburg series stands at 39-16 in Central's favor. Central first played Wartburg in 1945, and was last defeated by the Knights in 2004.

As far as the Iowa Conference goes, this is Central's newest rivalry. (Simpson is the oldest rivalry, with games dating back to 1905.)

Sorry -- random information for you.... it's been a slow Monday at the office.

[Klopenhiemer]

So, the Central-Wartburg series stands at 39-16 in Central's favor. Central first played Wartburg in 1945, and was last defeated by the Knights in 2004.

As far as the Iowa Conference goes, this is Central's newest rivalry. (Simpson is the oldest rivalry, with games dating back to 1905.)

Sorry -- random information for you....

Walston...I do not have a clue on this one.  I know there was a QB out of Lemars that BV was recruiting very heavily and I assumed it was the one playing at BV.  In regards to their relation, I can not comment on that either.  It would be interesting to find out though. 

[Klopenhiemer]

BV's campus is very nice and if you say the town isn't too bad, then why are they having to close down floors of dorms because there aren't enough students? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think BV has had an entering class of more than 275 students in at least three years. 20 freshman on the football team just doesn't cut it. I'm not trying to pile on....any insight Klop?

SC...I dont consider it piling on.  You are asking questions and I more than happy to give the insight that I can. 

Here is what I know.  When I entered the hallowed all of BVU in 2002 they were increasing in enrollment every year.  When I got to my sophmore and junior years they were putting guys three deep in dorm rooms and opening up tradionally guy floors and filling them with girls.  During those season we were seeing 30+ recruits a year and I believe saw upwards of 40 and 50 in the time span between 2000-2004.  Now we did lose some kids but kept a ton around as it shows with the amount of seniors in this years team. 

During my senior year I started to see a decline in the amount of new kids enrolling as freshman and a decline the amount of kids brough into play football.  This was coupled by two things.  Towards the end of my sophmore year and start of my junior year the deans of the schools got together and started to work on ways to increase the academic rigor of the university.  Simply put they thought we were not working hard enough and thought that their entrance standards for a competitive college were a bit below the prestigue of the school.  I dont think I have to explain the differnece between a competitive college and a non competitive college but I will if anyone needs. 

At this time it was also about the time that Morningside started to rise as a football school as well and introduction of Briar Cliff.  Both teams made amaizing strides in short periods of time.  I think it had a lot to do with competition but I will not go there.  They were throwing money at kids and they were are still are taking it.  Moringside had went through tough times as in dropping out of the NCC and losing varsity football all together for a year.  So Morningside being terrible and Northwestern having its niche and its standards made life at BV easier.  Northwestern I believe appeals to a certain kind of kid.  As we all know they have rules such as girls not being in dorm rooms with the door closed and all that stuff.  So they had a rather selective recruiting base, but still did keep winning.  Back to the Morningside/Briair Cliff deal.  It was easy to get into those schools and also with the combination of scholorship or in reality need based football money depending upon your financial aid package BV started losing kids to there. 

At the same time BV held tight on there stance of increase academica rigor as well as tightening the entrance standards.  So the tradional football player who might be a bit rough on the edges and might not have been getting the same consideration as years past. 

Storm Lake is a nice town and has a lot to offer.  If a kid likes the outdoors such as hunting and fishing he has a great spot to fullfill those needs outside the classroom and football field.  The biggest deal with BV has always been that it is isolated from everything else.  Its a long drive up there and its hard to get people to make that drive.  3 of us visited BV out of my high school.  BV was 3rd or 4th on all of our lists untill we visted the campus.  That made our decision pretty quickly.  2 of us ended up going there and the 3rd always commented on what if he would have went there. 

I honestly believe you will see things turn around up there and keep building with higher recruiting classes.  As with any institution I am sure there are internal bugs that need to be worked out.  For as much as the coaches can hit the road and spread the word about their school, the administration needs to back them and needs to be committed to winning football games.  If they are not then BV will always be a middle of the run football school with every now and again tear off a decent season. 

[Airborne Dutch]

Been gone awhile. Mission first. Anyway, few things to respond to. The comment on the Drake campus. There are worse parts of Des Moines. Yes, the Eastern edge of the campus borders on what could be called a "rough" neighborhood, but my parents live right off of Kingman by the 42nd street exit and they have never expressed any discomfort about it.

Klop, I'll echo your sentiments about stepping on campus and knowing it was for you. I grew up at Central (my parents were dorm directors) so I knew the program inside out. We moved out when right before I started middle school, but I still lived right across the street. I eventually moved away from Pella for awhile and when it came time to start picking colleges, I swore I would never go to Central. However, I submitted the application as a fall back plan and took an official campus tour just to be sure. As I was taking the tour, I knew that I wasn't going anywhere else. Sometimes a campus just feels right. As for the town of Pella, I can't stand it. Too rigid and conservative in their views but you can't always have an ideal setting for everything.

As far as the conference championship game goes, its going to be an interesting one. I can see Wartburg jumping out early but the Dutch making second half adjustments and taking the lead in the late 3rd/early 4th. That team has just seen too many close games to pack it in in the biggest game of their collegiate careers. From an IIAC fan standpoint, if Wartburg wins, then we have two playoff qualifiers which is good. If Central wins, then I still think we get two bids. However, and here is the interesting part, with the AQ Central would undoubtedly be hosting. Now, I'm not predicting a UWW loss this weekend so that pretty much gurantees them the No.1 seed. If St. Johns loses to Bethel, that will bring the Dutch up to No.2. With a Wartburg loss, I could see them dropping but not below Occidental. So, that would mean that Oxy would stay No.8 and travel to UWW and at No.7- the Knights travelling to Pella in a week. A crazy possibility, but is it one the selection committee would consider? The travel costs for WB would be very low. Granted, this scenario has to have a lot of things happen in order to play out.

[Airborne Dutch]

I have to edit myself because I didn't catch St. Olaf in there. Still though, I could see this happening:

1#-UWW vs. 8# Whitworth
(if the Dutch win and St. John's loses) 2#Central vs. #7 Wartburg
(if the Dutch win and St. John's wins) 2# St. John's vs. #7 Wartburg
(Dutch lose) 3# Central vs. 6# UW-Eau Claire or St. Olaf

The other thing I was wondering about is whether the SCIAC has an AQ or not. I don't think they do but I'm not sure. Also, would the committee pair up conference opponents in the first round ala Central/WB and SJU/St. Olaf? I know that Central/ WB played against each other in the first round a few years back.