Your team is down by three points with time running out in the game. The kicker steps onto the field to attempt a game-tying field goal, but he pushes the ball wide right. Jubilation for the victors, and finger pointing for the losers. Does the kicker deserve blame for the loss, or was it his team’s fault that he was in that position in the first place?
A kicker lives a life of polarity in which the 18 feet and six inches between two posts separate hero from scapegoat. In a close game, it’s easier to push aside the thousands of variables that make up football and look at the black X that marks a missed field goal on the stat sheet.
Last year, Northwestern faithful were all too familiar with the blame-the-kicker phenomenon, as kicker Stefan Demos took a lot of heat throughout the season for his untimely misses. In all fairness, Demos was battling injury, but he still was criticized, especially after a close home loss to underdog Purdue.
Northwestern’s kicker blame game started in earnest at the 2010 Outback Bowl. Demos missed both of his field goal attempts in that game, including a somewhat long try that would have given Northwestern a last-second victory. Perhaps the sting of that defeat led to muddled confidence for both fan and kicker alike.
Last year, the home loss to Purdue brought the kicking woes into the spotlight once again. An undefeated Northwestern team took to Ryan Field under the lights and fell three points short on a wide right attempt by Demos with 58 seconds left, though the kick was a 45-yarder – not a sure thing for a college kicker.
Students quickly forgot that Demos was the second team All-Big Ten kicker in 2009. They simply blamed the kicker for Northwestern’s struggles. Was it Demos’ fault that his team needed a field goal to tie the game against an inferior Purdue team?
This year, the man booting the ball (hopefully) through the uprights will be sophomore Jeff Budzien. He’ll have the challenge of turning around confidence in Northwestern’s kicking game.
Budzien won a close fought battle with junior Steve Flaherty for the rights to the kicking job. (Flaherty is listed on the depth chart as the kickoff starter, while Budzien is the regular kicker.) Budzien has little college experience, making one PAT against Illinois State in 2010. Yet according to NUSports.com, he has had his “best spring ever.”
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald told NUSports.com that all he wants from his kickers is consistency. He said he is looking for an improvement from last year, but that he is happy with the off-season performances of both Budzien and Flaherty.
It remains to be seen whether the critics in the stands will agree.