The Wazzu game was a strong performance from both Dalton Witherspoon and Dane Roy. Dalton rebounded from an early miss and drilled a 42-yard field goal in the 4th quarter. To come back and hit a clutch kick like that speaks to the confidence of Witherspoon and tells me that he is mentally strong.
On his first kick, Dalton didn’t follow through and didn’t get his entire momentum behind the ball.
Not getting your momentum through and leaving your hips open will cause the ball to push right. All field goals are created equal. They are all worth 3 points and your swing needs to be the exact same every single time, no matter if it is a 20-yard or 60-yard Field Goal. Watch his hips on this rebound gif:
On his second FG attempt, a calm Dalton Witherspoon stepped up and drilled a 42-yarder. He followed through towards his target and got his momentum behind the ball. This caused the ball to have a truer, straighter flight path and came out with more velocity. This kick had a lower apex than the first one but would have been good from a lot further than his first kick.
Other Kick Specialists
Dane Roy had a solid game pinning all 3 of his punts inside the 20 and making Wazzu march the length of the field each time. The highlight was the punt in the 3rd quarter that went 59 yards.
It was more of an Aussie kick – just two steps to the left and a quick-release. The ball bounced at the 23 end-over-end and rolled down to the two. Nothing sexy about it, but he got the job done, and that’s all you need in the life of a specialist.
Also: it was a great job by gunner Amaud Willis-Dalton to down it at the two.
On the long kick return by Wazzu, Kyle Ramsey wrapped his foot around the kick which had a lower hang time than normal. The returner decided to catch it and take it up the sideline. The outside gunner got sucked inside but luckily the Ramsey filled the hole left behind and used the boundary as his best friend.
Ramsey made the stop with a WWE takedown that ESPN play-by-play man Dave Flemming called a “powerful finish.” While it may not have been pretty, it goes down as a tackle in the box score.
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