FB: American Rivers Conference

[DBQ1965]

Picking up on the earlier posts, I've been a  loyal follower of UD atheltics ... and especially football ... since 1962.  Winning or losing ... that will never change. 

As our daughter has said to me more than once ... "Dad, every September you get all excited about Dubuque football and then every year you get disappointed."  So be it. 

When the record isn't stellar ... I look for the bright side such as this year's Hanson - Zweifel combination.  And I know next year will be better ... won't it?!

GO SPARTANS!

[footballfan413]

I suspect even spurrier is excited for the Spartans.  Just a bit more subdued than the rest of us on here.  Especially if we continue to see some Florida kids show up on the UD roster each year.  It does look like we will finally see many tri-state athletes on the Dubuque roster, and I like that a lot.  

And I wouldn't jump down footballdaddy...he's just expressing an opinion.  We all have ours.  I'll be happy to have Zweifel on our team the rest of this year and next.  He can be happy with what Wartburg has.  Seems to be working for them.  

I'm already getting down, knowing there are only 2 game left for UD this season    But, I am looking forward to see how much improvement UD shows from this season to the next.  It should be a fun ride.  Now that my wife has a taste of IIAC football she is going all in.  She's told me we can watch replays of the Hawkeyes, she'd rather go to UD games.  Not sure what happened there, but I won't complain.  

The only problem I had with his opinion was his insinuation that Michael Zweifel's success and stats were because his coach/father was always feeding him the ball.    His huge success starting as a true feshman in a highly regarded conference for two years before he came to UD clearly disproves that.  But Little Z did grow up on the sidelines of Warhawk practices and games and in the film room with his father, so while he clearly has natural talent, he probably has his father to thank for his becoming such a prolific WR at such a young age.   The ability to develop young players will be very important for this team since, as Willie pointed out, UD is starting a ton of them.  

[Airborne Dutch]

I was thinking about this recently and I'm beginning to think that if Central wins out, its very unlikely that they are going to get a regional number 1 ranking. Here's my line of thinking. CUI finishes up the regular season against Wartburg and goes into the final week with a bye. Looking at St. Johns (#4) they play Augsburg (4-3) and Carleton (3-4) to finish out the season. Unlikely they lose either game. Peeking at Linfield (#5) they play Puget Sound (0-6) and Pacific Lutheran (2-4) to close out. Again, highly unlikely that they lose. So, everyone should finish up the season undefeated (I know BV and WB will want to play spoiler). Here's my line of thoughts on the most likely course of actions:

#4 Seed
UWW gets #1 in West followed by SJU, Linfield, and Central

#3 Seed
MUC moves to East, UWW takes #1 seed in the North
SJU takes #1 in West followed by Linfield and Central

Now here's where it gets tricky. If you look at the margin of victory, Central had two tight games at the beginning of the season and have rolled since then. SJU has had closer victories and had to go to overtime to beat St. Thomas, had a last second victory against Bethel, and didn't put up great numbers against a 3-4 St. Olaf team.  Presumably, Central could jump them as being the more dominant team (that's a big maybe.)

Now, look at Linfield. It's harder to use the margin of victory argument because, they like Central, started off with a couple of closer margin victories, but since then, have had rolled up until this weekend with a close victory over previously ranked Willamette. In my opinion, it's a little bit harder to justify Central jumping them unless they lose.

Like I mentioned before, Central has a bye in the final weekend of regular season play. Its possible that could hurt them in the playoff seedings because the committee could see they had a week off to gear up and prepare. I would think that they would want to keep things as competitive as possible and reward either Linfield or SJU for clinching at the end. Of course, close games for either of them might swing the committee in Central's favor. This all, however, is dependent on MUC moving East and UWW taking the North. Again, just speculation, but I think if I were a Dutch fan, I would be preparing for a home game for at least the first week.

Playoffs as I see it playing out:
#1 SJU vs. #8 Coe
#2 Linfield vs. #7 Occidental
#3 Central vs. #6 St. Thomas (not gonna see a West Coast team travel to Iowa)
#4 Willamette vs #5 Redlands or Cal Lutheran (seed to be decided on Nov. 14)

UW-SP doesn't make the cut with an almost certain loss to UWW coming up this weekend and that would be 3 losses on the season.

Of course, all of this could be shot to s!@# in the last three weeks but its fun to speculate!

[Willie University]

Picking up on the earlier posts, I've been a  loyal follower of UD atheltics ... and especially football ... since 1962.  Winning or losing ... that will never change. 

As our daughter has said to me more than once ... "Dad, every September you get all excited about Dubuque football and then every year you get disappointed."  So be it. 

When the record isn't stellar ... I look for the bright side such as this year's Hanson - Zweifel combination.  And I know next year will be better ... won't it?!

GO SPARTANS!

I would also add a few more names to that list....such as one of the top IIAC rushers in Justin Spaulding. And personally, I am very excited for the experience some of the freshman such as local Galena HS all state LB Ryan Stodden and others have gained. I expect they will come back next season with a little extra hair to shave off their baby faces 

Willie U

[footballdaddy]

Congratulations to all of today's winners.  Way to hang on Luther!  I watched the end of your game and it was exciting.  But what a mud mess.  Time to join the majority of the conference with field turf.

Why would Luther go to field turf?  It is my understanding that those who did, did so because of multiple use of their field by football and soccer. 
     
Luther has 2 football practice fields, plus the game field and 3 soccer practice fields plus the game field..played by both men's and women's soccer.  Silly expense to go to field turn.

Football AND soccer are intended to play on grass!!

Besides, the weather report for Thur/Friday/Saturday is for rain and wind.  What could be better for the barbarian Norse !!

I'm not the one who brought up Luther's field conditions.

[footballdaddy]

Can a brother get a break? Last year I was a Central hater, this year it's UD. Who will I hate next year?

Actually I don't hate anyone. I just have a different point of view that what is popular.

This is my last comment on receiveing in the IIAC.

In order to catch a lot of passes you have to get thrown a lot of passes. The quarterback runs the plays that are called by the coach. The first string stays in to the end in blowouts instead of letting 2's or 3's get some pt. WR's stats are not individual like tackles where a stud directly influences his nuimbers. I'm saying that Zweifel's numbers are hugely dependant on the system, and that there are several other recievers in the conference that could achieve the same thing in the same situation. All I said that was in the game I watched, Zweifel didn't have any superior skills to a receiver the other team. All he did is catch more passes because he was thrown more passes. Zweifel is an excellent receiver, he's just not other-worldly like some profess him to be. I sincerely hope he earns All-American hornors.

To paraphrase Dennis Miller:
That's my opinion,I could be wrong.   

[Klompen]

It still holds up my argument that if you throw a lot of balls at a good receiver he will have good stats. I've never said he wasn't a good receiver, but any starting receiver at this level will have similar stats it you threw at them 15 times a game every game. I hope he gets All-american, it will only make the rest of the league look better.

I think you are the only one here that believes you have a valid argument.  My question is, if the other guys are that good, why aren't your coaches setting things up to throw to him more?  If you have a player that teams cannot consistently stop, you are wasting talent by not exploiting that.  This year David Zachary has been averaging somewhere around 6 yards a carry, Central is leading the stats in offensive rushing.  When Vance Schuring was at Central, we used him heavily and he had 2 years as POY, but was hurt much of his senior season and our QB stepped up on the passing and became POY.  All teams should be playing to their strengths, so either those receivers really aren't all that good or the coaches are missing opportunities. 

[footballdaddy]

Trying................... hard ........................ to ..........................keep....................... quiet.............................if Central threw at Snead 15 times a game how mamy catches would he have?........................can't ........................take ............................pressure .....................why don't they? they don't have to....................................... having ......................... headaches...........................

[Klompen]

Can a brother get a break? Last year I was a Central hater, this year it's UD. Who will I hate next year?

When did you stop being a Central hater?  Seems to me, you just added another school.   

[Klompen]

Trying................... hard ........................ to ..........................keep....................... quiet.............................if central threw at Snead 15 times a game how mamy catches would he have?........................can't ........................take ............................pressure

Yep, still a Central hater.    

When you have the number one rusher and scoring offense in the conference, you can afford to spread it around and take what the other team gives you.  Plus you would probably complain that the QB was favoring his brother.  Not that he hasn't caught a number of passes, including TD passes from Bandow.

[footballdaddy]

I'm glad we can all agree on something. Everybody hates me. 

[KCDutch]

Trying................... hard ........................ to ..........................keep....................... quiet.............................if Central threw at Snead 15 times a game how mamy catches would he have?........................can't ........................take ............................pressure .....................why don't they? they don't have to....................................... having ......................... headaches...........................

Well done FBDaddy......

[d-train]

I was thinking about this recently and I'm beginning to think that if Central wins out, its very unlikely that they are going to get a regional number 1 ranking. Here's my line of thinking. CUI finishes up the regular season against Wartburg and goes into the final week with a bye. Looking at St. Johns (#4) they play Augsburg (4-3) and Carleton (3-4) to finish out the season. Unlikely they lose either game. Peeking at Linfield (#5) they play Puget Sound (0-6) and Pacific Lutheran (2-4) to close out. Again, highly unlikely that they lose. So, everyone should finish up the season undefeated (I know BV and WB will want to play spoiler). Here's my line of thoughts on the most likely course of actions:

#4 Seed
UWW gets #1 in West followed by SJU, Linfield, and Central

#3 Seed
MUC moves to East, UWW takes #1 seed in the North
SJU takes #1 in West followed by Linfield and Central

Now here's where it gets tricky. If you look at the margin of victory, Central had two tight games at the beginning of the season and have rolled since then. SJU has had closer victories and had to go to overtime to beat St. Thomas, had a last second victory against Bethel, and didn't put up great numbers against a 3-4 St. Olaf team.  Presumably, Central could jump them as being the more dominant team (that's a big maybe.)

Now, look at Linfield. It's harder to use the margin of victory argument because, they like Central, started off with a couple of closer margin victories, but since then, have had rolled up until this weekend with a close victory over previously ranked Willamette. In my opinion, it's a little bit harder to justify Central jumping them unless they lose.

Like I mentioned before, Central has a bye in the final weekend of regular season play. Its possible that could hurt them in the playoff seedings because the committee could see they had a week off to gear up and prepare. I would think that they would want to keep things as competitive as possible and reward either Linfield or SJU for clinching at the end. Of course, close games for either of them might swing the committee in Central's favor. This all, however, is dependent on MUC moving East and UWW taking the North. Again, just speculation, but I think if I were a Dutch fan, I would be preparing for a home game for at least the first week.

Playoffs as I see it playing out:
#1 SJU vs. #8 Coe
#2 Linfield vs. #7 Occidental
#3 Central vs. #6 St. Thomas (not gonna see a West Coast team travel to Iowa)
#4 Willamette vs #5 Redlands or Cal Lutheran (seed to be decided on Nov. 14)

UW-SP doesn't make the cut with an almost certain loss to UWW coming up this weekend and that would be 3 losses on the season.

Of course, all of this could be shot to s!@# in the last three weeks but its fun to speculate!

You've got Willamette (a two-loss team) ahead of 4 one-loss teams? Unlikely a two-loss team even gets an at-large bid (check the Cali. scenarios for that as well).  Also, Monmouth is in the West region.

[Airborne Dutch]

Damn, good call. My bad on not catching Monmouth. I'm self-admittedly not as up to date on the West Region teams outside of the IIAC. I'll need to look later, but it appears that upon further review, I need to create a new scenario.

[Purple Heys]

I'm glad we can all agree on something. Everybody hates me. 

I thinks what is happening is that the other Wartburgers aren't posting as much this season, the general Everybody Hates Wartburg mojo that would otherwise be spread around is being concentrated on you...   

I, for one, think you're a righteous dude...ain't no shame in making a case for your own.   8)

But Zweifel's kid is really good.   You can't deny this...everybody knows they're throwing his way...yet he still gets his catches (for the most part)...this means the kid knows how to get open.  That is a skill not every receiver possesses.