FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Nice to see multiple posters on here that think UD will have a decent season this year.  Also nice to see multiple posters on here like the new digs at Chalmers Field. 

[New Storm]

Nice to see multiple posters on here that think UD will have a decent season this year.  Also nice to see multiple posters on here like the new digs at Chalmers Field. 

The field is awesome

[Kohawk Remedy]

Ex-Coe LB Zach Pfantz (sp?) co-defensive coordinator at Central now. Interesting side story to this weeks game.

Sounds like a good game in Dubuque yesterday, was checking scores on d3football.com through my iPhone while tailgating in Iowa City. Would be awesome if we could get an app for blackberries/iPhones from d3football!!  Hint Hint Pat...

Sounds like Dubuque has some big guns on offense but just cant finish off drives, then a great job by the Rhinos to grind the ball up the field to run out the clock and put the final td on the board and seal the victory. I think DBQ will definitely win some games this year, perhaps over a Wartburg team?

Zach is a great guy with a very intelligent defensive mind...when Raeburn left for Wabash, he extended the invite to Zach for D-Coordinator out there but chose not go to as he already committed to Central and didn't want to move that far away from his family.  I hope once Coach Staker has retired from the helm at Coe, they offer the job to Pfantz...very deserving of being a great head coach someday....a hell of a recruiter too!

[DutchFan2004]

Couple thoughts on this weekend's games...

- Caught the second half of the UD-Central game.  Had been to UD's new facility, but Saturday was the first time I'd seen a game there, and the place was pretty impressive.  Not just a big step up from the old Chalmers Field, but more like a giant leap forward.  Was good to see a few of the Central backers that were so good to me when I was down in Pella a couple years back.

-  UD is going to give a lot of teams fits this year.  Their offense is incredibly potent.  Zwiefel, Spaulding, Hanson, & Co. can score from just about anywhere on the field (except for inside the one yard line...more on that later).  Their problem is that they can't seem to get too many big stops on the defensive end.  David Zachary dictated what the Spartans could do defensively a lot more than the other way around.  But Dubuque will win a few games this year, and could find themselves as high as 3rd in the conference standings (especially if Simpson keeps laying eggs on the road), but they won't be able to get over the hump until they shore up that defense.  That was a big part of their undoing on Saturday.

-  As was their inability to punch it in.  Lots of plays inside the 5 with no points to show for it in the 4th quarter.  Both trips came when UD was down by six, so if you kick field goals on those 4th downs, all of a sudden we're looking at a tie ball game with about seven minutes to play.  Don't know what UD has for a kicker, but he didn't get a chance to prove himself there.

-  Give Central a lot of credit for making the plays in the 4th quarter of that game to pull it out.  That was vintage Jeff McMartin football.  The Central run game looked very good, and I think most of the credit for that has to go to their o-line.  They looked a lot better than when I saw Central at the same point in the season a year ago.

-  Good to hear that Wartburg pulled out a close one too.  That's probably a better win for the Knights at this point in the year than a 35 point blowout would have been.

-  Count me as someone who never would have guessed Coe would be 3-0 at this point.

In fairness to UD's coaching staff.  IMHO the mistake was not going for the 3 the first time.  That gets you to within 3 with lots of time remaining.  Enough time to get a score to tie or win.  The second time I think it dictated that you go for a TD.  Having said that, if UD did get three on the first drive to inside the one they may have not had a short field for the second drive to inside the one.  As they would have kicked off and Central may have been able to do more with the ball on that drive than 3 and out.  The back breaker IMHO was the 99 yard drive for the final score.  As SK alluded to UD has to shore up the defense to have a chance at being an IIAC champ.  If they get that done watch out it could be a three horse race or more for the IIAC crown. 

[footballdaddy]

All this commotion for a 1-2 team. Dubuque had a similar day to another 1-2 team in Cornell,but I don't see anyone touting the Rams as a conference contender. We all get it that Zweifel is the greatest coach in football and Chalmers Field is better than the Dallas Palace. If we want to talk about overacheving teams, let's talk about Coe and Loras.

[CaliRamRL6]

I don't think the Pfantz story is that big of a deal. This isn't his first game against his alma mater. I agree with Kohawk Remedy about Pfantz's football intelligence and recruiting ability. He relates well to players and gets 'em jacked up. I wonder if he's still trying to injure himself while filling in on scout team over there in Pella.

[KCDutch]

All this commotion for a 1-2 team. Dubuque had a similar day to another 1-2 team in Cornell,but I don't see anyone touting the Rams as a conference contender. We all get it that Zweifel is the greatest coach in football and Chalmers Field is better than the Dallas Palace. If we want to talk about overacheving teams, let's talk about Coe and Loras.

I'll agree about Coe, but you do realize Loras is 1-2 too.  So, if posters were talking about Loras, then it would be more commotion for a 1-2 team.  I guess I'm not following your logic on Loras, but I'm going to get another cup of coffee!

[doolittledog]

The difference is there are a lot of Central posters on here that went to the UD game and are commenting on it.  There don't seem to be too many Simpson or Loras posters making comments.  That's all.  There were also plenty of Wartburg posters that made comments regarding Cornell.  Saying they played hard and they expect the Rams to get a couple conference wins this year.  It's not all about Dubuque. 

[New Storm]

The difference is there are a lot of Central posters on here that went to the UD game and are commenting on it.  There don't seem to be too many Simpson or Loras posters making comments.  That's all.  There were also plenty of Wartburg posters that made comments regarding Cornell.  Saying they played hard and they expect the Rams to get a couple conference wins this year.  It's not all about Dubuque. 

For us Simpson backers it is time too be quiet

[steelhawk]

Even if I wanted to say something about Loras, I don't know what I'd write.  I'm happy with what I saw on Saturday, but I have no idea what to expect next Saturday against Wartburg. 

[doolittledog]

If I was a Loras fan I would be happy that Loras was spending 6 out of 7 weeks in the city of Dubuque!!!  That is a big advantage.  5 home games, a trip to Storm Lake and a trip 6 blocks over to UD. 

[Klompen]

All this commotion for a 1-2 team. Dubuque had a similar day to another 1-2 team in Cornell,but I don't see anyone touting the Rams as a conference contender. We all get it that Zweifel is the greatest coach in football and Chalmers Field is better than the Dallas Palace. If we want to talk about overacheving teams, let's talk about Coe and Loras.

I don't know that Zweifel is the greatest coach in football, there's this guy in Ohio that isn't half bad.    But his son is a good candidate for best receiver in the IIAC.  I don't know that anyone said Dubuque is over achieving, but they are going to win some big games this year.  Seems they have one team on the rest of their schedule that has a history of over looking some of the "lesser" teams.  Dubuque isn't one of them.  Actually, after last year's game with Cornell, I don't know that there are any lesser teams in the IIAC anymore.  But I am impressed with what Coe and Loras have accomplished.   Hope the Central players are too and that they bring their A game this weekend.  Then we would only need to talk about how great Loras is next week.  

[DutchHawk]

I would venture to say theres a reason Zweifel didn't get the head coaching gigs at UWW after being an assistant there and at UWRF. Maybe more to the personal side of him that we don't know? You would think that being O coordinator (I believe Im correct here) at UWW during those years would put u right up there for the top gig. Whats the rest of the story?

[footballdaddy]

Bingo! Someone finally acknowledged the the big pink elephant in the room.

[DutchFan2004]

I don't know where I said that Zwiefel was the best coach in the country, let alone the IIAC.  I don't know that I said that UD would win the IIAC.  I said that they would have something to say about who wins the IIAC.  I think they are good enough for a big upset.  That being said UD was at that level already in the IIAC if you ask me.  So having a coach new or not or with the credentials of Coach Zwiefel doing or keeping UD where they are is not all that tough if you ask me.  Brautigan got UD to where they were competing and winning some games.  Even getting an upset now and again.  From where I thought Coe was (until their success this year) I thought UD would win that game.  The Coe UD game will be a huge factor in the IIAC Crown.  The Coe Central game has it, the Coe/Central Wartburg games have it, and the UD Wartburg game has it.  I think the conference is wide open now. 


As far as Zwiefel not getting UWW I have no idea.  There is a reason and we may never know why he didn't get it.  The decision really doesn't impact the IIAC other than he is now at UD.