FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

Charlie Kohawk,


I don't think that its premature to talk about different outcomes for the season at this time.  I'm just saying that there are so many possibilities yet it's not funny.  I think Coe has two tuff games remaining in Loras and Simpson that the Dutch have behind them.  We have one huge task with Wartburg.  I'm not over looking BV either.  I'd say that Dubuque could cause us to stumble too.  Wartburg has us and Cornell left and a bye this week.  They may be in the best shape as far as the conference race.  Thats all I was trying to say.  Hope that the IIAC can put two teams in.  The conference has sure worked hard this year and the three remaining teams I think all could represent the conference very well.  

[norseguy8]

floyd-
  I totally agree with you...if you have a kid that the defense cant seem to stop give him the ball until its a health risk for him.  As long as the team is successful and the kid is still able to run the ball, give it to him. 

  These last few weeks in the IIAC should be good.  Its going to be interesting to see how everything plays out.  Good luck to all this weekend.  With a bit of luck we can get 2 teams to represent in the playoffs.  Go Norse! ...and Go Sox!

[DutchFan2004]

Floyd,

You are correct.  If a back averages 4 yards a carry don't you want him to get it more.  4 x 3 is 12.   That gives you a first down every time.  Now I know thats pretty simple and all you have to do is stop him once in a while to get a punt.  However I think 4 yards a carry is a pretty good average and you get yourself in pretty managable second and third down positions with that kind of average.  First or second string runners that can do that are very valuable in my book.  

[Overseas Observer]

Didn't get my picks in on time last week so I will start it off early this week.
Coe-Cornel, I think this one will be closer than most think, for the first half anyways. coe by 17
Simpson - BV, Simpson plays good D but lets see if they can put up some points. Simpson by 7
Central-Dubuque, Central is only averaging 25 and giving up 15 so If Mr. Jackson can hit a couple long balls to his receivers the spartans may have a chance but very unlikely. central by 13
Luther-Loras, Luther's running game is hurting + Loras has a tough D = lots of pressure on the QB, not a good equation for the norse. But Loras doesn't have much of an offense and they don't like traveling to the valley. Luther by 4
Good luck Norse.. GO ASTROS

Norseman8 I was walking around shibuya and for the first time I saw someone taller than me, then I realized it was only a cardboard cut out of Matsui the Yankee player.

[coco]

Lance,

Please check your email. Mrs. Coco wrote to you.

Thanks.

Coco (not to be confused with coocoo)

[dbljay21]

Floyd, Ducthfan, norseguy8...I agree with you guys about giving the ball to your workhorse, no matter who it is.  And 4 yards a carry is a good average at any level.  I give lots of credit to the tailback from BV for producing and to the coaching staff for sticking with what was working.  Sherden had 51 carries last year against Simpson...Coach Hefty had NEVER given one halfback that many carries in his career as a coach/coordinator.  The bottom line is that you give the ball to your playmaker more than any other players, second stringer or starter, it doesn't matter.

norseguy8...one more W til the party starts in Chi-town!!!  Go Sox!!!

[Walston Hoover]

Yeah you give the playmakers the ball and work them too much so they can't play anymore. The same thing happened to Suckow last year. Worked him until he got injured.
What a huge game coming up with Wartburg and Central. It'll be just like old times. Wartburg and Central battling it out at the top of the conference in Football and Volleyball.

[xstorm]

Will any head coaches be let go or stepping down at the end of the season?

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Things that I find interesting from the IIAC presser:

-The last two IIAC players of the week were offensive players from teams that were playing Luther.  Can someone from Loras make it three weeks in a row?

-Central was last in the league in rushing in 2004.  They are now first at 181.1 YPG. 

-The top three teams in pass defense efficiency are at the top of the league (Central, Wartburg, Coe).

-Luther and Dubuque are leading the IIAC in forcing turnovers.  Usually that is a great stat for winning football teams, yet the Norse are 4-4 and the Spartans are 1-6.  Perhaps the lack of success has to do with the fact that Luther is -2 in turnover margin because they also lead the league in turnovers.  Dubuque is at +0.

-Simpson is leading the league in scoring defense at 13.9 PPG.  Loras, Coe, and Central are all good in this category.

-Luther was a poor rushing team in 2004 before moving Sherden to RB, but by the end of the season they moved to 1st in team rushing.  They were 1st at midseason this year but have now dropped to 4th since Sherden got hurt.

-Loras is the leading total defense at 259.7 YPG.  They are almost 50 YPG ahead of 2nd place Wartburg.

-Loras leads the league in fewest 1st downs allowed at 104.  The Luther Offense leads the league in first downs with 190.  Something is going to give this weekend.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

In the CCIW game that should be of interest to IIAC fans, Augustana beat Millikin, 23-0.  Augustana (lost to Central) moves to 4-0 in league action and 6-1 overall.  Millikin (beat Wartburg) falls to 4-3 and 1-3 in league play.  North Central and Augustana are now both 4-0 in the CCIW and 2 games ahead of everyone else for the title.

CCIW Illinois Wesleyan (lost to Simpson) also upset once significantly ranked Wheaton, 23-14.  Wesleyan is now 2-5 on the year and 1-3 in league action.

In the MIAC, St. Olaf (beat Luther) moved to 7-0 on the year and 5-0 in the conference after beating Hamline, 49-14.  The Oles play St. John's this week for possession of first place.

Bethel (lost to Central, beat B.V.) fell to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the MIAC after losing to Concordia, 30-12.

St. Thomas (lost to Coe) improved to 2-4 overall and 2-3 in league action after beating Carleton, 21-7.

Augsburg (lost to Wartburg) fell to 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the MIAC after losing to St. John's, 56-16.

[Walston Hoover]

Floyd,
I like looking at In-conference stats only to see where teams fare against common opponents- most of the standings don't change too much, however
Central leads in scoring Defense at 13 points/game and there is only a 2.5 ppg difference seperating them from Simpson, Loras, coe, and Wartburg. there is then a pretty significant dropoff down to BV.
Central still leads in rushing, however they are followed by Wartburg and Coe rather than Coe and Wartburg. No secret why these teams are at the top-They can run the football-
187, 175, 174 ypg respectively-
In Wartburg's 2 losses they rushed for 103 and 164
In Central's loss they rushed for 115
and in Coe's loss they rushed for 125

Luther with Sherden-207 ypg
Without 69 ypg
I knew Sherden was good but I didn't realize everyone else up there was that bad. that's got to be a huge slap in the face to the OL when they think they're good and the RB get hurt and they now only average 6 yards better than UD.
In total defense Loras still leads, but only by 10 yards over Central and 15 yards over Wartburg--They still lead the league, but playing the Sisters of the Poor in preseason really helped pad that.

[DutchFan2004]

Walston Hoover,

I think you are correct to look at conference only stats.  The non conference teams are of differing qualities.  Wartburg, Central, and Coe are all up there in team stats as they are in record.  I think that conference only stats are the best measurements to compare the teams. 

[qbdriver]

Wartburg and Central are in the driver's seat.  Coe has yet to show they can win in the pressurized games.  The conference is once again tight.  Wartburg has the edge playing the Dutch at home.  You have to expect that Central will come out on edge and have a lot of nerves fluttering for the game next week.  The Knights have proven that their home field is a tough place for an Offense to get rolling..  There should be a huge crowd like the Coe game, nearly 6000 fans.  Huge advantage to the Knights with two weeks to prepare.  Coe must prove they can win under pressure and knock off their arch rival Cornell this week, which I think they will do if they don't let Cornell in the game early.  Then they are off to Loras where nothing is guaranteed against the #1 defense in the league and a team that continues to get healthy and improve.  It should be an interesting finish.

This week's picks from the driver:

Simpson 30 BV 20
Central 49  UD 21
Loras 14  Luther 10
Coe 55 Cornell 14

[Cochuck]

Driver, you may be right but I feel that the Kohawks will get on a roll if they can win this week.  Loras will definitely be tough as the Knights found out.  If Tekippe is healthy we are a tough team to beat.  He did not play against UD but I think the coaches were resting him for the stretch run.   We still put up 294 with our two back-up QBs.  I will admit the offense played poorly up at Wartburg but with that said we still almost won.  Our defense is one of the best in the league and showed it by shutting Wartburg down to 251 total yards with an offense that was having a bad day and threw two INTs in the end zone.  We would love to have to have another shot at you Knights.  We'll all have to wait and see how things play out. 

Here are my picks for this week:

Coe 28  Cornell 20 in a game where Cornell shows up to play their arch rivals
Central 35 rolls at Dubuque but gives up 21 as they rest their starters in the 2nd half
Luther gets some turnovers and beats Loras 28-14
Simpson beats an overconfident BV team 21-10  How did BV beat Luther?

Good luck to all IIAC teams!

[qbdriver]

CoChuck,

I am not a Knight!