Kickoff Misery

[SCarolinaCy]

SO, here's the deal. For the receiving team, outside of the six players that are lined up in front of the 40 yard line, 5 players are scattered in area 40 yds long and 50 yards wide. There are large open areas of the field. This receiving team must cover and protect that entire area from a loose football that is subject to some crazy bounces, in the wind and rough grass. Alas, they have no knowledge of where the ball may land. (Yikes.)

Preferably the receiving team wants to move the ball forward, but at the very minimum they must to recover the live ball.

This whole event can be a very daunting task, given the kicking team has any wit. They decide where and how the ball is delivered. They can kick the ball anywhere. The kicking team has all the advantage.

So, what is ISU's kicking strategy to take advantage? Actually, it is very simple.
Leave it to fate.

Kick it directly toward the fasted guy on the team, who has practiced all week on catching and returning the kick. Help him out so he can catch the ball in the air at his leisure. No need to practice all the possible scenarios. (You may even want to instruct your fastest players to race downfield and overrun the play.)

After all, there is nothing you can do. Fate is going to determine the outcome..........

Unless you have wit.

 

[Cyforce]

Yesterday you could see from the end zone replay #1 I'm assuming Young crashed on the ball leaving a huge gap up the middle.

 

[CloneGuy8]

I would like to see more dropkicks. Throws off the timing of the returning team, and who knows what could happen with the ball taking weird bounces.

 

[cyphoon]

I was stuck on I-80 with a blown tire yesterday when KU ran the kickoff back. Did they return a regular kick or a drop kick for the TD?

Assuming it was a regular kick, I think the analytics for the drop kick are interesting. We probably concede more returns between the 25 and 35 and fewer stops inside the 20 in exchange for no touchdown returns. Given that we are The Iowa State University of Science, Technology, and Dubious Special Teams, I think that is a wise tradeoff.

Side note: when you can't watch or listen to the game, our special teams make live updates on the phone really entertaining.

11:26 AM "Nice! Touchdown .... Cyclones. Way to go offense!"
11:27 AM "Just going to torque this nut down on the '54 Jubilee quick"
11:34 AM "Let's see how State is doing. Cool! We got the ball back. Hey, how did the other team get 7 more points?"

H

 

[pulse]

It was a regular kickoff. I was just shocked (okay not really) that we still couldn’t kick it out if the back of the end zone even with a 20mph ride.

 

[AlaCyclone]

It was a GREAT return by a really good player. Kicker did his job, as Logan took the ball 3 yards in the end zone, It was actually a great play to watch in person, and I really loved the dropkick kickoffs that followed! Not going to nitpick after a 30 point win that covered a 28 point spread on the road. Great player made a great play.

 

[FallOf81]

Just keep scoring 50+ and the defense plays like it has and this "margin" stuff evaporates in importance.

 

[quasistellar]

Just keep scoring 50+ and the defense plays like it has and this "margin" stuff evaporates in importance.

That's not going to happen the rest of the season outside of a double overtime game.

 

[Darius Bieber]

At this point, I'd rather just either drop-kick it every time or kick it out of bounds and start at the 35 every time. At least there's no chance of a return touchdown and gives our Defense a chance.

 

[dualthreat]

I think we can expect at least 1 big return (beyond the 40) in every remaining game this season. No reason to believe Baylor, KSU, Texas and WVU won't have a dynamic playmaker returning a kick (or punt). And there is little evidence to believe we have the ability to stop them every time.

 

[CyBobby]

It was a regular kickoff. I was just shocked (okay not really) that we still couldn’t kick it out if the back of the end zone even with a 20mph ride.

I am NOT shocked at anything that happens with our special teams anymore, Gone are the days of kicking the ball into the opponents end zone so...Anything can happen including TOUCHDOWNS on runbacks by KU...
The only game against KU that I enjoyed more than this one was in 1977 on a bright sunny day when we beat Kansas 42-3, and Tom Boskey put a couple of KU players on the bench from his vicious hits....

GO CYCLONES

 

[Mtowncyclone13]

when we catch the ball it seems like our return guy is surrounded by 6 defenders when he gets the ball, yet we never do that? what gives?

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

It was a GREAT return by a really good player. Kicker did his job, as Logan took the ball 3 yards in the end zone, It was actually a great play to watch in person, and I really loved the dropkick kickoffs that followed! Not going to nitpick after a 30 point win that covered a 28 point spread on the road. Great player made a great play.

Our gap discipline and lane assignments were awful on that returning. If our guys are in the right spot the KU returner doesn't even run that one out. This wasn't a one time thing, special teams are a freakin disaster.

 

[Aclone]

That's not going to happen the rest of the season outside of a double overtime game.

Have you seen Baylor play?

 

[Neptune78]

Just hope STs are not the difference in the K-State game.

 

[Statefan10]

Our gap discipline and lane assignments were awful on that returning. If our guys are in the right spot the KU returner doesn't even run that one out. This wasn't a one time thing, special teams are a freakin disaster.

I absolutely love Isheem Young, but he was the guy who screwed the pooch on that return. Go back and watch and you'll see him get pushed out of his lane with ease because he was screaming down the line way too fast. That opened up the lane for the returner to house it.

It was only one player's mistake, but that's all you need on those types of plays.

 

[Darius Bieber]

Just hope STs are not the difference in the K-State game.

It does make me nervous that K-State got 3 special teams touchdowns against Kansas

 

[VeloClone]

It does make me nervous that K-State got 3 special teams touchdowns against Kansas

Two things:

• They had 2 punt return TDs and an interception return, not 3 special teams TDs. They did have another long punt return that didn't find the end zone.
• Kansas.

That being said, I'm not exactly comfortable myself.

 

[quasistellar]

Have you seen Baylor play?

No. Don't want to trigger my gag reflex.

 

[cycfan1]

I think we can expect at least 1 big return (beyond the 40) in every remaining game this season. No reason to believe Baylor, KSU, Texas and WVU won't have a dynamic playmaker returning a kick (or punt). And there is little evidence to believe we have the ability to stop them every time.

Should just conceed to kicking the ball out of bounds against KState