FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

Dutchfan2004,

Your son played a heck of a game Saturday.  Your OC obviously had a great game plan and 10 executed it to perfection.

There are a number of great photos of him at http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=1956

Thanks I have already looked at them and will be getting an order together.  Thanks for the kind words.

[Thunderbolt]

For me personally, I just don't like the WIAC.  Public schools with 6,000-12,000 enrollments should be Div. II in my opinion... 

This UW thing has always been a headscratcher to me, too.  But waddya gonna do?

I like the idea of an annual "Border War" with the IIAC and the MIAC.  Those kinds of things help expand a conferences recruiting base...although that goes both ways.  If it weren't for the unrealistic expense, I'd like to see an IIAC vs. SCIAC  faceoff...then we could get tapping into that SoCal talent base with the promise of a SoCal trip to recruits every other year.  8)

Work with me here...I'm thinking of literary opportunity of Luther and LaVerne or the Storm and the Stags or the Beavers and the Bulldogs, the Knights and the Kingsmen.  'hawks (Du or Ko) vs. 'hens (Sage); Wartburg and Whittier.

Is it just me? 

IIAC/MIAC Border War....Great idea

You had any other good ideas I can borrow?
BE NICE

[Wartburg Fan]

ANy other non Dutchers heading to Pella Saturday?
Let me know and I would like to meet up with you.
So would St. Johns be a middle of the road IIAC team this year? I mean, all the teams in the IIAC played Central a lot more competitively than they did.
I was really looking forward to having our IIAC board back to ourselves this week, but it looks like there are still some leftover Johnnies complaining about gloating. Johnnies, of all people, complaining about another team gloating.

WH, I'm serious thinking about going to Pella on Saturday. But it all depends on my grandson, he is in a basketball tourney in town this week end and he rates higher then the Dutch, as of now I don't know when he plays.

[Purple Heys]

Not bashing you T-Bolt...I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Hey, with both Northwestern and Alma turning tail and not signing up some more years of misery against "dem Rams", we need the games.  I am not sure who we add instead...I'd like the see Cornell make a trip to CA to play a SCIAC team.  Just dreaming on that though...

The IIAC/MIAC Border War should go something like this 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2...etc.  Not sure if you use the previous year or the preseason coaches picks.

A Cornell square off against Hamline or Carleton sounds like a great thing.

With both conferences getting an AQ, taking a NC loss is not the end of the world...of course NC wins against such a reputable conference certainly helps the overall conference chances of getting more than 1 team into the playoffs...it cuts both ways...the MIAC could just as easily benefit at our expense.

I think it'd be fun.

[DutchFan2004]

ANy other non Dutchers heading to Pella Saturday?
Let me know and I would like to meet up with you.
So would St. Johns be a middle of the road IIAC team this year? I mean, all the teams in the IIAC played Central a lot more competitively than they did.
I was really looking forward to having our IIAC board back to ourselves this week, but it looks like there are still some leftover Johnnies complaining about gloating. Johnnies, of all people, complaining about another team gloating.

WH, I'm serious thinking about going to Pella on Saturday. But it all depends on my grandson, he is in a basketball tourney in town this week end and he rates higher then the Dutch, as of now I don't know when he plays.

WBfan I can see you have your priorities in the right place.  Maybe you can listen on the net.  

[DutchFan2004]

Purple that is true about the AQ but I can not see it helping the conference get 2 playoff bids.  If the conference beats each other up and two teams are good enough to get to 9-0 to face each other then you might get 2 teams in.  I think the second place team in the conference would have 2 losses and be left out.  With more and more conferences gaining the AQ there will be less pool C bids to go around.  ST Johns and Central are not Mount Union so the selection commitee wont be giving a pass on a loss like that.  So if they lost to Wartburg and Bethel both teams would be looking at staying home as they would have 2 losses.  A good idea and fun one but don't see that happening. 

[belikin70]

I agree.  An IIAC/MIAC border war would be a most excellent idea. 

I think maybe some sort of trophy should be created for the Central/St. Johns rivalry.  I know that these trophy games are usually if not always reserved for teams that meet every year, but I think it would be fun.

I vote we each have one item on the trophy to symbolize each team.  Perhaps a bronzed wooden shoe on one side.   What do the Johnnie fans want on their side?

Any thoughts?

[Thunderbolt]

 While we're at it, lets do away with the bye week and expand the field to sixty four teams. I hate bye weeks. I always get stuck doing something I would otherwise happily neglect.

[DutchHawk]

I think youd have a hard time getting a regular season match up between Central and SJU, just banter that I had heard a year or so back.

Is Bethel's team speed that much more impressive than ours? Johnnie fans looking for you here.

I think the Dutch D will be plenty prepared to play more defense than we did on Saturday. If you look at the season stats that was one of the few games when the D wasnt on the field for the majority of the game! We lost time of possession almost all year.

Love to have you SJU guys on the bandwagon, I for one would be cheering for you guys had the game turned out differently. For what thats worth!

[Klompen]

TC, enjoyed your post and agreed with pretty much everything you said.  I believe Central should be able to win this week, but in the playoffs, anything can happen.  Heck to Central, anything almost happened game after game this year.  The season stats were not all that reflective of the team we fielded on Saturday because of the often mentioned fact that we had many key players injured during the regular season.  Winning week in and out was a real challenge without those guys and most people can't reconcile the playoff team with the things they have heard about Central barely winning most of the season.  I guess it is our secret weapon that we are now healthy.

I agree that SJU would be right up there with Central at the top of the conference if they were in the IIAC.  It was a WB poster that asked about them being middle of the road.  Not that I blame him for wanting to believe that WB would have been above SJU, but I think it was our SJU seasoned coaches and players that make a difference in how we would play you vs. how Wartburg or UD would play you.  

Yes the PA announcer this year leaves a lot to be desired.  I think we have a new guy as I don't recall it being that obnoxious in the past.  You are not the first fan of a visiting team to comment on it.  

This year has to be Central's year to make a big run.  We like to reload instead of rebuild but we are losing a TON of talent to graduation this year.  We should have a lot of subs who got playing time while several of those key players were injured, but you can tell the difference some of those players make when you look at our regular season wins compared to our playoff wins.  

No doubt about it, MUC would be a different level, but Saturday we showed that we can play a complete and nearly flawless game if we put our mind to it.  We would just need to do that at an even higher level to compete with a real chance at winning against the Purple Raiders.  IF (not being cocky, this is a BIG IF) there is ever a Central team that could have a chance at winning against them though, this is the team.  The heart that these kids play with is unbelieveable.  I think the Johnnies saw that Saturday.  Is that enough?  I would love to think so, but we have another big challenge to worry about before we have to think about that.

[Pat Coleman]

While we're at it, lets do away with the bye week and expand the field to sixty four teams. I hate bye weeks. I always get stuck doing something I would otherwise happily neglect.

What bye week?

[Klompen]

The bye week is specific to the IIAC because we have an odd number of teams, not to be confused with the playoff bye week when only 28 teams got in and the first seed had a week off.

[Pat Coleman]

And only specific to the one team that has Week 11 off.

[DBQ1965]

Re:  an IIAC - MIAC Border War.  Its a great idea.  What would it take to make that happen?

Many years ago, when I was living in Excelsior, Minnestoa ... I remember attending a UD - Bethel game in the Twin Cities.  

But more than that ... UD played in the Metrodome one year (I'm going to guess it was about '85 or '86) on a weekend (UD played at 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon) given over to MIAC teams playing teams from another Conference.  Since there was an odd # of teams, UD was invited to play Winona State (now a D-II team).

Based on this year's finishes ... it would be:

Bethel vs. Central
St. John's vs. Wartburg
St. Olaf vs UD (selected on the basis of their victory of Coe)
Concordia-Moorhead vs Coe
Augsburg vs. Luther
Gustavus Adolphus vs. BV
St. Thomas vs. Simpson
Carelton vs. Loras
Hamline vs. Cornell

Maybe we could get 4 games in Minnesota and 5 in Iowa one year ... and then the next year 5 in Minnesota and 4 in Iowa.

Oh well ...

[Klompen]

And only specific to the one team that has Week 11 off.

Correct.  This week the bye week right before Wartburg really helped Central out, it gave the team a chance to get back to full strength and look what that has done for us!