Oregon vs Auburn National Championship Thread

[spinseeker]

Auburn fans,

How do you feel about your special teams? Do they give up much yardage? Fumbles? Fakes? Onside kicks? Not knowing much about ours except maybe stats, would you think yours is better, equal or worse?

Trying to gauge any advantages for either team in this aspect.

[AU4UO]

Auburn fans,

How do you feel about your special teams? Do they give up much yardage? Fumbles? Fakes? Onside kicks? Not knowing much about ours except maybe stats, would you think yours is better, equal or worse?

Trying to gauge any advantages for either team in this aspect.

Our coverage is pretty good. Our kicker rarely hits the endzone. I don't recall any fakes this year. We kicked an onside against UGA to open the second half this year, we did the same against 'Bama last year. We always hold our breath on punts because we've had returners not field the ball correctly. We don't have to punt often.

I haven't seen any special teams by Oregon to make a judgment on how they'd look against each other.

[cordy02c]

our punt returner has returned 4 punts for td's but he also some boneheaded decisions on fielding some he shouldn't so it's high risk high reward

[cordy02c]

our punt returner has returned 4 punts for td's but he also some boneheaded decisions on fielding some he shouldn't so it's high risk high reward

[AU4UO]

our punt returner has returned 4 punts for td's but he also some boneheaded decisions on fielding some he shouldn't so it's high risk high reward

Q.Carr let a punt bounce off his shoulder pad in the Iron Bowl that resulted in a turnover. I'm not sure if he's fielded a punt since. Not sure if it's his first, but our coaches don't take kindly to dumb mistakes like that. Refer to Mario Fannin for an example. He was pulled from the starting RB position(sometime around mid season) due to his few fumbles. Sad too because he's a hell of a runner and a great teammate.

[spinseeker]

Auburn fans,

How do you feel about your special teams? Do they give up much yardage? Fumbles? Fakes? Onside kicks? Not knowing much about ours except maybe stats, would you think yours is better, equal or worse?

Trying to gauge any advantages for either team in this aspect.

Our coverage is pretty good. Our kicker rarely hits the endzone. I don't recall any fakes this year. We kicked an onside against UGA to open the second half this year, we did the same against 'Bama last year. We always hold our breath on punts because we've had returners not field the ball correctly. We don't have to punt often.

I haven't seen any special teams by Oregon to make a judgment on how they'd look against each other.

Our kicker rarely hits the end zone also. We get excellent coverage. Punt coverage is awesome and our punt returner is great. 4 returned for td from Harris and 1 from Barner.

Hopefully we will be able to receive a few punts. That could make the difference.

Three years ago, we had no faith in our punting. Seemed like they Mishandled every punt. That was when Bellotti was trying to coach ST himself. After that year we brought back Osbourne who was ST coach for a long time here. We've been solid ever since, bordering on great. Seems like this year our kick returns haven't been as great ( not bad, just not great), but our punting and punt returns have been great.

[JohnnyAuburn]

We tend to be conservative on returning kicks, but kickoffs and punts get returned up the middle. I think the coaches prefer to let our offense get the field position themselves. Kickoff coverage has been incredible this year. We have a whole mess of up and coming athletes that have proven to be very adept at staying in their lanes, gettting downfield quickly, and hitting hard. When it comes to punting, however, the coverage is fine, but its because we rarely punt more than 30 yards. Always a mile high and 30 yards out.

Place kicking, Wes Byrum has missed a couple this year but has been 100% in clutch situations throughout his career.

I remember only one onside kick during our comeback against Georgia, and we lined up in a punt formation with Cam in the backfield in the SEC Championship. Cam has the ability to punt if he doesn't like the read but we went for the conversion with an NFL style pass and a beautiful tip-toe catch from Darvin Adams for the first.

We also blocked a punt vs. arkansas, but that's a rarity for us.

[spinseeker]

We tend to be conservative on returning kicks, but kickoffs and punts get returned up the middle. I think the coaches prefer to let our offense get the field position themselves. Kickoff coverage has been incredible this year. We have a whole mess of up and coming athletes that have proven to be very adept at staying in their lanes, gettting downfield quickly, and hitting hard. When it comes to punting, however, the coverage is fine, but its because we rarely punt more than 30 yards. Always a mile high and 30 yards out.

Place kicking, Wes Byrum has missed a couple this year but has been 100% in clutch situations throughout his career.

I remember only one onside kick during our comeback against Georgia, and we lined up in a punt formation with Cam in the backfield in the SEC Championship. Cam has the ability to punt if he doesn't like the read but we went for the conversion with an NFL style pass and a beautiful tip-toe catch from Darvin Adams for the first.

We also blocked a punt vs. arkansas, but that's a rarity for us.

These teams are so similar it is eerie. That type of punting is optimal against us. The one time Cal didn't do that Harris took it to the house.

We have only missed two place kicks, one in the very first game that was blocked and the very last game which had a bad hold and was too low. Different kicker in the first game due to a suspension. The last three games have been tough for our kicking game due to new holders. The first due to injury, and then our back up holder had mono for the next two games. So the kicker and holder have been having a hard time meshing.

This layoff should help. We have our original backup back now.

And we never block punts. Get close sometimes, but the only time we really tried, our guy was pushed into the kicker and it was a first down for them instead of punting out of their end zone. Since then, we have been content to just get the ball.

[Juice]

We tend to be conservative on returning kicks, but kickoffs and punts get returned up the middle. I think the coaches prefer to let our offense get the field position themselves. Kickoff coverage has been incredible this year. We have a whole mess of up and coming athletes that have proven to be very adept at staying in their lanes, gettting downfield quickly, and hitting hard. When it comes to punting, however, the coverage is fine, but its because we rarely punt more than 30 yards. Always a mile high and 30 yards out.

Place kicking, Wes Byrum has missed a couple this year but has been 100% in clutch situations throughout his career.

I remember only one onside kick during our comeback against Georgia, and we lined up in a punt formation with Cam in the backfield in the SEC Championship. Cam has the ability to punt if he doesn't like the read but we went for the conversion with an NFL style pass and a beautiful tip-toe catch from Darvin Adams for the first.

We also blocked a punt vs. arkansas, but that's a rarity for us.

Yeah if the game comes down to a field goal, IMO we are screwed. I like Robbie, and if it was earlier in the season I'd be pretty confident, but lately.. ehhh.. he's been really really shaky.

[AU4UO]

One of Wes's highest achievements in my eyes was kicking the winning field goal not only once, but twice to beat #1 Florida in 2007. In the Swamp no less. Freezing the kicker didn't work so well against him. He definitely comes through in the clutch.


~:50 mark if you're interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwGsWWdJUpU

[Nightowl]

One of Wes's highest achievements in my eyes was kicking the winning field goal not only once, but twice to beat #1 Florida in 2007. In the Swamp no less. Freezing the kicker didn't work so well against him. He definitely comes through in the clutch.


~:50 mark if you're interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwGsWWdJUpU

I love him doing the gator chomp after nailing the FG ftw.

[SuperDuck]

We tend to be conservative on returning kicks, but kickoffs and punts get returned up the middle. I think the coaches prefer to let our offense get the field position themselves. Kickoff coverage has been incredible this year. We have a whole mess of up and coming athletes that have proven to be very adept at staying in their lanes, gettting downfield quickly, and hitting hard. When it comes to punting, however, the coverage is fine, but its because we rarely punt more than 30 yards. Always a mile high and 30 yards out.

Place kicking, Wes Byrum has missed a couple this year but has been 100% in clutch situations throughout his career.

I remember only one onside kick during our comeback against Georgia, and we lined up in a punt formation with Cam in the backfield in the SEC Championship. Cam has the ability to punt if he doesn't like the read but we went for the conversion with an NFL style pass and a beautiful tip-toe catch from Darvin Adams for the first.

We also blocked a punt vs. arkansas, but that's a rarity for us.

Yeah if the game comes down to a field goal, IMO we are screwed. I like Robbie, and if it was earlier in the season I'd be pretty confident, but lately.. ehhh.. he's been really really shaky.

I think it's partially been a chemistry thing between Beard and his holder. Nate Costa was the holder all year until he got hurt and then it was Jackson Rice, the punter. Unfortunately, Rice has been out 2-3 weeks with Mononucleosis and I think it's been the true freshman, Maldanado, doing the holding, but I'm not sure. Now that Rice is back they'll have 25 days to get it together. I'm certain it'll be an important point of emphasis. This game may come down to a kick or two.

[woundedknees]

If Rice is ready to go, the main thing that may be absent from Oregon's kicking game is the true threat that Nate Costa was allowed to free lance the 2 point conversion attempt if it was available.

While the 2 point attempt is still an option, I believe it will be strictly by design.

Nate's ability to execute in those surprise attacks was uncanny.

We miss you Nate!

[SuperDuck]

We miss you Nate!

That's an understatement. I almost feel like we're driving without a spare.

I've been wondering what Chip would do if Thomas went down in the game. Would he play Hawkins, who is a big running threat, but less effective passer or would he pull the redshirt off Bennett? I think he'd probably put Bennett in, especially if it's close. That would really suck, though.

I just hope it doesn't happen, but I worry a bit about the rumors of Nick Fairley being mean and trying to intentionally hurt people. Not trying to rile anyone up, but rumors don't usually start without a reason. The gal that interviewed him at the awards show even asked him about it.

Anyway, Bryan Bennett is a talented kid and I'm sure he'd come in and do a great job. I'd just hate to see him have to burn an entire year of eligibility.

[woundedknees]

We miss you Nate!

That's an understatement. I almost feel like we're driving without a spare.

I've been wondering what Chip would do if Thomas went down in the game. Would he play Hawkins, who is a big running threat, but less effective passer or would he pull the redshirt off Bennett? I think he'd probably put Bennett in, especially if it's close. That would really suck, though.

I just hope it doesn't happen, but I worry a bit about the rumors of Nick Fairley being mean and trying to intentionally hurt people. Not trying to rile anyone up, but rumors don't usually start without a reason. The gal that interviewed him at the awards show even asked him about it.

Anyway, Bryan Bennett is a talented kid and I'm sure he'd come in and do a great job. I'd just hate to see him have to burn an entire year of eligibility.

I have no doubt, if Bennett needed burn his red shirt for that purpose, he would never complain... And if he led the Ducks to victory, his place in history would be set in stone!