FB: American Rivers Conference

[hazzben]

A week ago when BV lost to Wartburg I, like Klompen, thought the Beavers were a better team than advertised.

I said the same thing after Bethel played them. They are improved from last year, it's just not showing up in the W column. But, you are what your record says you are. BV is a winless team that has played a brutal schedule.

I mean seriously, look at that schedule so far 

at UW-Platteville
Concordia-Moorhead
Bethel
Coe
at Wartburg
at Central  ... Ouch!

[Pat Coleman]

Not sure the better team won today, but thankful for a very ugly, but exciting win.  That blocked FG turned TD has my vote for outstanding play of the week.

Is there video?

[doolittledog]

Credit to the BVU coaches and players for continuing to work hard and showing up each week with a good game plan and playing hard.

[notlongago]

Not sure the better team won today, but thankful for a very ugly, but exciting win.  That blocked FG turned TD has my vote for outstanding play of the week.

Is there video?

There's always video... And central will have two angles.

[Klompen]

Not sure the better team won today, but thankful for a very ugly, but exciting win.  That blocked FG turned TD has my vote for outstanding play of the week.

Is there video?

There's always video... And central will have two angles.

The Central game write up has highlights video from the kicking endzone view. 

I guess if anyone can be counted on to block a critical kick, it is nice having a reigning heptathalon and decathalon national champion on the special team!  Way to go Miller.  Not that Young's run wasn't equally fantastic.

[Klompen]

Credit to the BVU coaches and players for continuing to work hard and showing up each week with a good game plan and playing hard.

Could not agree more.  Most teams would have folded by now under that record, but I thought BV played a much better game than we did yesterday, and that is saying something because my red shades had blue and gold blockers put in place to eliminate seeing anything positive from those colors while Penn was still in the conference.   

[NewKnightDad]

RECAPS and reflections

Simpson....going to the mid IIAC group.  Out of the race early!  Loras meets BV next...a loss.

DUBUQUE.....crown them now.  All others are pretenders.  Steve settles for second,

CENTRAL.........who said Dutch had a great defense?  Blinders!  Even Luther will pile big yards.

BEATIFUL VIEW......good luck, but

WARTBURG.........received a gift from the referee crew.  Warts are clearly second tier after seeing them on KCRG 9.2.  Really bad calls against Norse especially "taunting" in 4th Q.
QB's can't throw, RB is slow.......but OLine redeemed Wartburg.

LUTHER......may win another game.  More next year.








Good thing Maryland is joining the Big 10 plus ?  Possibly Hawkeyes could beat somebody!

The good news is that in this era of high gas prices Wartburg can save a trip to Dubuque on Saturday as they are a 2nd tier team and don't stand a chance against Dubuque.   

[Fannosaurus Rex]

The things that impressed me about Central's defense Saturday were how good they were inside their own red zone, and how bad they were when it was third down and double digits.  I tried to count it up and it looks like BV ran 25 plays inside the Central 20.  That seems like a lot for a team that only scored 13 points.  I am trying to figure out a stat that will measure how frustrating it was to think you have your opponent where you want them at third down and xx yards to go, only to have them convert.  However many times it happened, it was too many.  And finally, I don't like to see anybody get hurt but I also don't like to think about how it might have been different if BV's stud running back hadn't had to leave the game.

[Willie University]

Funny how that seems to happen against one of the better defenses they will face this year...what a coincidence.....

I honestly am not taking anything away from Central's defense. I agree they are good and the strength of their team. But, that was also the worst UD's offense had played all year. Some of it due to central's D being tough, part of it due to our own mistakes. At this point, who cares, water under the bridge.

More concerned with this Saturday. Back in the day, the IIAC had 2 or 3 top teams, 3 clear bottom teams, and 2-3 middle teams. Some weeks would seem like off weeks or check one off in the Win column before even playing the game. Now, you have to prepare every week as anyone can beat anyone on any given Saturday if you take a team lightly.

I am sure the Spartans were done celebrating by the time the bus rolled into Dbq from Coe(or possibly Sunday morning  . I expect Coach Z will have the boys ready to play this saturday.

[putmeincoach]

I guess if anyone can be counted on to block a critical kick, it is nice having a reigning heptathalon and decathalon national champion on the special team!  Way to go Miller.  Not that Young's run wasn't equally fantastic.
[/quote]

Not sure if you are trying to give credit for the block here but Eric Larson blocked the FG - I think Miller was the previous decathalon national champion from Central - Larson is the current

[wartknight]

I guess if anyone can be counted on to block a critical kick, it is nice having a reigning heptathalon and decathalon national champion on the special team!  Way to go Miller.  Not that Young's run wasn't equally fantastic.


Not sure if you are trying to give credit for the block here but Eric Larson blocked the FG - I think Miller was the previous decathalon national champion from Central - Larson is the current

When I read the post (didn't go back & check), I assumed it was Larson. Good ole Waverly boy! I still think he would look better in black & orange.
Always nice to see the hometown boys have some success, even if playing the Knights (as long as it is in a losing effort!!)

[Fannosaurus Rex]

One more observation from the Central BV game.  I don't remember when Central started running a no huddle offense, but the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, 80 yards in 12 plays in 3 minutes 48 seconds, was the first time it ever looked to me like they were actually in a hurry.  And then it seemed to work pretty well and actually seemed to get BV a little off balance and out of sync.  Hope to see more up tempo.

[Willie University]

One more observation from the Central BV game.  I don't remember when Central started running a no huddle offense, but the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, 80 yards in 12 plays in 3 minutes 48 seconds, was the first time it ever looked to me like they were actually in a hurry.  And then it seemed to work pretty well and actually seemed to get BV a little off balance and out of sync.  Hope to see more up tempo.

At times I believe they did it against UD and I also felt it was more successful.

[doolittledog]

Looking forward to the big Dubuque/Wartburg game this weekend.  My wife and kids will be there, so hoping we might see a bit warmer temps than the 45 degrees being called for in the 7 day forcast.  If the sun is out and it isn't too windy even 45 will be ok. 

Looking at conference only stats...and only 3 games in, even that isn't too telling of a stat line.  Wartburg has played BVU, Luther, and Simpson.  Dubuque has played Central, Coe, and Luther. 

Total Offense
1 - Wartburg
2 - Dubuque

Scoring Offense
1 - Dubuque
2 - Wartburg

Total Defense
1- Dubuque   (starting 7 sophomores)
7 - Wartburg 

Scoring Defense
4 - Dubuque
5 - Wartburg

What does that all mean?  Absolutely nothing!  The game will be decided on the field Saturday afternoon in Dubuque 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Wartburg D could give up 250 yards rushing and still potentially come away with a big win if the Knights offense is clicking.  With that unconventional Luther offense, 250 yards rushing could actually be considered a good day out by the defense. Field condition could come into play on Saturday.   

Both teams ran the ball at will at times.  Very good run game for the Norse from what I saw.  I wasn't happy about a couple penalties, but by far my overall view of the game was that Luther could not get the Wartburg Offense off the field when it counted.  Congrats to the team from Waverly.

Athletic, bigger QB did the Norse in just like Miller and Hyde did the Hawks in as well on Saturday.  There was some hope on Saturday with how the Norse and Hawkeye offenses looked though.

Congrats to Dubuque as they are the most impressive team now through three weeks of conference play!  The Fighting Zweifels are back!