Has the Kicking Game become less important?

Alasippi

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Aug 31, 2007
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And a whole lot lower. It is an important aspect of the game that you have to get right. Just ask Clemson.
We won that game because of our kicking game. I'd say it's one of the most important parts of the game.
As Coach Bryant used to say when asked how to beat an upcoming opponent, "Well the first thing we have to do is win the kicking game".
 

rgw

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No - Just looking at Alabama, you won a national championship because of your kicker in 2009 and lost a shot at a championship because of your kicker in 2013. You almost lost out on another championship in 2011 because of your kicker.
Yep, when you're playing at the top levels of college football then ALL components of the game matter. I don't know if special teams solely lost most of our losses since the start of 2008 but they've had backbreaking moments in many of them.
 

Ldlane

Hall of Fame
Nov 26, 2002
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I'll be sure to bring this thread back up when we are discussing ...... "Why can't we kick the ball in the Endzone on Kick-offs?"...."Why can't we hit an extra point?"......"Why can't we recruit a Kicker?"..... "Who coaches the Special Teams?" ..... etc..... :pDT_popc1:
 

rgw

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I'll be sure to bring this thread back up when we are discussing ...... "Why can't we kick the ball in the Endzone on Kick-offs?"...."Why can't we hit an extra point?"......"Why can't we recruit a Kicker?"..... "Who coaches the Special Teams?" ..... etc..... :pDT_popc1:


Hmmm...guess it isn't important...
 

tidehawk

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The kicking game will ALWAYS be important. It's not just FGs - strong punting and kickoff teams change field position, which is critical.
 

TommyMac

Hall of Fame
Apr 24, 2001
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Gene Stallings and Pat Dye will hate this.

The top four teams last year and their special teams national average rank:

Oklahoma ...... 42
Alabama ........ 45
Clemson ........ 49
Mich St .......... 80

http://myteamsbetter.com/#COMPARE_T...iew=Special Teams&compareOption=ALL_OPPONENTS

I hate trying to win a game punting, much rather play to win than not lose. I wonder what the kicking game stats for 1980 looked like? I am trying to find them.


Coaches Stallings and Dye would probably be more amused by this than hating it. They saw the BIG picture of CFB rather than just the glitzy parts.

And thank God all of our GREAT coaches at Bama have as well.
 

TideMan09

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1) Gene Stallings and Pat Dye coached when games could end in ties. Stallings' last year was the first year of overtime. So even making this comparison is borderline absurd.

2) How many times at Florida did Spurrier even play a game close enough that it really mattered?

I had to look over the details for Spurrier because I didn't watch a lot of his Florida games unless they involved us. I know that in 1994, his team blew a 31-3 fourth quarter lead and wound up with a tie to FSU. The 1999 Swamp win that we got was US playing not to 'lose even worse' and we got bailed out by a fumbled punt.

Spurrier rarely played a close game. Even when he lost, it was usually a rout (like the 1999 SECCG and the 1996 Fiesta Bowl). Stallings, on the other hand, coached THIRTY games in seven years where the final result was eight points or less. That's 4-plus games PER SEASON where it came down

3) Kicking Game Results That Have Affected Alabama Since 2006 Via The Field Goal (Hit or Miss)

a) Alabama-Arkansas 2006
b) Alabama-LSU 2008 (LSU blocked FG and we had to go to OT)
c) Alabama-Vols 2009
d) Texas-Nebraska 2009 (if Lawerence misses the FG, we don't play Texas)
e) LSU-Alabama 2011
f) Okie State-Iowa State 2011 (if OSU kicks it.....)
g) Oregon-USC 2011
h) Boise St- TCU 2011 (missed FG costs Boise the game)


WITHOUT THE LAST THREE, Alabama does not play LSU in a rematch.

i) 2012 Alabama-UGA (if Saban doesn't go for two early, UGA has a shot to tie it on that last drive)
j) 2012 Oregon-Stanford (Oregon went for two early and later missed a FG that cost them the game)
k) 2013 Alabama- Auburn (I don't blame Griffith for the miss, but if we TCB, he's not even in the game)
l) 2014 LSU-Alabama (remember that entire bizarre sequence?)
m) 2015 Mich St-Ohio St (if the Spartans don't kick that FG and the Buckeyes win in OT.....we may not make the playoff.......but even so, Ohio St would have been more of a challenge than Sparty)
n) the botched snap at Michigan on the final play that gave Mich St the win.......we don't play them if that doesn't happen.

And what about the insane return where Miami beat Duke last year?

I'm sorry, but basing this on statistical rating is ridiculous. It's about like saying a team can't win because their Time of Possession is sorry. But what if it's sorry because they score in less than two minutes MANY times?
Great stuff as always Selma & lord have mercy The Stallings Era of Bama was sooooo awesome, but, was a decade of heartburn from close games during that time..It was a product of Stallings ground n pound style of play no matter who we played against..
 

Redwood Forrest

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Sep 19, 2003
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Let me see. I guess the world important jumps out and the word less doesn't register, so let me try this:

Is the kicking game as important now with the HUNH high scoring Baylors as it was in the days of the wishbone and running the ball most of the time.

I am not asking if the kicking game is important. LESS important.
 
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B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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Let me see. I guess the world important jumps out and the word less doesn't register, so let me try this:

Is the kicking game as important now with the HUNH high scoring Baylors as it was in the days of the wishbone and running the ball most of the time.

I am not asking if the kicking game is important. LESS important.
If every team is scoring more, and scoring is on the rise across the country, then FGs and PATs may represent a smaller percentage of the overall points scored in a particular game, but the real test would be the number of games decided by kickers over the course of a season now vs. then. Many games are decided by it every weekend.

Has that number dropped? I have no idea. But it doesn't feel any less critical to have a reliable kicker now than it ever did.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Let me see. I guess the world important jumps out and the word less doesn't register, so let me try this:

Is the kicking game as important now with the HUNH high scoring Baylors as it was in the days of the wishbone and running the ball most of the time.

I am not asking if the kicking game is important. LESS important.
No, I'd say its more important.

There's a HUGE difference in three points and zero points even in the basketball nonsense Baylor brings.

How many of those games listed involved HUNH teams?

Auburn?
Oregon?
 

Redwood Forrest

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If every team is scoring more, and scoring is on the rise across the country, then FGs and PATs may represent a smaller percentage of the overall points scored in a particular game, but the real test would be the number of games decided by kickers over the course of a season now vs. then. Many games are decided by it every weekend.

Has that number dropped? I have no idea. But it doesn't feel any less critical to have a reliable kicker now than it ever did.
I can't find out either. I have surfed the net till I am glassy eyed. I would like to know what the top four ranking for Special Teams were in 1961 or 1971 and were three of them in the '40"s. Evidently it does not exist. So much for finding anything on the net.
 

mdb-tpet

All-SEC
Sep 2, 2004
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I'll say the kicking game is just as important if not more. Each team gets around 8 to 12 possessions or so a game (give or take, I can't find better numbers easily). The average winning team scores in the mid 20s to low 30s. A winning team will on average score on 4-6 of their possessions roughly. So around 50% or more of your possessions are non scoring and can ending in punting. If your punter is weaker that your opponent's kicker, you stand to lose 4 to 6 times the difference in punting distance.

For every touchdown at team normally get two kicks, one extra point and one kickoff. For every field goal you get one or two kicks depending on if you make the field goal. Just by those numbers, there's a lot of kicking going on at the end of every possession not turned over on downs or at the end of each half.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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I'm just trying to figure out how an entire special teams grouping (kickoff coverage, kickoff return, punt coverage, punt return, field goal, and field goal defense) can all be ranked in one grouping and then how that one ranking reflects the importance of the kicking game as a whole.
 

crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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Let me see. I guess the world important jumps out and the word less doesn't register, so let me try this:

Is the kicking game as important now with the HUNH high scoring Baylors as it was in the days of the wishbone and running the ball most of the time.

I am not asking if the kicking game is important. LESS important.
Even basketball-on-grass requires good kicking: http://espn.go.com/college-football/boxscore?gameId=400547868

I'd say Baylor thinks going 4/4 on FGA was pretty important considering their 3 point victory...
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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SIAP, but since CNS thinks it's acceptable for a drive to always end with a kick, I think he thinks it's pretty important.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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And to take an old Stallings quote and turning it a bit:

You think special teams are unimportant? Just try losing one because of it.
 

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