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With the season getting closer and closer, one area of the team I am very concerned about – aside from our defense – is our kicking game. Particularly, our place kicking on field goals and extras points. I remember reading an article from Coach Brandon that essentially hinted about "going for it" more often in field goal territory, but without having seen our place kicking, I'm pretty concerned. There are certainly going to be games where our kicking game isn't going to be much of an issue when we win by a lot. But in big games, when teams buckle down in the red-zones and the score is very close, a lot of games are won and lost because of the kicking game. I just have a very strong feeling that games like Miami, Toledo, Wisconsin and Boise State are going to put our kicking game to the test.

guess we will have to wait and see....

on paper i dont mind goin for it...omar 4 chances to get a 1st down sounds pretty hard to stop. its hard enough to stop him from gettin a 1st down in 2 chances

I believe the guy we have hit a 40 yarder last year, he was 1 for 1 on the season. Obviously he has some range, hopefully his accuracy sticks with him as well. I'm more worried about our kicking game after this season...

We've decided to not commit to a real strong placekicking section this season. Frankly , we do score a lot and FGs are not vital. On the other hand, there could come that one game where we really need a kick, and we may not be ready.

A 40-yarder isn't that long, IMO.

orangeandbrown wrote:A 40-yarder isn't that long, IMO.

No it isn't that long. But do you think we will ever really be past 40 yards away at the end of a drive and not punt?

Sure. A 40 yard FG means the line of scrimmage is at the 23. We're not going to punt in that situation. It hurts in situations like 4-15 from the other team's 30. I just worry we're going to need a last second FG to win a game and we're not going to have anyone.

I think you will, there are many teams out there with big ???'s next to kicker/punter. (Miami is one.... but not really. tOAMU, didn't TU lose their kicker, and NIU has some work to do, if memory serves, so the tops of the MAC are in the same situation.)

This won't be a consistent issue but, as alluded to, only needs to hurt us once to be a big problem. I'm cautiously optimistic about Timchenko.

1987alum wrote:This won't be a consistent issue but, as alluded to, only needs to hurt us once to be a big problem. I'm cautiously optimistic about Timchenko.

Exactly 1987alum. We will have to wait and see, and I am also cautiously optimistic as well. But I can almost say for sure, there will come a time in a game this season where we will need a big field goal. It may be to win a game or it may be to distance ourselves a little bit, but a solid kicking game is huge and it's always a part of the team that is overlooked until something goes wrong....kind of line offensive lineman. Despite how explosive we are and can be offensively, we can't score TDs every single possession. And I'll certainly take 3 points as opposed to a punt or turnover on downs any day.

MiamiBando wrote:didn't TU lose their kicker....

Actually, no, I think Todd France will be back for his 17th year handling the kicking duties for the Rockettes.