FB: American Rivers Conference

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Does anybody have the video for the Central game?  I know it isn't much to look at but the novelty still hasn't warn off for me.

[notlongago]

Does anybody have the video for the Central game?  I know it isn't much to look at but the novelty still hasn't warn off for me.

Central website. Under the live events tab.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Thank you.  And now I have seen enough.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I am always happy to see Central do well.  But 51-0 at the half is not very compelling.  In fact it has gotten so bad I am reduced to watching Simpson v IL Wesleyan.  And what is even worse, Simpson looks pretty darn good.

[doolittledog]

Central with a monkey stomp over Maranatha Baptist.
Simpson with a good 13-3 victory over #21 Illinois Wesleyan
Luther up big at home over Grinnell
Coe in a dogfight at home with UW-SP
Dubuque and Wartburg with night games

[hazzben]

Nice win for the Storm!

[doolittledog]

Dubuque leads Pacific 10-3 at the half.

[Willie University]

A nail biter at Chalmers field tonight! Got to give that win to the defense! Offense played well at times but the defense and especially DB's came away with some amazing plays. Pacific is no joke. Hard to believe they were a start up program 4 years ago and last year close losses to Linfield and Pac Lu. They may have graduated a big senior class but they have plenty of talent left. I hope the young man from pacific they took out on the stretcher is OK. That was a scary hit.

I think a few things are obvious so far:

Simpson is still good....possibly even better 
wartburg is really good even though it aches me to say it
luther is definitely better although competition isn't anything to write home about
had loras beat auggie tonight, I would say they are also greatly improved, I'll give them improved for sure. Seems coach olsen has opened up the playbook a little and they discovered the passing game 
coe---really not sure yet; I think they will be tough but not sure how tough at this point
central- same boat...no clue what to expect at this point; today only helped the stat books
BV could be in for a long season
and my Spartans........they'll be in every ball game; their defense is no joke...looking forward to conference play

Willie U

[warthog]

Wartburg looked fairly strong in their 45-14 drubbing of Wisconsin-Stout.  (UW-Stout beat Loras 21-17 in week #2) Knights made use of big plays against the Blue Devils.  There may have been some weakness exposed on the Knight's ability to contain an opponent's running game. I haven't looked at the Box Score so perhaps it wasn't as bad as I thought just sitting up there in the bleachers.  Weather was miserable, but some rain is fun once in a while.

Next it is on to Central.  This could determine if this year's Wartburg team is a contender or a pretender.  Regardless the outcome it will be a good day since any trip to Pella includes a stop at Jaarsma's Bakery for a sack of Dutch Letters.

Incidently, that was an impressive win by Simpson this weekend.  They will start turning some heads in the D3 rankings.

[Klompen]

Congratulations to all of yesterday's winners.  Glad some of you had interesting games for your fans to watch. 

Yesterday was a waste of a game weekend for the Dutch.  I am really disappointed that Central would schedule such a team and can only hope that there were no other options.  This is a team that needed a lot of game time prior to heading into the conference season and the starters were out for at least 3/4 of the game.  I give credit to Marantha Baptist, it was a hot and they had very few players, no second string options for substitutions and they had to be exhausted, but kept giving it all they had. 

Central is going to have their hands full with Wartburg and it won't likely make for a pleasant homecoming.  This is a Central team lacking experience and a quality game yesterday might have pointed to some areas that were strengths and weaknesses, but we didn't learn anything new from a game like that.  At least the parents of every player on the team that wasn't injured got to see their son play varsity ball and that might be the only thing that showed something new.  Even against a weaker team, it was easy to see there are some good players in the freshmen class that will be bucking for playing time. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Wartburg looked fairly strong in their 45-14 drubbing of Wisconsin-Stout.  (UW-Stout beat Loras 21-17 in week #2) Knights made use of big plays against the Blue Devils.  There may have been some weakness exposed on the Knight's ability to contain an opponent's running game. I haven't looked at the Box Score so perhaps it wasn't as bad as I thought just sitting up there in the bleachers.  Weather was miserable, but some rain is fun once in a while.

Next it is on to Central.  This could determine if this year's Wartburg team is a contender or a pretender.  Regardless the outcome it will be a good day since any trip to Pella includes a stop at Jaarsma's Bakery for a sack of Dutch Letters.

Incidently, that was an impressive win by Simpson this weekend.  They will start turning some heads in the D3 rankings.

No matter what happens in league season, Wartburg scheduled games and performed in the games like a legit IIAC favorite.  I am not all things Wartburg in any way, but they have been good for the league in this 2014 season.

Congrats to Simpson as well.  They also appear to be performing at a level that should have people around the program feeling like they might be one of the clear top two in the league.  Nothing wrong with a little optimism going into the league games.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

A nail biter at Chalmers field tonight! Got to give that win to the defense! Offense played well at times but the defense and especially DB's came away with some amazing plays. Pacific is no joke. Hard to believe they were a start up program 4 years ago and last year close losses to Linfield and Pac Lu. They may have graduated a big senior class but they have plenty of talent left. I hope the young man from pacific they took out on the stretcher is OK. That was a scary hit.

I think a few things are obvious so far:

Simpson is still good....possibly even better 
wartburg is really good even though it aches me to say it
luther is definitely better although competition isn't anything to write home about
had loras beat auggie tonight, I would say they are also greatly improved, I'll give them improved for sure. Seems coach olsen has opened up the playbook a little and they discovered the passing game 
coe---really not sure yet; I think they will be tough but not sure how tough at this point
central- same boat...no clue what to expect at this point; today only helped the stat books
BV could be in for a long season
and my Spartans........they'll be in every ball game; their defense is no joke...looking forward to conference play

Willie U

Power rankings like this?

1.  Wartburg
2.  Simpson


3.  Coe
4.  Dubuque
5.  Central

6.  Luther
7.  Loras
8.  B.V.

B.V. will probably do better than where they sit now in the rankings.

[doolittledog]

Power rankings like this?

1.  Wartburg
2.  Simpson


3.  Coe
4.  Dubuque
5.  Central

6.  Luther
7.  Loras
8.  B.V.

B.V. will probably do better than where they sit now in the rankings.

I think it might be
1 - Wartburg
2 - Simpson
3-8 - Take your pick

Wartburg scheduled tough and won all 3
Simpson...for the most part, ditto

BVU - might be 0-3...but they've done that each of the last 2 years and then went on to 4-3 conference record
Central - about what we've seen from them each of the last 2 years
Coe - I have no idea
Dubuque - defense looks legit...offense, not so much.  But they have the tools to improve
Loras - Much improved from last year...will that translate into conference wins?
Luther - 3-0 and have a tough offense to prepare for...will that translate into conference wins?

[Walston Hoover]

Not too surprised by much here in the early going other than BV just flat out sucks. I talked to a couple coaches this offseason that thought they might be a darkhorse this year with some good talent returning. Were they full of **** or is BV just a huge disappointment so far?
Following Loras closer with JO there now and while they are improved its going to be a while until they are back to their traditional 4-6, 5-5, 6-4 selves.
Wartburg O has looked a lot better than I expected early. Willis always has a tough D.
Central with some young talent that will take some lumps this year but should bode well for the future.
Honestly forgot Luther played football...

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Power rankings like this?

1.  Wartburg
2.  Simpson


3.  Coe
4.  Dubuque
5.  Central

6.  Luther
7.  Loras
8.  B.V.

B.V. will probably do better than where they sit now in the rankings.

I think it might be
1 - Wartburg
2 - Simpson
3-8 - Take your pick

Wartburg scheduled tough and won all 3
Simpson...for the most part, ditto

BVU - might be 0-3...but they've done that each of the last 2 years and then went on to 4-3 conference record
Central - about what we've seen from them each of the last 2 years
Coe - I have no idea
Dubuque - defense looks legit...offense, not so much.  But they have the tools to improve
Loras - Much improved from last year...will that translate into conference wins?
Luther - 3-0 and have a tough offense to prepare for...will that translate into conference wins?

I think the last two seasons the league might have been more forgiving to teams like Coe, Central, and B.V.  I think if those three teams don't pick it up pretty quick, Wartburg and maybe Simpson could be very long days for them.  Is Coe just younger than normal, or are there injury issues as well?

Maybe B.V. will get right by playing Waldorf.