Quote from: BLynn on October 03, 2026, 10:08:48 PMYou play to win the game! How else were they going to do it? Not a NWU fan, but saw a lot of games there when Wolves were in the GPAC

Had Wartburg played the same way they would have scored 100+ points.  I understand playing hard for 60 minutes, but theres a point when extending the game is just inviting injury and the chances of someone losing control and doing something stupid.  Its obvious when Wartburg put in the 3rd and 4th string skill players that they're calling off the dogs...Wartburg had 6 different running backs take a carry and 7 interceptions...NWU ran 2 running plays all game...if Wartburg had been at home with a full roster, you would have seen 5th or 6th stringers.

Wartburg has played some lopsided games in the past and there is usually a gentleman's agreement that once a team gets down 6-7 possessions in the 2nd half, you put in backups, run the ball, get some backups some reps and try to shorten the game...and that process usually starts when the winning team puts in the backups against the losing team's starters for a series or two and then all the backups hit the field.

Pardon me for sounding arrogant, but have some class, when the other team calls off the dogs, put in the 2nd string, dont try to hurt anybody, and shorten the game quickly and safely.

I have some questions for the coaching staff at Nebraska Wesleyan...
1. Down 49-7 at half and leave your starters in against Wartburgs 2's and 3's until the 4th quarter?
2. Onside kick 3 times while down 40+ in the 2nd half?
3. Call 2 timeouts in the last minute with your 3rd offense on the field down 40?
4. Have your head coach telling players "its time to tear some ACLs" out loud for everyone to hear?

No class...this coaching staff doesn't deserve to win a college football game.

No wonder your PA announcer called you the "Prairie Dogs" all day

Quote from: AndrewB on September 12, 2026, 12:32:45 AM

Quote from: Gotberg on September 10, 2026, 03:57:33 PMAre d3 football players getting paid to play on their teams? 

I was with a friend last night whose son could end up playing college ball, and he made the comment: "Even D3 players are getting 40-60k per year".  I'd think not.

I've always wondered about this. Could it be a "academic needs based scholarship" that just happens to go to some of the best football players on the team?  I believe that more "monetary incentive" are given than some might admit.  Straight out cash to players - No.  But a wealthy donor gives the school a scholarship fund, and gets a tax deduction.  Then the school selectively uses it for football players as a "academic grant" - Yes.

https://duhawks.com/sports/2026/9/11/ncaa-infractions-case-fall-2026.aspx

Someone at Loras had the same idea...for now at least, the NCAA still has the will to enforce some rules

Wartburg scrimmaged UW-Platteville Thursday afternoon and while they were playing a couple of thoughts hit me...

When these 2 teams started playing a preseason scrimmage against each other 15ish years ago, neither team was mentioned as a threat in the post-season, this year theyre both pre-season favorites and wouldn't be a surprise in the quarter-finals or further...iron sharpens iron.

Are there any other places in the country with a legit top 15 matchup as a pre-season scrimmage?

https://youtu.be/I7qnCmqaoes?is=emY9uenL2rY93lAR

Media day at Wartburg...sounds like a hungry senior class and quite a few good transfers might make for an interesting season at Wartburg

I don't know how I did it, but the 3rd Division youtube channel had a thing you could click on that adds all d3 football teams to Google maps and seeing the different conference logos on the map was astounding...basically below the Mason-Dixon line there doesn't seem to be much geographic continuity amongst conferences.  Theyre all spread out and intermixed. 

Could be because there are NAIA schools mixed in and every school wasnt looking to make a new conference at the same time when they transitioned. But i cant imagine that egos and "i dont want to play those people" is worth adding a few zeros to your travel budgets to drive past 3 schools to play another school for conference play.

Taking a 8+ hour road trip for football is one thing, where you can miss a few classes after noon on Friday, stay overnight and play on Saturday, but what do these schools do for a volleyball game on a Tuesday, or a tennis/golf meet on a Thursday...thats who I feel sorry for.  I appreciate there are some more schools to fill schedules in non-football sports, but having multiple long roadtrips would be a burden on recruiting for me.

Well I went down a rabbit hole a bit after I saw Central's schedule and checked Google maps to see some of the crazy long roadtrips teams make, I have a few questions for the D3 nerds out there with more free time...

Not counting the Pacific Northwest and California teams, what are the longest roadtrips for teams coming up next year?

What is the longest conference road trip each year?

P.S. I'm never complaining about driving 3.5 hours to Nebraska Wesleyan after seeing 3 10+ hour drives IN CONFERENCE for Belhaven.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on March 24, 2026, 09:49:29 AMWhile I totally agree with you on the front that the Wartburg/Coe "rivalry" is rather forced wouldn't most Central fans say that the team they need to beat is Simpson? Not a Central/Simpson fan or alum but that is the sentiment that had received when talking to fans/alums from those schools.

Now I have heard some stories from some older Luther alums about their distaste for "that orange school". I'm not sure how alive that rivalry is in most sports due to the one sided nature and the new conference realignment move.

I kind of depends on what time frame you are sampling...I've been a Wartburg/IIAC/ARC fan since the mid 90s and for Wartburg Fans the rivalries were 1. Luther 2. Central 3. Upper Iowa 4. Dubuque (mostly just hate for the former HC Stan)

Most of the Central folks in my generation would usually say 1. William Penn 2. Wartburg 3. Simpson

The Simpson/Central game was kind of elevated to replace the William Penn rivalry but has yet to really get the passion from Central fans (at least that's how I've been told)

PS because college kids are college kids, one of the best rivalries in all of college sports used to be Upper Iowa/BVU...because of the cheers and chants coming from both student sections it was affectionately known as the "Porn Bowl"...a play on the school nicknames, Iowa location, and double entendre cheers from the student sections...it was peak mid 90s pop culture.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on March 23, 2026, 04:56:40 PMCouple more conference team's schedules have been released.

https://duhawks.com/sports/football/schedule

Loras starts with St Olaf which is a new opponent for the Duhawks but should be familiar to our new coach coming from St Johns. Loras fills its noncon with NW (MN) as discussed previously (11 AM kick off??). They follow that up with another game against Benedictine which has developed into a decent little noncon rivalry. And I enjoy that the key game will be the last game of the year. The ARC appears to be doing "rivalry week" to end the year.

https://simpsonathletics.com/sports/fball/2026-27/schedule

Simpson as mentioned will play Howard Payne in Frisco Texas which should be a fun cross regional game and a good experience for the student athletes. Simpson the will return home and homes with Crown and Augustana. Simpson will finish the year with conference rival Central for rivalry week. 

https://bvuathletics.com/sports/football/schedule

BV starts the season returning a home and home with Benedictine (lost 35-0 last season). They then have two new teams on their schedule with Lawrence and Minnesota-Morris. I would imagine the Beavers would be favorites in both of these games as Lawrence went winless last year and had to forfeit a game due to low numbers. Minnesota Morris went 3-7 in the UMAC last year. They will end the season with rival (?) Nebraska Wesleyan. I'm not sure if NWU and BV actually consider each other rivals or if they are just the last two single kids who didn't get asked to the dance and chose to go together.

This leaves Coe/Wartburg as the last set of "rivals". Both of them have more traditional rivals who have both left the league in pursuit of "more academic peer institutions". I do think that Coe and Wartburg have started to develop a nice rivalry as the two schools are not far from each other and both have been fairly competitive across most sports so I think it works.

Calling Coe/Wartburg a rivalry might be a bit of a stretch...I define a "Rival" as someone you want to beat no matter the season records...and it helps when both sides of the rivalry have the same passion about the game...nothing against Coe, but i think if you asked 100 Wartburg and Central grads, all 100 would say that if they could only beat 1 team every year, it would be Wartburg or Central.

Quote from: Patrick Coleman on February 16, 2026, 12:18:56 PM

Quote from: MediaGuy on February 16, 2026, 12:04:46 PMhttps://go-knights.net/news/2026/2/16/knights-2026-football-schedule-revealed.aspx

I've known about this for a while, but now hopefully Wartburg can boast the toughest schedule in D3 Football next year.  Monmouth, North Central and River Falls, plus Central and Coe in conference play...gonna be a wild ride...and im gonna be pretty sick of seeing red and white on the other sideline.

Thanks. We've known about those three for a bit as well -- do you have any insight on game times? I don't usually add a schedule to the website where all the times are TBA.

https://d3football.com/teams/Wartburg/2026/index

I know the Wartburg coaches aren't big fans of night games, and I can't imagine either North Central or River Falls wants to get home on Sunday so I would assume theyre both Noon local kickoffs

https://go-knights.net/news/2026/2/16/knights-2026-football-schedule-revealed.aspx

I've known about this for a while, but now hopefully Wartburg can boast the toughest schedule in D3 Football next year.  Monmouth, North Central and River Falls, plus Central and Coe in conference play...gonna be a wild ride...and im gonna be pretty sick of seeing red and white on the other sideline.

Quote from: NCC2010 on February 05, 2026, 04:32:49 PMUSee beat me to it...what a great schedule for NCC.  2 years in a row homecoming against Wheaton sure is something.  Bethel and Wartburg to start the season also is great, wish they had the opportunity for 2 OOC games every year...

Let your radio kids know that since ESPN isnt taking up 3 booths in the pressbox, they should have a nice spot to do the game this trip...unlike last time NC came to Waverly.

Quote from: CarollFan on February 06, 2026, 07:22:09 PMMWC 2026 composite schedule. Change the date range to 2026 looks like Illinois College @ Elmhurst.

Wartburg vs. Monmouth looks like Monmouth embracing the stronger competition. Although I see they played last year too.


https://midwestconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=football

Wartburg and Monmouth have played each other in the first game of the season almost every year since the mid 2010's...its grown to a nice test for both teams and gives a good barometer for what to expect

I just learned that in the year 2000, Wartburg Mens Basketball beat UCF in what seems to have been an exhibition game in Florida and feel bad since i was on campus at the time and dont even remember.  Anyway, since its the off-season and I love stories like this I thought I'd ask the group...what is your schools best "beating a bigger school" moment from any sport?

(And im not counting a win over Iowa Teachers College in 1949)

This is more of a question for Pat, but i'd also like some input from you guys as well...What is stopping the ARC from putting in a bid to host the National Championship game at the UNI-Dome?  I have heard a few objections, but I think that the venue is honestly better than the places we've played the game recently (Texas and Maryland)

Here are reasons why I think its a great place to host...
1.  Indoor facility that isn't too big.  Let's be honest, this year's game could draw the biggest crowd in Championship history and Hall of Fame Stadium (seats 22,000) would still be half full.  It's so hard to play with energy in a 1/3 full stadium, and it's not the best look on TV.  UNI-Dome seats a little over 16,000 and if you watch the Iowa High School Playoffs, even a crowd of 5000-6000 can look pretty full and get really loud in the stadium.  One of the best parts of playing at D3 is the intimate stadiums, with crowds that are loud and a part of the game.  When you play in an over-sized stadium, you lose the crowd involvement and also it looks bad to see a (relatively) small number of fans surrounded by a sea of empty seats.

2. Waterloo/Cedar Falls has a local airport which can handle large aircraft and is also only 45 minutes from the Cedar Rapids Airport and metro area.  Fans and teams should be able to get affordable flights and plenty of hotels and food/entertainment within an 15-60 min drive of the UNI-Dome. 

3. UNI-Dome is an FCS facility, so they already have the media/pressbox/power and multimedia set-up to accommodate the needs of D3 football.

4. UNI-Dome is easily drive-able for ARC, Midwest, WIAC, MIAA and CCIW fan bases.  I think there would be a great crowd of people who would attend an indoor game, within a 4-5 hr drive around xmas break from all those conferences, along with the fact that there would be a pretty good chance that a team from one or more of those conferences could be playing in the game.  I know that even if Johns Hopkins was playing UMU, or Cortland was playing Berry, fans from the midwest conferences listed above and the ARC in particular, would love to see a high level football game, and see how these teams "from out east" look compared to the teams around here.

The only reason I can think of for UNI to not want to host it would be if there would be a possible scheduling issue with an FCS playoff game, or if they don't want to cover-up/change the midfield logo (which runs from 35 yard line-35 yard line).

I just think it's a good sized field, indoors and has access to all the other outside things you need to host a big game like that and would draw a larger (local) crowd than the recent games in Texas and Maryland and make for a more impressive final game experience for players, fans and TV viewers.

PS...I still like the old Salem stadium for the historic aspect, but I also like that the UNI-Dome is indoors and weather would not be a factor.

Thoughts...?