What did we learn

[krc1995]

Just hearing some things and watching the games, it appears that the long snapper this year has problems with pace in getting the ball to the holder on FGs and the Punter. There was another punt that was almost blocked if Colorado had rushed with any intent. Then with field goals, you'd probably want the snap to get to the holder asap and have it consistent every time.

Thanks. Those are things I don’t really notice. Just want to make sure that when I’m blaming a kicker its actually his fault. 
 

is long snapper the most underrated and ignored position in football?  Name our long snapper-don’t cheat. Lol. 

 

[caveman99]

Wasn’t aware.  Thanks both of you.  I don’t like that strategy to maybe gain 5-7 yards.

thought we’d have way better coverage if that was our strategy.

Other than the 1 long return by Horn, I don’t think any no touchback KO return from UTEP or CU went beyond the 25, which is a win. 7-8 yards absolutely less per return/starting position makes a difference in the game, that is essentially almost 1 first free first down every time you allow the opponent to start at the the 25 vs the 15-19 yard line.

 

[Nebfanatic]

Other than the 1 long return by Horn, I don’t think any no touchback KO return from UTEP or CU went beyond the 25, which is a win. 7-8 yards absolutely less per return/starting position makes a difference in the game, that is essentially almost 1 first free first down every time you allow the opponent to start at the the 25 vs the 15-19 yard line.

Yep totally worth it imo. We've given up 1 play that went longer than it should have other than that we have covered it well. It gives you better field position, gives you a chance to create a turnover and it tells the opponent we are coming down here to hit you. It allows us to be physical from the opening whistle. Kick return touchdowns are rare and if everyone is doing their job shouldn't happen anyway. 

 

[Husker in WI]

I don't get rationalizations like this. You watched the game, I presume, and saw at least a dozen holding calls on Colorado that weren't called.

"...this is going to get called..." is obviously untrue. It gets called when the refs choose to call it.

I haven't watched it back while looking specifically at who threw each flag, but I think the back judge was calling the obvious ones and the head ref was letting things slide. Both of the major holding calls on us (and the DPI on the throw to Fidone fwiw, which was a fair amount of contact but honestly borderline) were from the back judge in spite of him not being the closest ref. Most of the Colorado holding penalties would have been the responsibility of the head ref in the backfield while ours were downfield.

Still dumb to have a double standard, you're right. But unlike some games I don't think this was bias, you just have one ref calling it by the book and one that's either blind, ignorant, and just doesn't like to call holding.

 

[Mavric]

You should kick it through the end zone every time if you can, in my opinion.  What you are gaining by trying to tackle them short is far outweighed by the chance you give up a game-changing play.

Against UTEP, we kicked to them six times.  The first kickoff was out of bounds.  I'm not sure if we were trying to be cute and pin them in the corner but it cost us 10 yards (compared to a touchback).  We got three touchbacks.  On the other two, they returned it to the 16 (thanks to a weird pause by their KR after he caught it) and the 21.  So we netted three yards gained on three kickoffs by not getting touchbacks.

Against Colorado, we kicked to them five times.  We got one touchback.  They also fair-caught one at the 29.  On the three they returned, they got it to the 21 (after fumbling the catch), our 37 and the 25.  So we cost ourselves 38 yards total by not getting touchbacks, including being a hare away from one being returned for a TD.

That's a pretty poor risk-reward gamble, in my opinion.

 

[Hilltop]

You should kick it through the end zone every time if you can, in my opinion.  What you are gaining by trying to tackle them short is far outweighed by the chance you give up a game-changing play.

Against UTEP, we kicked to them six times.  The first kickoff was out of bounds.  I'm not sure if we were trying to be cute and pin them in the corner but it cost us 10 yards (compared to a touchback).  We got three touchbacks.  On the other two, they returned it to the 16 (thanks to a weird pause by their KR after he caught it) and the 21.  So we netted three yards gained on three kickoffs by not getting touchbacks.

Against Colorado, we kicked to them five times.  We got one touchback.  They also fair-caught one at the 29.  On the three they returned, they got it to the 21 (after fumbling the catch), our 37 and the 25.  So we cost ourselves 38 yards total by not getting touchbacks, including being a hare away from one being returned for a TD.

That's a pretty poor risk-reward gamble, in my opinion.

I agree completely.  I do think we need to be good in coverage though to account for the against the wind kicks we will see later in B1G play.  Maybe some were intentional to practice?  

 

[Mavric]

I do think we need to be good in coverage though to account for the against the wind kicks we will see later in B1G play.

And allow for the fact that we might not have anyone who can kick it far enough to get it in the end zone.  

But you'd think a dedicated special teams coach should be able to fix that.

 

[soup]

I'm not sure kicking into the endzone is an X's and O's thing.  That is almost 100% Jimmies and Joes.

Not sure how Foley can coach them up to kick it harder.

 

[Husker in WI]

I'm not sure kicking into the endzone is an X's and O's thing.  That is almost 100% Jimmies and Joes.

Not sure how Foley can coach them up to kick it harder.

After Horn's long return we switched from Hohl to Buschini for kickoffs, and the next kick went deep into the end zone. The subsequent ones didn't (despite it still being Buschini), but I think it was a coaching decision to have them kick it short again. I don't know if he can kick it in/through every time, but he has the leg to do it somewhat consistently.