Special Teams Will Need to Be Special at Kansas State
STILLWATER -- Special Teams is the third phase of football, but it is important to remember that in most games the third phase of the game doesn't account for a full third of the game. Take the Cowboys 41-34 overtime loss to Texas as there were 40 plays of special teams overall. Texas snapped the ball 75 times and Oklahoma State had 91 offensive plays. Those plays are still critically important with all kinds of hidden yardage and when it comes to field goals and PATs there are points involved.
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with the media on Monday with his weekly Zoom conference. Gundy was still of the same opinion as he was on Saturday that his team gave away their chance to win with mistakes on offense and special teams in the form of turnovers on offense, a kick return for a touchdown, and a roughing the punter penalty in the fourth quarter that gave Texas a first down on fourth down and 22 that led to the touchdown that gave the Longhorns their first lead since the early second period.
I really focused on the special teams miscues, those alone were a difference between winning or losing. It was bad enough to get you beat against Texas. Special teams miscues this coming week at Kansas State could get you clobbered. They are first in the conference in punting and in punt returns with two touchdowns although both were against Kansas.
Gundy was quick to jump in with his explanation and analysis of the plays on Saturday.
"We had two things happen. We had two guys out of place on kick return and we had one and half missed tackles," Gundy started in his analysis of the two major special teams issues versus Texas. "You can look at that both ways, you can say we missed a tackle, or you can say they had a good athlete that made us miss and in special teams it can go either way.
"On the block call, what happened with Kanion (Williams) is he got tripped up and got pushed to the ground, and then he fell on the foot of the punter with actually his helmet and his shoulder, Gundy continued. "But he had his hand extended, so they called a personal foul, 15-yarder. I still to this day, I don't know what's a 5-or-15-yarder, but that's what happened on those plays."
Okay, now you fix it and the kickoff return is all about correction, which could include moving a guilty party off the kickoff cover team for a game, although more than likely it is correction in practice and move on. There are always guys that are willing to cover kickoffs. Most of the time it is a glorified wind sprint in front of the crowd on television as the ball goes out of the end zone or is fair caught. If you like contact then it's a way to get a good blow in. All you have to do is stay in your lane and break down and make sure you keep the returner from going vertical and kicking into high gear.
My issue with the punt block is more in the decision to call it. I realize that Texas had two punts blocked this season and at that stage in the fourth quarter and on their ninth punt of the day probably wasn't expecting it. I just prefer to set up the return with Dillon Stoner and let the offense do it's thing.
Gundy explained some of the mindset with making calls and decisions with special teams even with a team that puts extra focus on it like K-State.
“Every week,” Gundy said of putting emphasis on special teams ahead of Kansas State. “We only have so much time and so many reps and we have to believe in our systems and we have to execute it. Like I said, when we went up by 11 and then turned right around and gave them the seven points on the kickoff return, we had one and a half guys that had a chance to make a play and we had two guys out of position. The area to correct on is the two guys out of position. They’re the ones that need to fix the problem. Then we would’ve had three and a half guys there in front of him like they should’ve been. The scheme was fine, we’ve got to get that corrected with the players, which we did last (Sunday) night. Then on the punt block situation, he kind of got pushed down, he got pushed on the ground. I can’t blame the young man for it, he’s giving effort, it was just a bad situation and he just got into an area and then they decided to make it a personal foul.”
Alex Hale (19) kicking and Jake McClure holding against West Virginia earlier this season.
Pat Kinnison - Pokes Report chief photographer
I agree for the most part with Gundy, but the goal the rest of the season needs to be get the technique and execution right and have special teams play with your offense, which is second in conference play in total offense, and the defense, second in the conference in total defense. In other words, don't ask special teams to win games for you, but make sure they don't lose games. The exception is kicker Alex Hale and holder Jake McClure, and long snapper Matt Hembrough, who proved with five seconds left that they are up to the task of being asked to win (this case tie) a football game.
