we went from having the best kickers every year to it being a weakness. The things you take for granted…
Rhule: “I’m concerned about the kicking, make no mistake about that..."
- Thread starter king_kong_
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Agree. Or maybe tied with Barthel for most disappointing. I just finished watching the SMU/Nevada game. Both teams were solid in all aspects of special teams (except for one Nevada mistake). Unlike Nebraska that finds ways to make several ST mistakes in almost every game.
Along with so many others, I wonder what the hell Foley has these kids doing that our overall kicking game is so weak. He needs to quit trying to make these kids be something that they're not, and just get some consistency in those areas.
For every good kick that Buschini has, he shanks 2. Just quit trying to be precise and kick the effing ball into either of the 2 outer thirds of the field and let your defense do their job. BB showed us all last year that he isn't capable of putting multiple good kicks together, so quit getting cute and just kick the s.o.b.
As far as the placekickers, I agree with others in how the hell can we keep winding up with kickers that are injured? Are we trying to add too many yards to their overall distance? If so, I'll take highly consistent 40 yard field goal kicker and make that work. Taking the wind in the 4th quarter many times there will be enough of a breeze to add maybe 5 yards to the kick anyway.
I say either Foley gets it done this year, or he needs to be sent packing. NU cannot afford to be disadvantaged week after week in the overall kicking game and expect to go anywhere.
The only thing that appears to be trending upward regarding specialty teams play is the coach's salary. Remember when everyone was up in arms over how much Bruce Read was making and the product on the field. Foley is making a $100K north of that.
I’m thinking give HH a try at kicking
I believe every offensive coach aside from Thomas is in a contract year
Same for Foley.
This is a good thing, IMO
With the way punting and kicking is going the best we can hope for is consistent extra points, good punt coverage, and some blocked fg/punts out of our highly paid coach.
consistent 40 yd punts and fg's would allow the team to know exactly what they had to do. foley needs to be sent out and scout greasy spoons to write a book or something.
Foley inherited a kicker last year. Turned him from a well oiled machine into a clunker.
it's insane that we can't land another punter after 2 years of Buchini
we have money, the portal is open, we have immediate playing time, we have history
I just don't get it
we have money, the portal is open, we have immediate playing time, we have history
I just don't get it
If Bama can steal Miami (OH) excellent kicker, then why can't we steal a great one from someone? LOL
Well yes there is something worse. Running the ball down their throat to the one yard line, Having a 5 yard false start, and then throwing an interception on second and six. i.e. Minnesota
Didn't we get the son of the best ever punter to play at Nebraska that had a decade + NFL career? I guess I'll wait to see Koch actually suck on field before I write him off.
Sure, my post was actually related to the kicking game.
It would be disappointing if he’s not our #1 punter come Saturday
Pretty much a "could he be worse?" for me. How many years have we had the worst punter in every game we play?
Here is a semi-detailed look at the NU punting/placekicking game last year:
NU opp punted 65 times last season, NU returned 16 for 48 yards, the longest return? 8 yds;
NU opponents returned 19 of NU's 58 punts for 144 yards, the longest being 30 yards;
On average, NU returned 1 of every 4 punts, Opponents returned 1 of every 3 punts.
On kickoffs, Alvano had touchbacks on 14 of 32 kickoffs-- 44%;
Overall NU kicked off 45 times with 19 touchbacks-- 42%
Opponents kicked off 46 times with 29 touchbacks-- 63%.
Alvano was 9-15 in FG sttempts last year --60%;
He was GOOD at 20-29 yards (2-2), 30-39 yards (4-5), 50+ yards (1-1)--7/8 or 88%;
The killer distance was 40-49 yards, 2 for 7--29%.
NU had 6 games last year where we missed a FG. 50% of NU's games had a missed FG.
NU lost 4 of those games by 3 points or less.
The anatomy of a 5-7 team.
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I have no Idea. But Alvano attempted all of the kicks in practice during the end of game simulation.
Excellent analysis. Thank you for putting this together. As much as we want to blame turnovers this ALSO gives us perspective. I'm guessing if we went back to 3rd and fourth down conversions and untimely penalties, we could find more areas that assisted with losses. That is why I often kick back on turnovers being the key issue. It was a combination of a lot of offensive ineptness.
