Second place in the Iowa Conference is on the line today as the Central College football team heads to Decorah to battle Luther on the blue turf at Carlson Stadium.

The high-flying Dutch are coming off a record-setting romp over Loras last week, while the Norse have used an old school triple-option attack to outmuscle opponents all season long.

Central coach Jeff McMartin says that as the game of football has evolved, you see fewer and fewer teams running the option, which makes it a challenge for the rest of the league. The Dutch have had as much success against it as anybody in recent years, and McMartin says there are several keys to slowing it down.

“You can’t let their lineman get too far downfield onto your linebackers and safeties, so you have to defeat blocks early up front. You have to have people who are good with assignments and know who they have, and at some point you have to switch up those assignments. It’s kind of a guessing game or a chess match, keeping it different for their offense so they don’t know who has who in our assignments.”

Kickoff is at 1:00 today at Carlson Stadium in Decorah. Join Trevor Castle and Don DeWaard for the play-by-play on 92.1 KRLS, beginning with pregame coverage at 12:35.