Kicking game: What to do?

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I mean, besides getting this guy to transfer in the next couple of days:

<img src= "http://i.imgur.com/4iDsh.jpg" width="50%" height="50%">
 

Unregistered User said:
I mean, besides getting this guy to transfer in the next couple of days:

<img src= "http://i.imgur.com/4iDsh.jpg" width="50%" height="50%">
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Guessing there is some humor in your post ... But seriously, I'm fine leaving our current kicking game in the hands of the staff. When we needed it tonight, we made a FG and hit a good punt. Still lots of room to get better.
 

Far be it for me to say "I told you so"....

I mentioned in the "Who needs to step up" thread that Wettstein needs to step up. As the competition gets better, WAY WAY WAY too many points being left on the field.

Credit to Kill/Wettstein for attempting and making the last one. Sometimes a few misses affects a coaches play-calling and decision-making. Kill could have easily gone for it in that situation on 4th and 4 (?) and not many would have second-guessed him.

Not sure if it's time for Hawthorne or not? This could have cost the game today, and against UNLV. Not a good situation.
 




Stanger86 said:
Did you not see the picture? It should be obvious...
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Sorry my wording was not to your liking. How is this: "Judging by the picture you included showing an inordinately (if not impossibly) long successfully made field goal in American collegiate football, there is OBVIOUSLY a humorous undertone to your recent post on the award winning GopherHole.com message board."
 


Wettstein's first two FG attempts both jumped off his foot heading right, just like my driver when I need a long drive into the wind. He simply didn't get the foot closed...classic push. His miss in Vegas was the opposite...pull-hook. Not knowing what we have in the reserves, I'm guessing we're stuck with his inconsistency for the year.

He's got a decent leg, but he has to get more consistent on hitting his sweet spot. No doubt his misses will cost us games eventually.
 

Ha! I meant to snap a picture earlier of where the Big Ten standings showed the Leaders division without Indiana but I was too slow.
 



Cut everyone. Take away scholarships. Fire Kill.

Any other requests?

This is ridiculous.
 

Moses87 said:
Wettstein's first two FG attempts both jumped off his foot heading right, just like my driver when I need a long drive into the wind. He simply didn't get the foot closed...classic push. His miss in Vegas was the opposite...pull-hook. Not knowing what we have in the reserves, I'm guessing we're stuck with his inconsistency for the year.

He's got a decent leg, but he has to get more consistent on hitting his sweet spot. No doubt his misses will cost us games eventually.
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Maybe he needs a perimeter weighted shoe.
 

Wettstein's misses yesterday were both straight and right, which is almost always a tentative pass at the ball. That concerns me.

Believe it or not, less pressure on the kick he made; it was the longest of his attempts and some likely didn't expect him to make it, and he made a great pass at the ball.

At this point, there's probably not much to do but hope. He made his last kick, let's hope he's on a roll.
 

We need to take a page from Bret Bielema's play book and fire the kicking coach. The problem is that I just not sure who that is. Is it coach Kill? Is it Sid Hartman? Or is it the experts here at the GopherHole?
 



highwayman said:
Cut everyone. Take away scholarships. Fire Kill.

Any other requests?

This is ridiculous.
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I think the premise of the post is whether or not it's time to switch kickers, which is a totally legitimate question.

Hawthorne was perfect last year from >40 yds (not so great past that). Wettstein is 4/9 so far this year and is 1/2 from >30 yds and 2/4 from > 40 yds. It's not just that he's missing kicks, it's that he's missing relatively easy kicks.

We need to feel comfortable that if we get the ball in the red zone, we're at least going to get 3 points. Those are absolutely crucial points in league play.
 

Unfortunately I think it is what it is at this point. We have kickers with limited ability on the roster so we are going to have to hope for the best and hope they can get consistent enough not to cost us a game at some point this season.

There is a definite lack of quality kickers across D1 football, we just have to hope this staff can find or develop a couple at some point. For this year we will be crossing our fingers every time the kicker or punter takes the field. On a plus note the coverage units have played very well to date.
 

Moses87 said:
Wettstein's first two FG attempts both jumped off his foot heading right, just like my driver when I need a long drive into the wind. He simply didn't get the foot closed...classic push. His miss in Vegas was the opposite...pull-hook. Not knowing what we have in the reserves, I'm guessing we're stuck with his inconsistency for the year.

He's got a decent leg, but he has to get more consistent on hitting his sweet spot. No doubt his misses will cost us games eventually.
Click to expand...

Your comment suggests he pushed them because the kicks were long. That may be true for the first one, but his second miss was from 26 yds out. That has to be automatic. Hawthorne cannot possibly be any worse.
 

I think it's time to give Hawthorne another shot at the job, he looked fine last year when he had the job. They can't be leaving those points on the field going forward.
 

Gopherprof said:
I think the premise of the post is whether or not it's time to switch kickers, which is a totally legitimate question.

Hawthorne was perfect last year from >40 yds (not so great past that). Wettstein is 4/9 so far this year and is 1/2 from >30 yds and 2/4 from > 40 yds. It's not just that he's missing kicks, it's that he's missing relatively easy kicks.

We need to feel comfortable that if we get the ball in the red zone, we're at least going to get 3 points. Those are absolutely crucial points in league play.
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I think it's ridiculous to discuss who should be starting at any position. Ridiculous. We have no say. Kill is playing the best players in every position. If he didn't believe that Wettstein was our best kicker, someone else would be kicking. This just gets old.

I was also playing into about a quarter of the posters here that seriously believe you should cut players and take away scholarships for underachieving...
 

highwayman said:
I think it's ridiculous to discuss who should be starting at any position. Ridiculous. We have no say. Kill is playing the best players in every position. If he didn't believe that Wettstein was our best kicker, someone else would be kicking. This just gets old.
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That's what a message board is; EVERYTHING we do is irrelevant. If we should only discuss things we have a say in, you might as well shut the internet down.
 

When\if a game will come down to a FG - my confidence level is currently at zilch...and I hate feeling that way!
 


Parski1 said:
When\if a game will come down to a FG - my confidence level is currently at zilch...and I hate feeling that way!
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Agreed ... But at the end of last season I was pretty confident in Wettstein. And so there is no reason to believe that he can't get there again. Luckily the kicks last night didn't cost us the game. The kicking situation is pretty much the same as it has been for us since Chip Lohmiller ... Stretches of good and stretches of frustratingly bad.
 

If things don't improve, it's a virtual certainty our kicking will cost us at least one game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Unfortunately I think it is what it is at this point. We have kickers with limited ability on the roster so we are going to have to hope for the best and hope they can get consistent enough not to cost us a game at some point this season.

There is a definite lack of quality kickers across D1 football, we just have to hope this staff can find or develop a couple at some point. For this year we will be crossing our fingers every time the kicker or punter takes the field. On a plus note the coverage units have played very well to date.
Click to expand...

I agree with you! We need to bring back that kicker from last year who stepped in for Hawthorne when he was injured. He did an incredible job! What ever happened to him?
 

Moses87 said:
Wettstein's first two FG attempts both jumped off his foot heading right, just like my driver when I need a long drive into the wind. He simply didn't get the foot closed...classic push. His miss in Vegas was the opposite...pull-hook. Not knowing what we have in the reserves, I'm guessing we're stuck with his inconsistency for the year.

He's got a decent leg, but he has to get more consistent on hitting my sweet spot. No doubt his misses will cost us games eventually.
Click to expand...

Your wife/girlfriend said that to me about you and your skills.
 


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