FB: American Rivers Conference

[DriftlessDuhawk]

I wouldn't be against a post season bowl game between the top non playoff team from the ARC and an Iowa NAIA school.  Though I don't know if that is allowed.   

This would be my preferred postseason bowl set up! Lean into the amazing amount of small school college football being playing in the state of Iowa! Call it the Iowa Classic and play it in one of the larger cities in the state. Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids or Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines would both work great imo.

I also have no idea if this would be legal by NCAA/NAIA standards.

[Patrick Coleman]

I don't have that answer either on whether a crossover event would be acceptable. The Victory Bowl sometimes matched up a D-III with an NAIA but they were both members of the NCCAA.

[Patrick Coleman]

Dropped our latest podcast this morning, in which we chat with Brandon Novak, the new head coach at Loras:

https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2026/04/19/atn-podcast-406-looking-ahead-at-draft-duhawks-diplomats/

[DriftlessDuhawk]

Loved the interview Pat! Lot of excitement in Dubuque surrounding the football program for the first time in a while.

Loras had a tailgate/open practice this last weekend where fans were able to see the new look Duhawks. Not much as changed on the offensive side of the ball from what I saw. Powers' offense is very similar to what they ran last year with a few slight wrinkles. The defense seems to be much faster paced with less complexity than what Loras has attempted to run in the past. The past defensive scheme required multiple positions making checks and calls each play depending on the formation/scheme of the offense. When this was done effectively the defense worked well. In the last two/three seasons this appeared to be a bit too much communication for the back end of the defense and players were rarely on the same page. It appears this staff is taking a much more basic approach to allow players to play much faster and freer. Excited to see the results!

[doolittledog]

Dingo Talk Podcast last two interviews are with Dubuque and Simpson Head Coaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nkw4aaOyms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKv8t8RaoO4

From the UD video.  Dubuque has a 1 year contract with McMurry coming to UD this year.  Then will have a 2 game series with St. Norbert.  St. Norbert makes sense, with proximity and 3 of their coaches have been at UD.

Simpson also has a 1 year contract with their Texas opponent Howard Payne.

[doolittledog]

Any rumors out there?

Expansion?
Contraction?
Bowl games?
Digital Media?
Facilities?
Recruiting?
Coaching?

[DriftlessDuhawk]

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

Duhawks posted a more full coaching staff. Staff was talked about by Coach Novak on the D3FB pod linked above.

Included Jack St. Fleur who played at SJU last year. St Fleur will be coaching the secondary. Marcus Dumervil will be coaching the Oline. Dumervil played at LSU/Maryland/Arkansas. Going to be a very young staff thats for sure.

[DriftlessDuhawk]

https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/football/schedule/2026

Coe posts their schedule and we now have every team in the conference schedule! They fill their noncons with perennial rival Cornell, reigning national champ UW-River Falls, and UW-Oshkosh. Woof. Swiping a win from the WIAC would be huge for the conference and would probably signify that Coe will be in the hunt for an ARC title and a playoff birth.

[DriftlessDuhawk]

Looking at the conference's noncon schedules I felt it was necessary to rank them by difficulty (ie. I am bored)

1. Wartburg (Monmouth/NCC/UWRF) Wartburg may have the hardest noncon slate in the country this year. When you are good lots of teams do not want to play you. Luckily their are other good teams in the same boat. Having 3 playoff teams/3 conference champs/both Stagg Bowl participants on your schedule is crazy but here we are. 1-2 feels very realistic, 2-1 is a job well done, 3-0 would insinuate that Wartburg is competing for a national title this year.

-gap-

2. Coe (Cornell/UWRF/UWO) Coe has beat Cornell for around 25 years in a row in this game and I expect nothing to change. The other two games will be challenging. Coe played UWRF in a shoot out last year and hung with the eventual national champions. UWRF lost just about all of their production and coach but I would imagine will still be a top half WIAC team. UWO has not been as dominant as they were a decade ago but are still going to be a tough challenge for Coe. 2-1 feels like a win for the Kohawks.

3. ud (UWS/UWP/McMurry) Dubuque plays two WIAC teams as well in the noncon slate with Platteville and Stout. UWP made the playoff last year and UWS was right on the cusp. Dubuque played a close game with UWS last year but couldn't hold on in the second half. They could not run with UWP and got blown out last year. McMurry was above 500 in a poor SCAC and I would imagine the Spartans would be favored in that game. 2-1 feels like a win with 1-2 being more realistic.

-gap-

4. Central (Gustavus Adolphus/Northwestern/Belhaven) GA is a top half MIAC team and Belhaven has been a top tier team in the USAC. Neither of these statements make national teir teams quiver but these aren't gimmies either. NW should be a gimmie on the other hand. I would expect Central to be 3-0 after this stretch.

5. NWU (Concordia Morehead/Dakota St/Chicago) NWU opens the season with 3 games that should all be a challenge. Concordia Morehead is a upper tier MIAC team who went 7-3 last year. Dakota St is a NAIA team that I don't know much about other than they have been on NWU's schedule over the last few years and have beaten the Prairie Wolves more often then not. The last team is University of Chicago out of the MWC who has been sitting in the fourth spot in that league for a while. This should be a fun match up to see how the middle of the MWC matches up vs the bottom of the ARC. 1-2 feels like a win for NWU while 0-3 is likely.

6. Simpson (Augustana/Crown/Howard Payne) Simpson starts with two night games to start the season with Augustana, who they lost to last year by one point and finished 7-3 last year, and then Crown, who they blew out and won the UMAC last year. I would expect something similar in these two games with a close game with Augie that could go either way and a blowout vs Crown. They then travel to Texas to play Howard Payne which was below 500 the last two seasons. Feels like 3-0 is a real possibility.

-gap-

7. Loras (St Olaf/Northwestern/Benedictine) With a new coaching staff at Loras expectations are high. The noncon features a bottom half MIAC opponent, a UMAC team, and a top half NACC team that Loras has been competitive with for the last few years. Feels like anything below 2-1 is a disappointment and 3-0 is something that is possible if the new staff in town is able right the ship.

8. BV (Benedictine/Lawrence/Minnesota Morris) This is most likely the easiest noncon schedule with a UMAC team and a NACC team that has won 1 game in the last 5 years (yes you read that correctly). Benedictine beat the Beavers 35-0 last year and I think that game will tell us a lot about if BV is better this year than last. Would be huge for the conference's NPI to have a 2-1 BV coming out of the noncon.

Overall I really like how most teams scheduled their non-league games. I felt the bottom of the conference went out and found games they could be competitive in and the top of the league went out and tried to challenge themselves. I think that its possible that the majority of the league is above 500 going into the conference schedule. If that is the case, I like the league's chances of getting another at large bid this year.