Staff Blog

From Great to Dominant

An 0-2 start is not what anybody wanted. Yes, you played two top 25 teams. Yes you went to two tough fields. Yes, there were things to build on. But you enter every game wanting to win, not to stay close, not to get moral victories, you play to win. So no one is satisfied at this point.

In my conversation with Coach Hefty today he talked about going from great to dominant. We've seen many good things so far. We've even seen some great things to this point. But at 0-2 sometimes great isn't good enough. You need to be dominant. Against a great team, that's whats going to win. We've talked about the issues with special teams, turnovers and big plays to this point. But even with the good things the Norse have been able to accomplish, every aspect can, and needs to get better.

The biggest example is the offensive line. Its play has been solid and satisifactory to this point. But as a collective unit, they have not taken over a game to this point. The play has been good, even great at times. But it hasn't been enough. You need dominant play to beat great teams. It's the same case with the defensive line. They did provide consistent pressure on Saturday, however being so close to sacks on many plays to getting sacks, you need to do that much better. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Dominance. That's the mentality the Norse need coming into Saturday according to coach Hefty.

At the risk of offending some in Norse nation, that's the mentality that has made Wartburg and Central the perrenial leaders in the Iowa Conference. Good enough isn't good enough. Great sometimes isn't good enough. You need to be dominant sometimes to win. That mentality is what the coaching staff is trying to instill the Norse program.

Long story longer, like I said in Sunday's entry, a good, or should I say dominant, consistent 60 minutes of play could mean success Saturday. So far, we haven't seen that in the two games. Hopefully, we'll see that Saturday and we can have a repeat of the Knights last visit to Decorah.

Improvement is needed on pass defense. In looking at the statistics, the Knights are averaging 289 yards of passing per game. In fact, sophomore quarterback Nick Yordi's back to back 200 yard passing games this season are the first for a Knights QB since 2004. Yordi has used five different receivers led by tight end Ryan Hoerner. It will be interesting to see if the Knights try to use the big play in the passing game, something the Norse have had trouble with through the first two games. Wartburg's longest passing play has been 38 yards. The Norse have given up five plays at least that long this year. It's not that the Knights cannot run either. They're averaging 213 yards per game, with the three-headed monster of Josh Van Rees, Tim Jones and Neil Suckow carrying the mail. Wartburg is averaging 5.3 yards per rush with a long rush of 36 yards. With no play of longer than 38 yards, it would seem to me that the Knights are more of a ball control team than a quick strike team. That leads me to think time of possession will be a key stat Saturday. Luther and Wartburg are the top two teams in the league in that category. The Norse are averaging 35:32 per game. Wartburg 32:42.

As much as the Knights bring to the table on offense, statisically they're among the nation's best on defense. The Knights have the conference's top ranked overall and rushing defense and the second best passing defense in the league. Nationally, they're 12th in total defense, 6th in rushing defense, seventh in scoring defense, tops in sacks and 14th in tackles in loss. With Tyler Sherden leading the league and being 4th in the nation in rushing, it's definately the irrestible force and against the immovable object. That means it's key for the Norse to get the ground game going. If they do that and the make the defense respect the run, that will slow down the pass rush and allow Justy Feldt and the passing game to make some plays as well.

A few things that need to happen Saturday. Better play from punt return and punt coverage and winning the turnover battle. The more those categories go Luther's way the better the Norse's chances will be.

Tune in Saturday for parent's weekend or stop by and say hi. 12:30 pregame 1:00 kickoff with Jerry, Mike and I right here or in the Decorah area at AM 1240-KWLC.

Published Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 8:12 PM by Darin Svenson

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