FB: American Rivers Conference

[warthog]

DutchFan2004:

Oops, sorry about that.  Apparently all you Dutch fans look alike to me. (DutchFan1 is the exception to that generalization  ) I was responding to Old Dutch.  OD had mentioned he was surprised by the 44-20 score in the Wartburg game.  Your post was directly below his and I just grabbed the wrong name.

[Klompen]

Also,  they were even in the turnover margin which isn't typical for them.  can't be putting the ball on the ground 3 times

Sure you can.  Feel free to make it a WB trademark this season.   

[5 Words or Less]

Oh man GC, tried to give us a chance, took the safety then gave us a chance to throw one up at the end to win.  Only problem, falls incomplete to end the game 26-25 Grinnell.

That's gotta be a misprint

[5 Words or Less]

I hereby disavow Cornell affiliation

[5 Words or Less]

I'll cheer anyone not wearin' ORANGE

[DutchFan2004]

DutchFan2004:

Oops, sorry about that.  Apparently all you Dutch fans look alike to me. (DutchFan1 is the exception to that generalization  ) I was responding to Old Dutch.  OD had mentioned he was surprised by the 44-20 score in the Wartburg game.  Your post was directly below his and I just grabbed the wrong name.

Thats ok I just thought old age was setting in and I said something I didn't remember.  I was some what surprised by the Knights score.  I was thinking of like 28-14 a Knight victory.  I think you have to be happy about the score and turnout.  I think that your comments about a running game are fair.  If you turn a team one demensional that team is in trouble.  

[DutchFan2004]

I'll cheer anyone not wearin' ORANGE

I will cheer for all IIAC teams till they play Central 

[Klompen]

The Knights went in at half time with a 10 point lead that would of - could of - should of been a twenty-eight point lead.  

The bottom line is, Wartburg can't brag much about this victory.  There was some sloppy ball handling and some forgettable rushing stats.  A team like Central or Simpson will make the Knights pay, if Wartburg repeats today's  ground game performance against the Dutch or Redmen.  Sorry, I mean Storm.

It gets tougher before it gets easier for the Knights.  I guess we'll see if they are up to it.

We all have games where we see things that could have gone the other way and would have made a big difference in the game.  We all see it, we all say it, but in the end, the would of-could of-should of doesn't matter.  There are 6 teams that had a loss against the Dutch last year that would of-could of-should of been a win if you were one of their fans or team members.  Right, Doolittle?  At the end of the day, it's what you got done that counts.    That said, and taking nothing away from St. Norbert, I expected a more dominating performance out of the Knights.  

I hate the fact that the more experienced Knights team plays the inexperienced Dutch team so early in the season.  I would rather our guys had more time to gel before this key game, but but the would of-could of-should of, but didn't opportunities give me a boost in optomism for my opportunistic Dutch.  It all has to do with believing you can and I am a bit more of a believer today than I was on Saturday morning.  

As to the sloppy ball handling, Central needs to clean that up as well.  The top teams in the conference won't let us drop the rock like we did on Saturday either.  

Here's hoping that the break next week gives us a chance to heal up a bit and be in top form for the knights.  Last year we learned to win with some very key players injured nearly every week, hope that is something this year's team remembers can be done.  Everyone else just steps it up a notch.

[Airborne Dutch]

In terms of the Bandow/Snead combination, I think the best comparison would be Florida's Chris Leak and Tim Tebow a few years ago. Obviously not the same talent, but Bandow is pocket passer much like Leak and Snead likes to get out and run like Tebow. Lets just hope that Snead's injury will heal up by Wartburg. I love the versatility that both QBs bring.

[Old Dutch]

I'm with you Klompen.  I was disappointed in that Wartburg could have-should have-would have made a real statement with a more dominating win.  Warts with 15 returning starters, SNC with 10, Midwest Conference vs IIAC etc.  D3 rankings have them erroneously as low as #23.  If Central is worthy of a 9, then WB ought to be up around 10 (In this matter I wouldn't dare disagree  with D3 and put WB ahead of the Dutch)    

As it is congrats to Warts on a  big win, they did great and worked through mistakes as did Central.  I also hope IIAC gets it done in the coming non-con games, we are 4-5 now, MWC is 5-4    Thats not gonna help our 2nd place team get in the playoffs!

[davedevine]

I'm curious. If you have played college football before,  do you think a 24 point margin is a close game?

I sure as hell don't. Winning by 2 scores is one thing, but 4 is completely different.  Especially when you factor in that a team might have 9-11 possesions the entire game.       

[Klompen]

In terms of the Bandow/Snead combination, I think the best comparison would be Florida's Chris Leak and Tim Tebow a few years ago. Obviously not the same talent, but Bandow is pocket passer much like Leak and Snead likes to get out and run like Tebow. Lets just hope that Snead's injury will heal up by Wartburg. I love the versatility that both QBs bring.

I agree, Airborne.  Each one did a good job and both brought something different to the table.  I think Bandow really settled in as the game went along.  Sometimes it helps to be out of the game and be able to see what the other team's defense is doing for a bit.  It is great to have two very good players battling for such a key position.  I also thought Estabrook did a nice job for a freshman.  True, Lakeland's defense was spent by the time he got in the game, but he was playing with other less experienced players and they still moved the ball nicely, no dropped snaps, and a nice pass or two.  It is also great to see both Veldhuizen and Zachary running the ball well.  

Lakeland would be a lower tier IIAC team, but after last year's close games, it was nice to see a blowout again.  It was really nice to keep the shut out going too.  But I wish the defense would have been more seriously tested.  The IIAC offenses are going to have a lot more firepower and it would have been nice to have face some firepower before facing Wartburg.  

[Klompen]

I'm curious. If you have played college football before,  do you think a 24 point margin is a close game?

I sure as hell don't. Winning by 2 scores is one thing, but 4 is completely different.  Especially when you factor in that a team might have 9-11 possesions the entire game.       

I have said repeatedly that I didn't play football.  Doesn't mean I don't know the game or form opinions any more or less than anyone else.  No I don't think a 24 point margin is a close game and I never said it was a close game.  That said, I still would have thought WB would have won by more and yes, I do know that St. Norbert's is a fairly regular playoff team, we have beat them a few times. 

Wartburg has a ton of returning lettermen back from a team that played Central dead even, except for the final score, last year.  I expected Wartburg to blow them out by more than 24 points.  But if that gets your panties in a bunch, I would be willing to concede that I over rated Wartburg, particularly with Willis' return.   

[Klompen]

I'm with you Klompen.  I was disappointed in that Wartburg could have-should have-would have made a real statement with a more dominating win.  Warts with 15 returning starters, SNC with 10, Midwest Conference vs IIAC etc.  D3 rankings have them erroneously as low as #23.  If Central is worthy of a 9, then WB ought to be up around 10 (In this matter I wouldn't dare disagree  with D3 and put WB ahead of the Dutch)    

As it is congrats to Warts on a  big win, they did great and worked through mistakes as did Central.  I also hope IIAC gets it done in the coming non-con games, we are 4-5 now, MWC is 5-4    Thats not gonna help our 2nd place team get in the playoffs!

Well, Old Dutch, I too would have ranked Wartburg higher, and I rarely disagree with anything Pat and his crew come up with.  Then again, who are we to argue.  Pat knows his DIII football, can't argue with that.  Even Devine thinks we expect too much from Wartburg.  Maybe we're the one's who are wrong.   

[sportsknight]

It was a great day for football in Waverly yesterday and I was glad to be in town to see the Knights open the season better than I had expected.  There were really only a few minutes early in both halves that the final result of yesterday's game was actually in doubt.  Wartburg got points out of each of their first three drives and it was pretty well in hand from there.

Obviously, there were some things that the Knights could have done better.  The rushing attack has already been mentioned.  SNC was loading up the box all day and Wartburg did a pretty good job of adjusting to take advantage thru the air.  Ball security has to get better.  There were also a couple of times where it looked like Yordi was getting stepped on as he turned to hand the ball off, resulting in poor plays.  A couple of tackling breakdowns in the secondary led to some big plays for the Norbs. 

Otherwise, it was a good Week One performance by the Knights.  The front seven owned SNC's O-line and made a ton of big plays and huge hits.  The special teams played very well.  Gustafson will take a punt back for a TD sometime this year, you can count on that.  He and Roskam (the two younger WRs) played pretty well for their first real experience.

I think the coaching staff will do a good job of identifying what Wartburg needs to do better, and will get the guys ready to go for the Revenge Game in Minneapolis on Saturday.  Even though I doubt there's any danger of Wartburg looking past Augsburg, if I were Willis, I would still ban all the coaches and players from using a certain C-word (Central, not the "Big C" that you can't say on TV) this week.