Squib kicks

[Yorel Fusspucker]

Surprised to not see any posts about this. I presume the idea was to try to capitalize on wet field conditions. First one was a puzzling surprise to everyone sitting near me. The 2nd one was a near disaster. Almost set them up to score late in the first half. I'm guessing he just didn't hit it quite "right" to get the big bounce or hop? Only Walden and/or Rhoads would go for a surprise onside kick at that point of the game! LOL!
3rd one worked great! That said, we were glad to see them kick away deep after that.

 

[isucy86]

In general not a fan of squib kicks. Seems to me all P5 schools should be able to enroll a kicker who can blast it 10 yards deep into the end zone except in super rainy/windy/cold conditions. Kids doesn't have to be accurate, just have a big leg and give him a preferred walk-on spot.

 

[CyCloned]

Surprised to not see any posts about this. I presume the idea was to try to capitalize on wet field conditions. First one was a puzzling surprise to everyone sitting near me. The 2nd one was a near disaster. Almost set them up to score late in the first half. I'm guessing he just didn't hit it quite "right" to get the big bounce or hop? Only Walden and/or Rhoads would go for a surprise onside kick at that point of the game! LOL!
3rd one worked great! That said, we were glad to see them kick away deep after that.

There were several of us that were in WTF mode on the kicks. (ISU was bailed out by block in the back on the first squib kick) I know that TCU has a great kick returner, so that was probably the plan, but clearly it is something that needs a little more practice.

 

[isufbcurt]

Surprised to not see any posts about this. I presume the idea was to try to capitalize on wet field conditions. First one was a puzzling surprise to everyone sitting near me. The 2nd one was a near disaster. Almost set them up to score late in the first half. I'm guessing he just didn't hit it quite "right" to get the big bounce or hop? Only Walden and/or Rhoads would go for a surprise onside kick at that point of the game! LOL!
3rd one worked great! That said, we were glad to see them kick away deep after that.

They were good calls. TCU started with Anderson (#6) as the kick returner for our first 2 kickoffs. Then they subbed in Raeger (#1) who is a stud with amazing speed, so we squib kicked it to keep it out of his hands.

Ironically later when the game was pretty much over we actually kicked it to him and he fumbled the kickoff lol

 

[JM4CY]

It was weird at times but I think you need to watch some previous game film of Raeger their return man and get back to me. It wasn’t a horrible decision by any means.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

Think part of the strategy here is to keep the opponent from being able to fair catch it and get the ball at the 25. Once the ball hits the ground you can't fair catch it anymore; it paid off for us a couple of times yesterday.

Agree though that there was also strategy in keeping the ball away from their return man. However, let's try not to kick it right to the guy standing on the 50 in the front line of the receiving team. That didn't work well.

 

[CyCloned]

It was weird at times but I think you need to watch some previous game film of Raeger their return man and get back to me. It wasn’t a horrible decision by any means.

just some really poor execution by the kicker, who I believe is a walkon from Iowa. He did get a pretty good one later in the game, so maybe he just needed some in game practice.

On the bright side, it is great to have the kick team on the field that many times in a game.

 

[06_CY]

We didn't want #1 to get a clean return. He had over 200 punt return yards in their previous game. Any coaching staff worth a **** would find a way to keep the ball out of his hands.

After one of our scores, TCU switched their returners position right before the kick. Our kicker noticed it and signaled to the rest of the kick team. Heady play.

 

[Yorel Fusspucker]

It was weird at times but I think you need to watch some previous game film of Raeger their return man and get back to me. It wasn’t a horrible decision by any means.

That's what I was wondering, I hadn't done any homework on their kick returner and was wondering if it was that or the weather. I agree that 2 of 3 worked but that second one was a "yikes"!
Wasn't intending to be critical of anything after a great game, just curious what others thought.

 

[tyler24]

Also, if the field is wet, it forces tcu to handle a wet ball. They kick a regular kick, tcu is catching it dry. Easier to force a turnover, which happened.

 

[khardbored]

Also, CMC likes to "Try things" in games. Seems he views any lead of 10 points or more as "experimentation time."

 

[Billups06]

Think part of the strategy here is to keep the opponent from being able to fair catch it and get the ball at the 25. Once the ball hits the ground you can't fair catch it anymore; it paid off for us a couple of times yesterday.

Agree though that there was also strategy in keeping the ball away from their return man. However, let's try not to kick it right to the guy standing on the 50 in the front line of the receiving team. That didn't work well.

Paddock never kicked-off after that botched squib you mentioned (had a poor one prior to that too). Narveson handled kickoffs from that point on.

 

[Yorel Fusspucker]

Paddock never kicked-off after that botched squib you mentioned (had a poor one prior to that too). Narveson handled kickoffs from that point on.

Didn't catch that...I guess I need to pay closer attention!

 

[cyrocksmypants]

Think part of the strategy here is to keep the opponent from being able to fair catch it and get the ball at the 25. Once the ball hits the ground you can't fair catch it anymore; it paid off for us a couple of times yesterday.

Agree though that there was also strategy in keeping the ball away from their return man. However, let's try not to kick it right to the guy standing on the 50 in the front line of the receiving team. That didn't work well.

I mean, they didn’t get any points off of it, so TECHNICALLY it still turned out well.

 

[madguy30]

Pootch kicks and squibs can be good to give the coverage time to get down field, just gotta make sure lanes are established and maintained.

Sometimes a returner picking the ball up late can get the coverage to take bad angles etc. and get out of position.

 

[OnlyCyclones]

I liked the calls. The TCU up-man who caught the bad squib at the 50 made an exceptional play to catch that poor squib. Even with the poor kick, there's a good chance that ball careens off the up-man and turns into a fortuitous onside recovery. Also made returns more difficult for TCU as others mentioned.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Seems to me that a team that refuses to return punts out of fear of something bad happening would just boot the SOB out of the end zone. You know, so nothing bad happens.

 

[Dandy]

They were good calls. TCU started with Anderson (#6) as the kick returner for our first 2 kickoffs. Then they subbed in Raeger (#1) who is a stud with amazing speed, so we squib kicked it to keep it out of his hands.

Ironically later when the game was pretty much over we actually kicked it to him and he fumbled the kickoff lol

We all know why this happened.

Juicy. Wiggle.