FB: American Rivers Conference

[bluenote]

Do you guys think Wartburg will play St. Norbert or Coe in the 1st round?

[AZDutchman]

Thank you to all the Veterans!
Also to all the people serving our great country today!
Your service to our country is highly appreciated! 

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Do you guys think Wartburg will play St. Norbert or Coe in the 1st round?

Neither, Wartburg will be hosting Bethel.

[hazzben]

Do you guys think Wartburg will play St. Norbert or Coe in the 1st round?

Neither, Wartburg will be hosting Bethel.

What he said...

Although I'd argue we are on our way to seeing Mount moved East and UWW north. If so, they'll have to add an 8th team from somewhere. Either by actually adding a 3rd west coaster (unlikely given the cost) or by shipping in a North region team. Who that team is will have a great affect on the bracket. But yeah, Wartburg won't get matched up against Coe a conference foe, or SNC the 8th seed as things now stand with UWW still in the region

[footballdaddy]

Thank you to all the Veterans!
Also to all the people serving our great country today!
Your service to our country is highly appreciated! 

+k and a special shout out to AirborneDutch. Keep safe, my friend!

[hazzben]

Frank Rossi from the Pool C thread:
Predicted SoS, Quality Wins & Quality Losses for Pool C candidates:

South
Hampden-Sydney (8-1, 0.524) -- Predicted SoS: 0.539 (0.549/0.519) -- QW: 8S, QL: 6S
Hardin-Simmons (8-1, 0.502) -- Predicted SoS: 0.517 (0.518/0.516) -- QL: 2S
** Washington U. (7-2 (4-1 Reg.), 0.442) -- Predicted SoS: 0.484 (0.473/0.507) -- QW: 10N, QL: 5N

North
Wheaton (Ill.) (8-1, 0.604) -- Predicted SoS: 0.592 (0.597/0.583) -- QW: 8N, QL: 2N
Ohio Northern (8-1 (7-1 Reg.), 0.512) -- Predicted SoS: 0.513 (0.513/0.513) -- QW: 9N, QL: 1N
* Wittenberg (9-0, 0.416) -- Predicted SoS: 0.430 (0.391/0.509) -- QW: 10N
* Trine (9-0 (8-0 Reg.), 0.379) -- Predicted SoS: 0.406 (0.356/0.507) -- No QW/QL
** Wabash (7-2 (7-1 Reg.), 0.525) -- Predicted SoS: 0.561 (0.602/0.478) -- QL: 5N

East
* Cortland (8-1, 0.491) -- Predicted SoS: 0.506 (0.504/0.510) -- QW: 3E, QL: 2E
* Rowan (8-1, 0.497) -- Predicted SoS: 0.498 (0.493/0.507) -- QW: 4E, QL: 3E
Montclair St. (8-1, 0.500) -- Predicted SoS: 0.493 (0.488/0.503) -- QW: 2E, QL: 4E

West
Redlands (7-1, 0.503) -- Predicted SoS: 0.514 (0.502/0.538) -- QL: 4W
Bethel (8-1, 0.513) -- Predicted SoS: 0.507 (0.488/0.545) -- QL: 1W
Coe (8-1 (6-1 Reg.), 0.543) -- Predicted SoS: 0.498 (0.500/0.494) -- QW: 10W, QL: 3W
Pac. Luth. (7-1 (6-1 Reg.), 0.463) -- Predicted SoS: 0.487 (0.473/0.514) -- QW: 4W, QL 7W

* - Team May Still Win Its Conference's Pool A Bid
** - Team Included Since In-Reg. Record Includes Just One Loss

After Win/Loss Records are NCAA SoS -- Predicted SoS (Predicted OWP/Predicted OOWP) -- Quality Wins (QW) (with ranking and region of the team), Quality Losses (QL).  If Regional Record for team differs, a second W/L record is in inner parentheses, indicated with "Reg."

NOTE: These numbers should be used carefully, as wins and losses by opponents already played will cause SoS figures to change, sometimes by as much as 0.040 this late in the season.  These numbers are merely estimates and take into account only games played to this date and the remaining opponents' W/L % and OWP figures.

Using this, here is how I would line up the board for each region:

South: 1) Hampden-Sydney; 2) Hardin-Simmons; 3) Ursinus (Using Reg. Rankings and assuming Salisbury goes through Pool B)

North: 1) Wheaton; 2) Ohio Northern; 3) Illinois Wesleyan (or Wittenberg/Trine if a loss occurs)

East: 1) Rowan; 2) Montclair; 3) Springfield (I know the first two are troublesome, but the Committee may use the "last quarter of the season" principle to justify this ordering over the head-to-head in Week 2)

West: 1) Bethel; 2) Redlands; 3) Coe (Based on the "better" quality loss Bethel had)

And when they go to picking:
1) Wheaton
2) Hampden-Sydney
3) Ohio Northern
4) Hardin-Simmons
5) Bethel
6) Rowan

[hazzben]

^ Obviously just Frank's best guess...but it is a little interesting and unnerving. Could easily mean that either Bethel or Coe get left off, depending which really does get ranked lower in the final regional ranking 

[footballdaddy]

I'll worry about our first round game on Sunday, but for now, I'm worried about the game in Indianola on Saturday.

[doolittledog]

^ Obviously just Frank's best guess...but it is a little interesting and unnerving. Could easily mean that either Bethel or Coe get left off, depending which really does get ranked lower in the final regional ranking 

I'm worried that because Coe scheduled 2 NAIA teams for their non-con games that could be the reason the Kohawks get left out of the playoffs.  I hope not. 

[Pat Coleman]

It may be, and for a reason we hadn't considered previously -- not having 10 regional games gives Cornell's abysmal record even more impact on Coe's SOS than it would normally.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Unfortunately, a schools athletic program, and quite often the whole school, is judged on the performance of the football team. Donors don't line up to contribute because women's cross country won conference. I think that Cornell feels like to energize the alumni and donations, they need to move to where success on the field translates into $$$$$$$$$$$$. If football becomes a mid-level team in the MWC, it may become easier to get the donations and recruits to become a successful program.

From the Council for Aid to Education.  Cornell donations over the prior 4 years.

2006 - $5,511,896
2007 - $7,789,761
2008 - $8,647,083
2009 - $9,810,205

Cornell is the only school in the IIAC to have brought in more donations that the previous year, each of the past 4 years.  That has coincided with the Rams going 1-31 in IIAC football action.  Here is how Cornell stacks up against the rest of the IIAC in donations over the prior 4 years...

Dubuque - $61,939,577
Coe - $46,396,122
Luther - $40,950,033
Cornell - $31,578,945
Central - $31,458,806
Wartburg - $24,667,796
Loras - $23,160,118
Simpson - $13,696,205
Buena Vista - $12,679,648

I didn't look up donations to MWC schools, maybe they all have Grinnell type money, but I suspect they don't.  I also suspect Cornell will have a harder time getting grid iron wins in the MWC than they they think.  I also suspect the administration in Mt. Vernon won't suddenly find donations flowing into the school at a significantly higher rate.  I ALSO suspect that Cornell really doesn't care what I think and will make the move regardless

Trips to Dubuque to play the Spartans in football and baseball left me thinking in the 1990s that they and Billy Penn were the poor schools ($$$ and facilities-wise) in the IIAC.  I always grouped Upper Iowa in there as well since they had serious financial issues in the 1980s.  Times have changed for the Spartans and the campus shows it!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Dear Norse - Please rectify this:

• November 11, 2006  LOR 44 - LUT 23 ... Loss at Dubuque
• November 10, 2007 UD 34 - LUT 31 ... Loss at Dubuque
• November 15, 2008  LOR 34 - LUT 29 ... Loss at Dubuque
• November 7, 2009  UD 21 - LUT 10 ... Loss at Dubuque
• November 9, 2010  THE BUCK STOPS AT DUBUQUE!!!

Every team wants to win the last game of the season, but it would be nice for the Norse to have a 5-3 conference record going into the offseason.  Maybe the win combined with a good recruiting class and good returning players at QB and LB would give the team some momentum going into next season.

I won't read too much into any potential win though as it has been many years (1986 and 1987) since the Norse were 7-3 or better.  It was so long ago that I was a freshman in high school and Paul Hefty (Norse Head Coach from 2002-2007) was the QB.

7-3 seasons are going to be hard in Decorah until the Norse start beating St. Olaf again.  1-1 starts going into each conference season haven't led to championships or close misses.

Go Norse!

[KCDutch]

Cornell is the only school in the IIAC to have brought in more donations that the previous year, each of the past 4 years. That has coincided with the Rams going 1-31 in IIAC football action.  Here is how Cornell stacks up against the rest of the IIAC in donations over the prior 4 years...

Dubuque - $61,939,577
Coe - $46,396,122
Luther - $40,950,033
Cornell - $31,578,945
Central - $31,458,806
Wartburg - $24,667,796
Loras - $23,160,118
Simpson - $13,696,205
Buena Vista - $12,679,648

Not all donations are created equally.

[KCDutch]

I could totally see during the last capital campain at Cornell they had a lot of donors telling them "ok, here's a check, but I want to see some wins...and soon"  

Seriously, do you think big donors won't give to a small liberal arts school b/c the football team is bad???  This isn't the SEC, is it?

Maybe I'm way off base......

[Mr. Ypsi]

I could totally see during the last capital campain at Cornell they had a lot of donors telling them "ok, here's a check, but I want to see some wins...and soon"  

Seriously, do you think big donors won't give to a small liberal arts school b/c the football team is bad???  This isn't the SEC, is it?

Maybe I'm way off base......

I've sometimes told IWU callers that I'd give x dollars, then said "And double or nothing on x game".

But I'm pretty sure both they and I knew I was kidding.

[Though I admit I'm not one of the BIG donors! ]