FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Halftime scores...
Simpson 51-20 over NWU 
Coe 20-14 over Central
Wartburg 37-0 over BVU
Loras 26-7 over Luther

[Outside the Crate]

Wartburg 65-0 over Buena Vista.  If you got on the bus you got to play today.

So, in eight games Wartburg has outscored its opponents 355-38, and Central got 28 of those 38.  Five opponents were held scoreless.  And, it's not as if those teams are incapable of scoring.  Monmouth has put up 311 points so far this season.  Stout has scored 257, Dubuque 259, Loras 288 and Central 297.

[doolittledog]

Final scores...
Simpson 74-41 over NWU
Coe 37-31 over Central
Wartburg 65-0 over BVU
Loras 40-21 over Luther

[Schipper Strong]

Congratulations to Coe on their win today. I wish I was surprised, but I have slowly, too slowly, been realizing that this is the rebuilding year I kind of expected it to be when all those 5th year players and some other seniors graduated. I had realistic expectations then of what this year might hold. Then we were ranked so high early and I heard about the amazing freshman class and decided to be hopeful. Pat was right we should not have been ranked there, given what we lost to graduation until we proved ourselves. I was concerned before Loras, but I still believe they played their best game of the year against us. Then we kind of surprisingly almost caught Wartburg. I believed again. But the wheels have been falling off ever since. Now my reality says we bear Luther and lose to UD. Disappointing season by Central's high standards.

Flip side is that I think I will have a good feeling going into next year. None of our losses thus far are by 10 points or more. We have a tremendous freshman class that has gotten a lot of experience. Hopefully we can settle on a starting QB who won't throw 4 interceptions. Today we were our own worst enemy. The future looks bright this week and next year.

Would like to see Wartburg make a run, but the Central victory isn't that impressive anymore.

[doolittledog]

Most teams will have a number of close games during a season. Veteran teams find a way to pull out a victory in those. Young teams will often fall short in those types of games. If those young teams stick together they can watch those close defeats later turn into wins.  That is Central this year.

Wartburg really looks like the real deal this year. Crossing my fingers for a deep run from them in the playoffs.

Anxious to see UD back on the field next week at Loras. Should be a fun game.  Keep that win streak going!

Dang, Simpson put a thumping on NWU. 74 points, 51 at the half. The Storm scored on 8 of 9 drives in the first half and the one they didn't score on they missed a 36 yard FG attempt.

[Outside the Crate]

Our local HyVee is offering cents off gas to match the number of points put on the scoreboard by Wartburg.  Yes, one has to buy $ 50 worth of groceries on Tuesday after the game, but that's not tough.  So, last week, when I filled up I got 65 cents a gallon off and now 65 again.  Twenty gallons equals $ 13 savings.  I'm thinking they probably didn't expect the offense to be this successful...

[Old Dutch]

Finally got myself to a game in person this year.  Wishing I hadn't, but hey, they piled up some passing yards and stayed within one score.  I've seen several of the games on my iPad so I'll put my two cents worth.  To start, senior leadership is hard to replace.  What we had last year besides a once in a lifetime QB is a bunch of guys who set great examples for each other and committed themselves to the cause.  Yup, I've heard the rumors of some great class coming in, I'll believe it when I see at.  Right now I've seen a couple loses that were a bit sloppy and mistake laden.  Youth will bring that out, Coach will get it fixed.  Schip would not be happy about those penalties and turnovers!

If you hang around old coaches enough you'll hear the adage, "If you have two QBs, you don't have a QB". Someone has to break out from that three headed situation,  they all seem qualified enough, I wish they were a little more mobile.  Maybe that gives Glover a boost next fall, I wouldn't know, but I'm sure that once again Coach will get that figured out.

I'm more concerned about the the ground game, both the Dutch and the opponents'.  Too little of it for the Dutch and too much from the other side.  Loras, Wartburg, and Coe had an off-tackle game that was far too successful.  65 yards for the Dutch and 160 yards for the other guys is weak. 

Looking ahead, I'll bet we get two more W's and Warty will be good enough to get at least one win in the playoffs.  They've only given up 38 points, 28 of them against the Dutch, they're for real.

Go Dutch!

[Outside the Crate]

I gotta say I was shocked that Coe beat the Dutch.  (Disappointed, too, for obvious reasons.)  Having said that, I thought Central looked pretty impressive this year.  Hey, compare the Dutch with everyone else!  You can't expect to win all the marbles every year!  Well, maybe you can; but you probably shouldn't!  Great college, fine team, probably be 2nd or 3rd...and you can buy great pastry just down the street.  Life is good!

[Schipper Strong]

New defensive coordinator for the Dutch this year. Wish we had been able to get Baethke to come back to Central. Obviously he is doing a great job for Coe. He is a young guy, don't recall how much e he has. No loss by more than 7 means we were in all the games. Most of them we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers. Young teams can fix those things, which is why the future looks really bright for Central. Hope these kids realize that and stick it out. I actually thought we had a really good QB in Ketchum. Yes he got sacked a lot against Lora's, but doesn't the o-line bear some responsibility there? The coaches must see something in practice that I sm not consistently seeing in games. To me Ketchum was much better at spreading the passes around. Against Simpson nearly all of the passes went to Mont. He is a great receiver, but easier to defend primarily one guy. It was better against Coe, but too many interceptions.

Senior leadership is key and we did have a ton of it last year. Those guys worked hard in the off season. I appreciate the guys that came back for their missed 2020 season. I'm sure they knew it would be a challenge. Maybe some of this year's seniors will want to finish with a better season and another shot at the playoffs. For the QBs, put in the work and win the starter position permanently. You all have the skills. Make it yours. Finish strong! UD will be a challenge, but clean up the mistakes and you can show me the error of my ways. I detest picking against the Dutch!!!

[doolittledog]

Standings...

Wartburg  6-0  8-0
Dubuque  5-1  5-3  I put Dubuque ahead of Coe because UD won the head-to-head
Coe........ 5-1  6-2
Loras...... 5-2  5-4
Central.... 3-3  5-3
BVU........ 2-5 3-6
Luther..... 1-5  1-7
Simpson.. 1-5  1-7
NWU....... 0-6  1-7

This weeks games...

Simpson @ Wartburg  1pm
Coe @ NWU  1pm
Dubuque @ Loras  1pm
Luther @ Central  1pm
BVU bye week

[doolittledog]

There was some discussion of veteran rosters and young rosters.  Thought I would look up UD.  Fans of other schools let me know how things stack up.

For the Luther game, UD started a fairly young team. 
3 - Seniors
7 - Juniors
10 - Sophomores
2  - Freshmen

2 weeks earlier against Simpson the 2-deeps were

Offense
1 Senior starter
2 Junior starters, 2 Juniors 2nd team
7 Sophomore starters, 7 Sophomores 2nd team
1 Freshman starter, 2 Freshman 2nd team

Defense
2 Senior starters
6 Junior starters, 3 Junior 2nd team
3 Sophomore starters, 8 Sophomores 2nd team

That's a fairly young team for UD.  I'm hopeful these guys can stick around through their senior seasons to see how things play out.  Lots of potential there. 

[Kohawk Nation]

There was some discussion of veteran rosters and young rosters.  Thought I would look up UD.  Fans of other schools let me know how things stack up.

For the Luther game, UD started a fairly young team. 
3 - Seniors
7 - Juniors
10 - Sophomores
2  - Freshmen

2 weeks earlier against Simpson the 2-deeps were

Offense
1 Senior starter
2 Junior starters, 2 Juniors 2nd team
7 Sophomore starters, 7 Sophomores 2nd team
1 Freshman starter, 2 Freshman 2nd team

Defense
2 Senior starters
6 Junior starters, 3 Junior 2nd team
3 Sophomore starters, 8 Sophomores 2nd team

That's a fairly young team for UD.  I'm hopeful these guys can stick around through their senior seasons to see how things play out.  Lots of potential there. 

To piggyback on that doolittledog, I noticed Wartburg has 11 5th year players noted on their roster and some other teams like Coe and UD have 0 noted.  Is that accurate or do not all teams signify whether a player is a 5th year on their roster?

[MediaGuy]

There was some discussion of veteran rosters and young rosters.  Thought I would look up UD.  Fans of other schools let me know how things stack up.

For the Luther game, UD started a fairly young team. 
3 - Seniors
7 - Juniors
10 - Sophomores
2  - Freshmen

2 weeks earlier against Simpson the 2-deeps were

Offense
1 Senior starter
2 Junior starters, 2 Juniors 2nd team
7 Sophomore starters, 7 Sophomores 2nd team
1 Freshman starter, 2 Freshman 2nd team

Defense
2 Senior starters
6 Junior starters, 3 Junior 2nd team
3 Sophomore starters, 8 Sophomores 2nd team

That's a fairly young team for UD.  I'm hopeful these guys can stick around through their senior seasons to see how things play out.  Lots of potential there. 

To piggyback on that doolittledog, I noticed Wartburg has 11 5th year players noted on their roster and some other teams like Coe and UD have 0 noted.  Is that accurate or do not all teams signify whether a player is a 5th year on their roster?

I know this is the first year Wartburg has noted 5th year seniors.  In past years, we usually have 1-3 players with the option of a 5th year (mostly due to an injury red shirt year) who will walk with their senior class on senior day, then come back and play another year, and just be called seniors 2 years in a row. Mostly those players make their desicion to return after their 4th football season and need to change their class schedule to accommodate that in the spring.  COVID has changed that because almost all of our 5th year players this year and for a few years to come have planned it into their class schedules.  So that may be the reason Wartburg is now calling 5th year players differently on the roster. But other schools may still just be calling players a senior for 2 consecutive years.

[Outside the Crate]

81-9...Wartburg over Simpson.  Embarrassing.  Well, Simpson's women's soccer team beat Wartburg in overtime.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque wins in OT 27-20 at the Rock Bowl. Whew! That was a close one.