FB: American Rivers Conference

[vinnysboy]

Spurrier did you get to listen to the UD game

[Spurrier]

vinny's

i did not-

[Pakk]

Wartburg,,, Ouch!  Is Jeff Qierry back playing for Miliken?  What happened?  The rest of the Iowa conference teams looked to have played well.

[sc_stormchaser]

Dave- Drake lost two games last year. Illinois State and UW-Platteville. UW-P finished 3-4 in the WIAC. I agree...top-tier DIII teams would be competitive in the Pioneer League.

I didn't play under Niemann, but I knew some guys that were still there when he started. They said it took him some time to adjust to the strength and speed of his players compared to UNI.

[Oldknight65]

What is going on in Waverly? Perhaps Willis took on too much when he accepted the AD position. From the sounds of it he didn't have the Knights ready on Saturday.

[Walston Hoover]

I think it was more the offense that wasn't ready(Willis handles the Defense). Very few if any first downs in the first half and gave Millikin the ball twice inside our 30. We were out-athleted at several positions.
In particular-Their corners on our recievers and their recievers on our corners.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

The sky is not falling for Wartburg but they have some things to address if they want to win the league.

This game was not the first in which the Wartburg passing attack struggled.  It seemed like Wartburg was pretty one-dimensional at times on offense down the stretch last season.  They could get away with it by dominating on the ground in some games, but the Luther, Central, Loras, Simpson, B.V., and Concordia games were offensive struggles.

Wartburg has a lot of talent all over the roster, but it seems like the pass catchers has been the biggest issue both last season and this season.  Chris Winter was a good player, but now someone has to step up and replace him.  They did not have a complimentary WR last season, and the TE position is young this year.

Not having the starting RB last week would hurt any team, but the WR and TE positions are still big question marks going into week 2.  Wartburg should still have a great running attack, but many teams like Coe, Luther, and Central are going to gang up to stop the run and make Wartburg beat them through the air.

Great win by Central over Augustana!  Maybe the Dutch aren't dead quite yet.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Things that I want to see this week:

1.  Can Central, Coe, and Luther beat solid MIAC programs to help the standing of the IIAC?  Luther should be looking for revenge after blowing such a huge lead last year, but both teams return a lot of players.  Central should really be taken seriously if they can beat Bethel to move to 2-0.  Coe also is looking for revenge this week.

2.  Can Wartburg find a consistent passing attack?  I posted above how the offense had some issues at times last season, and there is no doubt that Wartburg hasn't clicked on offense on a consistent basis since 2003.  A great defense and running game may be enough to compete for the title, but it won't if they made the playoffs.

3.  Can Luther play defense at the level that they have for the most part over the last few years?  The Norse Offense looks better each year as long as they are healthy, but the defense needs to be more consistent this week against the Oles.  They still should be a good unit, but this is the first year under Coach Hefty that the offense clearly looks more loaded on paper than the defense. 

4.  How will Coe replace their QB going into conference play?  I am not sure what we can learn about the team after the blowout win in week 1.  We should know more this week.

[The Show]

Looks like BV was able to give Bethel a run for their money, but weren't able to hang on.  I wasn't able to make the game due to a bachelor party  but by looking at the box score, it looks like BV's soph. QB (Hawkins) is pretty promising.  He had a pair of WR's go over 100 yds as well, so I don't think BV's concern is offense.  The defense is very young and nearly graduated everyone from last year, but the Beavers still held the lead going into the 4th quarter.  They gave up a couple big plays that ultimately did them in, but I think if they continue to focus on stopping the run first they'll make plenty of noise during the IIAC schedule.

The benefit that BV will have by scheduling a good non-conference team for their first game is that they can now see where they need to improve and make adjustments.  Something you can't do if you go out and win 63-0 over some high school level competition.

[Lance Harbor]

Guys - First off, I wanted to throw out some props to JSPC, West Des Moines Dowling, Linn-Mar and Carlisle for putting up some nice victories in Week 1 of the High School Football season.  Those schools should feel very fortunate to have some great, young assistants with IIAC ties.

CooCoo Kohawk - Was TiKeppe a former Wartburg player?

Floyd in IC - Your comments about Wartburg being one-dimensional on offense are right on the mark.  Finesse in the downfield passing game is something that really carried them to new heights in '03.  They've lacked it since then.  And you're right about losing Winter.  I think he accounted for over half of the Knights receptions last year.  Time for some people to step up.

I'm not ready to give up just yet.  A lot of things played into Wartburg getting pounded (many of them already mentioned by Walston).  More than anything, I think it's safe to say that they just weren't ready to go.  I think they will be this week. 

I know Augsburg will be.

Best of luck to all other IIAC teams.

[vinnysboy]

Jman

Luther beatig MLC isn't all that impressive I played against MLC for 4 years and coached against them for 2 in conference play. They shouldn't be able to play with IIAC teams

[Walston Hoover]

What a weekend this will be.
We'll get things kicked off Thursday when the Dowling Freshmen travel to Valley stadium to take on the Tigers. The action continues Friday at 5 when the sophomores take the field. By the end of that game there'll be over 10,000 people on hand to witness the Varsity game.
Saturday Notre Dame and Michigan kick off at 11, the Cyclones start their pounding of the Hawks at 2:30 , and the Knights and Auggies under the lights at 7.
On top of that, the NFL starts Sunday. Could this weekend be any better?
I guess it could be with Victories.

[sportsknight]

WH,

Don't forget to mention the CF Tigers home opener at Dome Sweet Dome .  Good luck to you guys though.

As far as the Wartburg passing game went on Saturday, a lot of credit has to go to the Millikin DBs, first and foremost.  That being said, though, Wartburg was without two of their top three receivers for all but about 10-15 plays.  Jay Breitbach didn't dress for the game, and Brandon Vinzant (probably the most capable of getting past the man press) only played 10-15 downs.  So that basically left the Knights with a pair of sophomores in there, one of those playing in his first college game.

In talking with the Knights players and coaches this week, they have put Millikin in the rearview and are focused on Augsburg for right now.  They realize that a game like the one in Decatur will not do them any good, but they also know that September 17 is when the real season begins.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther did what an IIAC team is supposed to do which is beat Martin Luther soundly.  The Norse Defense looked like they played better against the Martin Luther last season, but the Norse Offense was much better and more balanced this season.

The scores for both years were blowouts, but the Norse did not have a running game for the first part of last season.  The lack of a running game really hurt them against St. Olaf last year.  Let's see what happens this year.

Looking forward to the bigger IIAC games and the Hawk game this weekend!

[WartTrainer]

From what i heard the offense was suprised by the defense that Milikin came out it in.  It was different from a year ago with hardly any zone blitz which they saw a lot last year.  I would also like to point out that in the preseason pick em i said that the Knights would only lose one game and that would be to Milikin.  So with that loss out of the way the Knights can win out the rest of the year and get the auto into the play-offs. 

Lance-- TeKippe use to play for the Knights.  He came in with Reed and that group of QB's. 

Walston -- Good Luck this weekend.