Good post. I was there and the wind on the 2nd kick was pushing the ball left pretty hard at the end, as the ball was going over the goal line. The first was almost blocked upon review of the tape and that one is on the blocking the outside defenders. Cole kicks the ball high coming off his foot, and while the TV may not have shown it, once the ball got above the stadium windbreak, the flags were blowing really stiff (I'm guessing 25 mph).
Kick a long kick low and it may stay on line better in the wind, but then it gets blocked. Kick it high with a strong wind, then you just have to guess how much the wind will push the ball. Also, during pregame, Tulsa was warming up in that same side of the field, so not sure how many practice kicks Cole got on that end before the game? Kicking into the South end zone during pregame, the windbreak on that end was easier to deal with. The wind actually picked up right before game time too because my friend commented about it being a factor as we entered the stadium. It sort of came out of nowhere because it wasn't blowing that way all day. Cole has a cannon of a leg, and they all were tricky kicks with the wind and distance factored in. If you watch them, they were on line to split the uprights off his foot, then tailed left right at the very end. Trickier than it looks sometimes and he didn't miss them by much. I have confidence in him from watching him kick in high school.
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