16 BIG 12
COLORADO BUFFALOES
Special teams helped determine 2008 games
By Ron Knabenbauer Campus Press
BOULDER, Colo. — Though the special teams unit in football doesn't usually see a lot of playing time, its presence can make or break a game, or even a season.
The Colorado Buffaloes saw this firsthand in 2008.
Last season, things started off hot for the Colorado special teams beginning in the first game of the season. Josh Smith took a kick return in the second quarter 93 yards for a touchdown as the Buffs cruised to a 38-17 victory over Colorado State.
Two weeks later, kicker Aric Goodman hit a 25-yard field goal in overtime as Colorado defeated No. 21 West Virginia, 17-14.
After that kick though, things seemed to go downhill for the Buffaloes.
Following Goodman's overtime winner, he would miss his next eight field goal attempts and would finish the season 5-for-14 in field goals while Smith would be shut down for the rest of the season. He would eventually leave the team this summer.
Though last season's special teams struggled, so far throughout fall camp, special teams coach Kent Riddle said he is happy with the progress his unit has made.
"It's been a very good fall," Riddle said. "We made progress and we just keep on improving."
Spring and fall camp have done wonders for Goodman. He has changed his technique by taking out a step before he kicks.
"I just felt that taking it out made everything more consistent and more fluid," Goodman said. "I'm looking for the same consistency in each kick and I felt that getting rid of it was the way to do it."
Five months after the season ended, Goodman showed why he's still the starting placekicker this season. He nailed two field goals in last April's spring game from 43 and 50 vards.
Riddle said it's Goodman's mental attitude he is most impressed with since last season.
"He's really devoted himself to the idea of being a great kicker, rather than just wanting to be a great kicker;" Riddle said.
TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
Tech at disadvantage under current BCS system
By Landry Locker The Daily Toreador
LUBBOCK, Texas — This weekend is the first in college football season, and Boise State already is playing for a BCS appearance against Oregon on the blue turf.
While most teams have to go through conference gauntlets to be rewarded with BCS appearances, teams such as Boise State and Utah simply have to defeat a second-tier team from a BCS conference and dominate its inferior conferences in order to be rewarded with a BCS appearance.
The BCS was made for these teams. But, what do they do to show their appreciation for the system? They constantly speak out against the system, claiming it doesn't give them a fair chance.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has spoken out against the current system, but unlike Utah and Boise State, Leach's team is actually at a huge disadvantage under the BCS.
If Boise State defeats Oregon on Thursday — a team the Broncos are favored to beat — then they will most likely go undefeated in
the western Athletic Conference and appear in yet another BCS game.
On the other hand, a team like Tech has to run through the Big 12 South and defeat both Oklahoma and Texas in order to reap the same benefits.
Although the Red Raiders were eventually humiliated by Oklahoma, there is nobody with an ounce of common sense that can convince me that Utah would have finished 2-1 against Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas last season.
Nevertheless, the Utes were rewarded with a BCS appearance in the Sugar Bowl while the Red Raiders received an invite to the Cotton Bowl.
Don't get me wrong. OU was a good team in 2006, but the Sooners were not a national championship contender that season.
I personally am not in favor of a college football playoff, but what the teams from non-BCS conferences are arguing for would put these ungrateful beneficiaries of the current system in their places. They would have to face an elite team more than once a season.
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 4,2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN