FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Attendance so far.  And while I know that no school actually counts the attendance, it's interesting to note the schools that pretend to have a real count, and the schools that just throw out an even stevens number each week. 

BV
2,500 UW-Platteville
3,500 Simpson

Central
1,500 Lakeland
3,000 Wartburg (HC)

Coe
1,800 Gustavus Adolphus
5,535 Loras (HC)

Cornell
775 Grinnell
750 Carleton
1,200 Coe

Dubuque
4,178 Rockford
1,747 BV

Loras
1,940 I Forget College of Illinois

Luther
2,557 St. Olaf
2,966 Dubuque

Simpson
2,000 Grandview
2,000 Luther

Wartburg
3,200 St. Norbert
4,200 Cornell

[warthog]

Well, it has been a long time since since I attended a football game that was so close and yet so far.  The scoreboard may have read 37-14, but Cornell played a much better game than that.  I put the binoculars on the Cornell coaching staff and team as they met at mid-field after the game.  I don't know what as being said, but by the looks on faces I would guess it went something like this, "If these guys are the league's elite, we can beat anybody."

We had a group of former Knights (in their early 50s late 40s variety) sitting behind the Warthog clan.  They asked Little Warthog what he thought would be happening this week at practice.  From a defensive point LW says the Knights might as well plan spending Tuesday on tackling drills.  He can't imagine Coach Willis will be very happy about missed defensive opportunities when the film work begins.

Observations:

Yes,  the Cornell crowd was embarrassingly small.  Outside the Crate counted 75, I must have counted while some were at the concession stand because I only could find 72. They are a better team than that. They deserve more support.

The president at Central may coach kickers, but our president at Wartburg plays a mean cowbell while helping out the band.

I took the poll this morning and was one who voted for a Cornell victory as more likely than a Wartburg sweep.

Where are those mammoth ass kicking o-linemen Wartburg produced in the past?  I'm not going to be very critical of Knight running backs until I see some opposing defensive players laying on the ground.

The Little Warthogs took us to a Mexican reastarant called the Tequilla something or other after the game.  Way on the east side of Waverly on highway 3.  Not the crazy post game atmosphere of a Joe's or Fainting Goat, but great Mexican food and good Margaritas.  We ran into some of the current Knights and their parents there.  If the food is good and and there are quantities enough to satisfy a Knight football player, you know I must be giving a honest review. 

[Walston Hoover]

The Wartburg Radio guys counted Cornell's fans early in the 4th, and I'm quite certain the number they got was in the 40s.
You would think even 40 students would make the trip up 380 to watch.

[ShowMe]

my friends it's time for some straight talk

I know many think I have crash support for Cornell. I think I have some evidence now. Cornell has finally dropped the wing-t. They have moved the fullbacks to new positions. The game against Wartburg showed the talent better. All of the receivers played better and they made some difficult catches the tight coverage. Our all conference runnng back gained 80 yards as a angle back and would have had 100 yards and a chance for 2 more touchdowns had he not missed 4 offensive series in the second half due to cramps, during the 2 series that Cornell was inside wartburgs 10 and didn't score. Our quaterbacl made wartburg's defense look like cornell's defense. I see it described as missed tackles but I saw it differently. The cornell quarterback attacked defenders and either shook the defender or broke the tackle. I agree, at times he was unstoppable. Wartburg deferred and gave cornell the ball first, we felt like wartburg was walking a batter to get to thier offense. Cornell proceeded take the ball after the kick and drove wartburg's defense down the field like a pro team, the first three plays went for firstdowns. That was the first in memory I have seen cornell take the first drive for a touchdown. The cornell offense looked like a machine. Wartburg's first score took a good pass and catch because the defender was in position just missed the ball.

The cornell defense showed omprovement too. We got our first two sacks for the season. We held the wartburg offense on several occasions. We need to play tighter coverage on the short passing game.

Wartburg blitzes from 1 to 3 additional defenders which put pressure on the young offensive line and quarterback. The interceptions for touchdowns were due to pressure and communication problems with the receivers. That's something we should be able to solve. No sacks against cornell in a big surprise.

As I have said before, wartburg is overrated. They are a good team but not in a class by themselves. I believe Cornell has exposed wartburg to even more challenges. I hope wartburg can won out and make a solid run in the playoff but I think it will be imporant for wartburg to recognize how they need to improve. I know some will say wartburg was not motivated to play cornell but if you saw what I saw wartburg was at times was embarassed.

With the spread offense, I see the potential of Cornell like I described in the preseason. The line is still critical to cornell. Coe beat cornell in the trenches on both sides on the ball. Coe is not as impressive on offense, cornell just didn't have enough offense with the wing-t against the Coe defense . The problem with the wing-t is the Only player the defense had to worry about was #25, the dual threat quarterback good not get loose with 8 and 9 in the box, you stop the running game and it's hard to win and the defense T's off on the passing game with a developing offensive line.

[du-sz]

The Gazette wrote a pretty accurate story on the Coe-Loras debacle, although I don't know where that attendance figure came from. There were a lot of people there, but no where near 5,535.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/SPORTS/709279926/1008/sports

CR Gazette writers can complain all they want, but I have audio/video evidence that Loras got the snap off in time. That article is trash!! Its sick that a guy can get a reporting job and write a story without facts to back it up (unless this is some kind of opinoin piece, but I don't think it is).  Sorry for the rant, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Overall it was a great game. The refs did struggle a bit, but Coe also shot themselves in the foot a couple times.  The pass interference, roughing the passer, and personal foul penalty near the end of the game were all legit.  Kudos to Loras for making some big plays when they were given the opportunity, also.

I would have hated to be a Coe fan yesterday, though. The refs did put Coe in some rough situations. I've never seen a crowd at a DIII game so PO'd after a game in my life.  The scoreboard operators wouldn't even put up the CORRECT 23-21 final score at the end of game.

[ShowMe]

before you question my education let me give you some corrections, I'm using a cell phone to post and the spell check corrects with the wrong word

Crash should be crazy, should me single back and get or Qb loose

[Pat Coleman]

The Gazette wrote a pretty accurate story on the Coe-Loras debacle, although I don't know where that attendance figure came from. There were a lot of people there, but no where near 5,535.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/SPORTS/709279926/1008/sports

CR Gazette writers can complain all they want, but I have audio/video evidence that Loras got the snap off in time. That article is trash!! Its sick that a guy can get a reporting job and write a story without facts to back it up (unless this is some kind of opinoin piece, but I don't think it is).  Sorry for the rant, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Overall it was a great game. The refs did struggle a bit, but Coe also shot themselves in the foot a couple times.  The pass interference, roughing the passer, and personal foul penalty near the end of the game were all legit.  Kudos to Loras for making some big plays when they were given the opportunity, also.

I would have hated to be a Coe fan yesterday, though. The refs did put Coe in some rough situations. I've never seen a crowd at a DIII game so PO'd after a game in my life.  The scoreboard operators wouldn't even put up the CORRECT 23-21 final score at the end of game.

You should consider posting a comment on the paper's web site if you disagree with it so much.

[TrainsEqualCrowdNoise]

CR Gazette writers can complain all they want, but I have audio/video evidence that Loras got the snap off in time. That article is trash!! Its sick that a guy can get a reporting job and write a story without facts to back it up (unless this is some kind of opinoin piece, but I don't think it is).  Sorry for the rant, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Thus is the status of journalism in America.  Few seem to want to provide articles that contain just the facts and unbiased representation of what happened.  Seems almost everyone who writes an article these days wants to tell you what to think instead of just reporting and letting you make up your own mind.

[TrainsEqualCrowdNoise]

my friends it's time for some straight talk

I know many think I have crash support for Cornell. I think I have some evidence now. Cornell has finally dropped the wing-t. They have moved the fullbacks to new positions. The game against Wartburg showed the talent better. All of the receivers played better and they made some difficult catches the tight coverage. Our all conference runnng back gained 80 yards as a angle back and would have had 100 yards and a chance for 2 more touchdowns had he not missed 4 offensive series in the second half due to cramps, during the 2 series that Cornell was inside wartburgs 10 and didn't score. Our quaterbacl made wartburg's defense look like cornell's defense. I see it described as missed tackles but I saw it differently. The cornell quarterback attacked defenders and either shook the defender or broke the tackle. I agree, at times he was unstoppable. Wartburg deferred and gave cornell the ball first, we felt like wartburg was walking a batter to get to thier offense. Cornell proceeded take the ball after the kick and drove wartburg's defense down the field like a pro team, the first three plays went for firstdowns. That was the first in memory I have seen cornell take the first drive for a touchdown. The cornell offense looked like a machine. Wartburg's first score took a good pass and catch because the defender was in position just missed the ball.

The cornell defense showed omprovement too. We got our first two sacks for the season. We held the wartburg offense on several occasions. We need to play tighter coverage on the short passing game.

Wartburg blitzes from 1 to 3 additional defenders which put pressure on the young offensive line and quarterback. The interceptions for touchdowns were due to pressure and communication problems with the receivers. That's something we should be able to solve. No sacks against cornell in a big surprise.

As I have said before, wartburg is overrated. They are a good team but not in a class by themselves. I believe Cornell has exposed wartburg to even more challenges. I hope wartburg can won out and make a solid run in the playoff but I think it will be imporant for wartburg to recognize how they need to improve. I know some will say wartburg was not motivated to play cornell but if you saw what I saw wartburg was at times was embarassed.

With the spread offense, I see the potential of Cornell like I described in the preseason. The line is still critical to cornell. Coe beat cornell in the trenches on both sides on the ball. Coe is not as impressive on offense, cornell just didn't have enough offense with the wing-t against the Coe defense . The problem with the wing-t is the Only player the defense had to worry about was #25, the dual threat quarterback good not get loose with 8 and 9 in the box, you stop the running game and it's hard to win and the defense T's off on the passing game with a developing offensive line.

I will definitely agree with you that it was nice to see that the Wing-T was scrapped and a more spread attack was featured against Wartburg.  Unfortunately we aren't to the point yet where there is a dual threat of a passing and running attack.  Teams are still going to force us to throw the ball, because we are still making mistakes in that facet of the game that has led to big points for opponents.  One big plus in the passing game was big #12, and he needs to be on the field all the time.  I agree with PH that its tough for him to be split out in 4 WR sets, but no matter what he needs to be the go to guy, all the time.  And just because you run the spread doesn't mean that you can't run primarily out of 1 TE, 3 WR sets or even 1 TE, 2 RB sets.

I was encouraged to see the improvements on offense, but still a little ways to go.  The defense also made great strides, and if they can continue to improve this season, there are still some winnable ball games still left on the schedule.  If 6 unranked teams can take down top 25 teams in D1 FBS, then there is no reason that the Rams can't come out and play mistake free football and beat someone in the league.

[du-sz]

The Gazette wrote a pretty accurate story on the Coe-Loras debacle, although I don't know where that attendance figure came from. There were a lot of people there, but no where near 5,535.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/SPORTS/709279926/1008/sports

CR Gazette writers can complain all they want, but I have audio/video evidence that Loras got the snap off in time. That article is trash!! Its sick that a guy can get a reporting job and write a story without facts to back it up (unless this is some kind of opinoin piece, but I don't think it is).  Sorry for the rant, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Overall it was a great game. The refs did struggle a bit, but Coe also shot themselves in the foot a couple times.  The pass interference, roughing the passer, and personal foul penalty near the end of the game were all legit.  Kudos to Loras for making some big plays when they were given the opportunity, also.

I would have hated to be a Coe fan yesterday, though. The refs did put Coe in some rough situations. I've never seen a crowd at a DIII game so PO'd after a game in my life.  The scoreboard operators wouldn't even put up the CORRECT 23-21 final score at the end of game.

You should consider posting a comment on the paper's web site if you disagree with it so much.

I actually just registered to do so. I probably got a little too worked up about it, but it was a slightly biased and unfounded article.

[Purple Heys]

The Wartburg Radio guys counted Cornell's fans early in the 4th, and I'm quite certain the number they got was in the 40s.
You would think even 40 students would make the trip up 380 to watch.

I would say that was about the only objectional thing, to me, they said during the broadcast....ummm...that, and "It's intercepted and run back for a Knight's touchdown!"  Poking fun at the Rams for their attendance is kind of cheap.  The players don't control that and with a team consisting of so many out of staters, what do you really expect?

They made a point on their opinion that Yordi never gained possession on a fumbled snap in the second half and got reiteration from the sideline guy.  Sideline guy also didn't mince words in expressing the sideline dismay over the inability to stop Cornell's offense as well as establish a running game.

Booth guys complained that the Knights 3 and short Offense is continuing to struggle.

Overall, for a pair of Home-towners, they called the game as it played out.  It was rather uncomfortable early, but the Knights' opportunism, not dominance, put the game away.  They praised Nick Yordi  for a solid game (concur).  Is he the best in the IIAC?  I can't make that call, but if he performed as mediocre as the running game, the Knights would be in trouble.  They pointed out that Willis wouldn't be terribly pleased, but any win you walk away from is still a win. (not a tough call, but honest)

They said lots of nice things about Jr. making it fun for family and friends in CA 

[Purple Heys]

The Wartburg Radio guys counted Cornell's fans early in the 4th, and I'm quite certain the number they got was in the 40s.
You would think even 40 students would make the trip up 380 to watch.

I would say that was about the only objectional thing, to me, they said during the broadcast....ummm...that, and "It's intercepted and run back for a Knight's touchdown!"  Poking fun at the Rams for their attendance is kind of cheap.  The players don't control that and with a team consisting of so many out of staters, what do you really expect?

They made a point on their opinion that Yordi never gained possession on a fumbled snap in the second half and got reiteration from the sideline guy.  Sideline guy also didn't mince words in expressing the sideline dismay over the inability to stop Cornell's offense as well as establish a running game.

Booth guys complained that the Knights 3 and short Offense is continuing to struggle.

Overall, for a pair of Home-towners, they called the game as it played out.  It was rather uncomfortable early, but the Knights' opportunism, not dominance, put the game away.  They praised Nick Yordi  for a solid game (concur).  Is he the best in the IIAC?  I can't make that call, but if he performed as mediocre as the running game, the Knights would be in trouble.  They pointed out that Willis wouldn't be terribly pleased, but any win you walk away from is still a win. (not a tough call, but honest)

They said lots of nice things about Jr. making it fun for family and friends in CA 

If it wasn't clear...I liked listening to the Knights' broadcast team.  They were entertaining and professional.

[Purple Heys]

Just a few more holes to plug and maybe we can keep this ship afloat for an entire game.

Stop giving up the football on offense, stop giving up long plays on defense.

Two long pass plays for TD's harken back to the Carleton game...we still need to shore that up although the improved pass rush is gonna help.  I saw a corner edge blitz that forces Yordi to get rid of it...good stuff...Coach Bentz is starting to get aggressive.  We've faced some hot QB's from Carleton, Coe and Wartburg.  The corners have had to play a lot of 1 on 1.

If we truly are going to the Spread exclusively, Coach Dillon will need to continue to mentor young Mr. Bush the benefits of throwing balls away rather than forcing things.  Also, 1 pick looked to be a miscommunication, receiver broke left, throw went right...that happens...too bad it turned into a pick 6.  I liked that they were throwing to Hardman...he needs to get his hands on the ball one way or another.  Jr. caught the ball well in traffic (it's what he does) and was a half step from turning a 21 yard play into a "he-could-go-all-the-way" play.

[Purple Heys]

What was up at Coe with Feller only throwing 18 times?

[the_mayne_event]

there was no chance that ball got snapped in time... EVEN IF IT DID, the Loras linemen were standing straight up with less then a second left, got down in their 3 point stance, and then "snapped" the ball.  there is no way they were set if they were standing around with less then a second left.  if in anything, besides being called off because if they didnt get it off in time, it should have been a 5 yard penalty.  i have never scene refs impact the outcome of a game so much.
loras got at least 60 yards on penalties alone on their last drive, the "late hit" penalties were a bit suspect.. there was one that might have been legit. 
that was some pretty bad officiating.