Staff Blog

Wartburg Recap

For the first time in a while, the weather was perfect for family weekend football. Shorts and T-shirts ruled the crowd of blue and white and it was a great atmosphere for college football Saturday at Carlson Stadium. Everything was great, except the scoreboard as Luther lost to Wartburg 25-8.

The first quarter and a half was my kind of football, hard-hitting, physical, smash-mouth. From both sides. I'd imagine players on both sides are very sore today. That's just the way two rivals should play it. And then everything changed.

On a fourth and 11 from its own 29, Luther lined up in a punt formation. Tyler Sherden, who was the long snapper put into that spot to help the coverage unit, ended up snapping the ball to Brian Rouse who lost two yards and the Knights received great field position. While everyone in the crowd or listening was probably saying' "What the _ _ _,"the coaching staff assured us at both halftime and after the game that it was not called. While no specifc explanation was giving to what happended,both Benny Boyd at halftime and Paul Hefty after the game said it was not a call. Another mistake on special teams to give the opponents great field position leading to seven Wartburg points.

The Norse did establish a nice drive after that, driving from its own 36 to the Luther 21. Then miscommunication between Justy Feldt and Tony Brantner and Josh Faaborg came up with an easy pick. Feldt said after the game it was a read play and the quarterback and receiver needs to read the same thing. Unfortunately, they weren't on the same page. Seven plays, 80 yards and two minutes eight seconds later, it was Nick Yordi to Nick Weber for 39 and a score to give Wartburg a 13-0 lead. Another example of a good team taking advantage of your mistakes.

The other key moment in the game came early in the fourth quarter. The Norse took over at the 50 yard line and drove the Knight eight. They tried a fade pattern to Tony Brantner. The percentages were in the Norse favor, since Brantner is 6-6 and defensive back Nick Weber is 5-10. Unfortunately, Feldt did not put enough air under the ball and Weber was able to make the pick, knocking down the Norse drive. A score there, the Knights are on their heels for the 12:31. Momentum on your side and the defense gets an emotional lift. Something they desperately needed at that time, since they had played well enough during most of the game. In my mind, that was the dagger.

Feldt spoke with us on the postgame. Justy was a stand up guy taking the blame for the two picks. He knows he can't do that. Things will need to get better next week. It starts with taking care of the ball, especially when your team has an oppotunity to score.

Defensively, the Knights were everything as advertised, holding the Norse to just 278 total yards and 81 on the ground. Tyler Sherden had 24 rushes for 60 yards, just 2.5 yards per carry. Saturday will leave people with the perception if you stop Sherden, you stop the Norse. Luther has many weapons offensively. They need the other guys to step up when Sherden is getting slowed down by an opponent.

The Norse defense had a valiant effort, holding Wartburg to 77 yards on the ground and 14 first downs, and nearly two hundred yards a game less than what they've been averaging the first two weeks of the season. But after the second turnover, it seemed they lost their moxy and emotion, just leading to flat play and the clinching score for Wartburg. Not placing any blame, but for most of the day the defense played well enough to win. But the Wartburg defense was that much better, leading to not enough help from the Norse offense, leading to the physical and mental fatigue late in the ballgame.

The toughest part of the schedule, from a rankings standpoint, is over. But the Norse cannot fall into a false sense of security. With the balance that has been shown over the past few season in the Iowa conference, there's probably not a team on the schedule the Norse cannot beat. But, there's probably not a team that can't beat them. The same emotion, focus and intensity you bring when facing a nationally ranked opponent, that needs to continue through the final seven weeks of the season.

Published Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 10:38 AM by Darin Svenson

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