Lets say this one is close

How about special teams?



Ours were attrocious last season, less the FG kicker. We had two punts blocked that turned 2 momentum in 2 games, had the worst College punter I have ever seen and we would give up KO returns to the 45 constantly due to the lack of a guy that could not put it past the 15 yard line. We fair caught just about every punt and started on the 20 about every series.



FG guy is good 14-16 last year, Leach went out and got a JC guy with a big leg that punts and kicks off, out of the endzone type guy. He actually kicked for Oregon and left after a year.



Return men have been upgraded and hopefully that helps.



In close game I am worried until I see us in improve.

Off subject but are you coming to Salt Lake City on Nov. 3?

Our kicker is hurt. I have no idea who our FG kicker will even be. I think BYU could be going for it quite a bit on 4th down inside the 40.

scary, scary thoughts are going through my head when I think that BYU kicking might have to win the game.

wazzufan wrote:
How about special teams?



Ours were attrocious last season, less the FG kicker. We had two punts blocked that turned 2 momentum in 2 games, had the worst College punter I have ever seen and we would give up KO returns to the 45 constantly due to the lack of a guy that could not put it past the 15 yard line. We fair caught just about every punt and started on the 20 about every series.



FG guy is good 14-16 last year, Leach went out and got a JC guy with a big leg that punts and kicks off, out of the endzone type guy. He actually kicked for Oregon and left after a year.



Return men have been upgraded and hopefully that helps.



In close game I am worried until I see us in improve.

FG and kickoff kicker is out so it'll be ugly for us. Our punter helped lose our game vs. TCU last year but then probably won the game for us vs. Tulsa in the bowl game. We won't be winning close games this season as a result.

We usually have serviceable, but not great returners on punts or kick-offs. Rarely take it to the house. Last year was better than normal for us and they are all back this year.



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I think Sorenson is slated to play. That's what I read in the last Bronco interview. He isn't practicing right now, but that is more of a precautionary thing.



Someone have more updated info than that?

BlueIsBetter wrote:
I think Sorenson is slated to play. That's what I read in the last Bronco interview. He isn't practicing right now, but that is more of a precautionary thing.



Someone have more updated info than that?

Sorensen has serious back problems with some kind of pinched nerve. Initially doctors have recommended holding him out for a year to see if that would help. Now they are a little more wishy-washy on whether he needs to sit out for a year or not. I don't think we can plan on him being effective this year.

Whether we have a kicker or not we are going to beat Washington state by at least two touchdowns. Washington State has zero chance of beating byu at home this year. ZERO!! :crazy:

hawkwing wrote:
I don't think we can plan on him being effective this year.

15 for 25 (60%) in 2011 isn't bad (considering three misses from 50+ yards), but nothing exciting. 8 for 12 (67%) from 30-39 and 5 for 8 (62.5%) from 40-49.



I suspect Riley would have similar results from 30-39 yards, but drop to more like 40-50% from 40-49. Sorensen didn't make any of the 50+ yarders and I don't that Stephensen can make those either, so we will likely go for it on 4th down inside of the 40 yard-line more often - which statistically speaking is probably a good thing.

He was 15 of 25 for the year but he started 9 of 11. That means he was 6 of his last 14, including 3 of his last 8.

SpiffCoug wrote:
He was 15 of 25 for the year but he started 9 of 11. That means he was 6 of his last 14, including 3 of his last 8.

Right, but a lot of those were 40 or 50 yarders. You should only be 50% on a 45+ yard attempt. His distance on kickoffs was less and less as the season went on, leading one to believe that an injury was there.



He is a big, big contributing factor to the team. If he doesn't play, we lose 2 games that we could have won otherwise.



If he is out for the season that is a big deal.



I shudder to think what another year of Stephenson kicking off will do to our field position.



***SHUDDER***

Simply put



While our kicker is getting shots and hoping to ease the pain by dulling the nerve endings and not practicing, our tslented, but inconsistent, punter who should be practicing punts is busy practicing field goals and both units may not gel due to not practicing with the actual kicker because backup punter is punting and punter is kicking along with back-up QB kicking, etc.



This seems to clearly indicate no depth at kicker since the punter and 3rd string QB are having to fill in.



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BlueIsBetter wrote:
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I shudder to think what another year of Stephenson kicking off will do to our field position.



***SHUDDER***

Probably won't do anything to BYU's field position. Statistically, Stephensen had a higher touchback % in 2010 than Sorensen had in 2011. Not too worried about that part.

Plus the kickoff is moved up to the 35 with the touchback at the 25 yard line.

BroncoBot wrote:

[



I shudder to think what another year of Stephenson kicking off will do to our field position.



***SHUDDER***

Probably won't do anything to BYU's field position. Statistically, Stephensen had a higher touchback % in 2010 than Sorensen had in 2011. Not too worried about that part.

Statistically he also had a tremendous amount of kicks go out of bounds, too. It happened pretty nearly once a game.

scott715 wrote:
Plus the kickoff is moved up to the 35 with the touchback at the 25 yard line.

Makes you wonder if anybody will even try to return a kickoff anymore.



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Cougarbib wrote:

Plus the kickoff is moved up to the 35 with the touchback at the 25 yard line.

Makes you wonder if anybody will even try to return a kickoff anymore.



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Interesting point. If kicking distances don't change, more will go into the endzone and the payoff for taking a knee in the endzone is higher. On the other hand, though, both sides know this, so I wonder if there will be more attempts to have the ball drop inside the 10 (easier to do when 5 yards closer), and hope to have the cover team, who now starts 5 yards closer try to down it. If we had a precision kickoff guy (and hey, Stephenson could be that guy--he had some very nice placement with his punts vs Tulsa) and some fast gunners with good hands (Kuresa?), that would be an appealing strategy. Even if the receiving team makes the catch and tries to return it, it's unlikely they'd be able to return it all the way to the 25.

I believe the NCAA made this rule change to shorten the time of the games (returns take more time), and to improve starting field position. Ironically, I can see this rule, if properly exploited, decreasing average field position to be less than what it was before the rule.

I say BYU just squibs it every time.

Maybe they want less injuries.