Besides the first half of SMU, STs have really played well. Kick and punt coverage is as good as its been in a while, punting and kicking has been pretty good too. We even returned a punt for a TD. Matt House has done a good job with that unit.
Special Teams have improved lots
- Thread starter ScrewDuke1
- Start date
Yes he has. They look pretty solid. A missed FG against UF and an XP against NMSU, but as far as coverage they look like they are, well, being coached!
I believe House has his hands in the defense with Stoops. He was a DC and has NFL experience as well.....
Shhh...people don't want to hear talk of improvement around here. They're in the middle of a witch hunt.
Agreed. Doubt the missed FG/XP is really a coaching thing. My best guess is that there is still carryover from that groin injury that lingered last season and maybe a confidence issue. I'm thrilled w/ the coverage so far and the punting has improved from game 1.
I wouldn't use the word good to describe them but they're somewhat better than they were. And 3 of our first 4 games have been against really really bad teams thus far so kinda hard to judge. Punt return is really bad, field goals haven't been great, kick return has been meh, and we've been close to getting quite a few punts blocked because of how slow we get the ball out and our blocking. Decent teams are going to exploit the heck out of that just like we've seen since Stoops has been here. ST's are better, but still mediocre at best
Hard not to improve when our brilliant HC didn't even have a special teams coach last season lol.
Pretty amazing how much difference a year makes. So far, one of the best kick off coverage units I have seen in a long time.
Yeah the theee guys hitting our defender square in the back as he was within a yard and directly in front of thebreturner to make the tackle had nothing to do with punt coverage. Literally it was so obvious three different officials threw the flag
And the missed fg against usm was nothing coaching. The holder literally dropped the ball. I'm sure he probably wasn't taught how to catch before he arrived on campus.
Punting has been better than last year by a true freshman. And kick coverage has been excellent. Have we even allowed a return to the 25 yet?
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The way all of our kick off coverage guys fly down the field seemingly wanting to kill someone, eventually some kickoff returner is going to get hurt. Full bore speed, a collision just waiting to happen. No concern of mind or body. Just who are all these guys?
Special teams are the difference many times in close games. Not at UK the past 3 years. Special teams can get you over the hump when both teams are performing near equal.
They only have to be just a little above average to make a difference in many games.
They only have to be just a little above average to make a difference in many games.
3 of 4 against really bad teams. Are you talking statistically bad, or perception bad? I'm not back on the bandwagon yet, but even I can acknowledge improvement when its evident.
Statistically speaking, the only "bad" team we have played is NMSU, and S.C. has wins over ECU, and Vandy so as bad as they are they still had two marginal wins when they came to Lexington.
The other two statistically at this point are legit.
http://www.cfbstats.com/
Eddie Gran was a special teams coach at other places as well. I am sure that he is putting his thumb on the situation as well
LOL. Ok that's a stretch. So kicking the ball, fumbled snaps and long returns against us have nothing to do with special teams then? So what exactly are we basing this improvement on? You've pretty much ruled out everything that special teams is as a factor.
Can we also say DJ Eliot is a great coach because all those yards and points he gives up have nothing to do with coaching?
And kicking and snapping the ball is coached BTW.
I agree, except I do take issue with the punting.
I think our punter is inconsistent. While I know he is a freshman - I expect better.
He looks like he is thinking too much; his steps look methodical and robotic.
Just kick the damn thing!!
I think our punter is inconsistent. While I know he is a freshman - I expect better.
He looks like he is thinking too much; his steps look methodical and robotic.
Just kick the damn thing!!
Let's see, Southern Miss is a conference USA team with a first year head coach that isn't even the best team in their own conference, so yes, that certainly qualifies as a bad team when you're a state's flagship university playing in the SEC. A C-USA team, even a "good" one by their standards is still bad by power 5 standards. You just don't lose to those teams, I don't care if it's their best team in a decade and your worst team in a decade, that's still a team that you should beat, not lose by two scores to on your home field after leading 35-10.
New Mex State is most definitely a bad team, won't even go into detail on that one unless you want me to, and South Carolina is the worst team in a bad SEC East with maybe the worst offense in the entire nation.
If we ever want to compete in the SEC we need to start thinking like an SEC team and not some red headed stepchild that's happy with the scraps from the table. Heck, at this point I'd be happy if we started thinking like a C-USA team because right now our mindset and goals are that of an FCS team. The fact that we try to portray Southern Miss as some kind of good team is absolutely embarrassing and makes me embarrassed to be associated with this fanbase
That doesn't make them a bad team, that makes them a team from a smaller conference. Stat's don't lie, my friend. They are top 35 both in total offense and total defense...well ahead of several SEC schools, and other other power 5 programs.
We aren't the only program to lose to non-power 5 programs. Florida got embarrassed at home, Arkansas embarrassed at home, Miss St at home, hell even the almighty Nick Saban at Bama in his first or second year got embarrassed at home. Those are all schools with a better standing in the conference with established coaching staffs with the exception of one (Florida). Hell it even happens in bowl games, see Houston, Boise.
I actually said in my post that NMSU was horrible, so no need to go into any detail. However you can't complain about not betting a Power 5 team and then when they do, turn around and complain that it was a bad power 5 team. It's a W and they all count the same. Nobody is making Southern Miss anything other than what they are, a quality team.