FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

awesome job spartan coaches and players. . .the spartan nation is proud of you

Was Spurrier a freshman during the last Spartan championship???

[doolittledog]

awesome job spartan coaches and players. . .the spartan nation is proud of you

Speaking of the Spartan Nation...it was great to see UD fans packing the visitor seating at Coe, with a number of other Spartan fans sitting on the home side.  I ran into a friend of mine after the game that went to work for the UD Alumni department right after graduation.  She was talking about all the games she went to in the 1990's where there might be a couple dozen UD fans at a game and there were well over 500 that travelled to Coe yesterday.  That was an awesome feeling for an old Spartan fan like me to be able to witness.  Almost as much fun as seeing the team I cheer for win a conference title. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

A HUGE congrats to the UD Spartans, fans and Coach Z. and Co., on their IIAC Conference Championship!  Only took Coach Z three seasons and I, for one, am not at all surprised.  His success at UD and as a HC just puts a HUGE smile on my face!  Good luck to him and the program the rest of the way.   

Yes, congrats to the Spartans!  Dubuque was a great story all year.

Coach Zweifel has been as good as advertised.  Ditto for his son.  Good luck in the playoffs!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congratulations Kyle McGivney!!!

Congrats to Kyle on the NCAA tackle record and to the Norse for perhaps the most complete win of the season.  It was nice to see Kyle and Chris Reynolds having a nice day when the Norse also won the game.

Too bad that might be the last Luther-Cornell game for some time.  Some of the games have been lopsided, but there were some others that were very close.  As I have said before, I like making the trip to Mount Vernon for football and baseball games.

Luther is now 3-4 in the league with Wartburg on the slate for this week.  This has been a tough season for the Norse, but 4-4 in the league with a win over Wartburg sounds a lot better than 3-5.  It would be great if the seniors could go out with something big!

[footballfan413]

Thank you to the WIAC guys for coming over here and filling us in on the Wisconsin recruits.  Much appreciated. 

I am not sure what to think about that list of UD recruits.  I like that Zwiefel has hit the recruiting trail and has kids coming in.  I like that he has hit an area that so far has been under recruited by IIAC schools.  BUT, is he bringing in kids just to fill out a roster?  Have a bunch of kids left the program?  Does he see something in these kids that other coaches have overlooked?  Are these big city kids that will run for home after 3 months in Dubuque?  Do I just need to relax and not really care about this and just show up to 3 or 4 games next fall and have a fun time cheering on the team...win or lose?  Probably.  Still fun to look at this stuff and play the guessing game though. 

Zweifel isn't going to waste his time with players that he believes won't have a chance to play for him simply to have a full roster.  Both Zweifel and his assistant know what type of athlete they are looking for to implement his scheme and they're going to go get them.  That some of these kids may or may not end up playing.  Many factors, some in Zweifel's control, some not, go into that.  But none of them are being brought in simply to fill the roster. 

When I saw that 2nd article that mentioned the new UD assistant had been their coach I felt a lot better about the situation.  Not that I really felt bad about the situation.  The Wisconsin people seem to have really good things to say about Zweifel.  Which makes me feel better.  I was initially worried that as a long time assistant he might prove to be a better coordinator than a head coach.  I'm not feeling so much that way now. 

DLD,
   Relax my friend.  This is a coach who had a very large part in recruiting and coaching a top team in the WIAC and taking it to the an elite level.  U of D is lucky to have him!  Nothing to worry about..................... it's all good!   

Dug this out of the archives from 2009 so at the risk of saying I told you so,......................I just couldn't resist!     

[doolittledog]

fbf413, that's funny you bring that up, my wife and I were talking about that last night on our drive out of Cedar Rapids.  I initially freaked out when I saw Zweifel only kept about 20 kids from the old roster.  Like it says later in that post, I was relieved once you Wisconsin people came on and calmed my fears and told me more about the guy. 

These last 3 years have been a fun ride, and we hope to have many more. 

[doolittledog]

Too bad that might be the last Luther-Cornell game for some time.  As I have said before, I like making the trip to Mount Vernon for football and baseball games.

We like Mt. Vernon so much we drove over there after the Coe/Dubuque game yesterday.  We stopped in at Chameleans for a Bleu Cheeseburger basket and a few beers and it was fun to listen to the crowd and watch some football.  Lot's of Hawkeye talk but also quite a bit of Cornell talk...those people were all big Rams fans.  They talked about the Luther game and were VERY excited about the Cornell volleyball team playing later that night for the conference championship.  It was nice to see Cornell being supported in the town like that. 

Of course, with Dubuque winning the conference championship and Iowa beating Michigan for the 3rd straight year...I was in a very good mood that day

[footballfan413]

fbf413, that's funny you bring that up, my wife and I were talking about that last night on our drive out of Cedar Rapids.  I initially freaked out when I saw Zweifel only kept about 20 kids from the old roster.  Like it says later in that post, I was relieved once you Wisconsin people came on and calmed my fears and told me more about the guy. 

These last 3 years have been a fun ride, and we hope to have many more.

And I am confident that you will!  I am thrilled for you, all of the Spartan fans and especially for Michael and Coach Z.  He will always have a special place in my heart because Coach Z was one of the primary reasons my son became a Warhawk.  I knew, firsthand, how great he was at recognizing talent  and closing the deal on the recruiting trail.  I couldn't say it at the time without coming off sounding badly, but I didn't understand why anyone would be upset about a roster purge for a team that went 2-8 the previous season. I wish nothing but good things for the Spartan program and their coaching staff, except if they ever meet my Warhawks in the post season!     

[footballfan413]

A last thought I had this morning, DLD.  I am sure this has occurred to you already but you can probably credit that roster purge you were so worried about for getting the Spartans to a conference championship in just 3 seasons.   

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Congrats to the Spartans and all of the fans that stuck with them.  Good luck for a deep run in the play-offs.

But on to this week's business which is, of course, the IIAC South of I-80 Division Championship to be played at loathsome Simpson this Saturday.  It is frightening to think the Storm is on a four game winning streak even though counting to four is probably an upper level math class for them.  It seems their young team has had the audacity to mature and Central has to play them on the road where the Dutch haven't had the best of luck so far.

So let's get this thing started with:
First Simpson Joke of the Week   I knew a guy who went out with a Simpson coed once.  When he picked her up she had a bottle of barbeque sauce with her.  He said, "what's that for?" And she said, "didn't you say you were bringing condoms with ribs?"

[doolittledog]

Rivalry week in the IIAC...

Central/Simpson
Wartburg/Luther
Cornell/Coe
And to avoid last place...Loras/BVU

These all should be some hard fought games.  Hopefully we have some decent weather. 

[warthog]

Rivalry week in the IIAC...

Central/Simpson
Wartburg/Luther
Cornell/Coe
And to avoid last place...Loras/BVU

These all should be some hard fought games.  Hopefully we have some decent weather.

............ and of course Dubuque/Practice Field as they wait for the announcements for 1st Round NCAAs

[footballdaddy]

Let me add my congrats to the Spartans for a fine season and good luck in the playoffs.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

I hope the Cornell fans come and try out the new visitor bleachers.  I must say it was cool to have an opposing wall of noise at K Ray.  Something I never experienced before last Saturday.

Doolittle that was me, it was too intense a game to sit on the Dubuque side, so I only made it for half the first quarter with the Ice Man.

I then stood next to Johnny Ballgame on the good guys side of the field for the rest of the first half.

[Ash Park]

I hope the Cornell fans come and try out the new visitor bleachers.  I must say it was cool to have an opposing wall of noise at K Ray.  Something I never experienced before last Saturday.

Doolittle that was me, it was too intense a game to sit on the Dubuque side, so I only made it for half the first quarter with the Ice Man.

I then stood next to Johnny Ballgame on the good guys side of the field for the rest of the first half.

Are they starting the traveling trophy this year for the Coe/Cornell game?