Month: September 2017

Kick Coverage, Week 4: There was no shank, Beatrice. Look right here.

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Image credit: Travis Bell/Sideline Carolina

Kick Coverage, Week 4

After UCONN’s Michael Tarbutt missed a would-be game-tying field goal at the end of Monday’s make up game against East Carolina, Huskies linebacker Junior Joseph said to the media, “As soon as I leave this building, I will forget about the game.”

While his point was more that the team shouldn’t dwell on the loss, forgetting is a luxury that doesn’t always come easy to kickers—just ask South Carolina’s Parker White. The walk-on’s performance has been heavily scrutinized this year, especially after he missed twice in the first half during Saturday’s scrap with Louisiana Tech. Entering the fourth quarter, he had yet to make a field goal on the year (0/4).

When he was called upon to try a 21-yard chip shot that would put the Cocks up one with just seconds left, White had not only the kick to face, but his memory.

“It’s tough. We don’t have the Men in Black little thing to erase our memory. It’s going to be in the back of your head. You just have to do your best to forget. I had people come up to me on the sideline after the second kick just telling me to forget about it.”

Whether it was the pep talks or someone did actually neuralyze him, it worked:

Kicker of the Week:

Trevor Moore, North Texas – 4/4 FG: 29, 40, 45, 22 (GW); 4/4 XPs

Four kickers this week went 4/4 or better on field goals, but the only one whose contributions didn’t come in a blowout were Trevor Moore’s of North Texas. The senior from Edmond, Oklahoma hit 40 and 45-yarders early in the fourth quarter that helped give the Mean Green a 14-point lead. After UAB surged back to tie the game with 0:27 remaining, a solid UNT kick return and then a 34-yard rush put Moore in position to win the game from what would amount to not much more than a PAT. Conveniently, Moore has hit every single extra point in his career (116/116), and he showed that consistency one more time by hitting this 22-yarder for the eventual win:

A four-year starter, Moore is 6 for 7 on the year after hitting between 64-69% of his attempts the past two seasons. Prior to arriving in Denton, Moore was first-team All-Oklahoma his senior year of high school and ranked No. 21 in Kohl’s Kicking Camps Class of 2014.

Extra Points:

1) I might as well just reserve this space as the Matt Gay tracker. The nation’s current leader in nearly every field goal kicking category continued his amazing maiden season by going 3/3 (41, 26, 37) in Utah’s 30-24 win over Arizona on Friday night.

The former Olympic development soccer player has 56 points on the year, which already puts him nearly halfway to the single-season school record of 122 by Louie Sakoda in 2008.

2) The latest school to have fallen into a kicker-by-committee situation is Texas Tech. After preseason All-Big 12 selection Clayton Hatfield was reduced to taking only PATs due to a hip injury, junior Michael Barden and freshman Michael Ewton were put on field goal duty. Barden is 2/2 with a long of 47 over the past two weeks while Ewton went 1/3 on Saturday, missing from 31 and 33 in Tech’s 27-24 win over Houston.

Given the range and accuracy Barden has already displayed (albeit in a small sample size), it’s interesting then that head coach Kliff Kingsbury seems content on continuing with the two-kicker system: “We have two guys, and we have confidence in both,” Kingsbury said in his post-game comments. “Obviously, Ewton missed a couple that we’ve got to be able to make, but Barden’s struck the ball well, so we’ll see moving forward if that’s going to be his job or not. We’ll continue to have them compete, and hopefully we can feel comfortable with the combination of both at some point.”

3) Down in FCS, Northern Colorado’s Collin Root is having a hell of a year. Already the owner of a 56-yard make (which would tie for longest this season in FBS) earlier this year and at least one in high school, Root further padded his mom’s scrapbook with this game-winning 37 yarder against Idaho State:

A redshirt sophomore, Root was previously a walk-on at Wyoming.

Doink of the Week:

Just when we thought Week 4 was going have even more kicker heroics, sophomore Michael Tarbutt pushed his potential game-tying 33 yarder wide right as time expired on Monday afternoon.

Tarbitt broke down his miss after the game, citing faulty mechanics:

“My plant got a bit close. It forced me to kind of keep my hips closed, and I just pushed the ball.”

Way-Too-Early Groza Predictions: 

Much like the past few weeks, we are still without a clear third finalist. Gay is still unquestionably the favorite and I feel pretty comfortable keeping Nordin locked into the #2 spot even though his field goal kicking foot remained idle this past weekend.

Whereas in the past few weeks no one seemed worthy of the third finalist spot, way too many do this week. Toledo’s Jameson Vest added a 49-yarder to his previously short, but still 11/12 resume; Emilio Nadelman’s big day make him and his 8/9 tally hard to ignore (even though his longest is ‘only’ 44); and Cole Murphy is quietly having a 8/9 year with three from 40-49 up at Syracuse.

But because the Groza panelists probably aren’t completely rational actors, if the season ended today I still think they’d send pre-season favorite Daniel Carlson to Palm Beach for the third consecutive year. That’s not to say the senior doesn’t deserve it–in a 3/3 day on Saturday, Carlson was successful from 52 and 54 yards out, making him 8/11 overall and 3/4 from 50+ on the year.

  1. Matt Gay, Utah (14/14 FGs, 2/2 from 50+, 14/14 XPs)
  2. Quinn Nordin, Michigan (11/13 FGs, 2/3 from 50+, 13/13 XPs)
  3. Daniel Carlson, Auburn (8/11 FGs, 3/4 from 50+, 14/14 XPs)

Long Ball Leaderboard Through Week 4:

Twenty-seven made field goals this year have come from 50 or longer. Nearly 40% of those came this past weekend. I’d say everyone is beginning to find their groove.

[table id=LW4 /]

Kicker Survivor Leaderboard Through Week 4:

And then there were 30. Thirteen more kickers missed an FGA this weekend, some on their first attempt of the year. While Matt Gay’s streak looked untouchable as recently as last week, a miss soon from him and more big days from Mike Weaver and Dominik Eberle (like they had this past weekend) would put them in sound position to challenge the current leader.

Eliminated this week (school, streak): Colton Lichtenberg (Boston College, 6); Michael Rubino (App. State, 5); Louie Zervos (Ohio, 5); Samuel Sloman (Miami OH, 4); Miguel Recinos (Iowa, 3); Connor Martin (Baylor, 2); Tom O’Leary (Akron, 2); Henry Darmstadter (Maryland, 1); Michael Ewton (Texas Tech, 1); Calvin Linden (Louisiana-Lafayette, 0); Evan Legassey (Troy, 0); Daniel Gutierrez (UNLV, 0); Lucas Havrisik (Arizona, 0). 

[table id=survivor4 /]

Game Winners (Under 1:00 to play) :

In addition to the two mentioned above, there was a third FBS late game-winner came on Saturday. A a 53-yarder by New Mexico’s Jason Sanders, it was by far the longest winner on the year thus far:

Sanders is having as great a run as almost any kicker in the country, making 18 of his last 20 between 2017 and 2016. The game-winner against Tulsa was his career long.

An ongoing list of the season’s de facto game winners can be found on the season hub page.

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Kick Coverage, Week 3: DOUBLE FIELD GOAL ATTEMPT, WHAT DOES IT MEAN

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Kick Coverage, Week 3

Despite there some superb kicking performances in Week 3, the one who got the most attention was Tyler Hopkins of Texas Lutheran (DIII):

While the play wasn’t explicitly legal, the kick stood (apparently double kicks aren’t reviewable plays, let alone at the DIII level). Expect clarification in the NCAA rulebook to come this offseason—for now, we’ll proactively call it The Hopkins Rule.

My favorite part is that the Belhaven players look so confused by the circumstances of the play, they aren’t sure if protesting is appropriate or not.

Kicker of the Week:

Matt Gay, Utah – 4/4 FG: 21, 56, 50, 20; 6/6 XPs

If there were any lingering doubts about Matt Gay’s ability or range, those were silenced on Saturday. In Utah’s 54-16 win over San Jose State, the former Utah Valley University soccer player hit a 56-yarder from nearly on top of the Utes’ mid-field logo:

The kick was the second-longest in school history (59 yards from a tee, Marv Bateman in 1971) and marks the first time a Utah player has made two 50+ yarders in the same game. It’s also the FBS’ current longest make. Additionally, the senior leads Kicker Nation in points, field goals made (tied), field goal percentage (tied), field goals made from 40+, and field goals made from 50+.

Extra Points:

1) Perhaps the only kicker in America right now as hot as Gay (kicking-wise) remains Michigan’s Quinn Nordin. From five field goals and two extra points, Nordin accrued 17 points on Saturday, or nearly 60% of the Wolverines’ offense during their 29-13 win over Air Force. This is hardly an anomaly for the week, as on the season Nordin has accounted for 42 of UM’s 98 points (42.9%). His 11 field goals made are well on pace to shatter the school record of 25, set by Remy Hamilton in 1994. Before the game, he did this too:

 

2) If this week was supposed to clear up the placekicking situation at Tennesssee, Saturday in the Swamp may have just made things murkier. After going the first two weeks without having to attempt a field goal, head coach Butch Jones tried out both senior Aaron Medley and freshman Brent Cimaglia during the Vols’ heartbreaking loss to Florida. The latter got the call first, making a 51-yarder just before halftime (his first collegiate attempt).

But after missing one from the same distance in the 3rd and one from 47 before that, Medley was called upon for the next two attempts, missing from 44 and making from 27. Based on Jones’ postgame comments, it appears that the two-pronged approach will remain intact for now, with Cimaglia taking the longer attempts and Medley (9/26 from 40+ in his career) taking the chip shots.

3) The effectiveness of icing (kickers, not bros) is oft-debated, but on Saturday it worked for James Franklin and Penn State (nevermind that the Nittany Lions were up 56-0 in the game’s final seconds). After the unconventional timeout, Georgia State’s Brandon Wright missed the 31-yard attempt to preserve the PSU shutout. In Franklin’s defense (sort of), he said his intention wasn’t to try and shake up redshirt sophomore Wright (who was 1/1 on the season up to that point):

WFAN’s Mike Francesca didn’t exactly buy it, calling Franklin a ‘horse’s ass’ and ‘absolute disgrace’, among other compliments.

4) Gary Wunderlich was shut down in the second quarter of Ole Miss’ loss at Cal on Saturday and did not return. Other than that the issue was with his hamstring, there’s been no word on the condition of the senior that went 22/23 on FGs last season. Wunderlich and the Rebels will enjoy a bye this coming weekend.

Doink of the Week:

Walk-on and redshirt freshman Michael Schreiner was thrust into UMASS’ placekicking role earlier than expected this year after junior Mike Caggiano and senior (punter) Logan Laurent both accrued injuries. On Friday night, Schreiner missed from 23, 39, and 32 in the Minutemen’s 29-21 loss to Temple. That makes Schreiner 0/4 for field goals on the year, though a small silver lining is that he’s yet to miss a PAT (13/13).

While coach Mark Whipple said he was ‘surprised’ considering how well Schreiner had been performing in practice, others on the team were more outspoken in their support for the Webster, NY native:

“Schreiner will be good, he’s our guy,” senior linebacker Steve Casali said. “The whole team has Schreiner’s back and he’ll be good. Schreiner is one of the mentally toughest kids I’ve met in my life, so he’ll be fine. He’ll bounce back from this, without a doubt.”

Way-Too-Early Groza Predictions: 

It’s a two-horse race at this early, early point. Eventually, I’d like to go back and see how the Groza pollsters have voted in extremely tight races (if there have been any). At a glance, the award has gone overwhelmingly to those at Power 5 schools which wouldn’t make a difference in the Gay vs. Nordin battle we have going on. However, just twice has an underclassman won the award (FSU freshman Roberto Aguayo in 2013 and Cincinnati sophomore Jonathan Ruffin in 2000), which is why I shuffled the top two for this week. And as fun everyone’s been having with Nordin’s story, Gay’s is arguably even better.

Third place could be any one of about 6-10 kickers all having equally-successful seasons. While I’d like to see a G5 player represent in December, I imagine in such a close case it would be a more-exposed (TV-wise) kicker that gets the panel’s nod:

  1. Matt Gay, Utah (11/11 FGs, 2/2 from 50+, 11/11 XPs)
  2. Quinn Nordin, Michigan (11/13 FGs, 2/3 from 50+, 9/9 XPs)
  3. Matt Ammendola, Oklahoma State (5/7 FGs, 2/3 from 40+, 21/21 XPs)

Long Ball Leaderboard Through Week 3:

After just three weeks, it now takes a 50+ yarder to crack the longest field goal leaderboard. This week we see a couple of new faces/feet, while the new cutoff leaves just Gay and Nordin (who else?) as the only two to occupy two spots.

Gay’s 56-yarder would have finished as the second-longest make last season.

[table id=LW3 /]

Kicker Survivor Leaderboard Through Week 3:

Twenty-four kickers biffed themselves out of Kicker Survivor this weekend by recording their first misses of the season. Remaining with perfect track records on the season is just 34, though nearly half that number only have 1-2 attempts to their name. Like he’s done with his kicking game overall this season, Matt Gay has raised the bar quickly and early, giving himself a comfy lead on the pack even if he were to miss his next attempt.

Eliminated this week (school, streak): John Baron II (SDSU, 6), Josh Williams (SMU, 5), Garrett Owens (Iowa St., 4), Jimmy Camacho (Fresno St., 3), Austin Parker (Duke, 3), Erik Powell (Washington St., 3), Jason Sanders (New Mexico, 3), Drew Brown (Nebraska, 2), Spencer Evans ( Purdue, 2), Trevor Moore (North Texas, 2), Nick Rice (Old Dominion, 2), Luke Strebel (Air Force, 2), Sawyer Williams (Arkansas St., 2), Evan Brown (Coastal Carolina, 2), Will Harrison (Rice, 1), Emilio Nadelman (South Florida, 1), Ryan Nuss (Western Kentucky, 1), Brandon Wright (Georgia St., 1), Aaron Medley (Tennessee, 1), Brent Cimgalia (Tennessee, 1), Chase McGrath (USC, 0), JK Scott (Alabama, 0), Luke Logan (Ole Miss, 0), Parker White (South Carolina, 0).

[table id=survivor3 /]

Game Winners (Under 1:00 to play) :

Freshman Chase McGrath did this to Texas in overtime (43 yards):

Not bad for your second career attempt.

At about the same time, Louisiana Tech’s Jonathan Barnes registered the season’s third game winner, all but downing Western Kentucky with this 21-yarder that left just :02 on the clock:

An ongoing list of the season’s de facto game winners can be found on the season hub page.

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Kick Coverage, Week 2: Woo Pig Gloomy

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Kick Coverage, Week 2

Week 2 filled our plates with quite a balanced selection from the kicker buffet: long makes, the season’s first game-winner, and several heart-string pulling moments (both the good and bad kind).

The story of the weekend was what happened down in Fayetteville, in which a 22-year old kicker became a scapegoat for a fanbase’s collective decades of frustration (more on that nonsense below).

Fortunately, the rest of Kickerville represented well with a number of performances that hopefully serve as a sampling of a greater kicking feast to come.

Let me know anything I missed in the comments or on Twitter at @cfbkickerstats.

Kicker of the Week:

Matt Ammendola, Oklahoma State – 3/4 FG: 31, 53, 48; 5/5 XPs

If you happened to tune into the Friday night tilt between Oklahoma State and South Alabama in Mobile, you saw a great kicking performance from Matt Ammendola.

Playing his first full season with FG duties, the redshirt sophomore opened the game’s scoring early in the first with a 31-yard make. That and a 42-yard miss served as a warm up for what was to come, a 53-yard boom from near the left hash to all but close out the half:

https://youtu.be/q8IiNq5156I?t=1h1m1s

Ammendola would then make a 48-yarder in the fourth while also going 5/5 on extra points.

The 53-yarder tied his career-long, set against Central Michigan last season in what was his very first college FGA.

Extra Points:

1) After attempting 0 FGs during the season opener against Ohio State, Indiana’s Griffin Oakes made up for lost time by tallying makes from 51 and 49 yards on Saturday against Virginia. The first of those successful kicks was the 54th of his Hoosier career, giving him sole possession of the school record. It was also the second longest field goal in Oakes’ career.

2) Compared to most of their teammates, many kickers take a pretty roundabout route to getting on scholarship. While some earn theirs during a spring or fall camp ritual, Georgia’s Rodrigo Blankenship was given his in a private meeting with head coach Kirby Smart last Thursday. There, the redshirt sophomore was told that his wait was finally over. Having been committed to UGA since December of his senior year of high school, Blankenship celebrated the news by hitting a 30-yarder that with 3:13 left that gave the Dawgs the lead and eventual 20-19 win over Notre Dame. Things became even more festive in the post-game celebrations when Smart had Blankenship share his news with the entire locker room:

3) The Longball Leaderboard below would look completely different if kickers from FCS, Div. II, and Div. III schools were included. Three players in FCS have been successful on attempts from 52 yards or longer this season, including a 56-yarder from Northern Colorado’s Collin Root. But the longest kick of the year in any division belongs to Division II Minnesota State’ Mankato’s Casey Bednarski, who drilled this laser-guided 63 yarder on Saturday against Minnesota Crookston:
[stag_video src=”https://youtu.be/26er7LV1yOs”]

Bednarski’s bomb established a school and conference record.

Doink of the Week:

Arkansas’ Cole Hedlund had a…bad Saturday, missing from 20 and 23 yards out. While the shorter of the two might be one of the loudest misses on record, the real doinks of the weekend are the Arkansas fans that decided to tweet sub-human things a 22-year old college kid (courtesy to SEC Country for compiling):

No word if clowns like these (there were many more) also tweeted every member on the Hogs’ impotent offense, or on the defense that allowed TCU go 10-for-14 on third downs. While head coach Bret Bielema’s decision to pull the kicker from duty is understandable, the heart still feels for Hedlund. The former Chris Sailer National Placekicker of the year is a perfect 91-91 in his career on extra points, but just 14-24 on field goals. Lefty Connor Limpert is expected to take over the field goal role for the Week 3 showdown with Texas A&M.

Way-Too-Early Groza Predictions: 

I haven’t looked back in enough detail to get an exact idea of what the Groza voting panel seems to like most in their finalist nominations, but I imagine it’s usually some combination of merit within that individual season (with an emphasis on range and consistency), players that would bring interesting storylines to the award, and a ‘lifetime achievement’ factor for upperclassmen that just have good careers, but just haven’t been able to put together a season that gets themselves over the top.

Given those, I imagine if votes were due today the top three might look something like:

  1. Quinn Nordin, Michigan (6/8 FGs, 7/7 XPs, 2x 50+)
  2. Matt Gay, Utah (7/7 FGs, 5/5 Xps, Lng 49)
  3. Matt Ammendola, Oklahoma State (4/6 FGs, 13/13 XPs, Lng 53)

Long Ball Leaderboard Through Week 2:

By next week, the minimum distance to make the list very well may be 50 already. This week, Ammendola and Oakes joined Nordin as the only others to occupy two spots on the leaderboard.

[table id=lw2 /]

Kicker Survivor Leaderboard Through Week 2:

Of the 128 kickers that have recorded at least one FGA this season, just the 44 below remain perfect (34%). Nordin (Michigan) and Jameson Vest (Toledo) had streaks of four before missing, ranking them ahead of many others but also making winning an impossibility.

[table id=SurvivorsW2 /]

Game Winners (Under 1:00 to play) :

I admittedly wasn’t sure what should qualify as a ‘game winner’, but decided that 1:00 remaining or less was good enough after Temple’s Aaron Boumerhi’s 49-yarder gave the Owls a late lead and eventual win over cross-town rivals Villanova:

[stag_video src=”https://youtu.be/Hbyr_ynv8Yw?t=2m1s”]

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Kick Coverage, Week 1: Heirs Made Apparent, Others Transparent

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Kick Coverage, Week 1

The first real week of the 2017 season was undoubtedly great, the kicking scene included.

At schools like Alabama and Utah, murky kicker situations became clear after de facto audition processes. Elsewhere, freshmen and other first-time starters made strong cases that they might become even better than their decorated predecessors.

Many relative unknown kickers also dazzled, including one that fell several school records on one kick. Conversely, several of the pre-season Groza favorites already have blemishes on their stat-lines already.

But thankfully, there’s still plenty of games to be played (and kicks to be made). And for that, I can’t wait—welcome back, college football.

If I ever miss something cool, let me know in the comments.

Kicker of the Week:

Quinn Nordin, Michigan – 4/6 FG: 55, 50, 30, 25; 3/3 XPs

Nordin, the freshman that Jim Harbaugh famously slept with in January (phrasing?), announced his arrival to college football loud and clear on Saturday against Florida.

After warming up with a 25-yard make on Michigan’s first drive, Harbaugh wasted no time testing his redshirt freshman’s leg on a 55-yarder that literally couldn’t have been any closer of a make:

In the third quarter, Nordin added 30 and 50-yarders to his tally on the day. He then missed on attempts from 52 and 32, but went 3/3 on PATs in the 33-17 win over Florida.

Hitting the two 50+ers marks the first time any Michigan kicker has accomplished the feat, and the greater of the two stands as the season’s longest in the nation so far (see below).

Nordin, who sports a Ricky Vaughn-buzz in honor of his closer role, was a three-star recruit and Rivals’ top-rated kicker in the class of 2016. Before making headlines for Harbaugh’s relentless pursuit of him, Nordin first caught college football’s attention for the 65-yarder he hit at Kornblue Kicking Camp. He is, without a doubt, the extremely early Groza favorite.

Extra Points:

1) No kicker in the nation has bigger shoes to fill than Arizona State’s Brandon Ruiz. In his first game taking over for most recent Lou Groza winner and all-time NCAA field goal leader Zane Gonzalez, Ruiz wasted little time in showing he was more than worthy. After missing on a 56-yarder, the freshman hit a 52-yard bomb that was crucial in the Sun Devils 37-31 escape of New Mexico State:

I don’t know anything about kicking mechanics and don’t pretend to, but I know that Ruiz leaves me mesmerized as to how he generates so much power off what seems like such a short approach.

2) It looks like Andy Gay won the Utah kicker job in a trial by fire during the Ute’s 37-16 win over FCS North Dakota. True freshman Chayden Johnston was trotted out first to try a 45-yarder in the first quarter, which he missed. That prompted Kyle Whittingham to call Gay’s name for the next attempt, a 33-yarder which was successful. Senior Gay got the call twice more on the day, finishing a perfect 3/3 FG (33, 32, 49) and 4/4 XP.

3) Lane Kiffin’s best player in Florida Atlantic’s 42-19 loss to Navy just might have been Greg Joseph. A former walk-on, Joseph broke three school records with a single kick. The 54-yarder he hit in the third was not only the longest in FAU’s history, but also made him the Owls’ all-time leading scorer and field goal kicker. He also made one from 24 to go 2/2 on the day.

Doink of the Week:

Cincinnati senior Andrew Gantz did not have a good start to his 2017 season. Another UC student did, however:

Week 2 Kicker Matchup To Watch: 

Greg Joseph (Florida Atlantic)

6-1, 210 lbs
Senior
Boca Raton, FL

This Season: 2-2 (100%)
Career: 44/63 (69.8%):
Longest make: 54

Tale of the Tape: Four-year starter Joseph already reserved a place in FAU’s record books (see above), now he’ll spend the rest of the season cementing it. Saturday’s 54-yard bomb was a personal best, surpassing the 50-yard mark he set for himself last year against FIU. The former MaxPrep.com All-American and All-State soccer player has improved his FG% steadily the past three seasons (60.4%, 62.9%, 64.7%) and based on the leg he showed in Week 1, a run at All-CUSA honors wouldn’t be out of the question.

VS.

Rafael Gaglianone (Wisconsin)

5-11, 232 lbs
Junior
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Kohl’s Ranking: #5, Class of 2014
ESPN.com, Scout: ***

This Season: 1-1 (100%)
Career: 45/58 (77.5%)
Longest make: 51

Tale of the Tape: Joseph’s Owls will go to Camp Randall to face Rafael Gaglianone’s Wisconsin squad. The Brazillian missed most of last season with a back injury, but not before going 7-8 on field goals (including 4-4 from 40-49). That start looked like a return to form from his freshman year when he tied the UW record with 14 consecutive FGMs, went 19-22 overall (87.5%), including 2-3 from 50+. He hasn’t been called on to try a shot that long in two years now, but wouldn’t be out of the possibility if the UW offense stalls on Saturday in Madison, where the forecast calls for clear skies and calm winds.

Long Ball Leaderboard Through Week 1:

The cut to make the top 15 longest list has risen to 44 yards already. Nordin is not only the only player listed twice, he’s also the only kicker in the country to make two FGs from 40 or further on the season.

[table id=lw1 /]

Kicker Survivor Leaderboard Through Week 1:

Lots of big names eliminated already and the winner of the inaugural Kicker Survivor contest may be a complete surprise (especially to the winner themselves, who has no idea this exists).

Of the 106 kickers that have recorded an FGA this season, 50 (47%) have missed at least once already, with the overwhelming majority missing their first attempt of the season. The average distance on eliminating attempts was a respectable 41.72 yards.

[table id=SW1 /]

Game Winners:

Still none in FBS. Ball State’s Morgan Hagee had his 54-yard game-winning attempt blocked as time expired at Illinois, as did Georgia Tech’s Shawn Davis, which led to the Yellow Jackets’ demise in 2OT against Tennessee.

There was also this nice 32-yarder from Nicholl State’s Lorran Fonseca to defeat rivals Mayor McCheese McNeese State:

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