FB: American Rivers Conference

[footballdaddy]

Schurring and Suckow would have to be the top two.As far as 3-5 it would depend on who's returning.I know a lot of good back graduated last year.

[DoubleOT]

Schurring and Suckow will definitly have good seasons, but I think Hardman from Cornell is going to have a good season. Dillon loves the WingT offense, which has a lot of running and passes in the flats. Cornell is bringing back all 5 starters on the line, although with new recruits a couple may be out of jobs, but the left side of the line will be solid (Eaglin, Wellman), while the right side returns Pilger who was arguably the best Olineman on the team last year.

Not to mention this will be the 2nd year with this play book, and the WingT is hard to learn in one year, so this next year the Rams should be able to mix the plays up more. Hardman was also 2nd Team All Iowa Conference last year.

[Ash Park]

I was also going to throw Hardman into the top 5.  I believe Loras has a good back as well but I forget his name. Is Sherden back at Luther? If so he should be in the top 5. So not all necessarily in this order but I would go 1. Schurring 2. Hardman 3. Suckow 4. Sherden(if he is back) 5. Loras back

[dutchfan1]

Going back to the "are Cornell and Coe good for the conference" topic -- hell yes they are. I would take Coe and Cornell almost any day over the two schools that dropped out at the same time -- Upper Iowa and William Penn. it would be nice if Cornell were more competitive, though....

[dutchfan1]

IIAC experts, I have a kid that is considering playing in the IIAC. He's a late bloomer which means not on the broard/list for D1 programs and will have to compete with JC players at the end of his senior season. He's a versatile player, can play RB, TE, Rec, FB and QB, any offensive skilled position. He has experience and success in each position. He would like to focus on the education first with a good opportunity to play football.

Which IIAC school(s) offer the best opportunity to break into the line up and play during his freshman or maybe his sophomore year and why?

Looks like all have good educational opportunities. Looks like this conference has talent based on the post, who has the best opportunities to play football.

OK, I'm jumping in on this late (I know) but I wanted to add a little about Central. If your son is looking to be a Natural Science major, seriously consider coming to Pella to check out the campus. A link to the natural science website: http://www.central.edu/academics/majors/naturalScience.html  We have just completed a $20M renovation and expansion of our science center. Its technology is very state of the art.

At Central, he would have the opportunity to travel abroad with his major, in one of our 9 overseas programs.

...Oh, and he would have the privilege of playing for one of the countries most storied football programs, where tradition of excellence is a way of life. He'll be competing annually for the conference championship, and very likely will go on to the playoffs at some point during his tenure. Central can boast 28 Iowa Conference titles, 18 NCAA playoff berths, and no losing seasons since 1960 -- no other school in Iowa comes close to this.

Just some food for thought.

[coco]

Hey, new blood on the IIAC board, but the ranking of the SCAIC above the NWC made me chuckle.

Coe and Cornell do seem to be good additions to your conference. You folks were still making fun of William Penn even after they were gone.

Dutchy, how have you been?

And where's my pal Warthog?

[knightlife06]

No way is Hardman better than Suckow.  Schuring, Sherden, Suckow, Loras back, Van Rees.  

[dutchfan1]

Hey, new blood on the IIAC board, but the ranking of the SCAIC above the NWC made me chuckle.

Coe and Cornell do seem to be good additions to your conference. You folks were still making fun of William Penn even after they were gone.

Dutchy, how have you been?

And where's my pal Warthog?

10 years later, and we are (OK, I am) still making fun of Wm. Penn. They just give us so much to work with.... 

Coco, the new job has kept me very BUSY!! How are things in Oregon? Can we expect Linfield to return to their perch at the top of the NWC conference again?

[DutchFan2004]

I think that my point was made about strength of conferences as a whole in the rankings you have. 

IIAC 12th and I believe it said teams beat on each other to much to produce a good playoff run. 

Does that not speak to the strength of the conference?  I would agree that the IIAC has not produced many wins in the tourney as of late, but then couldn't the line for the CCIW be used for the IIAC too?  If they didn't compete against the WIAC they may win more games.  Or the MIAC? 


I still go back to the question of ranking the conferences?  How do we rank them.  The OAC has Mount Union and Capital.  The words used is that there is a powerful top 1/2 but the bottom has not won in 26 games (Heidelberg).

So the question still is a valid one IMHO.  How do you rank the conferences top to bottom or by who is on top and how far they go.  It seems that we are talking apples and oranges here.  I think MHO is that the IIAC as a conference top to bottom is 2-3 behind the WIAC and maybe the MIAC but top to bottom is better than the NWC.  If you want to look at the top team or two only 4 is probably the number. 

[Ash Park]

Knightlife I never said anyone was better than anyone I just listed my top 5 backs and I said not in this order. Is van rees the kid that rotated with hammes a little bit last year? If he is back obviously he is right up there but Hardman is a top 5 back in my opinion. He was a 2nd team all-conference in a new offense and a offense that really doesn't fit his running style. He is a zone back.

[DutchFan2004]

Top 5 backs not listed in any order.  I am assuming you mean who will be the top rushers.  If you mean talent alone then the list is all different. 

Schuring, Sherdin (spelling) from Luther, MCCarren (spelling) from Loras, and whoever will out produce the others.  With Suchow going to Wartburg now I am not listing Suchow or Van Rees because the question will be who runs the ball more.  Will they split the carries equally?  This may hurt the stats.  I think Hardman from Cornell could be in the mix but, a big leap for Cornell to be a rushing leader in the IIAC.  I think Wartburg will have a top rushing attack in the conference but don't know who to give the credit to there.

[NewEra]

just throwing my hat in the ring so to speak on the rushing leader talk...sorry for any misspelling, but you'll get the idea...
1. Schurring
2. Sherdan
3. Hardman
4. McCarron
5. Van Rees

I'd have put a Wartburg back up at the 2 or 3 but its unclear who is getting carries...talent wise they both are up there, although i have my doubts that suckow is an every down back..extremely talented football player but i think he's more of a game breaker at receiver.  By the way, no one talks about the Dubuque running back, Clayton i think is the name. he's a scat back that can rack up yards in a hurry in that offense.  Anyone know if he is still at dubuque?

[edolee]

Hello all,

  I graduated from Wartburg in 1981, and moved to Oregon that summer.  Have always followed the Wart since, and had a great time on their two recent visits to the Northwest, especially visit #2 when they gave Linfield quite a scare...

  Anyway, with regard to conference strength, I think you have to understand the demographics and numbers of Division III schools are quite a bit different out here than they are in the Midwest.

For example...

Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois combined have about 42 NCAA Division III football programs.

California, Oregon, and Washington have 15. 

A more focused comparison, Oregon and Washington have 6 programs and Iowa has 10.  Iowa has about 1/2 million less people than Oregon alone...  Imagine the Iowa schools could recruit all of Iowa and Minnesota and the effect that would have on the talent for these programs.  Also, at the time Wartburg and Central played their playoff games vs. Linfield and PLU, routine redshirting was allowed in the NWC. 

They play good football out here in high school, so the numbers are stacked against the IIAC relative to the NWC.

Thought that might put some of the recent playoff performances in perspective.

Ed

[Pat Coleman]

Welcome aboard. I don't think anyone is surprised by those statistics, though. I think it's relatively well known that there aren't many people in the state of Iowa.

However, don't forget the Division II and NAIA schools.

[CollegeFootballFan]

Let's keep the polls going, we can call it the preseason peoples poll

Let's get the predictions on record to discuss at the end of the season

Preseason Poll – Top 5 Quarterbacks in IIAC

Who will be the top 5 quarterbacks in the IIAC based on passing/rushing  yardage and passing efficieny in the conference games? Please give names, college and explanation why.