go back and watch mtsu's first punt, and you can see that it was very windy at that game. so much so that we called a timeout at the end of the first quarter so that we could punt with the wind instead of against it. as hutchins came off the field after the rugby kick, he was looking at mullen as if to say "i've never done that before, but was that good?"
i don't really like the formation because i think it's a little more dangerous, but it's supposedly better for coverage, and LOTS of teams are using the formation. auburn used that formation when we blocked their punt. i guess having the big guys back to block is so that you have guys who won't be knocked backwards and have long arms. but the flip side is, as jc said, you are giving up any type fake and those guys are worthless in coverage (see addison lawrence trying to chase chad jones on the big lsu return). i do think that the punter is a couple of yards deeper, though. good thing we have an all-american long snapper.