The Bobcat Nation

Do we need to look at this abortion of a punting game all season?

ROLO

The roll punt isn't working without Lulay. It's really not that hard to find someone who can punt correctly.

Last time I checked nobody is out there recruiting "roll punters" from high schools so what do you say we look to get some real punting...that cost us 10 points in that game and had our defense not be outstanding we wouldn't have won that game.

Force did a decent job (i.e. got enough elevation that the lineman didn't have to duck) with the roll punt. I vote to let Force finish out the year and get a 'real' punter for next year.

I really wish they would scrap the roll punt except for in situations where a fake is possible, such as 4th and short from near midfield. Bolton has a good leg on the regular punts from what I've seen in scrimmages. Roll punting from inside your own 20 just doesn't make sense to me unless you have someone who is very good at it (clearly, we don't).

I agree. I think Bolton can punt just fine as a regular punter from what I have seen. My preference would be to punt regular style when at our own 30 or less. When on our own 40 or farther, I think the roll punt (with Force punting!) works well. So I would let the situation dictate, not let Bolton or anyone else choose.

MSU01 wrote:I really wish they would scrap the roll punt except for in situations where a fake is possible, such as 4th and short from near midfield. Bolton has a good leg on the regular punts from what I've seen in scrimmages. Roll punting from inside your own 20 just doesn't make sense to me unless you have someone who is very good at it (clearly, we don't).

I agree with you on this one. Bolton should be punting in the standard drop-back formation. Look at what Northern Arizona did with their punter, nailing a 62 and a 72 yarder yesterday in Missoula. The roll punt should be kept in the playbook and used occasionally as a surprise. I really like what NAU did in a 4th and something from about the 40. They lined up in a 4-wide spread formation and Murietta did a short pooch punt. That would be a nice fake option or short punt option. The roll punt works most of the time on not allowing a return, but a deep booming punt with solid coverage has the same result. I say we punt out of a standard formation. It seemed to work for such Bobcat punters as Anders Larsson and Matthew Peot. (All-American Ps from MSU, 1984 and 1999, respectively)

The thing I meant about letting Bolton choose was that maybe he could read the defensive setup and decide to roll punt or punt the standard way depending on how the other teamn is playing it. It appears as if other teams are figuring out how to defense the roll punt. It's our turn to figure out how to use their formations against them.

Gordo wrote:Force did a decent job (i.e. got enough elevation that the lineman didn't have to duck) with the roll punt. I vote to let Force finish out the year and get a 'real' punter for next year.

This is my vote as well. Force did an excellent job. Plus if it gets blocked he has the ability to tackle anyone so they don't score etc. (very minor plus, but still a positive). He did the roll punt very well I thought.

Our PATHETIC punting "style" nearly cost us a game we totally dominated...for God's sake, recruit a punter!!!

Helcat72 wrote:The thing I meant about letting Bolton choose was that maybe he could read the defensive setup and decide to roll punt or punt the standard way depending on how the other teamn is playing it. It appears as if other teams are figuring out how to defense the roll punt. It's our turn to figure out how to use their formations against them.

Standard punt formation has the kicker 14-15 yards back. The roll punt is about 11. Bolton would have to roll punt from 14 so as not to telegraph what's coming.

On a side note, having the kicker being 14 yards back may not be such a bad idea, since the long snapper on the FG and PAT seems to snap it about that far. That's three times in the last three games. Add long-snapping to our special teams woes. We were damn lucky we got a do-over on that one PAT. If that had gone any worse, it could easily have led to a tie game.

nevadacat wrote:

Helcat72 wrote:The thing I meant about letting Bolton choose was that maybe he could read the defensive setup and decide to roll punt or punt the standard way depending on how the other teamn is playing it. It appears as if other teams are figuring out how to defense the roll punt. It's our turn to figure out how to use their formations against them.

Standard punt formation has the kicker 14-15 yards back. The roll punt is about 11. Bolton would have to roll punt from 14 so as not to telegraph what's coming.

On a side note, having the kicker being 14 yards back may not be such a bad idea, since the long snapper on the FG and PAT seems to snap it about that far. That's three times in the last three games. Add long-snapping to our special teams woes. We were damn lucky we got a do-over on that one PAT. If that had gone any worse, it could easily have led to a tie game.

Bostick snaps for punts, Birkland for placements....I don't know why Bostick doesn't do placements

I don't think you will see Bolton punting for awhile.
It will be Force punting.

As to Letting Bolton pick, you have to be kidding, it would be like letting the Nation run the asylum.

(Or is that suppose to be the patients?, I always confuse the two).

I bet Eric Fisher could punt the ball the real way. He was an awesome soccer player with a great leg. I know he did some punting in high school, and is and all around good athlete. I know alot about kicking ang punting, and I know Eric, and a guarantee he WILL do a better job than anybody else. Give him the chance.

Anyone notice the Griz using the roll punt this weekend. Tried it at least once I believe.

MSUCATFAN wrote:I bet Eric Fisher could punt the ball the real way. He was an awesome soccer player with a great leg. I know he did some punting in high school, and is and all around good athlete. I know alot about kicking ang punting, and I know Eric, and a guarantee he WILL do a better job than anybody else. Give him the chance.

Maybe it didn't happen, but Kramer said last tuesday that Eric was going to be given a chance on last Tuesday's practice to punt. Either it didn't end up happening or he didn't do well.

Personally I've always been a fan of the roll-out punt. This year it isn't going well, but we also have yet to have an opponent return a punt for a TD against us, something a lot of you seem to take for granted.

If we start booming punts (outkicking our coverage), it could be disastrous especially since our team hasn't preparted for that kind of coverage in 5 years.

I think we should just go for it on 4th down!

More or less, we had two punts returned for TD on saturday.

I'm not against doing it periodically, but I sure would love to see a deep booming punt every now and then.

And to take a page from any economics book ... if the roll punt is such an efficient weapon, why isn't anybody else (outside of a handful) doing it? Do we have access to information that the rest of the "market" doesn't have, or are we instead the ones being inefficient.

Giving up ten points directly relating to blocked punts this weekend pretty much killed my enthusiasm for the whole idea ... especially if we aren't even a serious threat to fake out of it (as we never are when we are deep in our own territory). I have a feeling that the opposing teams are catching on to the "overload to the right and get your hands up" thing.