INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Spurrier Missing The Point
by Ivan Maisel
Posted: Wed September 23, 1998
Florida coach Steve Spurrier has cracked wise about preferring to
kick extra points instead of field goals. His Gators usually
score touchdowns often enough that few of their wins depend on
three-pointers. Like many coaches, Spurrier has left kicking to
walk-ons. He discovered an All-America that way in Judd Davis,
whose career ended in 1994. Since then, however, the Gators'
placekicking has been no better than mediocre: 23 of 43 on field
goals, including a dismal 2 of 10 from 40 yards or longer. Last
Saturday night, Collins Cooper, a former walk-on now on
scholarship, missed a 32-yard attempt in overtime, giving
Tennessee a 20-17 win.
Spurrier has signed a kicker in each of the last three years,
none of whom has panned out. He has not had the change in fortune
enjoyed by his archrival, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden.
Bowden's lack of interest in kicking twice cost the Seminoles a
chance to finish No. 1 when walk-ons missed field goals that
would have beaten (Wide Right I, 1991) and tied (Wide Right II,
'92) Miami. Since then Bowden has signed three excellent kickers:
Scott Bentley, whose late-game field goal beat Nebraska 18-16 for
the '93 national championship; Bill Gramatica; and current
sophomore Sebastian Janikowski, whose arrival last season
resulted in Gramatica's transferring to South Florida, for whom
he booted a 44-yard field goal with five seconds left last
Saturday to beat Liberty 24-21.
Issue date: September 28, 1998
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