FB: American Rivers Conference

[HansenRatings]

Updating my conference projections now that I have returning production data:

School		SOS		Proj. W-L	Conf. W-L
Wartburg		0.547		8.6-1.4	7.3-0.7
Coe		0.491		7.7-2.3	6.5-1.5
Central		0.544		7.8-2.2	6.5-1.5
Dubuque		0.596		5.2-4.8	5.1-2.9
Loras		0.558		3.4-6.6	2.9-5.1
Simpson		0.501		3.8-6.2	2.6-5.4
Nebraska Wesleyan		0.540		2.8-7.2	2.3-5.7
Buena Vista		0.513		2.9-7.1	2.2-5.8
Luther		0.480		1.5-8.5	0.6-7.4

[BLynn]

I said this before, but I think Augustana would make a lot of sense for both parties. They're a good fit for the ARC geographically & fit the mold of the current institutions, and if Monmouth gets/accepts an invitation, that would be a good travel partner for them.

I'm not sure who else from the Twin Cities area would make sense, either for the ARC or for a school potentially looking for greener pastures.

I agree with Logan that Augustana would make the most sense as they fit the mold and geography of the conference very well. The question is are they willing to trade in drives to Chicagoland for drives to Lincoln and Storm Lake?

I have also heard that some members have thrown around the idea that they could try to lure an NAIA team to the D3 ranks. I haven't heard if any of these schools have expressed interest, however. Personally, I don't know much about most of the NAIA schools in the area, but I'm not sure why a school would go from offering scholarships to not offering scholarships. I know that Grandview/Northwestern (IA)/Morningside have been fairly dominant for a number of years, and I don't know that a move like this would benefit them all that much.

I have always thought that Iowa could produce a magnificent football conference by including the ARC (sans NWU) with Morningside, Northwestern, Grand View, St. Ambrose and possibly Clarke and/or Briar Cliff. Only problem, as mentioned, is who blinks first: ARC moves to NAIA (which most were at one time) or the others roll to NCAA D3. I guess it's just wishful thinking.

[HansenRatings]

I have always thought that Iowa could produce a magnificent football conference by including the ARC (sans NWU) with Morningside, Northwestern, Grand View, St. Ambrose and possibly Clarke and/or Briar Cliff. Only problem, as mentioned, is who blinks first: ARC moves to NAIA (which most were at one time) or the others roll to NCAA D3. I guess it's just wishful thinking.

If you took the top 3 or 4 teams from the ARC and mushed them together with the top 4 NAIA teams in Iowa (Grandview, Morningside, Northwestern, and Dordt are all Top 10 in Massey's preseason ratings), you would have either the strongest DIII conference in the country or the strongest NAIA conference in the country.

The only way I see something like that happening is if ~half of the small colleges in Iowa shutter their doors, though. I think all of those schools are pretty happy with their current situations.