Scouting Temple - Talkin' Special Teams

[1987alum]

I know the mention of special teams is enough to unnerve the staunchest of BG football fans this year. They weren't really much of a factor in last year's Temple-BG game but, as we all know, things are different this year.

Kick returns
Temple's KR have struggled, averaging just a shade more than 20 yards per return. OTOH, its kick coverage teams have struggled in limited time; face it, when your team doesn't score much, you're not covering a lot of kicks. That said, Temple opponents have averaged 35 yards per return.

Punt returns
Between giving up a fair number of points and generating some takeaways, Temple has only returned six punts and hasn't done well with them, averaging fewer than three yards per return. The coverage team has already given up a TD. If you take away that long return, they are still giving up 10 yards per return.

Punting
With 29 punts on the board, we have a good idea of what Temple can do here. They average 38 yards per kick and Jake Hendy has put six of 25 punts inside the 20.

Kicking
Ryan Lux is quite the enigma. When he signed out of JC, he was heralded as THE kicker. He was supposed to make Temple a threat to score once they crossed the 50. He's shown flashes, but has been uneven in his performance. This year, he's only had two FG attempts, hitting both from inside 30 yards. Last year, he hit 27 of 28 XP (jealous?) and 9 of 17 FGs.

Taken all together, this is probably a wash for BG, with the exception of Lux, who is clearly superior to whomever we lineup for PATs or, God forbid, a FG.

[michhiker28]

"Kicking
Ryan Lux is quite the enigma. When he signed out of JC, he was heralded as THE kicker. He was supposed to make Temple a threat to score once they crossed the 50. He's shown flashes, but has been uneven in his performance. This year, he's only had two FG attempts, hitting both from inside 30 yards. Last year, he hit 27 of 28 XP (jealous?) and 9 of 17 FGs.

Taken all together, this is probably a wash for BG, with the exception of Lux, who is clearly superior to whomever we lineup for PATs or, God forbid, a FG."

I'll give the NCAA up to half my kingdom if they let us have Suisham back.

[1987alum]

My bigger concern is next year, etc. How are we going to address this moving forward?

We're not big on JUCO kids, but I wonder if we'll look for a Lux-like kid next year to stand in the gap.

[UK Peregrine]

This year, he's only had two FG attempts, hitting both from inside 30 yards. Last year, he hit 27 of 28 XP (jealous?) and 9 of 17 FGs.

Kicking truly is an odd game. I would take the 27/28 XPs, but the 53% field percentage is atrocious. Last year he ranked as one of the worst kickers in the NCAA for field goal percentage. Granted, at least it appears that Temple can attempt a field goal on occasion. That would be nice.

[1987alum]

UK:

That's what I mean. He came to Temple with the reputation for being not only consistent, but able to hit long field goals.

He wasn't very good last year, as you point out, and if you dig deeper into the stats, it's not because he was attempting a lot of long field goals. He only lined up for 4 beyond 40 yards, hitting one. He was only 3 of 5 between 20 and 29 yards.

But if you look further back, you'll see why Temple was excited to get him. He hit 21 of 29 FGs (long of 52) in 2003, when he also hit 30 of 32 PATs. That was good enough to lead the JC nation in kick scoring. As a freshmen, he hit 11 of 15 FGs (long of 50) and 25 of 30 PATs as a freshman. For a JUCO kicker, those are some good numbers. But he just hasn't been the weapon the Owls thought he would be.

Here's the question - if there is a JUCO kid out there with these types of numbers, should BG pursue him?

[michhiker28]

Isn't Noah going to be at the Temple Game?

If so I say let him kick...heck, it's an improvment over where we are.

--MH

[1987alum]

Isn't Noah going to be at the Temple Game?

If so I say let him kick...heck, it's an improvment over where we are.

--MH

No, he'll be at the Ohio game, though.

[michhiker28]

Isn't Noah going to be at the Temple Game?

If so I say let him kick...heck, it's an improvment over where we are.

--MH

No, he'll be at the Ohio game, though.

Well, I'll post a message for the kitty kats to look out if we are inside the 20, cause Noah will be bootin em through