FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

We've gone a few days without any posts...it's a beautiful Friday afternoon...and my boss (me) says I can slack off a few hours.  So here is my idea of stereotypical fans of IIAC schools.

Buena Vista

They're a quiet bunch...never really hear anything from them!

Central

Straight laced, polite, conservative, if you just run the football the game will get over sooner and we can get over to Jaarsma's for some Dutch Letters

Coe

We'd like to go to the game today...then again we just want to stay inside with the windows closed

Dubuque

Damn, those Dubuque fans are a good looking bunch

[doolittledog]

Loras

Lives in his parents basement

Luther

Like a Cubs fan, fun to hang out with, ever hopeful things will be like 1978 again soon

Simpson

Don't hear much from this fan base as they're too busy working to talk football

Wartburg

They like to tailgate...and winning makes them a happy lot

[DBQ1965]

Way to go d-dog.  Plus k for that.

[Phred]

Good going, Dog.  I would like to see the fans wake up a bit.......but maybe it is a losers strategy to hide.  Right Warts?  Just punching the bear a bit.

[5 Words or Less]

The Knights had quite a bit more total offense than Central, but the interceptions through the hands of receivers and a couple huge goal line stands by the Dutch kept the game in question until the final moments.  Plenty of things for the Wartburg team to work on in preparation for Coe.

Not sure why Wartburg would choose to forgo the quarterback sneak on the 1/2 foot line.  You would think they could pickup 6 inches on 3 or 4 tries. Taking the snap then backing up to handoff seems a waste of time and yardage. Regardless i have to give credit to the Central defense, they showed some moxie.

Ask Mike Durnin ...

Play-by-Play Summary
2008 Iowa Conference Football
Luther College vs Wartburg College (Nov 1, 2008 at Waverly, Iowa)

Wartburg College 7, Luther College 0
2nd Quarter

Lut   1-10   at War25   Start of 2nd quarter, clock 15:00.
Lut   1-10   at War25   Chris Reynolds pass incomplete to Trevor Theobald.
Lut   2-10   at War25   Ryan Monroe rush for 6 yards to the WAR19 (Blake Suckow).
Lut   3-4   at War19   Chris Reynolds pass complete to Ryan Monroe for 6 yards to the WAR13, 1ST DOWN LUT (Rodney Stevenso).
Lut   1-10   at War13   Ryan Monroe rush for 8 yards to the WAR5 (Jason Lansing;Spencer Policha).
Lut   2-2   at War05   Ryan Monroe rush for 4 yards to the WAR1, 1ST DOWN LUT (Jason Lansing).
Lut   1-G   at War01   Chris Reynolds QB sneak for no gain to the WAR1 (Ryan Gerardy).
Lut   2-G   at War01   Chris Reynolds QB sneak for no gain to the WAR1 (Blake Suckow).
Lut   3-G   at War01   Chris Reynolds QB sneak for no gain to the WAR1 (Ryan Gerardy).
Lut   4-G   at War01   Timeout Luther College, clock 10:24.
Lut   4-G   at War01   Chris Reynolds pass incomplete to Jesse Kent.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald preview of Dubuque @ Simpson, and Loras @ BVU ...as well as UNI @ NDSU and UW-Stevens Point @ UW-Platteville

http://www.thonline.com/sports/local_sports/article_11eae621-21ce-569d-8e8b-034837ff7cc3.html?sp-tk=B05DD4F44634D9D12BA0B44C6465AF6AE34AE5BA8EF711C9204FEEF51B2E5143D37C6C3AE16BE92C037FE88D9896394784C1354062200AD5592AB31D1D428485059E0ABFB2E7439134D3FB24B84532E2B09D24F05F26E40FDA5A8D57E0622102BEE6A33470EAFD315B7EF03FB34B1A318D932523200B6CD7C7C0A1B4B5BCF65A7A9027168A0A8D036EA26A28E23661DEE05DF5CA443BD9E3D4DC7D569B261E2052DE8D47

From the article...

Outlook: The Spartans are looking for their third straight win and got a big boost last week with the return of senior linebacker Blaine Snitker, who was named Iowa Conference athlete of the week after recording 21 tackles ... Neither team has been scoring a lot of points with Simpson coming in averaging 22.5 points per game and the Spartans 15.8 ... UD ranks sixth and Simpson seventh in total offense at 301.8 yards per game and 300.2, respectively ... Quarterback Rio Johnson leads UD's offense with 199 yards passing per game, but the Spartans rank last in the league in rushing at 102.8 yards per game ... The teams rank third and fourth in the league against the rush, so maybe the passing game decides what could be another close one for UD.

And...

Outlook: The Duhawks lead the Iowa Conference in scoring at 35.5 points per game and Buena Vista ranks last at 11.8 points per game. Loras, however, ranks last in scoring defense, allowing 41.2 points per game. The Beavers aren't faring much better giving up 39.5 points per game ... The Duhawks have gained 568.2 yards per game, while Buena Vista has allowed 421.2 yards per game ... The Beavers are gaining 293.5 yards per game, a league low ... BV's Cody Mowery ranks second in the conference in rushing at 111.2 yards per game. Loras' Zach Minch is fourth at 104.8 ... The Duhawks boast two of the top four quarterbacks in the league. Nik Schulte ranks second at 332.3 yards per game, while Nolan Baumhover ranks fourth at 252 ypg. Baumhover is expected to make his second start of the season today. ... This is a great opportunity for the Duhawks to record a conference win if the defense can finally make a stand.

[5 Words or Less]

21-0 Central 9:19 2nd Qtr.

time for Honey-do chores

[doolittledog]

For the 2nd straight week, Dubuque goes into halftime down 7-3.  This time @ Simpson

[doolittledog]

End of the 3rd quarter, Simpson leads Dubuque 21-17

[5 Words or Less]

End of the 3rd quarter, Simpson leads Dubuque 21-17

Now 24-24 2:14 4Q ... Dogfight!

[doolittledog]

End of the 3rd quarter, Simpson leads Dubuque 21-17

Now 24-24 2:14 4Q ... Dogfight!

Dubuque with their 3rd straight single digit victory.  31-24 over Simpson in Indianola.  And there was much rejoicing.  (I broke out the lucky mower today for some extra mojo)

[doolittledog]

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald story on Dubuque and Loras earning IIAC road victories...

http://www.thonline.com/sports/local_sports/article_c9c52f2f-6df5-5892-ac91-977d39451e1d.html


Des Moines Register article on the Central/Luther, Simpson/Dubuque, and Cornell/Grinnell games

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/2015/10/10/iowa-small-college-football-roundup-october-tenth/73759666/


Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier write up of the Wartburg/Coe game

http://wcfcourier.com/sports/football/wartburg-takes-care-of-coe/article_2a7f7ff1-d04a-566e-a5af-482d86524e9d.html


Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier write up of former IIAC team Upper Iowa AND the Central/Luther game

http://wcfcourier.com/sports/college/small-college-football-morales-fires-upper-iowa-to-win/article_4c72285a-a627-57bb-9e59-c285c403527f.html

[WB_Knights13]

Wartburg had a nice win over a steadily improving Coe team yesterday. Some thoughts on the game:

It is still obvious Wartburg has not put together a full 60 minutes. This game had major potential to get out of hand for Coe, but the Knights consistently hurt themselves on offense with penalties.

The defense is still letting big plays happen. Some thoughts on this: Cole Hinders was out with a concussion yesterday, and the pass rush really lacked with an undersized an under experienced defensive line playing without their leader, Hinders. Without this pass rush, the secondary, led by senior Logan Pitz at corner, has given unquote a few explosive plays, including a big scoring play yesterday.

The offense seemed to have rhythm on a few drives, but the zone stretch play with a big back was a play they kept going back to for some reason. Coe did a nice job of stringing that play out and keeping the gains very minimal all day. I don't understand why they didn't run Domeyer more into the teeth of the defense as he is a big powerful guy. Anstoetter continues to be the go to guy at wide receiver, complimented nicely by the TE Mitch Rahm. It would be great to see a real consistent threat develop as a #2 wide receiver, which I think could be Riley Brockway. He is getting better but still makes mistakes that younger guys make. That brings us right into the next point...Goal Line Offense.

the Goal Line Offense for Wartburg has been nothing short of completely awful this season. Yesterday, they chose to run to toss sweeps on the goal line to Domeyer. Stopped both times. This is two weeks in a row where a team who is supposed to be 6th in the nation cannot score from inside the 5 yard line (twice last week against Central). It's absolutely horrible to watch. When they did score, they used Schrader on the QB keep. Right now, unfortunately that is the #1 play call (it's scored multiple times this year). That is especially concerning when giving the ball to your 225 pound running back right up the gut isn't your top play call. As for the back to back toss sweep plays, I will never know or understand. Toss sweep is about the easiest play to string out and stop within the tight confines of the goal line area. Unless they were looking to fake the toss and roll out to a play action later on, I'm not sure why this was the go to call yesterday. The Knights need to get back to having the physical presence on the goal line and scoring with their big back on a consistent basis.

Wartburg's Special teams were okay yesterday. Coach Willis hasn't been too happy with that facet of the team this year, and Bohlke made a nice 35 yard FG with some rough cross wind. He did, however, follow that up by kicking off out of bounds right before half, a dangerous mistake with about 35 seconds on the clock.

Overall, Knights improve and although the fact that the exact same problems keep occurring week after week, there is only so much to complain about when you win. A win is a win. Coach Willis echoed these same things on the radio after the game, and there wasn't much excitement from him post game, although he loves to beat Coe College, no matter how it happens. He has very high expectations as a coach, and the fact that he can keep an undefeated team motivated and hungry to improve is one of his best characteristics.

Still, as the 6th ranked team in the nation, this game definitely should have been more than a 17 point margin of victory. Again, it is very concerning that these same issues seem to keep popping up each week, and although the Iowa Conference can be tough to play in because the teams and coaches know each other so well, the Knights need to do more and be more convincing in their victories. Otherwise, come playoff time, they are in real trouble of getting dismantled immediately by a more fundamentally sound opponent.

[WB_Knights13]

Now, I realize Wartburg's wins recently haven't been super impressive, with their best win being over Bethel...but for UW-Oshkosh to pull an upset and be ranked ahead of Wartburg still with 1 loss? That's ridiculous.

Although Wartburg's wins have seemingly been less than impressive this season, they have won, and they haven't lost a regular season game dating back to November 2, 2013. This is where the regular season D3 rankings really fall short and mean anything. There aren't a lot of voters, and there is plenty of bias. #8 is good, but to have two 1 loss teams ranked in front of that? Complete joke.

And yes, I realize that Oshkosh's loss was to Robert Morris. However, two of their wins are over Finlandia (1-5) and North Park University (1-4).

[Pat Coleman]

Wartburg ought to be happy it's not worse. It's time for 2014 results to not be considered in the 2015 ranking. Here's a relevant pair of 2015 results:

at Wartburg 35, Augsburg 27
St. Thomas 55, at Augsburg 6

Might be a case to be made that St. Thomas should be ahead of Wartburg. It's not a 2014 ranking.

I don't think you understand the lengths we go to to exactly eliminate bias among our voter panel, so to just throw that out there is pretty unfounded. We balance the panel among all four regions. The MIAC has a voter. The IIAC has a voter. So do about 20 other conferences.

I'm ignoring your gripe against Oshkosh. Pretty sure they had the best week in Division III football.