Staff Blog

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Coe Review

I've still been chewing rolaids since Saturday and wondering how a team whose defense gives up just 191 yards and six points LOSES a game. That's what happended Saturday as Coe defeated Luther 22-19 in overtime for its fifth straight win over the Norse.

First things first, Luther felt Saturday like Buena Vista felt the previous week. BV outgained 265-161, had 77 offensive plays compared to Luther's 56, including many more inside the opponents terrority and had the ball for four more minutes. Good fortune and karma giveth. Good fortune and karma taketh away.

On the positive side, this Norse defense continues to impress. The defense it's self has given up nine points in the last three games. 161 yards given up. 3.7 yards per play. 2.9 yards per rush. 8 of Coe's 16 possessions were three and out. Seven tackles for a loss. Two sacks. Three takeaways. It's unfortunate that such an effort was not rewarded Saturday afternoon.

Special teams was a vast disappointment. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Coe fumbles the ball and to his credit, Chad Reifschneider for Coe picks up the ball, plays to the whistle and takes it in for six. Weird play. One guy plays to the whistle on the field. Later in the game, Jesse Kent tries to field a punt inside the ten yard line, fumbles into the end zone and Coe recovers for six points. To be fair to Jesse, he was trying to make a play and by letting the ball go with Kohawks all around him, the ball could have been downed inside the five yard line. But if you're going to do that, a-you have to be smart and b-you have to secure possession and take care of the ball. Otherwise the high risk, high reward proposition turns to disaster.

Another week, another missed extra point. Granted, you don't know how the game would have played out but the safety that tied the game would have led to a one point deficit for Coe. Five extra points in seven games. Unacceptable. The Norse kicking game has been an adventure this year. But scoring touchdowns and getting six on the board instead of seven cannot continue to happen.

Offensively, the consistency just hasn't been there. Saturday, the running game failed to get going. 2.5 yards per carry this week. 1.7 yards per carry last week. Unacceptable. No matter how many plays you can make in the passing game, teams need to run the ball consistenly to win. And I don't believe it's a one or two person problem. It's a team issue. All persons involved in the running game must step up and improve that facet.

The timing of the passing game was off all day Saturday. Chris Reynolds was not on his game, due in part to the Coe defense putting more pressure on him than any other defense this season. And when Reynolds was on target, Luther receivers often dropped catchable balls. The difference between the offense against Buena Vista and Coe was key plays at key times. Against BV, the offense made one extra play, got one first down instead of a three and out and held the ball for nine minutes when the Beavers had the wind. Luther often on Saturday put themselves behind the eight ball by negativity on first and second down. Long story longer, consistency just wasn't there. Coach Durnin always talks about whoever is on the field the expectation is to perform. That's what it's gotta to be in the final three weeks.

A win against Coe could have made this week huge. A little bit of luster is off but the Norse can also knock Wartburg out of the top spot in the league with a win this week. 1-0 this Saturday. That will be the goal. Conference title hopes are still alive, but now you need some help. The entire focus needs to be Wartburg. Dreaming big is nice. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. A win Saturday could bring a little more excitement to the last two weeks. A loss Saturday and you're playing out the season.

Posted by Darin Svenson at 7:49 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

BV Review

I apologize for missing the blog last week. My bad. No excuses. No alibi. But a lot to talk about this week.

Saturday was one of the most entertaining 6-3 games you'll ever see. The momentum swung back and forth like a musical metronome. Both teams with many opportunities. Both teams rose to the occassion many times. Fortunately, the Norse won and now they're tied for first place in the league.

Defense wins championships. The Luther defense held Buena Vista to 1-3 in the red zone, with the only score being a field goal. The Beavers came into the game scoring 78 percent of the time in the red zone. That doesn't include a stop on the last play of the game with Buena Vista when Josh Patterson knocked down a pass to Eric Bertelsen in the end zone. A lot of heroes on defense. Alex Mierau was the Iowa conference male athlete of the week with 19 tackles, 15 solo and two passes defensed. Sean Hood had ten tackles. Will Bothe with nine tackles and one for a loss. Cody Webb with three tackles for a loss. Paul Pierson with a sack. Interceptions by Trevor Theobald and Jeremy Klein. Needless to say it was a fine effort by the entire defense. Many felt going into the season Luther had a good enough defense to be competitive in every game they play. With the exception of the Simpson game that has been the case.

Another game ball to Nate Neblung, who was the Norse punter Saturday as regular punter Andrew Burkle was taking a test to get into graduate school. Neblung averaged 37.6 per punt with a long of 51 yards. Yes, he did have a strong wind at his back for a lot of the game, but did a good job of keeping the ball away from the Beavers returners. He even had a 40 yarder against the wind with a roll. Every time a Norse player has gone down this year, the backup has stepped up. As coach Durnin always says, the expectation is if you get on the field, you're to perform. That was the case on special teams with Neblung.

Things were difficult for the offense Saturday, but they did take advantage of a short field in the first quarter and scored. Try Scheetz caught his first collegiate touchdown pass from Chris Reynolds and Reynolds showed some nice improvisation on the play. Also after an interception in the third quarter the Norse had a 62 yard, 14 play drive that unfortunately led to a missed field goal. Despite the inconsitency on offense, there were many situations the offense helped in the victory, other than the ones listed above. In the second half, in four of six drives by Luther they earned a first down. A first down here and there made the clock run that much more and allowed the field position battle to sway in the Norse's favor. Without some key plays at key times, the Norse would not have been victorious Saturday. That said, the consistency on offense needs to get a lot better for continued success.

So, Luther has played themselves into a spot that they control their own destiny with four games to go. But all of the focus needs to be on Coe. Need to be 1-0 today, tomorrow, the next day, Saturday. Luther is good enough to beat any team remaining on the schedule. But, the margin of error is small enough for any team to beat them. Consistency needs to get better on all sides of the ball. If that happens, Happy feelings could continue.

Posted by Darin Svenson at 7:07 AM | 2 comments

Monday, October 6, 2008

Central Review

Norse coach Mike Durnin told me last week Central is a football program that sets the standard for NCAA Division three football. Numerous Iowa conference championships, playoff apperances and is the only school in the state to win a national title. That said, it's really sweet to beat them and that's exactly what Luther was able to do on Saturday.

Of course, the game changing play was the Alex Mierau record setting 97 yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first half. It was game changing in two ways. One, it kept Central out of the end zone. Central scores there, it's a 14-6 ballgame and the game has a different tone from that point. There's even a different tone if it's 10-6. But to keep them off the board, and score yourself, Central was not the same team after that point.

Another key point in the game that won't get as much attention is after the Central first score. After the Dutch scored with 4:42 left in the first quarter, the Norse rallied back with a 62 yard, eight play drive in 3:52 ending with a Chris Reynolds to Eric Olson 15 yard touchdown reception. An answer there was important meaning the Norse could take the first punch and counter it. It sent the message to Central that they were going to be in for a ballgame.

The defensive performance left a lot to be desired against Simpson a week ago. This week, different story, especially in the second half. Central had five first downs in the second half, but three came on the final drive when the Norse were playing preventive. The two before that were on a fake punt and a penalty on the same drive. That's controlling things. Six of Central's 14 drives were three and out and another was a four and out. Central, who was perfect in the red zone coming into the ballgame, was only one for three on Saturday afternoon. It was the type of effort that many of us expected from the defense on a game in game out basis this season. You could tell the defense was upset at themselves for their performance against Simpson.

Balanced offense was another key to Saturday's victory. The Norse rushed for 186 yards and passed for 199 yards. Freshman quarterback Chris Reynolds accounted for 300 yards of offense, passing for 199 and rushing for 101 yards, including a 58 yard touchdown run. Running back Derek Leigh had a decent day, rushing for 84 yards on 24 carries and is looking more comfortable as time goes by. Jerry and I have talked about the need for consistency on offense all season. Slowly, but surely, Luther is reaching that level.

Luther has defended it's home field in conference play, knocking off Dubuque and Central, two teams that were picked towards the top of the league. The Iowa Conference was rattled a bit on Saturday, with Luther beating Central and Buena Vista taking the conference lead with a victory over Wartburg in Storm Lake. BV will travel to Loras this weekend in a battle of unbeatens. Defending the home field will be crucial to see who wins this league and you'll need to steal some on the road.

Breaking it down, road teams are 4-8 in the league so far, with Coe winning twice (but also losing at home to Loras, albeit in controversial way) and Wartburg. The Norse have only two home games left this season, three in-conference and four total games are left away from Carlson Stadium. To take this program to the next level, wins on the road are necessary. And based on what has happended to this point, they will be anything but easy.

Posted by Darin Svenson at 7:59 AM | 0 comments

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