Special Teams

[Knight Shift]

Lost in the loss was special teams. They did OK.
Harte boomed a 64 yard punt.
Blocked FG.
2/2 on FGs.
Average kick and punt returns for EMU was 14 and 13 yds.
Or am I drinking too much Kool Aid..

 

[RUbacker]

Lost in the loss was special teams. They did OK.
Harte boomed a 64 yard punt.
Blocked FG.
2/2 on FGs.
Average kick and punt returns for EMU was 14 and 13 yds.
Or am I drinking too much Kool Aid..

It was EMU kept that in mind.

 

[Knight Shift]

It was EMU kept that in mind.

Well, no kidding. I did not realize that. Try to find a silver lining, and there is always a dark cloud right around the corner on Scarlet Nation.

Kicking is kicking and punting is punting no matter the opponent.

 

[gef21]

We kicked 2 FGs and blocked a kick. Does not really matter the competition on that one. I thing our special teams got better, from an execution stand point, from week 2 to week 2. My worry is that we out kick our coverage a lot.

 

[mildone]

We kicked 2 FGs and blocked a kick. Does not really matter the competition on that one. I thing our special teams got better, from an execution stand point, from week 2 to week 2. My worry is that we out kick our coverage a lot.

I have the same concern. Against EMU, our coverage was okay w/a the edges covered and at least 3 guys getting downfield pretty quick up the middle. Perhaps EMU didn't block very well up front.

Washington appeared to block better when receiving punts and we didn't get those 3 guys downfield up the middle. Jury is still out, but I suspect most teams we play, other than Morgan State, will block better when receiving punts so maybe some added hang time would be a good thing for us.

 

[rurichdog]

Still not putting any kickoffs into the endzone.

 

[BlockR]

think RU had two penalties on Special teams,one Harris ,who is coming off a suspension was offsides(later dropped a pass which he was wide open on).There was a kickoff By RU in endzone not run back..Kid is doing fine on kickoffs.

 

[gef21]

I have the same concern. Against EMU, our coverage was okay w/a the edges covered and at least 3 guys getting downfield pretty quick up the middle. Perhaps EMU didn't block very well up front.

Washington appeared to block better when receiving punts and we didn't get those 3 guys downfield up the middle. Jury is still out, but I suspect most teams we play, other than Morgan State, will block better when receiving punts so maybe some added hang time would be a good thing for us.

We will need to get the hang time up or we will see some big returns against us. Our gunners are not getting downfield to cover some of the booming distance kicks we are getting.

 

[RUChoppin]

Overall, I felt the Special Teams were better than the first outing.

- FG kicking was good.
- FG block was also great to see.
- Kickoffs returns were ok... the refs killed one great return with stop-the-play nonsense, and they were largely kicking into the endzone or away from Grant.
- Punt returns were decent for what EMU was giving us... they were clearly terrified of Grant and were doing everything possible to keep him from returning the ball. Strategy worked well for them, though.
- Punting was very good overall. Of the 8 punts, 5 were good-to-great. The three that had room for improvement:

1st punt: 31 yards, to EMU 27, into the wind. Wind likely affected it, but plenty of room to kick on this one and got just 31 yards.
4th punt: 64 yards, touchback, with the wind. Huge distance, but not enough hang and a bit too far for guys to get down there and prevent the touchback. Also an illegal formation, so the ball came out to the 25 (net result was 39 yards)
5th punt: 33 yards, to the EMU 27, punt out of bounds, with the wind. More distance needed here, especially with the wind.

 

[RUChoppin]

Still not putting any kickoffs into the endzone.

He got one in there this game. Unfortunately, all four attempts were into the wind.

1st: 45 yards into the wind, downed at the 20 with no return. Personal foul took them out to the 35.
2nd: 56 yards into the wind, to the 9, return for 14 yards to the 23.
3rd: 49 yards into the wind, to the 16, return for 10 yards to the 26.
4th: 65 yards into the wind for a touchback.

Other than the personal foul, the average starting position would have been the 23.5 yard line... which is less than it would have been with 4 touchbacks. Not bad considering all kicks were into the wind.

 

[Knight Shift]

Still not putting any kickoffs into the endzone.

 

[Caliknight]

Specials were better but what's up with running back immediately after the snap on punts? I know we want to set up the return but their punter had room to run all day but never did. Bad job by their staff. Coulsld have converted at least two of those to first downs.

Another coach with a rugby style punter won't let that opportunity pass by.