FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchHawk]

The rankings are interesting, with 4 out of the top 10 from the west looks to be stacked again. Id say Central and Wartburg are fairly ranked by D3 who obviously knows what they are talking about when compared witht he other publications! Im not shocked Coe isnt receiving votes because of their oline, thats where it all starts but they wont surprise me this season.

[coco]

Happy Birthday, Dutchfan1!

[sportsknight]

sportknight: coe was beat at dbq not at home, and it is only an indicator that it is homecoming.

1.  I stand corrected.

2.  I think I already said that.

[DutchFan2004]

Welcome to you new posters.  Look forward to your posts. 

[DutchFan2004]

New era,

I think its way to early to predict the all conference team members.  Injuries play a huge part in that.  I'd say the best is to look at last years returning members and say that they have the favorite status till the games are played.  Tekippe from Coe, now that he is healthy will be in the mix if he doesn't have to share time with Demoulin.  If they share time it will be hard to accumulate stats is my point there.  Schuring and Suchow will be there for RB as will Luther's Sherdan (spelling).  Jackson will give someone at QB a run being that he has been second team the last two years.  The rest of the honors are really anyones guess. 

[doolittledog]

I noticed that www.iowaconference.com now has the 2007 football schedule posted.  Interestingly the Cornell @ Simpson game shows as the only night game on the schedule with that game starting at 6pm. 

With most of schools installing lighting at their fields I am suprised we aren't seeing a few more night games scheduled.  Does anybody out there know if there are reasons for this? 

[dutchfan1]

Happy Birthday, Dutchfan1!

Thanks, coco!!

How do things look in the Pac NW? Will Linfield be returning to dominance this season?

[footballdaddy]

With most of schools installing lighting at their fields I am suprised we aren't seeing a few more night games scheduled.  Does anybody out there know if there are reasons for this?

I've wondered the same thing.Especially duing the early season it would be cooler and better for ther players to play at night.I do suppose it could affect travel if games don't get over until 9:00- 10:00pm.

[Walston Hoover]

I think night games are a great idea especially on days where Iowa and ISU have 11-1:30 starts. Even a 4:00 Start would be good and I think teams could get home at respectable times. I know as a player I hated night games. That is one LOOOOOONG Saturday waiting for a 7:00 kickoff.
As for predictions-Call me biased, but I think Wartburg is the team to beat. I think with some nice additions the passing game will be shored up and pretty much all the sophomores and juniors are back from last year. Hammes is pretty much all that is lost, and I don't want to downplay his achievments at all, but the OL should be better this year with a lot back and I think pretty much the entire defense is back. 12 sophs started the last game of '06 and I know they still have a bad taste in their mouths.
Central will be good as well but there's not much back on the OL. Their defense is always tough but with the game in Waverly this year, My prediction is the Knights take home the title.
Coe will not be in the hunt. I say 5, 6 wins tops. Suckow won't do much, if anything for Coe and last year's huge step back for them has everyone wondering if their 3 year run of decent seasons was something that will now be referred to as the "good 'ol days"
Surprise of the year is Simpson. I don't know what they have back for defense but I think Offensively they will do some nice things. This team won't be as successful as '03, but it will be similar in the fact that the offense will carry the team.
With Sherdan back, Luther could play spoiler, but previous years of me over-ranking them have taught be not to think to highly of them. Luther could have one of their best teams in a while but will have 3 conf losses to Wartburg, Central, and Simpson.
Loras?? Good question, 5-5 seems like a good place to have them.
Dubuque will get a couple W's and be in all their games, but not over .500.
Cornell?? Good Luck
Oh, I forgot about BV-Rough year by the Lake. Good thing for Cornell and Coe.
So, my standings for the year.
Wartburg
Central
Simpson (surprise 1)
Luther
Dubuque finishes ahead of
Loras
BV
Coe (surprise 2)
Cornell.
Rough year in Linn County.

[DutchHawk]

Central lost 3 starters but thats not counting an Olineman whos a junior with 2 years of varsity experience already so really they bring back more than it looks like. Im not worried about the Dutch, it will be nearly impossible to score on them this year...they return all but 2 if im not mistaken to a defense that gave up 9.9 per game last year in the conference. This doesnt include a 2 time Conference MVP coming back as well as a QB with 2 years starting experience, thats invaluable in the IIAC. I think regardless of where the game is Central is the team to beat until beaten, I predict a game like 05 in Waverly:) I dont know enough about Simpson to pick them 3rd but they were young last year.

[Walston Hoover]

If I witness another game like '05 I will probably throw up. I can handle getting beat, and have no doubt Central probably wins that game, but Wartburg did absolutely nothing right that day to help their cause.
For reasons that won't be stated right now on this board. I think Wartburg rolls through the conference this year.

[DutchFan2004]

Walston,

Confidence is good.  I hope that even Cornell has the same level as you right now.  We all should.  I do think that it will come down to November 10th in Waverly.  The one thing that I still don't know about is how Wartburg lost it to Dubuque last year.  In your humble opinion do you think that could happen to the Knights again.  Not Dubuque necessarily but another team sneek up on them.  There was much on the line for the Knights last year.  I think the Knights would have gotten the nod over the Johnnies had they taken care of business.  The reason I say this is that the Knights played the Dutch lights out in Pella, the Dutch handle UD in Pella, and then the Knights get beat in Waverly with a playoff berth on the line.  Will that make them hungry or are they vulnerable to mental lapses?  Just wanting your take. 

[knightlife06]

The smell of college football is in the air.  With the start of the D1 and D2 camps this coming week, who can't be excited.  With the anticipation, here are my bold predictions for 07.
Wartburg goes 10-0 in the regular season with close battles with BV and Central.  A couple nice additions to the Knight O will remind the Wartburg faithful of the 03 scoring spree that was the Knight offense.  And with the majority of the defense returning from last year's squad I think the Knights will run the table in the IIAC, but not without battles from.....
Central, obviously.  Yes the Dutch have a lot of players returning, and it will come down to the Nov 10th game in Waverly.  But the mess that happend in 05 will not happen this time.
BV- I have no idea why I picked this team 3rd,  But I believe they had a good defense last year and defenses always make the difference.
Luther- Sherdan's return will spark the team to a decent record this season, I'm looking at the top of the middle tier.
Loras- They may be better than what I am predicting here.  Not sure what they've got back except some solid RB's.
Coe- I think their run near the top of the conference is over, and Raeburn (sp?) will start looking for a better job.
Simpson- later Nieman
Dubuque- The momentum they had to end 06 will carry into 07 but not last throughout.
Cornell- not this year, but I do like your videos you guys posted on youtube.

I guess we'll have to see, but I'm excited. Go Knights!

[Walston Hoover]

'04-I'm not usually this confident, but the Knights were so young last year and had 1 mental lapse in the game against UD and UD took full advantage of it. I think that game was very much a learning experience for a young coaching staff and a young team about how they can't take anyone lightly. I don't see that happening this year. The holes Wartburg had last year will be filled and I think team speed will improve greatly. The Knights didn't play lights out in Pella, they played well enough to have a chance to win, but the offense was anemic and changes have been made and I don't think you'll see a performance like that out of the O for quite some time.
Like I said before-12 starters were sophs last year and I believe there are 20 starters returning. If we had 2 wins last year, I wouldn't think much of that, but we're talking about a team that was 8-2.
I don't think you'll be able to look at a single position across the 2 deep and not say Wartburg is better than they were last year with the exception  of RB, but Hammes was injured so often that when he was in it was just a bonus.

[doolittledog]

Speaking of youtube, what a great recruiting tool that could be for D-III teams with limited recruiting budgets.  It wouldn't take much at all to give game film to work study students and have them put clips together and post it up on youtube.  I'm surprised all the teams haven't done that yet. 

As far as last years Wartburg/Dubuque game I think it was a case of Wartburg was young, had some injuries, and was also a case of a young coaching staff saying to themselves "we're a running team and thats what we'll do against a not very good Dubuque team.  Then Dubuque's defensive game plan was to stop the run and not even worry about the Wartburg passing game and they were able to stop them.