As usual, Frank Rossi doing things about 2 full years after Logan Hansen does it and then proclaims he has made a discovery...

Quote from: D3fanboy on March 29, 2026, 04:47:16 PMit's March, I think some speculation on these comments is fully acceptable on the d3boards, right?

I've got my guesses on the six

I think limiting this to just 6 schools would be the biggest amount of speculation. Every single school who hopes to be competitive in the next few years of college football is already in the NIL space in one form or another. Love it or hate it, its here and if your school isn't using it they are falling behind.

Quote from: New Tradition on March 24, 2026, 12:28:23 PMI know conference realignment has nuked it, but Coe's traditional rival is Cornell, correct?  At least that's how I understood it when I was being recruited by Cornell a quarter century ago. 

This is correct. The two schools compete for an all sports trophy called the Bremner Cup. While it has not been competitive in football for almost a quarter century, the Bremner Cup has changed hands a number of times.

https://cornellrams.com/sports/2021/6/21/3057_132687561132739401

While 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.

Quote from: doolittledog on March 23, 2026, 05:07:44 PMThanks, Driftless for looking those up.  I know when the conference goes from 9 to 8 schools and also from 8, up to 9 schools they have teams that will visit one school at the same place 2 years in a row.  But I find it odd with UD and Loras so close they couldn't just keep the home and away the same.  But this way, with Loras visiting UD again in 2026, I can go one more year without worrying about falling off the cliff on the visitor side of the Rock Bowl 

You're missing out on the charm of the best stadium in the conference 

Couple 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.

https://nwusports.com/news/2026/2/23/general-nebraska-wesleyan-reveals-refreshed-brand-logos.aspx

Nebraska Wesleyan will be sporting an updated logo and look this year. Not going back to the Plainsmen, just a newer looking prairie wolf.

Quote from: NCC2010 on February 26, 2026, 09:42:01 AM

Quote from: cciwman on February 25, 2026, 12:52:45 PM
https://x.com/WheatonFB/status/2026366257537142946?s=20
A little gamesmanship from the Thunder?  Play Naperville on Oct 10?  Using the school logo instead of the NC?

FWIW, they used the same exact graphic/Naperville on last year's schedule release as well

I for one think more teams should throw jabs/playfully disrespect their rivals.

It makes sports more fun!

Was that announced anywhere Pat? I'm not seeing it on either team's website.

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

Simpson is filling their third noncon game with a trip to Texas to play Howard Payne it appears. They will play Augustana and Crown again as the second year of home and home agreements.

Quote from: doolittledog on February 11, 2026, 07:00:54 PMSo I guess we aren't getting the band back together (For those young ones on here, St Ambrose was in the conference until the early 50's)
Loras and St Ambrose did play 3 times in the early 2000's.  3 Loras losses by a total of 5 points.  Sounds like similar results as another Loras rival I know 

Downvote.

https://sau.edu/about-sau/news-events/news/2026/st-ambrose-university-pursuing-conference-move-to-elevate-the-student-athlete-experience.php

On the conference addition front, St. Ambrose is looking to move to a new NAIA conference. St. Ambrose feels like it would make sense and would be an easy add for the ARC if they ever wanted to make the jump to NCAA D3. This move makes that seem less likely. I think that St. Ambrose would be a great addition for the ARC, adding a presence in the Quad Cities (and would make an excellent travel partner for Monmouth if they are still interested). I hope the league office has a plan in place.

It also means that the Victory Bell (Loras' oldest rivalry trophy) will be staying in Davenport for the foreseeable future.

I am very excited for week 2 as it looks like North Central will be traveling to Waverly to play Wartburg. Going to be a fun matchup and I think the whole conference will get a good idea of what type of team Wartburg is next year. Will they continue their dominance of the league or will this be the year someone dethrones them?

Quote from: MediaGuy on February 05, 2026, 04:41:06 PMI 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)

https://duhawks.com/news/2022/3/1/baseball-duhawks-down-hawkeyes-in-interdivisional-matchup-3-1.aspx

Loras beat Iowa in a pre-season baseball game a few years ago in Iowa City. As fun as it is to say I'm not sure Iowa played any starters and they used it more so as an exhibition to try players at new positions. 

The more you know! Thanks for the fun fact Pat!

Most interestingly, Bauder was also a finalist for the Loras head coaching job. Clearly he wants out of Platteville! (and/or he feels he's ready to be a head coach.) Even as a Loras guy, UWL is clearly a much better job. I wonder if UWL will go outside the family with him or if they will promote a coordinator. All three of the finalists have some very solid resumes as players, yet none of them have head coaching experience. A little surprised that UWL is choosing to go this route. Feels like a WIAC job in a bustling college town, that has very recent history of success on the national stage, would be able to allure some up and coming head coaches away from lower tier programs.