FB: American Rivers Conference

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Wartburg played well Saturday.  Congratulations to them.  But that is history.  Now I am looking forward to the Central's game with loathsome Simpson in two weeks, or, "The Second Season," as I am calling it this year.  The first season was a little disappointing for this Central fan but I have nothing but optimism for The Second Season.

[Ash Park]

Is it Saturday yet?! Really looking forward to the game this weekend with Luther. I believe this is another game the Rams can win. Last year, this game was a good one.

If we can eliminate the turnovers and penalties I feel pretty good about things. Even on Saturday in the win our youth showed down the stretch.

[Klompen]

Good luck to the Rams on Saturday.  If you have to leave the conference, you might as well do it with your best record in years.  Coach B strikes again.   

[sflzman]

I'm writing a little late because I watched the end of the Iowa State/Texas Tech game when we got home.  All the way home I listened to the radio as Hawkeye fans bitched and complained that the Hawks were so much better than Minnesota & Iowa State, but the Gophers and the Cyclones put all their effort into playing Iowa.  I was switching back and forth between the Hawk call in show and the Cyclone game.  I'm thinking, "Don't you people pay attention? The Cyclones are crushing the team that beat the #3 team in the nation last week."  Believe me Hawkeye fans, the Cyclones fans in your neighborhood would rather lose to Iowa and have an 8-3 record than to beat Iowa and have a 3-8 record.  I simply believe the Cyclones' schedule after the Iowa game is in most cases tougher than the Hawkeye's schedule.  Translation: From top to bottom the Big 12 has been tougher than the Big 10.  The loss of Nebraska and Texas A&M may change that. 

Minnesota is one of the worst teams in the FBS. It'd be a great game if they played against Kansas  . And Iowa just lost to them  Talent wise, Iowa's probably a better team. But talent doesn't mean you can just show up and roll over a team. Ask Oklahoma how that worked against a solid Texas Tech team...or ask TT how that worked last night! You have to respect every opponent.

As far as MN and IaSt investing a lot of energy into their game versus Iowa, isn't that exactly what you do in a rivalry?!? Claiming the other teams care more about the game is an indictment against your team, not your opponent.

I definitely agree the cyclones have faced tougher competition since their H2H with Iowa. As for what that says about the relative strength of the Big 12 v. the Big 10, hard to say at this point. Keep in mind Iowa State is playing a round robin schedule in the Big 12 this year, so they play every big dog the conference has. So I'll definitely agree the cyclones have the tougher schedule, but it's at least in part due to conference structure. Iowa on the other hand has only played (and lost to) Penn State so far. They've still got Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska and don't have to face Wisconsin or Ohio State (who is clicking now that their suspended tattoo lovers are back on the field).

My dad and I spent last night flipping back and forth between two incredible games in Stanford/USC and Wisconsin/OSU and kept watching the ticker list the expanding gap in the Tech/ISU game. It was a really fun day for football on Saturday!

a) you don't have the most talented player on the field there

b) since you don't have him, it'd probably be nice to stop him - which Iowa didn't do all second half....

a) I'm not an Iowa fan.

b) I'd take Coker and McNutt over Marqueis "Mr. Inconsistent" Gray any day (hey, that rhymes!  )

c) Football's a team game, so even if Gray is the best player (which his grossly inconsistent play doesn't make clear) I'd still lean towards Iowa having more talent. You know, because they haven't lost to any FCS schools yet this year 

d) Like I said, talent doesn't guarantee a win, you still need to show up to play.

e) Go Big Red! 

come on, man! That was a low blow! 

[warthog]

I was hesitant to ask this question on Saturday night after returning from the Wartburg/Central game for fear of having it sound like I was sort of picking on the Central team after a close loss.  Yesterday however I had conversations with two Wartburg fans who had made the same observation as I did, so I will ask the question.

On the Central sidelines there were two young guys who appearred to be in some way associated with the Central staff.  One was wearing a red shirt and tan slacks.  The other had a white shirt and red hat.  I don't know if they were assistant coaches, student coaches, trainers, or managers.  It was hard to figure out their role with the team since they didn't do anything other than wave white towels, jump up and down, shout woo-woo sounds, and get pained expressions at every call the officials made.  Have they been at all the Central games and what is their function?  If their purpose is to distract the other team, I don't think it worked.  Besides, I don't think Central would try such a thing since it would appear to more annoying to the Central sidelines than to the Wartburg players on the field.   

If they're coaches, Central needs a refund of their salaries.

If they're cheerleaders, they need to move away from the sidelines.

If they're special needs individuals, I apologize for this post.

[doolittledog]

Injured players travelling with the team???

Eye candy for Klompen and Dutchfan1???

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Rams win!!! 19-17 over Loras.....Great game to watch..frustrating at times as I thought we made it a lot closer than it should have been (No disrespect to Loras). I'm sure it hurt Loras not having their senior QB but Cornell has and was playing without a few key players on defense as well. Regardless...a win is a win and I am happy for Cornell!

The Loras WR and RB...Kaiser and Kass are as good as any in the IIAC at their respective positions IMO. Too bad Kaiser is a senior but I believe the Kass is a Freshman. Loras has a very good RB for the next 3 years.

Lets take this win and build on it into next week for Luther!

Congrats on the win for everyone that has followed Cornell in these past several seasons.

Congrats as well to Dubuque for destroying the Norse in the annual Zweifel bowl.  This has not been a good season in Decorah!

Congrats as well to Wartburg in playing well in the also ran role as they ended the conference race for the Dutch.  I guess it is down the Coe and Dubuque now!  No offense to anyone, but the Spartans are the good story this season.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I was hesitant to ask this question on Saturday night after returning from the Wartburg/Central game for fear of having it sound like I was sort of picking on the Central team after a close loss.  Yesterday however I had conversations with two Wartburg fans who had made the same observation as I did, so I will ask the question.

On the Central sidelines there were two young guys who appearred to be in some way associated with the Central staff.  One was wearing a red shirt and tan slacks.  The other had a white shirt and red hat.  I don't know if they were assistant coaches, student coaches, trainers, or managers.  It was hard to figure out their role with the team since they didn't do anything other than wave white towels, jump up and down, shout woo-woo sounds, and get pained expressions at every call the officials made.  Have they been at all the Central games and what is their function?  If their purpose is to distract the other team, I don't think it worked.  Besides, I don't think Central would try such a thing since it would appear to more annoying to the Central sidelines than to the Wartburg players on the field.   

If they're coaches, Central needs a refund of their salaries.

If they're cheerleaders, they need to move away from the sidelines.

If they're special needs individuals, I apologize for this post.

I saw Central twice this year, at Oshkosh and at home.  At home all I could see were the home teams' backs.  At Oshkosh everyone sits on the home side and I didn't notice the towel wavers.  When I'm not watching the action on the field, I watch the pep squad.  I'm not close to the program but it seems I've heard that whatever your job is, the coaches want you to be "passionate" about it.  One man's passionate is another man's annoying I guess.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Where's Floyd when you need him? 

(That's right - Minneapolis)

Sorry guys. Had to stir it up. Go Gophers!

I am right here!   Rosedale Floyd is going to be freezing up in an almost empty trophy case though again this year.  Is Iowa really that bad, or did the Gophers just sandbag it for 6 weeks to set Iowa up?

Iowa's trophy case only has bowl trophies from the recent seasons now as all of the others are gone.

It is a rivalry game so the Iowa Coaching Staff should feel pretty bad and I would hope angry over how they managed that game.  The coaching staff should feel the heat this week as that was ridiculous on Saturday.  You can call it lack of execution in the red zone all you want if your Coach Ferentz, but that was only part of what I saw on Saturday.  Two days later, the word ridiculous is still pretty strong in my thoughts.  The 2010 Wisconsin game just happened all over again except against a way worse team.

I keep asking why the Iowa Special Teams are not what they used to be.  They used to be the ones blocking punts and kicks, they used to even run punts and kicks back for TDs.  Now they are the program that other teams run onside kicks and fake punts against.  The hunter is now the hunted for some reason.  It seems to be a mentality issue within the program as Coach Ferentz no longer talks about winning the special teams each game.  Instead it always now seems to be about not losing in the special teams.  I don't know why Iowa was not in punt safe against Wisconsin last year or having the hands team on the field for the kickoff return against Minnesota when the return games stunk in both of those games anyway!

Minnesota played the defensive backs all within 10 yards of the ball for most of the game.  Iowa was 2nd it the league in passing and has a potential 1st to 3rd round draft choice in WR Marvin McNutt, yet they only tried to pass 20 yards or more downfield twice (none in the 1st half).  Was it the QB or coaching?  Either way, they did not exploit the Gopher Defense the way everyone else has in Big Ten play and they lost. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Probably not the best ever game played by either team in Waverly today, but for excitement it was worth the price of admission.  Just like Wartburg's games with Coe, Simpson and Dubuque this game for the taking by either team until the last second.

Sorry it was fall break this weekend at Wartburg.  A game like this deserved a bigger crowd.

I'm writing a little late because I watched the end of the Iowa State/Texas Tech game when we got home.  All the way home I listened to the radio as Hawkeye fans bitched and complained that the Hawks were so much better than Minnesota & Iowa State, but the Gophers and the Cyclones put all their effort into playing Iowa.  I was switching back and forth between the Hawk call in show and the Cyclone game.  I'm thinking, "Don't you people pay attention? The Cyclones are crushing the team that beat the #3 team in the nation last week."  Believe me Hawkeye fans, the Cyclones fans in your neighborhood would rather lose to Iowa and have an 8-3 record than to beat Iowa and have a 3-8 record.  I simply believe the Cyclones' schedule after the Iowa game is in most cases tougher than the Hawkeye's schedule.  Translation: From top to bottom the Big 12 has been tougher than the Big 10.  The loss of Nebraska and Texas A&M may change that. 

OK Dubuque fans, the Knights have done their job to get you an unshared conference title.  Next week is up to the Spartans.

You can't go by Iowa's scores over the past several seasons and quantify anything about college football.  Iowa beats conference champions (2009 Georgia Tech), ranked Big XII schools (2010 Missouri), yearly Big Ten upper division teams (Penn State, Wisconsin), yet in some of those same seasons they lost to Iowa State, Minnesota, and Northwestern.  It's on Iowa that they can't get up for rivals at times like Minnesota (see the 2010 Gopher game in which Iowa did not show).

The SEC has been the king league for some time now.  I have heard the Big XII is so much better than the Big Ten talk over the years, yet it really doesn't show up that much in the bowl season and final rankings most years.  What has made the Big XII so tough again (especially the division ISU played in)?  Texas was tough, but like Michigan they are not on the normal level of the program.  Oklahoma was supposed to play for the national title but lost at home to a Texas Tech team that now has three conference losses.  Colorado left the Big XII, but now is doing even worse in the Pac-12.  Oklahoma (flagship program) loses more BCS games than they win just like Ohio State (flagship program) loses more BCS games than they win.  How are Texas A&M and Missouri going to do when they join the SEC?

Do you really think ISU would have won two Big Ten titles and an Orange Bowl if they were in the Big Ten?

As Missouri showed last year, the Big XII has a lot of spread passing teams who put thier hat on what the offense does (see Missouri, Okie. State, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M).  Some of those teams don't do anything on defense or in the trenches and leave themselves open to a wounded Iowa with a freshman RB (see Iowa vs. Missouri last year).

I think the SEC is on top and the PAC-12 is a distant 2nd this year and they have one good division.  The other leagues are overall imposters this year (as the PAC-12 might be as well).

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Brief impression while attention to IA/MN game......Luther looked laughable.  Wartburg RULES !

Yes, congrats on that women's cross country title!  They do rule that!

They also will rule somewhere between 3rd and 6th in the football standings.

The Norse have gotten hammered three times this season already with the Rams and Knights left on the schedule.  Like Iowa, the coaching staff and administration in Decorah need to get together to talk about why this season went down the way it did and why the depth and talent on the team is so thin at multiple positions.  I am not asking for changes in the head coaches in Iowa City and Decorah, but there is some fixing that needs to take place.  A record below .500 with multiple blowout losses even though you have a 4th year starter at QB just should not happen at a school with the resources that Luther has.  Perhaps a Zweifel/Spartan conference title can push those conversations ahead in Decorah.

[Kohawk Krazy]

I was hesitant to ask this question on Saturday night after returning from the Wartburg/Central game for fear of having it sound like I was sort of picking on the Central team after a close loss.  Yesterday however I had conversations with two Wartburg fans who had made the same observation as I did, so I will ask the question.

On the Central sidelines there were two young guys who appearred to be in some way associated with the Central staff.  One was wearing a red shirt and tan slacks.  The other had a white shirt and red hat.  I don't know if they were assistant coaches, student coaches, trainers, or managers.  It was hard to figure out their role with the team since they didn't do anything other than wave white towels, jump up and down, shout woo-woo sounds, and get pained expressions at every call the officials made.  Have they been at all the Central games and what is their function?  If their purpose is to distract the other team, I don't think it worked.  Besides, I don't think Central would try such a thing since it would appear to more annoying to the Central sidelines than to the Wartburg players on the field.   

If they're coaches, Central needs a refund of their salaries.

If they're cheerleaders, they need to move away from the sidelines.

If they're special needs individuals, I apologize for this post.

I noticed this during the Coe game as well and wondered about it.  Your last line above is why I didn't post anything, because I didn't want to offend anyone if that is the case.  It was something I've never seen before.

Is it Saturday yet?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I was hesitant to ask this question on Saturday night after returning from the Wartburg/Central game for fear of having it sound like I was sort of picking on the Central team after a close loss.  Yesterday however I had conversations with two Wartburg fans who had made the same observation as I did, so I will ask the question.

On the Central sidelines there were two young guys who appearred to be in some way associated with the Central staff.  One was wearing a red shirt and tan slacks.  The other had a white shirt and red hat.  I don't know if they were assistant coaches, student coaches, trainers, or managers.  It was hard to figure out their role with the team since they didn't do anything other than wave white towels, jump up and down, shout woo-woo sounds, and get pained expressions at every call the officials made.  Have they been at all the Central games and what is their function?  If their purpose is to distract the other team, I don't think it worked.  Besides, I don't think Central would try such a thing since it would appear to more annoying to the Central sidelines than to the Wartburg players on the field.   

If they're coaches, Central needs a refund of their salaries.

If they're cheerleaders, they need to move away from the sidelines.

If they're special needs individuals, I apologize for this post.

I noticed this during the Coe game as well and wondered about it.  Your last line above is why I didn't post anything, because I didn't want to offend anyone if that is the case.  It was something I've never seen before.

Is it Saturday yet?

Wise move.  I once mocked a post on another board, thinking it was from a totally drunk undergrad.  Another poster informed me (more kindly than I deserved, by PM) that the poster was an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities.  I've rarely felt worse in my life.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Well now I'm kind of sorry I've never noticed the towel guys in action.  Personally, if I couldn't get wild and crazy at a football game, I wouldn't want to go.  I don't get to watch from the sideline and people have wondered about my developmental level a time or two but even so...  If you can't whoop it up at a football game where can you?

Moving on, I'm ready to start questioning the mentality of Simpson people.   

[Klompen]

I have noticed the white towel waivers at all the games, it is not just a Wartburg effort to distract.  I think they are trying to get the team and fans fired up.  I do not know who they are other than that they are not coaches.  Managers maybe???  Anyway, I find it annoying because the towels should be red, it looks to me like they are waiving the white flag of surrender.  Now THAT is annoying!

The Knights played very well on Saturday and the defense was tremendous on both sides.  I will give the Knights' defense credit for some of our many first half mistakes, but I wish someone could explain snapping the ball before your team, particularly your QB is even lined up.  I know that nerves can get to a kid in a big game, but that just shows how unfocused so much of our season has been this year.  I also think we are guilty of playing not to lose instead of playing to win.  Snead is a great QB, but he should not have had to carry the ball 37 times.  To me that is the coaches going with what they feel safe with, but playing it safe doesn't win games.  It's too predictable.  If my opinion mattered, which is correctly doesn't, I would  also vote for getting rid of the play calling as it is done now and go back to the huddle offense.  There have been too many times when we had to waste time outs and we sure could have used a couple towards the end of the game.  I apologize for the Monday evening coaching, it is easy to second guess after a loss.  I really have tremendous respect for all of the Central coaches and would not want to be in their positions.  I agree with them the 80 or so percent of the time when we win, except for the BV game when Mac with extremely happy with the team's play.      The similarities between the BV and WB games are hauntingly close.  And speaking of haunting, in future schedules, could we not have to play WB around Halloween, all that orange and black everywhere feels like a foreshadowing of gloom and doom.