Today's game was better. In a stark change Central was not the team struggling at the half. UD had the lucky mower going for them. Wartburg must have still been riding a high from beating Central last week. Clearly Coach Winter had a good halftime talk for that.

Cody Klein was really pushing Grunder for more playing time today. He had a phenomenal game when he got a touch he really made the most of it with three great rushing touchdowns today. We are going to have to give him more chances. I know it was BV, but they could not stop him, though they held Grunder in check better than most. Edit: I just read the recap. I am not sure phenomenal is sufficient for Cody Klein's game today. Ten carries for 212 yards and 3 touchdowns! Wow!

Okay, going back a week here as I really flushed it after posting and others responded to my message and I never checked back. I can see going for the field goal that was 4th and 14 I guess, but the second one really was indefensible to me. Not when you know the ball is going back to the team you are already trailing by 18.

The two timeouts because we couldn't get a play in on time is an inexcusable issue again with the coaching. Yes they prevented delay of game calls, but it should never have gotten to that situation.

I think we have a great coaching staff, but this year they have let the team down. The loss to Wartburg wasn't horrendously lopsided in the end, but we were not ready for that game at all. We did not play with any confidence and the coaches being able to get plays in on time shows they were not prepared. We have had issues getting started in several games this year and I just don't understand it. I give the other teams credit for playing well to start the games against us, but something isn't clicking this year. We better work it out as neither Simpson or Coe will be easy.

Congratulations to Wartburg on the win Saturday. Once again you were the better prepared team. 😢 Central did not seem to have either an offensive or defensive game plan which was very disappointing. It doesn't seem like we are able to make in game adjustments either. We made good adjustments at the half against UD, Loras and Wartburg, but we can't seem to adjust on the fly.

I am sure this is one of those "you can't win no matter what you do" situations and I have never played football, so those of you with game experience can give me your thoughts. Why when you are down 21-0 do you go for a field goal instead of the TD? To me it says we do not want to get shut out instead of we want to win. Then why do you do it a second time wheni  down 21-3? Yes, I know we made it and added a TD to get the game to 8 points, but you can't really expect that Wartburg won't score again.

I actually think 28-13 wasn't a disastrous outcome and give the players credit for that. I did not catch that our leading receiver was injured in the second quarter, but that is part of the game. I was just giving Wartburg too much credit for keeping him extremely well covered. Right now Central has to step it up just to get by a surging Simpson and a very tough Coe team.

Quote from: Fannosaurus Rex on October 20, 2025, 05:15:27 PMHooray it is finally Central v Wartburg week and both teams are undefeated. This kind of reminds me of trying to handicap a stakes race. You know the talent is there, but you don't know which horse is ready to run a really big race. It looks like the track should be dry and fast.  I think to win, Central will have to get off to a fast start and avoid mistakes. Wartburg doesn't look like a team you want to play catch-up against. If this was a research paper, I would footnote Professor Obvious here.

Central has tended to get off to a slow start and make mistakes early so far this year. Maybe I should say that was the case with the two key city teams. They played phenomenal against RMC. Best full game I have seen in a long time. They do tend to play better when they think the odds are against them, which bodes well. They rely on the run more this year than most, which does not bode well against WB. Hoffman is back so that will be good. Last year was a close defensive game ending 10-6 Wartburg. Odds definitely favor Wartburg, but I was surprised to see some stats had us dead even. Home field and recent history say Wartburg wins. Since Wartburg broke Central's win streak record, I think Central should be the team to end it, poetic justice and all.

I agree with Driftless Duhawk. Central has got to do much better, particularly if Hoffman is out at QB. I do not know the status on that. Saturday with our freshman pressed into duty we pretty much stuck with the running game. The bye week could not have come at a better time for us. If Hoffman is out, Kerndt has time to get a lot of reps in. We play NWU the next week, so more time to get comfortable. Then we hit Wartburg and the run will not be the way to go. I watched Kerndt take Pella High to the state championship his senior year. He can throw very well if he knows his receivers and how they run their routes. How quick he can adjust to our receivers and the college game will be critical.

I was really impressed with our first string defense until we hit the teams from Dubuque. Both of them gave us issues. I don't know if they weren't giving their best or what was going on. I don't want to take anything away from UD or Loras as both of them outperformed us the first half.

I hope the Central team read the impressive write up on Wartburg's defense. Their mindset seems to be way ahead of ours. Read it, learn from it, steal it, implement it.

Quote from: doolittledog on October 05, 2025, 11:11:59 AMMuch prefer homecoming games in late October instead of early October.  85 degrees is hot for us old timers.  UD wins 21-10 which is good.  Free drinks with wings and tacos at the Dog House afterwards was also nice.  Pretty sure our kids are feeling a lot worse than we are this morning 

Onto Wartburg next week.  With the Knights victory over Luther yesterday, they tie the conference winning streak that Central reached back in 1987.  If my memory is correct, it was UD that snapped that streak.  Would be nice (for me) if the Spartans could also stop the Wartburg winning streak!

It was UD that snapped our win streak. It turned out to be a good thing. They played much better with that monkey off their backs. I don't know if they overlooked UD or the pressure of keeping the streak going was too much. Every local story mentioned it every week. It was a load to carry. Just the same, feel free to repeat with WB.

Another game against a team from Dubuque and another tale of two halves. Down 20-14 at the half and so 45-27.

Driftless what was your take on the turnover at the 20 yard line in the first half? It looked like a forward pass that got knocked down to me, but I wear rose colored glasses. Grunder had a phenomenal game with 241 yards rushing today. If he only had longer legs!

We were forced by injury to change QB's late in the first half. Pella High grad freshman Kerndt played the entire second half and while they avoided the passing game like the plague, he ran the offense well. I did not see Hoffman get injured, but the write-up said he was.  Kerndt is a very capable passer, but Loras was a little interception happy and Kerndt hasn't had much playing time yet with the varsity squad.

Quote from: doolittledog on September 28, 2025, 09:12:11 AMAn update on the injured UD player.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19wiGTF9Bc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Sorry Doolittledog, I didn't get back on this week other than to do my picks. I didn't see your message about the injured player until just now. I remember a player getting hurt that I wondered if he would go to the hospital here, but I thought it was a leg injury, just because players came and helped him off the field. I also remember a helicopter flying over later and wondering if it was a medical transport. I live by the hospital, so I hear a lot of them. I never saw the ambulance leave, but that doesn't mean it didn't. I pray he is doing well and has a full recovery. Those head injuries are so scary.

I agree a tale of two halves. Remember when I said I am old and cranky and sometimes thought I knew more than the coach? That was halftime.

I don't know more than the coaches, but I do feel like I can read the coach at times. I think McMartin knows how good Mauri is and greatly respects him from years of working together. The defense I thought we were playing early was a prevent defense. We were willing to give up the short passes, but didn't want to be burned. So we gave them short passes up and down the field without ever stopping them. Meanwhile we didn't seem willing to play our game offensively. We wanted to milk the clock and I did not think we would heft a first down until the second half.

The second half we played our game better.

Quote from: Schipper Strong on September 19, 2025, 11:13:11 PMTough picks this week. That point spread makes it challenging. Thanks for doing this Driftless. I think Central will try to play a lot of subs if the games goes as most expect, but on an away game they can only go so deep. It may not be enough to stay under the spread.

I may not have expected 20 points in the 4th, but I did call out the possibility of lots of subs and if it would be enough to stay under the spread. Key starters were not playing the second half. Lots of freshmen getting playing time on varsity. Once McMartin commits to subs he would have to feel the game was at risk to change it. He cares more about getting experienced replacements than keeping us in national stats. Yes, it would be nice to have both but this was an opportunity to keep key players healthy and gets reps for the new ones. I liked most of what I saw. There is a bigger difference between first and second string defense than offense. Hoffman is a senior QB and he played well again, but sat out the entire second half. It was nice seeing we have a good freshman option for backup. They kept it simple for his first few series, but when they let him try a few things he came through with a rushing and passing TD.

Central plays the entire second half with subs on offense and defense and leaves Decorah letting Luther feel good about a big comeback in the second half. The announcer talks about the points Luther is able to score against a defense that shut out a ranked team last week. Not quite, but you did get one score against them in the first half.

Simpson played a great game against Wartburg down by only 7 at the two minute warning before giving up an insurance score.

UD And Loras closer than I thought.

Central up 42-6 over Luther at the half. Wartburg and Simpson are tied at the half. What the what?

Tough picks this week. That point spread makes it challenging. Thanks for doing this Driftless. I think Central will try to play a lot of subs if the games goes as most expect, but on an away game they can only go so deep. It may not be enough to stay under the spread.

Simpson appears to be improved as one would expect with a Wartburg grad leading the team. Have they improved enough to not be monkey stomped? Would Coach Winter be less likely to stomp a WB grad? Not so far.

Loras and UD seem to have switched positions. I think the change at UD started with Coach Canfield and gained a bit more momentum with each change. I always thought Coach Birie was pretty competitive at Loras, but if I remember right people were glad he retired. Be careful what you wish for?

Luther and BV both used to be talked about in the top 3 when I started watching Central football. That was a long time ago! Back when William Penn and Upper Iowa were in the conference. Do we still all play Luther next year, but not as a conference game or is tomorrow the end?

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on September 16, 2025, 07:24:39 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 14, 2025, 02:32:30 PMDivision III is not just for "small private colleges." 

I think the sentiment is fair to have. I certainly understand how most D3 fans feel this way toward the WIAC, as they have certain advantages that most D3 schools simply are not afforded. That being said, the conference plays by the same rules as everyone else, and it is totally fine that they are D3. I think it's equally fine to point out the fact that, as a conference, they were born on 3rd base while some other conferences are still in the on-deck circle.

Thank you for more appropriately stating what I was trying to get across.

I realize that  but state schools have a huge advantage in cost and facilities. Only my opinion.