Are you confident in our kicking game?

Obviously not, but we got who we got and seems to be improving like the rest of the team.

Besides the first game I don’t remember us missing field goals. I do think we’ve been spoiled but I’m satisfied with the field goal unit. Kickoff is sub par

Ramos is a decent college kicker. Not great, but accurate enough. He is not Cole Tracy or Cade York, obviously. But at least he's not Connor Culp, Cameron Gamble, or any of the other string of below-average kickers we've had in years past. I'd say he's at least average for a college kicker, and I'm okay with that.

Wrong board but the answer is a resounding “yes”—our kicking game is NOT as good as past years. But it’s worth mentioning that we’ve probably had the single best group of kickers in the entire country over the past 10-15 years. Like… we’ve had a top tier college kicker at essentially all points since at least 2010. So we should at least view things in context: We may be worse off this year than in recent history, but the starting point from where we’ve fallen is the absolute tippy top. Save for week 1, our kicking game has probably been pretty average for a P5 program. Obviously we don’t want “average” if we can avoid it, but it’s not THAT bad; it’s just “THAT” bad in relation to our extended string of elite kickers.


Another thing worth noting: From the point in the season where we “figured out” our offense, we’ve been pretty damn good at finishing drives. It feels like we’ve attempted extraordinarily few FGs of 40+ yards. That’s hopefully no fluke, given our awesome success rate and drive sustaining numbers.



And that brings me to my final point: In a somewhat roundabout way, our lackluster kicking game might actually be a blessing in disguise. Let me explain. As a fan of an NFL team with a perennially good kicker, I have watched my team go into ultra-conservative mode SO many times as soon as we hit the “long FG” portion of the field. This conservatism extends to both offensive playcalling (“we’re likely looking at 3pts either way, so let’s start running up the middle to prevent a turnover; maybe we’ll keep driving but at least we’ll ensure points”) and to 4th down decisionmaking. I’m a firm believer that all but the absolute most aggressive 4th down coaches STILL aren’t nearly aggressive enough. Even the guys WITH good kickers should be going for it more often. So I think the fact that our kicking game is wobbly, imo, is actually working somewhat in our favor by pushing BK a little closer towards optimal 4th down decisionmaking. Obviously, at the micro-level, you want a good kicker who can hit that 50 harder when you need it. But at the macro-level, I think it may actually be a net positive. As crazy as that sounds.

Any updates on dilbert?

Is he going to be the guy next yr or was he just a miss?

Dibert kicked off in 6 games as a true freshman in the SEC, that’s not a miss.

Ramos is fine!

He had a PAT blocked and a FG blocked due to poor OL/ST positioning during those kicks. He is 5-7 other than that and nailed a few pressure kicks against Florida and Bama. He is fine!