FB: American Rivers Conference

[sc_stormchaser]

Like I always say, I'm basically twice removed from SC athletics now, but I don't think it was the Offensive Coordinator's choice to leave. I watched many SC games with that offense and it was fun the first couple of years because of an excellent QB and stud WRs and opposing teams were off balance. But the past few years it has been more of a struggle...the combination of the lack of athletes and teams growing accustom to it.

Here's the new offensive coordinator's bio from Simpson's website - judging by his previous stops, I don't think he will revert back to the Jim William's "3 yards and a cloud of dust" days at SC.

Offensive Coordinator Paul Lounsberry
Paul Lounsberry is in his first season as the Storm offensive coordinator.  He comes to Simpson from four stops on the NCAA Division I-A level; Temple (2005), South Carolina (2000-04), and Central Florida (1987-99), and Florida (1985-87).  While at South Carolina, he worked for Lou Holtz and helped lead the Gamecocks to two Outback Bowl Championships.  He helped recruit Minnesota Vikings quarterback Dante Culpepper during his stint at Central Florida.  He is a 1973 cum laude graduate of Simpson, lettering in football, wrestling, and track.  He played in the 1969 Mineral Water Bowl for Simpson.

[warthog]

I for one want Spurrier to come out of his self-imposed retirement.   8) 

Rumors around Eastern Iowa tell of a new and improved U of D football team.  The leader of Spartan Nation needs to arise and lead his flock to the promised land,   

[dutchfan1]

Speaking of missing people, Warthog, where is Lance Harbor? He always sets up our pre-season Pick-em contest....if he doesn't resurface, are you guys going to crown me the winner (for the third year in a row) or do we actually need to go through the motions of picking again?

[sportsknight]

Last I knew, Lance had moved to Virginia and was selling nuclear energy and nuclear energy accessories.  I don't know if he's been taken hostage by the Iranians or South Koreans, but hopefully he does return to the board sometime soon.

[Charlie Kohawk]

Bouncing back from a knee injury earlier in the week, Fred Jackson had three carries for three yards, including a four-yard touchdown run, in Friday's 44-31 loss by the Buffalo Bills to the Cincinnati Bengals.

[Spurrier]

warty,

here's the story. . .after going 2-8 last season (which included a whipping by usa today's national champs lakeland high school on national tv) our coaching staff was released (fired). . .our head coach moved on to get another job in alabama and some assistants relocated to other schools in florida. . .we hired the defensive coordinator from valdosta . . .he made it clear he was not interested in keeping anyone from the previous staff  . . .my son plays in the program and i did not want to move him so it appeared my coaching career was over. . .that was then, this is now. . .when school began i was informed by the principal that i would be the freshmen football coach because the gentleman that had worked the team all summer had certification problems. . .so i'm back in coaching and even though it's not varsity football, i'm happy to be there. . .my son opened the season last night playing weakside linebacker in the 4-3 and lead the team in tackles as we defeated orlando boone. . .so after a personal football exile. . .my son is playing well and i am coaching again. . .life is good. . .by the way. . . du pukes . . . what was the score of the loras/ud game last year?

[Spurrier]

http://www.dbq.edu/udathletics/football///

here is the preview that warthog mentioned. . .it does sound promising

[warthog]

Spurrier:

Sounds like decent news from your house.  The Wartburg coaching staff still has a jersey set aside for LS (Little Spurrier).  We look forward to having him playing for the black and orange. 

[knightlife06]

The report out of Knights camp sounds promising.  It sounds like a three man battle at QB with the edge going to the two older guys because of knowledge of the offense.  The receiving and RB corps sounds like one of the deepest in Knights history.  The O-Line has some gelling to do but sounds like they're on the right track.
The athleticism at D-Line is there, but the playing experience is not.  The LB's sound like they're doing fine.  Young (3 sophs.), but all have playing experience.  Weber sounds like he is going to be an All-American at corner.  Still need to find one more safety but the other corner and Noble at safety look like it's going to be pretty positive.  A transfer kicker from Platteville looks to be doing well, but the other returning kickers have been better as well. 
Sounds pretty positive, but still a ways to go.

[Walston Hoover]

I have heard good things about Botembe as well. I'm excited to see him play this year.

[Pakk]

Is Wartburg headed back to mediocrity in the Iowa conferece?  They had a couple good years, but will they stay there?  I am not familiar with their new coach or the players they have coming back.  Let me know what you think of Wartburgs staying power.

My sources tell me that Coe, Central, and Luther are the favorites this year.  What does everyone else think?

[knightlife06]

I think Wartburg (at least hope) will  be better this year.  Although the experience might not be there at every position, the athleticism will be improved.  Add an excellent incoming freshmen class into the mix and I expect the Knights to be back near the top.  I would expect Coe and Central to be with them in the top three.  Luther loses Sherdon for the year, which will be a huge loss.  Lamos will be back but I'm not sure he's Sherdon's caliber.

[Confused77]

Luther is greatly improved over the last few years, but I have an issue with them being picked a favorite over a team that has not lost more than 2 or 3 games in a season for a VERY long time. Central, Wartburg, Coe should always be picked as a favorite over any team that hasn't won an IIAC title in recent memory.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I think the Luther running game if healthy should be at least in the top half of the IIAC.  They have a veteran OL with 3 guys that I really think are going to have good years (especially a healthy Stavast), and the RB situation is much better right now than the last three games of last season.  

This year will not be a return to 11-game production of Sherden over his stretch in 2004 and 2005, but we are talking about a Norse program that has averaged 175 yards per game on the ground over the last 5 years and has never averaged lower than 148 per game under Hefty.

Luther has thrown the ball more the last couple of years with the WR corps that they have, but I still expect a balanced attack if everyone is healthy.  Besides RB, the other interesting part of it for most Norse fans is how well will Sweers play at QB?  The Norse passing game has been very solid at least the last two years, but it has always been the two-headed monster rotation at QB.  

Sweers was part of the rotation last year, and although he and Rolland produced at similar levels overall, Sweers was the guy who showed the most upside and was the less experienced of the two.  He has a lot of athletic ability and size for a D-III QB, but just needed to finally play last year after breaking his arm the previous year.  How close he plays to his talent level will be an interesting thing for most Norse fans to watch.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

As I have posted before, Central, Coe and Wartburg need to be picked in the preseason ahead of Luther until things are proven otherwise on the field.  Luther has been at 6-4 for three years while the Coe and Wartburg have been more consistent over those years.

Luther has not won a league crown since 1978, and they haven't had a season of only two or three losses since the 1980s.  Any follower of the Norse should only be talking about this year's team as a potential contender, not as any sort of perceived favorite.