Special Teams

[WYO1016]

From http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/wyomi ... teamreport

--K/P Austin McCoy earned MWC Special Teams Player of the Week honors, but coach Dave Christensen was not happy with his unit's overall performance. The Cowboys gave up 12.3 yards per punt return and 28.2 yards per kickoff return to Weber State. McCoy missed an extra point. Christensen said changes were in store this week on the units.

Sounds like HCDC is as unhappy with the special teams as we all seem to be. Now I'm really curious to see what changes are in store.

[McPeachy]

Our kick coverage is horrible...but it would be damn nice if we could get a kicker to get the ball at least to the goal line! That extra second can make a huge difference!

[wellpoke]

I'm curious to see the changes too. All day Saturday, I kept telling my wife that our offense looked good (comparatively) and our defense looked good, but our special teams were probably going to lose us a game or two. Our kick coverage was terrible, and we've got to get a kicker that can get the ball in the endzone. With the air as thin as it is in Laramie, there's really no excuse for every kick to not be at least three yards deep. I don't have much to say about out punter, except that I don't like the sideways punting. I'm sure he's being coached to do that, but I'd rather see a punt hang in the air for four or five seconds to let the cover guys get down the field.

Bottom line, I hope changes are made, and soon, or we'll be losing a lot of field position to opponents. And even the best defense can't be expected to hold a team with short fields. Our D is good, but they aren't miracle workers.

GO POKES!

[cheypoke]

I agree. It will be interesting to see what changes are made. We have to get the kickoffs to the endzone. i watched a lot of games on Saturday, and I'd guess 1/2 of the kickoffs I saw got into the endzone, and most of those games were at or near sea level. I think its safe to say that our current kickers just dont have the leg to do it. So we're gonna have to just live with it this year. But I'm guessing a strong kicker is high on DC's shopping list. I'm not sure exactly where our kick coverage is breaking down, but we'll see if it can be fixed. Hell, if we're going to allow opponents to return the ball to the 40 everytime, we might as well try on-side kicks all the time.

[pokerupfront]

Kick and cover and punt and cover is all about assignments and discipline. A guy has got to WANT to be on these teams badly enough to practice it and perform it. You bust ass, stay in your lanes, break down and make the hit on kick-off, simple as that. You must look everywhere on your roster to find the right people to man these teams, starting with your first team offense and defense. The very best teams have their very best players on special teams, and they all WANT to be on them.

What a great opportunity for a young aspiring player to land an important position and get playing time right now.

There will be changes and they will make a difference.

[MrTitleist]

Colt Anderson, Montana's best D player last season, was a special teams star. I would think safeties and linebackers would LOVE to run down at full blast and hit someone.

[Stuck]

We definitely need a kickoff specialist with a stronger leg and more disciplined return coverage down the field, but I must say, I can see situations where that rugby style punt will likely wreak havoc on our opponents. They are hard to handle on a short field and seem easier to down inside the 20.

[Dread_Pirate_Cowboy]

Anybody wonder if the Pokes are running a few psi low on their footballs? Sure would make them easier to hold onto for running backs and easier to catch for recievers. But, it would make kicks shorter. On kickoffs, do they use the kicking team's ball or the recieving teams ball?

[McPeachy]

We definitely need a kickoff specialist with a stronger leg and more disciplined return coverage down the field, but I must say, I can see situations where that rugby style punt will likely wreak havoc on our opponents. They are hard to handle on a short field and seem easier to down inside the 20.

Todays Laramie paper said a walk on by the name of Ian Watts got a few kicks with the kick off team. It doesn't say how they went, just that it happened (which is strange).

[cheypoke]

Dread, I believe they use seperate balls for kicking. Each team uses their own balls.