Coe College got the draw to go on the road and head to Wisconsin to play Concordia in Mequon, WI on the shores of Lake Michigan in round one of the NCAA DIII playoffs. They were in the power ratings, the heavy favorite to win against Concordia WI, who was the automatic qualifier of a not-considered-powerful DIII football conference.
The slight of being the higher-ranked team and still being sent on the road (the respected Hansen Ratings model had Coe a -22 point favorite) was likely used as motivation as the Coe College Kohawks dominated all phases of the game and won handily 44-7 on Saturday.
The Kohawks have been on a win or go home pace since week 4 of the season . The Kohawks lost by 12 to UW-River Falls #3 in the country and by 10 to number #5 Wartburg in road games in the first four weeks of the season. At 2-2, they had to win every week to get into the playoffs. They are on a seven-game win streak and will face Bethel, MN in St. Paul next Saturday in Round Two.
A Rematch of last year’s 31-26 game at Bethel that Coe lost by 5 points
Coe College is used to going on the road when they get to the playoffs, as the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) has traditionally been forced to go win on the road to a MIAC or WIAC (Wisconsin) team annually.
That trend of the best of the A-R-C being forced to win road games in hostile environments is changing slowly over time. This change has been driven by fellow conference rival Wartburg becoming one of the top 10 teams in the country in DIII, the last decade.
Wartburg has been so close to making the National Championship game in the last 4 years making the semifinals and losing to North Central in heartbreaking fashion.
FYI – North Central has won 3 of the last 5 national titles and lost the title game the other 2 years….and they are the overwhelming favorite to win the title in 2025.
Kudos to the Wartburg Knights for raising the level of play and the prestige of the A-R-C.
I think Coe, Central and Wartburg are top 30 programs in the country now each and every year (the national pundits and rankings back that opinion up). There are over 240 programs in DIII, and three of the best of them are Iowa Schools.
Coe is on the road again this week to play MIAC Champ Bethel in a rematch of a very close game last year. Coe College’s Brady Kelly was pressed into action due to an injury to the starting QB in his first start as a Kohawk in the Bethel game. This year, Brady Kelly has had a great year as the starter.
Bethel is undefeated and has outscored opponents 509 to 65 this year. Hansen Ratings has Coe as an 18.5 point underdog this Saturday.
When you look at that point total differential and point spread, you might think Coe might as well not even get on the bus to St. Paul.
But….But…who has Bethel played? They and St. John’s are the two powers in the MIAC, and they only play one non-conference game a year now. The MIAC expanded to 10 teams this year with 9 conference games.
Who did Bethel and St. John’s choose to play this year? Bethel and St. Johns both played teams from the UMAC. Bethel beat Northwestern, MN, from the UMAC 50-3 in week one.
The champion of the UMAC Crown, MN, just lost their first round game to Wheaton College, IL (Wartburg’s opponent this weekend) 76 to 14. I think it’s safe to say that the UMAC is not a strong DIII football conference in 2025.
So, how good is Bethel and St. John’s and the MIAC this year (St. John’s lost by 7 to Bethel this year and outscored their opponents 505 to 88)? Who knows they didn’t play a team that could stay within 2 scores of them, except when they played each other – Bethel won by 7.
They chose to not play a powerful Wisconsin – UW team, an A-R-C team, and any top 50 type opponent in the non-Conference.
In the A-R-C Wartburg played highly regarded UW-Stout on the road and top 25 Monmouth and won both games. Coe went on the road and played UW-River Falls and lost by 10 to a team many are picking to win the national title this year. Central beat top 25 Randolph Macon by double digits.
The MIAC has chosen a different path, and some would say they are ducking the competition. ESPN said as much about competition ducking, when the league kicked out long-time member St. Thomas from the MIAC in 2019.
St. Thomas wins too much, kicked out of MIAC – ESPN A great story on the MIAC making St. Thomas go D1 by forcing them out of the league.
“After extensive membership discussions, the University of St. Thomas will be involuntarily removed from membership in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference,” the league said in a statement. “The MIAC Presidents’ Council cites athletic competitive parity in the conference as a primary concern. St. Thomas will begin a multi-year transition immediately and meanwhile is eligible to compete as a full member of the MIAC through the end of spring 2021.” Source ESPN
I find it hilarious…that a league who kicked out the purple monster St. Thomas Tommie’s for being too good, now has two teams that are annihilating their conference brethren in football since the Tommie’s got the boot for upsetting the “athletic competitive parity”.
It makes me wonder who really did kick the Tommies out of the MIAC for being too good?
Coe will face a big challenge on the road this weekend and kudos to the A-R-C for pushing their teams to raise their level of play to compete with the best of the best in the country.
The journey from a decent DIII football league to being one of the top 5 is far from complete, but the progress and commitment it there to see.
The SGI team is going to be rooting very hard for Wartburg and Coe this weekend. If they can both advance, it helps the entire league in 2026 and beyond.
We hope both teams win this weekend and start an A-R-C…A-R-C…A-R-C chant SEC style this weekend. That would be fun.
As always, we appreciate your comments and support.
