Duke Punter
- Thread starter hdhntr1
- Start date
He's got one hell of a strong leg. Imagine how much worse our field position could be if so many of his punts didn't sail deep into the end zone.
The only one he did not was his last. What a leg. Needs tolearn to control it.
Great distance but most of the time a bit too great. I'm afraid our kicking/punting is going to cost NU a W this season.
That great kicker handed us about 100 yards of offense by subtracting 20 yards of net every punt into the end zone. Reminded me of Todd Sauerbrun who continually out kicked his coverage. So much more to punting than a strong leg. I thought Nieswander was outstanding today.
As to your question. Hot humid air will increase the distance a projectile travels as the air is less dense. That was part of the equation.
Felt like the Duke Punter set a NCAA record - although I bet the record for "total yards punted in a NCAA game" is ridiculously high. He had 11 punts for 605 yards - a 55.0 YPP average. Look forward to seeing him in the NFL.
Niswander was also very impressive. The rugby punt decision was a strange one by Fitz, but he really helped our defense today.
Six touchbacks is probably not a record either for a punter, but it's the most I've seen in a while.
I actually thought their punter was awful. Yes, he has a crazy NFL-strong leg, but that's all he had today (until the last punt). When the other team is not a threat to return punts - and let's face it, there is plenty of evidence that NU is not going to go out of its way to return punts - you don't need to boom everything into the end zone. With the way the NU offense was playing for a big part of the game, even a couple more punts inside the 20 could have made the difference for them.
That was how I felt as well. While I agree that calling him "awful" was a bit of hyperbole, I felt like an NFL-quality punter (and he definitely is) should be licking his chops at the opportunity to punt against a team that lets the ball bounce and has a young QB who could get rattled inside the 10. It seemed like a real missed opportunity for Duke, and every time the ball went into the end zone I was ecstatic.