The Luther football team hopes to move into title contention in the Iowa Conference race this season. The Norsemen finished 5-5 a year ago in Mike Durnin’s first season as head coach. He likes their chances to climb in the standings. He says they have some juniors and sophomores that got a lot of playing time last year that return to go with the seniors.
Durnin says pre-season camp is a critical time of the season as he says you need to get schemes retaught to be sure they are ready to take on the game of football mentally. Then physically they have to be ready to handle the contact. Durnin hopes the defense is as successful as it was in 2008. The Norse ranked second in the Iowa Conference in defense and they gave up only 14.5 points per contest.
He says they need turnovers and to stop the explosive plays to keep the other team out of the endzone. Quarterback Chris Reynolds returns after earning the starting job as a freshman. Luther’s offense is looking to improve after ranking eighth in the league in ’08.
Luther opens the season at St. Olaf on September fifth.