FB: American Rivers Conference

[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?

The whole concept of a traveling trophy is that it will travel somewhere.  Given Cornell's plan to turn tail and run back to the MWC instead of actually making the Ram Football program better, if the series continues I guess any traveling trophy will stay in Coe's trophy case for at least the next quarter century.  Perhaps the trophy will be taken out of the case once a year to be presented back to Coe after the game, but that is the only time it will travel anywhere.

The football program is getting better and will continue to get better with Coach B there. The job him and his staff have to do is not an easy one for sure. The state of the program was pretty bad when he took over but trust me he is trying to get things done to make it a successful program. There is a new president at the school who is also pro athletics. Coe has gone on a major winning streak in the series for sure and they obviously did some things to become better in football, but I know for a fact the AD and obviously Coach B will do everything in their power to become better in football. Going back to the MWC was a battle they could not win but that does not mean they will not get better as a football program.

Warthog I respect a lot of your opinions and posts on this site but this is one that I will agree to disagree with you on. The series will continue and the trophy will not being staying at Coe for as long as you think.

[Ash Park]

On another topic, but related to Coach Staker's comments in the Telegraph-Herald, the first NCAA D3 wrestling ratings are out.  Five IIAC teams are in the top 25.  Three are in the top 5.  It should be another good year for IIAC wrestling.

1)  Wartburg
3)  Coe
5)  Cornell
13) U of Dubuque
22) Luther

One comment & one question:

Apparently Cornell can compete not only in the conference, but also the nation in some athletics.

What happens to Cornell's nationally ranked wrestling program when it retreats to the MWC?

Why would this have an impact on their national ranking or the program at all? Wrestling is going to regional qualifying. Cornell will most likely be an independent in wrestling as the MWC does not have wrestling as a sport. I heard some talk about Cornell trying to stay in the IIAC for wrestling only but with the sport going to regional qualifying it really will not matter. Cornell is close enough that will still wrestle all the IIAC schools.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I try to be a man of the 21st century and avoid becoming a dinosaur, so you guys need to wise me up about something.  I was doing my pre-game scouting and noticed that loathsome Simpson has a ".com" athletic site.  That made me curious so I checked and it looks like so does Cornell, Coe and Loras.  All of the other IIAC schools have their athletic section as part of their ".edu" site except Wartburg which is ".net."  What's the difference and should I now add web site envy to my list of psychoses?

[doolittledog]

I try to be a man of the 21st century and avoid becoming a dinosaur, so you guys need to wise me up about something.  I was doing my pre-game scouting and noticed that loathsome Simpson has a ".com" athletic site.  That made me curious so I checked and it looks like so does Cornell, Coe and Loras.  All of the other IIAC schools have their athletic section as part of their ".edu" site except Wartburg which is ".net."  What's the difference and should I now add web site envy to my list of psychoses?

Now you need to look up which schools have their own football facebook page and youtube page to really kick your psychoses into gear

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Or the other option is I could get a life.  Of course then I would have to worry about ending up like the Simpson guy who had to break up with his girl friend when he caught her lying...under another guy.  Is it Saturday yet?

[Ash Park]

http://www.cornellrams.com/article/423.php

Reality is starting to set in that this will be the last IIAC game for the Rams 

I plan on still following the IIAC and being somewhat active on this board for years to come. I am not a fan of UD, however, they will be representing the conference in the playoffs. I just want to say congrats and wish them the best of luck in playoffs.

Sure would be nice and would make my year if Cornell could pull of the huge upset this Saturday against Coe.

[Kohawk Krazy]

I wonder if the Cornell volleyball coach is worried now that they just won an IIAC title.  When the Cornell basketball team won the IIAC a few years ago the coach was then told he had to take a 20% pay cut.

Cornell didn't win the volleyball title this year and they didn't win the basketball title a few years ago.  They won the Tournament titles.  Big difference between the two.  If I remember right from a Gazette story, Cornell only has one IIAC Title and that was in women's tennis.

Well, yes and no.  Conference tourney winners get auto bids to the NCAA's, not the regular season champion.  Last year the IIAC gave full points to the UD golf team in the all-sports trophy competition for winning the conference tourney, not for how they finished during the regular season.  But I get your point.

Golf doesn't have a regular season champion.  It is all based off the IIAC Championships.

[CaliRamRL6]

http://www.cornellrams.com/article/423.php

Reality is starting to set in that this will be the last IIAC game for the Rams 

I plan on still following the IIAC and being somewhat active on this board for years to come. I am not a fan of UD, however, they will be representing the conference in the playoffs. I just want to say congrats and wish them the best of luck in playoffs.

Sure would be nice and would make my year if Cornell could pull of the huge upset this Saturday against Coe.

An upset at Coe would be a nice way to leave the conference. I didn't realize Seabrook had that many interceptions. It would be nice to see more kids from North County (northern San Diego county) come play at Cornell. I just hope they don't get left at the Greyhound station like I did.

[Ash Park]

http://www.cornellrams.com/article/423.php

Reality is starting to set in that this will be the last IIAC game for the Rams 

I plan on still following the IIAC and being somewhat active on this board for years to come. I am not a fan of UD, however, they will be representing the conference in the playoffs. I just want to say congrats and wish them the best of luck in playoffs.

Sure would be nice and would make my year if Cornell could pull of the huge upset this Saturday against Coe.

An upset at Coe would be a nice way to leave the conference. I didn't realize Seabrook had that many interceptions. It would be nice to see more kids from North County (northern San Diego county) come play at Cornell. I just hope they don't get left at the Greyhound station like I did.

Yeah, Seabrook is having a nice first year with the program. They have a nice pipeline going with Vista and I am sure they will continue to recruit that area pretty hard along with Florida.

[Willie University]

Better late then never....It was a proud day to be a Spartan on saturday. I unfortunately was unable to be in attendance but watched every play from my phone. What an exciting game I missed. Every week has looked like a highlight reel this season and there were some great efforts last saturday.

One storyline that didn't get mentioned was that Junior TE Miles Hookstead had to move from his TE position and play Offensive Tackle Saturday due to a concussion sidelining the starting OT on thursday in practice. What an unselfish move and he and the rest of the O-line did an amazing job all day. Just another example of the Spartans TEAM motto this season in action.

I can't wait for Sunday to find out the playoff match ups! Good luck to the rest of the teams in the season finale!

Willie U

[Pat Coleman]

New regional rankings:
http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2011/11/09/second-ncaa-regional-rankings-2/

[Klompen]

Very late congratulations to the Spartans on their outstanding season and conference championship!  I don't remember which WB fan said that WB had done everything they could to set UD up for an outright conference championship, but if you are sharing credit for the championship I really think you have to credit all the other teams that went the extra mile by losing to you.     Best of luck to you in the playoffs and I am on the UD bandwagon for the duration.  The ratings say that a home playoff might be a long shot, sadly, but maybe some higher ranked teams can lose this weekend.  Enjoy it Spartan fans, it has been a long time coming and your loyalty was rewarded. 

[doolittledog]

3 rivalry games and 1 game to get out of the conference basement this weekend.

What game are we most likely to see an upset?

What game are we most likely to see a blowout?

Wartburg is currently ranked 10th in the West.  Can anyone see a scenario where we see a whole mess of upsets and Wartburg makes it into the playoffs? 

[warthog]

Wartburg is currently ranked 10th in the West.  Can anyone see a scenario where we see a whole mess of upsets and Wartburg makes it into the playoffs?

I hope so! 

[Ash Park]

3 rivalry games and 1 game to get out of the conference basement this weekend.

What game are we most likely to see an upset?

What game are we most likely to see a blowout?

Wartburg is currently ranked 10th in the West.  Can anyone see a scenario where we see a whole mess of upsets and Wartburg makes it into the playoffs?

Sure would be nice to send two IIAC teams. Who needs to lose in order for Wartburg to have a chance?