The Wartburg Knights are ranked seventh in the latest NCAA Division III football poll, but that may not be high enough.

For a testimonial about the powerful Knights, just spend a few minutes with vanquished Coe Coach Steve Staker.

He was mighty impressed with Wartburg Saturday afternoon - and mighty disappointed in his own club.

The Knights rolled up 523 yards of total offense and squashed the Kohawks, 43-0, in an Iowa Conference mismatch before 4,819 spectators at Coe Field.

"I told the players, they're a better football team than we are right now," Staker said. "Forty-three to nothing better? I don't know about that."

Staker suffered the most lopsided loss of his eight years with the Kohawks, surpassing 27-point setbacks to Hardin-Simmons in 2011 and St. Thomas in 2009.

Wartburg Coach Rick Willis appears to have a juggernaut on his hands this season.

"I think he's got a great team," said Staker. "They're big people, they're fast, they get after it, a good quarterback, they have some good receivers."

Wartburg (5-0, 2-0) has won all five of its games this season by at least 17 points.

"I feel like they're not going to be challenged too much in the league," said Staker. "They're a superior football team in the conference."

Wartburg quarterback Logan Schrader picked the Kohawks apart, hitting 18 of 26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns. The Knights also ran for 259 yards in a perfectly blended attack.

Wartburg's big offensive line gave Schrader plenty of time to throw and gave their running backs lots of room to roam. Conversely, the Knights sacked Coe quarterbacks Josh Rekers and Gavin Glenn six times and limited the Kohawks to 195 yards of total offense.

The score could have been worse than 43-0, but Willis pulled his star players after three quarters with the 43-0 lead.

Rekers hit only 8 of 25 passes for 111 yards. Glenn was 5 for 9, but for only 33 yards. Sam Lahr led the running attack with 73 yards on 18 carries.

The Kohawks (2-3, 1-1) dropped three passes in the early part of the game and never got untracked.

"We could not get a rhythm," said Staker. "That's who we are: We are a rhythm team."

Staker was not happy about suffering the most lopsided loss of his Coe career, which has produced a 48-21 overall record and three trips to the NCAA playoffs.

"I'm a little disappointed in that," he said of the 43-point drubbing, "but if you hang around long enough those things happen."

Coe visits Simpson next Saturday.

WARTBURG 43, COE 0

WART          COE

First downs            24              11
Rushes-yards      44-259         33-51
Passing yards       264             144
Comp-Att-Int     19-28-1        13-34-1
Fumbles-lost         0-0             1-1
Punts-avg.         5-45.8         11-36.0
Penalties-yards      3-15           2-20

Wartburg   14  16  13  0 - 43
Coe         0   0   0  0 -  0

Scoring plays

W - Taylor Jacobsmeier 35 pass from Logan Schrader (Michael Bohlke kick)
w - Schrader 7 run (Bohlke kick)
W - Robbie Anstoetter 33 pass from Schrader (kick blocked)
W - Jacobsmeier 25 pass from Schrader (Bohlke kick)
W - Bohlke 25 FG
W - Brandon Domeyer 31 run (kick failed)
W - Brandon Richardson 5 run (Bohlke kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Wartburg - Domeyer 12-83, Richardson 11-43, Hammel 4-38, Jacobsmeier 1-32.
Coe - Lahr 18-73, Philizaire 5-5, Glenn 3-minus 1, Rekers 7-minus 26.

Passing

Wartburg - Schrader 18-26-1, 259 yards; Hiller 1-1-0, 5 yards.
Coe - Rekers 8-25-1, 111 yards; Glenn 5-9-0, 33 yards.

Receiving

Wartburg - Jacobsmeieer 6-96, Anstoetter 5-92, Schmitt 3-41, Miller 2-24.
Coe - Heitland 3-22, Lensing 2-55, Chrisenson 2-12, Stanford 1-16.