Staff Blog

Defense wins

We've all heard the saying related to football and other sports, if they don't score, you won't lose. The Norse came close to its first shutout in 15 games and its first Iowa conference shutout since 2000 Saturday, but six points given up was a mighty fine performance by Luther's defense. With the special teams play and the defense scoring a touchdown themselves, it led to victory.

Loras came into the game averaging 334 yards per game. The Norse held them 184. Luther held the Duhawks to 98 yards below their rushing average and 16 points below its season scoring average. Other stats that are impressive. Loras was 3-17 on third down conversions. 10 tackles for a loss. 3 sacks. Of the Duhawks 14 possessions there were six three and outs and three four and outs. Numbers like these usually lead to victories. Saturday they did. And all this happend with two starters-Brandon Rickertson and Justin Reitsma.

Little things win. Field position, special teams, turnovers. Luther averaged starting at its own 38. Loras it's own 30. Luther did not turn the ball over. They took it away three times, Darrick Olson twice, once for a score and Mike Tangen had picks. The special teams were solid again. The field goal unit was 3-4. Andrew Burkle averaged 34.1 yards per punt including placing three inside the 20. The kick coverage unit didn't have its best day,but the punt coverage unit did a very solid job on two fronts. One, only four of the eight Andrew Burkle punts were returned. And of the four that were returned, Loras only got a total of 24 yards. That unit was giving up double digit returns on a consistent basis earlier in the season.

So we've seen a lot of improvement in many areas on a week-by-week basis. Now the offense needs to come along. Luther was held to a season low 211 yards Saturday and Tyler Sherden was held in check by a solid Loras defense. The Norse have now been in the red zone 18 times this season and have only seven touchdowns. That's a stat that needs to improve and will be one of the main focuses in practice this week. But give the offense credit. No turnovers this week and only one last week. Compared to the three and four in the first few weeks of the season, they are not putting the special teams and defense in a bad position like they were earlier this season.

Next week, it's homecoming. For the first time in three seasons the Norse now have a winning streak. The longest winning streak under coach Hefty is five in a row, four to end the 2004 season and the season opener in 2005. Luther will try to make it three in a row for homecoming next week against Buena Vista.

Published Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 12:05 PM by Darin Svenson

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