FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

I learned a few things from listening to the webcast of the Dubuque/Loras game for the second time this morning at work.  

1.  Travis Strowbridge figured out he wore an afro during the Wartburg and Central games this season and had braids for all the other games.  So he is now promising to always wear braids for games.  

2.  The UD radio announcer is clearly a Loras fan and you could just feel his heart breaking having to announce Dubuque winning the game.  

3.  I didn't look up who has been starting most of the season.  But as far as UD starters for the Loras game.  The offense had 6 seniors and 5 juniors starting.  The defense had 6 seniors, 3 juniors and 2 sophmores starting.  Special teams, the punter is a sophmore and the kicker is a freshman.  

[Thunderbolt]

Because all the teams are part of the UW system, transfers are more common. With no D-2 schools in the state, its not totally uncommon to see D-1 recruits wind up in D-3. I guess that happens everywhere.

Not only are they part of the UW system, but the sticker shock (financial cost) from being a D-I scholly athlete or walk-on to a D-III athlete is not as steep in the WIAC as it would be in the IIAC or MIAC. 

Aren't the Wisconsin state schools cheaper than the Iowa or Minnesota state schools?

I'm not sure on exact numbers Floyd, but your probably right. They are publicly supported. I think Wisconsin and Minnesota have a resiprocity agreement that eliminates the out of state fees. If I were to guess, I would say five thousand a year cheaper.

[youcantseeme]

Man, I go out of state for 4 days without internet access and I come back with 25 pages to read.  Nice job fellas!!

I wanted to edit my last post where I said that Sherdan had 161 yards.  My mistake.  He actually had 132 on 40 carries.  Memo to Hefty: Lamos is pretty good, mix in a little diversity bud. 

I definately want to be in the loop as far as an IIAC Board All-Conference team.  Sign me up!!!

PHeys:  I got news for you......smack talk is rarely heard when it is coming from the back of the bus bud.  But hey, you can always say that you "should have been heard" had you got a couple of breaks. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

......thoughts on recruiting and Dubuque's 23 seniors:

The Dubuque athletic department should be congratualed for having 23 seniors on the roster.  Most IIAC teams recruit about 30 to 40 freshman (with the exception of Wartburg), and to have 23 on the roster as seniors is a tribute to a focus on the student/athlete that D3 is supposed to be all about.

Wartburg, rumor has it, recruited 70-80 first year football players this fall and have  9 seniors on the current traveling squad.  I don't know how many were recruited 4 years ago....but is it a trend?

How many who are recruited as first year students remain as seniors.  That tells something about a D3 program in my opinion.

If by most schools having 30-40 freshmen, you mean all schools not in the top 3 right now, then you would be accurate.
I checked the "Big Dogs" and St John's has 66 frosh and Mt Union has 85.
Both have about a third that as seniors.
School Fr/Sr
Wartburg 72/10
Central 57/19
UD 51/21

Then for the rest, a couple #s that stood out was Luther and BV having more Srs than Freshmen??
That can't be good for the future. Didn't count Loras but No one else had over 40 frosh.

Luther has 29 seniors and many of them are key players (LT, RG, RT, WR, RB, FB, 2 LBs, 3 DBs among others).  One of them is planning on coming back for a 5th year next year from what I heard.

The Norse seem like they have been bringing in around 40 newcomers most seasons under Coach Hefty.  They brought in 33 this year and 29 are freshmen.  So while the newcomer total is a little lower this year than the past few years, the chances that the Luther will have more seniors in three years than Wartburg is still pretty good.

[youcantseeme]

I actually think a lot of the Jackson and Coach B talk for honors is Hi-larious.  Now let me me preface my next coments with this, Jackson is an outstanding athlete and Coach B has done a heck of a job turning things around.  

BUT, this is a one-horse race as far as MVP goes.  Connell it is.  Look no further than the head-to-head match-up.  Connell made big plays to win that game and Jackson did all he could to give the game up.  Something he also did against the Kohawks by throwing 2 terrible INTs in the 4th quarter.  If not for Coe giving him the ball at the Coe 6, people are asking questions about his ability to lead a team to a W.  In contrast, Connell made big throws, scrambles and decisions to win games against both Coe and UD in games that I have seen and there is no cooler QB in this conference in the face of pressure.

If Central goes undefeated and McMartin doesn't win the COY, there should be an investigation.  If Coach B would spend more time on the sidelines and not on the field complaining he might be more inclined to make key adjustments in big games.  I love his fire but it gets in the way of his game management sometimes IMO.

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Man, I go out of state for 4 days without internet access and I come back with 25 pages to read.  Nice job fellas!!

I wanted to edit my last post where I said that Sherdan had 161 yards.  My mistake.  He actually had 132 on 40 carries.  Memo to Hefty: Lamos is pretty good, mix in a little diversity bud.   

I am always amazed when the initial game stats get messed up that much.  His reported rushing numbers dropped 29 yards from what was reported on Saturday.

Hopefully Sherden and Lamos get to combine for another 44 carries against the Storm, but perhaps slightly mixing up the percentage of carries might not be a bad thing.  At the very least defenses are overplaying the edge many weeks making sure that outside runs and runs that get bounced outside by Tyler are getting defended.  Lamos has been able to mix it up by running tough between the tackles.  

[DutchHawk]

I actually think a lot of the Jackson and Coach B talk for honors is Hi-larious.  Now let me me preface my next coments with this, Jackson is an outstanding athlete and Coach B has done a heck of a job turning things around. 

BUT, this is a one-horse race as far as MVP goes.  Connell it is.  Look no further than the head-to-head match-up.  Connell made big plays to win that game and Jackson did all he could to give the game up.  Something he also did against the Kohawks by throwing 2 terrible INTs in the 4th quarter.  If not for Coe giving him the ball at the Coe 6, people are asking questions about his ability to lead a team to a W.  In contrast, Connell made big throws, scrambles and decisions to win games against both Coe and UD in games that I have seen and there is no cooler QB in this conference in the face of pressure.

If Central goes undefeated and McMartin doesn't win the COY, there should be an investigation.  If Coach B would spend more time on the sidelines and not on the field complaining he might be more inclined to make key adjustments in big games.  I love his fire but it gets in the way of his game management sometimes IMO.

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

I tend to agree with this analysis. Red sunglasses aside..the MVP should be the one who leads his team to huge victories. As for Coach B he does need to stay on the sideline and coach his players more. Discipline would have a huge impact in Dubuque.

[knightlife06]

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

This is hilarious.  Has Suckow played any defense this year?  I don't think so.  Breitbach can not be mentioned in the same sentence as Weber yet. 

[doolittledog]

I actually think a lot of the Jackson and Coach B talk for honors is Hi-larious.  Now let me me preface my next coments with this, Jackson is an outstanding athlete and Coach B has done a heck of a job turning things around. 

BUT, this is a one-horse race as far as MVP goes.  Connell it is.  Look no further than the head-to-head match-up.  Connell made big plays to win that game and Jackson did all he could to give the game up.  Something he also did against the Kohawks by throwing 2 terrible INTs in the 4th quarter.  If not for Coe giving him the ball at the Coe 6, people are asking questions about his ability to lead a team to a W.  In contrast, Connell made big throws, scrambles and decisions to win games against both Coe and UD in games that I have seen and there is no cooler QB in this conference in the face of pressure.

If Central goes undefeated and McMartin doesn't win the COY, there should be an investigation.  If Coach B would spend more time on the sidelines and not on the field complaining he might be more inclined to make key adjustments in big games.  I love his fire but it gets in the way of his game management sometimes IMO.

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

I tend to agree with this analysis. Red sunglasses aside..the MVP should be the one who leads his team to huge victories. As for Coach B he does need to stay on the sideline and coach his players more. Discipline would have a huge impact in Dubuque.

I knew that was coming

There is a good argument that winning gets you the MVP and obviously Connell would lead that category.  To say it would be criminal for him to not get it might be a little over the top though.  

Others like to argue it's a pure stat thing.  If you look at Jackson vs. Connell head-to-head this year you had each QB throwing for 3 td's and rushing for 1.  Jackson passing was 23-39-2 and 363 yds.  Connell passing was 22-42-0 and 277 yds.  Jackson rushing was 18 carries for 86 yds.  Connell rushing was 19 carries for 14 yds.  

Connell has more passing yards this year than Jackson but when called upon Jackson can rack up the passing yards.  The UD offense features the run more than Centrals.  Jackson is the 2nd leading rusher in the IIAC.  Connell isn't as much of a rushing threat.  

I would be happy with Connell winning MVP and I would be happy with Jackson winning MVP.  I think they both have a good argument for winning.  It's just a matter of how you think the winner should be chosen.  

[Kohawk Krazy]

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

This is hilarious.  Has Suckow played any defense this year?  I don't think so.  Breitbach can not be mentioned in the same sentence as Weber yet.

Maybe you should go back to the post that compares the two players stats.  It appears that Breitbach is ahead of Weber in almost every category.

[KCDutch]

Finally, the Weber talk has to stop.  He is not even the best multi-purpose threat on his own team (Suckow) let alone the conference (Breitbach).  I agree he is a stud, but to say he deserves votes is rediculous especially when you consider that each coach gets ONE vote not a ballot of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd......although that is something we should consider when doing our post-season awards and teams for this board.

This is hilarious.  Has Suckow played any defense this year?  I don't think so.  Breitbach can not be mentioned in the same sentence as Weber yet.

Maybe you should go back to the post that compares the two players stats.  It appears that Breitbach is ahead of Weber in almost every category.

Kohawk beat me to this....but the Orange/Black glasses are clouding your ability analyze the stats.  If you look overall stats, Breitback has more all purpose yards AND more passes defended.  Weber has more interceptions, but to say Breitbach cannot be mentioned in the same sentence (which you did in your post) is ridiculous!

[Charlie Kohawk]

All this talk about MVP and COY is really pointless since none of us has a vote. However, I thought I'd point out that winning the title is not necessarily a predictor of either award. In the "modern era" of the IIAC (which I have arbitrarily decided began when Coe and Cornell came on board in 1998) three MVPs and three COYs were NOT conference champions.

If I did have a vote, it would be for Connell and Brautigam. While I missed my only opportunity to see Connell play this year, I think his numbers speak for themselves. Brautigam may have been hurt in the voting last year because of Belleus. This year, he should be credited for what the Spartans have accomplished without Belleus. I was so impressed by how much the program has matured since last year, when I was embarrassed for UD fans to watch the team's Harry High School sideline antics. The Spartans that visited Cedar Rapids this year was equally confident, but players spent their energy on the field instead of the sidelines.

[Walston Hoover]

No one throws at Weber anymore and he's got more weapons around him, that's why his stats are not as good as some guys. It would be interesting to do a quick poll of coaches so see who they would rather have on their team???
Alright-Regarding d3fb.com IIAC All-Conference teams
Email your nominations to wartknight@yahoo.com with the subject line "IIAC All-Conference<school name>"
Only nominate guys from the school you support and make sure to include your username here.
I don't know of a perfect way to do this so what I'm going to do is have each school nominate a max of 11 guys (Please list their position). If there are multiple reps from a school sending me a nomination list, only those players with multiple nominations will be sent to all reps via email for AC consideration. I will email the rest of the instructions out from there. Make sure to send all nominations by this Friday, and I will email nominees to voters over the weekend. Will vote and make the final list by the Monday after the season.
Edit- to avoid a bunch of new people logging on a submitting- I am setting a qualifier that you have to have been registered here by August 15th (Just for you Purple) of this year for me to accept the nomination.
Edit II- If your team sucks (you know who you are), by no means think you have to send 11 guys in. It would be much easier if you didn't.
I am going to have a first team, and honorable mention. Guys that get Hon mention will need at least more than 1 vote in the final vote, maybe 2 or 3, depending on how many lists submitted.

[Purple Heys]

1.  Travis Strowbridge figured out he wore an afro during the Wartburg and Central games this season and had braids for all the other games.  So he is now promising to always wear braids for games.  

With that information in hand I am putting Strowbridge's 'fro "in the hat" for MVP.   

[Purple Heys]

Man, I go out of state for 4 days without internet access and I come back with 25 pages to read.  Nice job fellas!!

I wanted to edit my last post where I said that Sherdan had 161 yards.  My mistake.  He actually had 132 on 40 carries.  Memo to Hefty: Lamos is pretty good, mix in a little diversity bud. 

I definately want to be in the loop as far as an IIAC Board All-Conference team.  Sign me up!!!

PHeys:  I got news for you......smack talk is rarely heard when it is coming from the back of the bus bud.  But hey, you can always say that you "should have been heard" had you got a couple of breaks. 

Youcantseeme but Youdidreadme from the back of the bus or otherwise.   8)