FB: American Rivers Conference

[footballdaddy]

I was going to quote ShowMe to illustrate my points, but that would have eaten up consierable space.

Show Me, I appreciate your enthusiasm. Your evangelical zeal to promote the Rams would be envied by supportes of any school except for one reason:

Your posts have given every team, especially those who traditionally finish at the top of the conference, literally reams of bulliten board material. Your pronouncements will ensure that NO ONE will overlook the Rams this year. While you may think this is good, all you may be doing is ensuring an unrelenting monkey stomping every Saturday.

If I'm wrong, I'll take my crow with a side of slaw. If I'm right I reserve to feed you yours in any manner I deem appropriate.

[koekrazy87]

This is off subject but started coaching monday for 2-a-days.  We were coaching offense and it was apparent a few guys hadn't done anything all summer.  After a few fumbles in a row one of the other coaches sent the up a hill near the practice field.  All the kids ran to the top touched a building and came back.  Except one.  This kid was probably 5' 1" and weighed 200 lbs.  He was one of the kids you could tell had sat around and ate cheetos and played way to many video games.  He got to the hill, took his helmet off and walked up the entire thing.  After reaching the top he touched the building the athlets must touch.  Then walked to the locker room.  When one of the coaches yelled at him asking what he was doing the kid flipped us all the bird and walked away.  All of us coaches had a good laugh about how at least he finished the hill before he left.  Gotta love kids coming into camp and expecting to be able to handle it after not working out all summer.

[footballdaddy]

And the weather was great today! Waht if it was 98 and humid like it usually is this time of year.

[sportsknight]

This kid was probably 5' 1" and weighed 200 lbs.  He was one of the kids you could tell had sat around and ate cheetos and played way to many video games.  He got to the hill, took his helmet off and walked up the entire thing.  After reaching the top he touched the building the athlets must touch.  Then walked to the locker room.  When one of the coaches yelled at him asking what he was doing the kid flipped us all the bird and walked away.  All of us coaches had a good laugh about how at least he finished the hill before he left. 

That's funny.  My sophomore year in high school our preseason camp started on a Saturday and everyone that wanted to go out for football had to be there.  One senior that hadn't played since his freshman year showed up and was bragging about how drunk he had gotten the night before.  We did a short warm-up run, some stretching, and then went to the track to do some conditioning work.  Kid finishes off one 800, walks off to the side of the visitor's bleachers and puked.  After he got done one of the coaches yelled over to see if he was going to do the next drill, and the kid says "Screw this" and walks away.  After practice, our head coach (pretty much clueless anyway) was railing on us about how much more conditioning we'd have to do to be ready for the opener, and mentioned the puker, talking about how you can't just show up out of shape and expect to be successful.  A bunch of us could barely stop from laughing because we knew it wasn't just that he was out of shape, but out of shape and hungover.

[sportsknight]

I've only expressed my hopes and aspirations. I was attacked for being optimistic, now foolish because my team is not one of the top teams therefore don't have the the same rights to support my team. I don't consider it foolish. I consider it team pride especially with what we've had to experience.

I'm not going to waste much time or energy picking apart most of the things you've said today.  Frankly, I think that when the season rolls around, you'll be brought back down to earth in due time.

What I will say is that people haven't been "attacking" you for being optimistic.  Optimism is not a bad thing.  What I think has rubbed people the wrong way about your posts are the undeniable certainty that you have about Cornell making a significant jump in the standings.  If you want to come off as optimistic, as opposed to just plain ridiculous, try to work in phrases like "I hope," "I think," and "it would be nice if" every now and then.

It is possible to make a big jump in the standings around the Iowa Conference.  Dubuque has certainly proven that over the last couple seasons.  Take a lesson from then.  The Spartan fans around here have typically taken the attitude of "our team's been working pretty hard to get better lately, and if this is the year we make the jump, that would be great."  Not boastful.  Not overly pushy.  Just optimistic and supportive while still taking into consideration the possibility that this might not be that year.

[Ash Park]

Looks like Devine will be the next to hit the Karma Club.  Attaboy.

I'm not sure what technically qualifies as a spread offense, but I'd say that Dubuque and Cornell probably run the closest thing to it right now.  Simpson and Luther have worked with some spread principles mixed into their schemes in the past, but we'll see how that changes with the new coaching staffs taking over.  Wartburg and Central both run quite a bit of 3 or 4 receiver looks with usually a single back and the occassional empty backfield, but I'm not sure their ways actually constitute being in the spread.  More like a formational oddity in otherwise traditional offenses.

Cornell has ran the wing-t for the past two years...although I wouldn't be surprised to see them run some spread this year with bush. The year before Dillon got there they were running spread.

Actually, under Dillon Cornell runs a multi set offense that includes the wing-t and spread sets

The base offense is the Wing-T that includes the spread

[Ash Park]

I have posted the reason I believe Cornell will be a good team: Let me say it again;

Things Cornell must improve in order for me to not eat crow/horns

•Must have fans, administration, community and student support. The fan support starts on the message board sending a message to the non beleivers
•Must win the battle at the line of scrimmage, offensive and defensive line must be our MVP
•Must improve the field goals kicking game, must score inside the 20
•Must improve the punting game to eliminate as a reason for giving up the short field
•Must eliminate the turnovers
•Must cash in on opportunities to take control of momentum/games. We must convert those opportunities
•Must reduce the number  of time we are in 3rd and long on offense
•Must be able to stop the run on defense

Why it will be different this season
•We have key skilled players returning on offense
•The coaching staff is developing an offense around the talent in our skilled positions
•We don't have the same constraints at the QB position
•The investment we made in last year's freshman class will hopefully pay dividends this season
•We only need 35 – 40 solid players and some breaks/luck from injuries
•We have some talented players that the conference have not realized yet

Some other reasons
• The top teams in this conference gets too much respect, they are not as good as the hype
• The conference record for Cornell last season does not show how well Cornell really competed. In most of those games, Cornell had chances to make an impact 

On the post concerning the odds of my follow Cornell supporters getting the last laugh, I'll say, time will tell

On the post suggesting when I can talk about cornell again, we should have some good feedback on 9/20 and 9/27. And when I say we, that means you too!

On the predictions

Matt Dillon will be the coach of the year in the IIAC. Cornell will place at least 3 players on the all conference teams

On Wartburg, this is a defining moment in time for the old warts. The lack of playoff appearance and the Central dominance puts Wartburg in the same boat as Central. They both have more to lose this season than the bottom teams. If Wartburg doesn't make the playoff, they will be defined as a solid contender. In terms of putting 40 points on Cornell, did the Warts do that last season? Cornell was not suppose to score if I remember the pregame predictions. I saw Cornell move the ball pretty good considering the respect Wartburg defense was getting. An yes, we scored.

On Coe, Cornell should have beat you last season. The problems we had against Coe are the very problems we need to solve this year. Coe is caught in a situation where they can be a perennial middle of the pack team. Really Coe has as much to do as any other team in the conference other than the top two.

On the other teams, I really do know enough about them to comment. Based on the arrogance from the Central and Wartburg fans, I hope each of you improve your standings in the conference, at their expense not ours.

I hope this give you some insight to my optimism, book makrk this so you don't accuse me of not providing specifics and we can refer to it later when we sit up the crow cookout at the appropriate time in the season.

That is a bold statement (no pun intended).  how can you say Coe is a perennial middle of the pack team?  they have had 2 down years at 7-3 the last 2 years - which is a pretty respectable record.  2 years ago being a huge let down/disappointment.  they were preseason number 1 two years ago (i know, preseason means nothing), but that means they had utmost respect from every other coach in the conference.  3 years ago shared the conference title, 4 years ago share of the conference title, 5 years ago was the only down year coe has had since 2002 (they were 5-5 in 03).  

what 3 players will be all-conference?  

dillon would have to win more then 5 games in teh conference for him to be named coach of the year - i dont think that will happen in his time at cornell, let alone this year.  the simpson coach and Staker would have to have terrible years not to be mentioned (being new coaches).  there is a possibility that wartburg goes undefeated (even though it kills me to say it) and there would be no way willis would not be the COY with an undefeated record.  if central comes even close to an undefeated record with a conference title McMartin would have to be COY with how many players he lost.

I'm too lazy to read ahead to see what response showme had to the what 3 all-conf. players they will have but I would imagine Travion Hardman would be one then I would throw heys jr in there and after that I don't know but I would say that given what Hardman has done the past 3 years I think he would garner some honors for the 3rd year in a row. He is a very good back considering he is a more of a zone, toss, power and iso back and he is in a wing-t offense that isn't very efficient...aand he has probably had the overall worse o-line in the conf. The eaglin kid was pretty decent and got 2nd team all-conf last year but after that it wasn't pretty unless heys jr was in there at TE blocking.

[Ash Park]

ShowMe, at first I got a kick out of what you posted, but after reading your verbal diarhea day after day, I know that you are just trying to get a rise out of people and think this message board is a way to pass overused football cliches onto your team.
Do you realize you are saying a coach who had a losing record his last 3 years of coaching HIGH SCHOOL football and has not won a meaningful game yet in college is now going to field a team that is going to compete for a conference championship.
Without you posting your preseason pep talks to the faithful readers and posters here, no one cares about Cornell. Quite honestly, not in any sport. What was the last sport Cornell finished in the top half of the conference in? I'm asking that as an honest question because I don't know.
-Purple Heys and Ash Park, I love you guys like message board brothers, but as part of the Cornell faithful, this guy is representing you and your fanbase here. Hope he's not setting your team up to get let down even more.
Oh, and Wartburg put up 35 last year on you with their backup QB. I don't know if that's something to talk too highly about.
If you consider 213 yards of offense to be "moving the ball well" then you are in for a VERY long season.

Again I haven't read ahead to see if anyone else responded to this but Cornell wrestling hasn't done too shabby the past few years. Duroe has done a good job of turning that program around. They finished 7th in the nation last year I believe and finished in the top half of conference and had 3 all-americans last year. You asked so I answered  I know wartburg did better than that but I would say with Cornell reviving their wrestling program it has made the conference that much stronger in wrestling...maybe the same can happen in football.

[Walston Hoover]

I love it. I've got some good stories, but only one that comes close to that.
During pass protection period I was talking to the kids about striking the midpoint, and always keeping that midpoint in mind, especially if the DL spins. I told them to picture a guy with a rod up his butt all the way up to his head, before I could finish, a kid that is 5'4, 185, borderline albino, and talks a ton (great kid though, and very knowledgeable in the game of football, I call him "coach") anyway, he speaks up and says, "that's not funny coach I've had the happen to me" and goes on to tell the story of how he fell off a hog house roof onto an old lawn mower with a handle on it and it went into his butt cheek. He didn't leave out any details. He told the story much better than what I do here.
Another assistant and myself sent the kids to get a drink while we composed ourselves from laughing so hard.

We had a couple kids that paid for, and came to camp last Saturday through Wednesday, showed up and checked out their equipment Friday morning, and then this past Sat morning didn't show up for pictures and told us via other players that they quit.

This is off subject but started coaching monday for 2-a-days.  We were coaching offense and it was apparent a few guys hadn't done anything all summer.  After a few fumbles in a row one of the other coaches sent the up a hill near the practice field.  All the kids ran to the top touched a building and came back.  Except one.  This kid was probably 5' 1" and weighed 200 lbs.  He was one of the kids you could tell had sat around and ate cheetos and played way to many video games.  He got to the hill, took his helmet off and walked up the entire thing.  After reaching the top he touched the building the athlets must touch.  Then walked to the locker room.  When one of the coaches yelled at him asking what he was doing the kid flipped us all the bird and walked away.  All of us coaches had a good laugh about how at least he finished the hill before he left.  Gotta love kids coming into camp and expecting to be able to handle it after not working out all summer.

[doolittledog]

9:45 and there are 5 of us on here!!!

And I am guessing WH hasn't talked his wife into having that baby yet!!!

I'm almost to the point where I want it to be 4 weeks into the season, because then I will have a better idea how the season will turn out!!!  Questions questions questions.  

[Walston Hoover]

AEN said they finished 4th this year. If there's one sport where you can finish middle of the pack in the IIAC and toward the top nationally, its ras'lin.

ShowMe, at first I got a kick out of what you posted, but after reading your verbal diarhea day after day, I know that you are just trying to get a rise out of people and think this message board is a way to pass overused football cliches onto your team.
Do you realize you are saying a coach who had a losing record his last 3 years of coaching HIGH SCHOOL football and has not won a meaningful game yet in college is now going to field a team that is going to compete for a conference championship.
Without you posting your preseason pep talks to the faithful readers and posters here, no one cares about Cornell. Quite honestly, not in any sport. What was the last sport Cornell finished in the top half of the conference in? I'm asking that as an honest question because I don't know.
-Purple Heys and Ash Park, I love you guys like message board brothers, but as part of the Cornell faithful, this guy is representing you and your fanbase here. Hope he's not setting your team up to get let down even more.
Oh, and Wartburg put up 35 last year on you with their backup QB. I don't know if that's something to talk too highly about.
If you consider 213 yards of offense to be "moving the ball well" then you are in for a VERY long season.

Again I haven't read ahead to see if anyone else responded to this but Cornell wrestling hasn't done too shabby the past few years. Duroe has done a good job of turning that program around. They finished 7th in the nation last year I believe and finished in the top half of conference and had 3 all-americans last year. You asked so I answered  I know wartburg did better than that but I would say with Cornell reviving their wrestling program it has made the conference that much stronger in wrestling...maybe the same can happen in football.

[Purple Heys]

Let's see...The list of things to do before the season starts, (you aren't real fan until you've committed to print):

1) Predict preseason conference order of finish.

2) Players of note your team, the other teams, whatever...just keep it positive, these are our own kids playing for the purest reason there is to play.

3) Coach of the Year...put out a couple of reasons.

4) Playoff penetration...how far will our best go?

[Ash Park]

ShowMe, at first I got a kick out of what you posted, but after reading your verbal diarhea day after day, I know that you are just trying to get a rise out of people and think this message board is a way to pass overused football cliches onto your team.
Do you realize you are saying a coach who had a losing record his last 3 years of coaching HIGH SCHOOL football and has not won a meaningful game yet in college is now going to field a team that is going to compete for a conference championship.
Without you posting your preseason pep talks to the faithful readers and posters here, no one cares about Cornell. Quite honestly, not in any sport. What was the last sport Cornell finished in the top half of the conference in? I'm asking that as an honest question because I don't know.
-Purple Heys and Ash Park, I love you guys like message board brothers, but as part of the Cornell faithful, this guy is representing you and your fanbase here. Hope he's not setting your team up to get let down even more.
Oh, and Wartburg put up 35 last year on you with their backup QB. I don't know if that's something to talk too highly about.
If you consider 213 yards of offense to be "moving the ball well" then you are in for a VERY long season.

Let me check my fan list, you must be a Wartburg fan, I was right.

You Know, My Friend, time for some Straight Talk,

I know Cornell hasn't been much in any sport lately but history has countless examples of teams on the top that was on the bottom.

The real problem is, the Central and Wartburgs of the conference

"Cannot Handle the Truth"

The truth is, neither program has broken the final four nationally. You can enjoy your IIAC success and I'm happy for you because you are a member of the IIAC. Both programs are big fish in a small pond.

Now don't take it out on my optimism because as I stated above, Cornell has the most to gain. We can get a lot of excitement out of a winning season, we are a small fish in a small pond. Now better programs acroos the conference might help both programs be a big fish in a big pond.

http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/07/bracket.htm

You're right -- last year Central had a bracket named after them. They played in the quarterfinal round and lost to a talented Bethel team, who played Mt. Union, a.k.a. the Gods of Division III Football. Out of 239 teams, we were in the elite eight. Let us collectively hang our heads in shame.

ShowMe, give it a rest -- if we had made it into the semi-final game last season, you would be harassing us for not making it into the final game. Or playing in the final game and losing.

I know you're not much of a history buff, but remind me, again, the last time Cornell saw ANY post season action in Football.

By the way, if you think Central and Wartburg fans are cocky and out of control, you are more dilusional than I thought. If you want cocky fans, check some other boards and report back.....

I don't remember the score of that Central vs Bethel game but I thought they should have won that game...I was really expecting them to as I think everyone was.

[Ash Park]

Brother ShowMe, 1 word:

Whoa.

My thoughts exactly heys   

[Ash Park]

Just want to put my thing down...

I post for my enjoyment, somtimes to tease, sometimes to inform and sometimes to amuse.

Pat has had the good sense to provide a forum for us to congregate and talk about something we share a passion for.

That passion is the key for the fervor with which we all support our teams.  Some of us are more articulate than others.  Some of us don't exactly represent some of that good book-learnin' that I thought an IIAC edumacation was supposed to instill.

But no matter.

I'd like to think that if we all met at a tailgate party with some good beer and some of Eddie's Carne Asada, that we'd laugh our asses off talking about this stuff.

Then we'd laugh our asses off as the Coe guys started pukling after 3 beers!  (See, I kid.)   

So rather than running someone down because their team is too this or too that.  Its FOOTBALL!  Have fun!

+k for that heys