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Staff Blog

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Simpson Review

The best part about last Saturday afternoon is that it's now over. Momma once said you'd have days like the Norse had last Saturday in a 28-9 loss to Simpson.

The most disappointing aspect of the day was defense. Every indication through the first two weeks of the season was this Norse squad was going to play good enough defense to keep them in every game. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case on Saturday. The Storm racked up 427 yards in total offense, including 263 yards on the ground. Returning all-conference running back Adam Reutzel was everything as advertised running for 209 yards and earning conference player of the week honors. Give Reutzel a ton of credit, Luther's tackling did leave a lot to be desired. Rarely if ever did a Storm offensive player take the big hit to send a message from the Norse defense. That's something we saw a lot of against Dubuque. Explosive plays were a problem as well as the Storm had five plays of ten yards or more, and three of more than 50 yards. Way too many to have consistent success.

The offense did do some nice things at times, but the consistent good play by play just isn't there yet. The Norse did have some good drives into Simpson territory, but failed to get any points out of them. Right now, the margin for error is just not there to not captailize on opportunities like that. The Norse ended up getting down 21-0 at the halftime break. That's a tough margin to come back from for anybody, especially with the growing pains the Norse offense presently. What makes a 21-0 margin even more difficult is Simpson's ability to run the ball. The effectiveness of the Storm to run the ball and control the clock makes a 21-0 lead almost insormontable.

There were a couple of positives on the day. The punt game, which caused a lot of headaches the first couple of weeks, was a lot better on Saturday. Rarely if ever was Andrew Burkle under pressure and he averaged 37.8 yards per punt. Backup quarterback Trent Stonerook did a very good job long snapping, as almost every snap was right on the money. If the snap is good, the punter only has to worry about kicking the ball. It's one aspect that was a negative in weeks past that at least for the moment has turned into a positive.

Also, credit wide receiver Darren Oxton with a nice game. Oxton caught eight balls for 61 yards, most of them on the underneath tough yards route. Over the past couple of weeks, Oxton has become a little bit of a favorite target for Chris Reynolds. It's nice to see a weapon develop that the Norse can go to.

This week it's Central. Some of the more entertaining games in recent Norse history have come against Central, including a victory over the Dutch at Homecoming 2004. That win for Luther was the last time Central lost a regular season home game. It's been since 2003 that Central has started the conference 0-2. The Dutch rebounded from a tough loss to Wartburg at home two weeks ago, going to Michigan and defeating Albion 13-12. Posted by Darin Svenson at 8:01 AM |  0 comments

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Sunny & foggy day in Bø

Hey,friends 
How is all the KWLC DJ doing these days?

Labels: Norway

Posted by Big Willy Star at 4:57 PM |  0 comments

WEEK TWO REVIEW/WEEK THREE PREVIEW

Discussion was during the week if Luther's defense could hold Dubuque to 14 points, they could have a decent chance of defeating Dubuque. That, coinsiding with six takeaways led to a Norse victory in the Iowa Conference opener last Saturday, 23-14 over Dubuque.

We talked before and after the St. Olaf game that Luther's defense is good enough to keep this team competitive. They definately were on Saturday. The Spartans brought more speed than most on offense. One of the keeps to slowing down Dubuque over the last few years is making sure tackles in the open field and keeping the yards after catch stat down. With very few exceptions that happended on Saturday. With the offense being kept from doing what it likes to do, they began to press, which led to turnovers and Norse success. Luther was also able to score three times following getting a turnover, providing the necessary margin for victory.

Offensively, freshman quarterback Chris Reynolds took some more steps forward. After trailing 14-3, Reynolds again showed poise and leadership in bringing his team back to victory. Reynolds' numbers were solid and not spectacular, 17-33, 147 yards and he rushed six times for 46 yards. But the key with Reynolds' performance was making the key play at the key time. He scrambled for a couple of first downs and threaded the needle a couple of times for key plays. Props as well to Jesse Kent on his spectacular touchdown catch, likely candidate for one of the plays of the week at sports.luther.edu/football. Also credit to Kris McCallister. After dropping three balls earlier in the game, made the difficult catch on a pass not directly too him and he fought amongst multiple Dubuque defenders and made the end zone for the go-ahead score.

Two simple stats that always mean a lot and get talked a lot about on this blog. Field position and turnovers. Luther started on its own 44. Dubuque started on its own 30. We've already talked about turnovers. The Norse were plus four on the turnover ratio.

The Norse did suffer a loss when running back Tyler Bass went down with a collar bone injury in the second half. Sources say Bass will be down for a while. With Bass the lone running back with experience coming back this season, this does create a dillema for how the offense will scheme against Simpson and future opponents. Last Saturday, the Norse ran the ball 46 times and threw it 33 times. With a change coming at running back, will those numbers reverse or will coach Durnin continue with the same philosophy. The discussion is probably taking place in staff meetings this week.

So this week is off to Indianola. The Storm did put up a lot of offense last week in a 41-28 loss to Buena Vista. Senior running back Adam Reutzel has rushed for over one hundred yards for the first three weeks of the season. But the Storm were anything but one-dimensional. Freshman wide receiver Nick Burden caught seven balls for 111 yards last week. The Storm defense did give up nearly 340 yards and 41 points last week. The Storm will prevent a challenge offensively to the Norse defense, (and vice versa) and the Norse offense will face challenges not have the same personel this week. We'll wait and see.

Just audio streaming and terresterial radio this week. Saturday Jerry and I will bring it to you, pregame 12:40 pregame, 1:00 kickoff, kwlc.luther.edu and AM 1240-KWLC Posted by Darin Svenson at 9:19 AM |  0 comments

Monday, September 8, 2008

St. Olaf Review

In many ways it was a typical first game Saturday for the Luther College Norse. Some good, some bad, a lot to work on after a 23-14 loss to St. Olaf.

We'll start with the good. Defense was good but not great. It was on the field way too much. Your opponents having 38:21 in time of possession will not lead to success at any level. While a lot of that can go on the offense's inconsistency, the defense itself needs to take its share of the blame. Making key plays at key times is something the defense needs to do better. While 5-19 on the third downs is good, 5-5 on fourth downs is unacceptable. On the good side, holding a normally high powered offense in St. Olaf to 262 yards and 3.3 yards per play is very, very acceptable. Coach Durnin talks a lot about explosive plays, getting them on offense and preventing them on defense. The defense did it's job not allowing a play longer than 14 yards.

Turnovers and field position normally lead to success. Luther won both categories on Saturday. Field position wise, Luther averaged their own 41 yard line and St. Olaf averaged their own 37. The Norse were also plus two on the turnover ratio. Offensive inconsistency led to these stats not leading to victory, but if the Norse keep winning these two stats good things will come down the road.

I know some may think it's trite, but Luther showed some grit and character late in the ballgame. While everyone on the sideline was frustrated being down 23-0, but the frustration was channeled into something positive. The offense had drives of 55 and 59 yards to scores late in the ballgame and made things more interesting at the end of the game than they were in the beginning of the fourth quarter. A little bit of moxy and swagger were shown as well, and not in a bad way. It would have been easy to roll over and play dead down 23-0. They didn't. It may be trite but it's true.

What will saw out of the offense on Saturday was growing pains. A freshman quarterback. A new full time running back. New pieces on the offensive line. Chris Reynolds ended the day 10-23 for 90 yards. Those numbers will get better. Reynolds really struggled in the first half. The reasons are likely multiple. Nerves from his first college start. A new system that everyone needs to get used to. Some new parts. While Norse fans hoped for better, what happended Saturday probably wasn't surprising in retrospect. Most importantly, many coaches will tell you getting an offensive line to gel as a single collective unit is one of the most difficult things to get done. All in all, the start was Saturday. The offense is still in crawl before they can walk mode. Hopefully, we'll see the full steps in two weeks.

Now a week off. Most coaches think teams make their most improvements between games one and two. For the second straight year, the Norse have two weeks to have those improvements. Get ready for speed, speed and more speed against Dubuque in two weeks. Dubuque defeated Rockford 49-7 Saturday night in the college's new stadium debut. The Spartans will be at Redlands College next week. Posted by Darin Svenson at 7:47 AM |  0 comments

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Neil Young and Death Cab bust it up to Minnesota

Posted by Ben at 11:24 AM |  0 comments

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