Pitt Coaches Stand by Kicker After Rough Outing
PITTSBURGH -- In just his second weekend as the Pitt Panthers' primary placekicker, Ben Sauls had a game to forget. He missed two of his four field goals and, in a game against the then-No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers that took overtime to decide, one of those misses was the difference between a win and a loss, a top-15 ranking in national polls and being dropped out of the top-20, passing the difficult opening to your season with flying colors and
But Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi didn't waver in the aftermath of the loss to Tennessee and instead doubled down on his support for Sauls and his backup Sam Scarton.
"I think we got the right guy and the right night. Got trust in Sam. Got trust in Ben," Narduzzi said. "Every kicker in the country misses field goals. So you want to bail on them, I'm not. I watch every day. I know what it is. It's not an easy job."
Special teams coordinator Andre Powell said he thinks the mistakes are fixable. He singled out Saul's approach as needing improvement and said that even the smallest error in the lead-up to contact can make a kick from distance look ugly.
"The approach was a little bit off. When you're a kicker, if you're off a couple of inches now, from 30 yards where you do your work, a couple inches can translate to feet down the field. So just a little bit off."
Powell added that he doesn't want Sauls to overreact and think too much. When dealing with an art with as fine a margin an error as place-kicking, decreased confidence can have a devastating trickle-down effect.
"You can overreact but if you overreact, they feel it," Powell said. "So I haven't really said much to him. I just looked at the kicks, looked at the snaps, looked at the hold, talked about it. But there's no need for a long [conversation]."
That calm, business-as-usual attitude has paid off, at least according to Narduzzi, who reiterated his support for Sauls and added that he and Scarton have bounced back well in practice this week.
"They've both been really solid in practice," Narduzzi said. "It comes down to the game and you're not going to make all of them but Ben had a good week and Sam had a good week. So we expect a good Saturday."
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