Quote Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg View Post
It is amazing what making or missing a clutch game winning kick does for people's memories about the efficiency of a kicker. I think the biggest argument you could make is that our kickers have not had the range to attempt long field goals and that has hampered our decision making, but let's look at career FG%:

Brian Hazelwood made 58.9% of his FG at State - but is revered for '97 & '98 game winners.
Scott Westerfield hit 71.4%
Westin Graves hit 68.4%
Devin Bell hit 63.6%
Derek D hit 76.2%
Sobiesk hit 75% - His leaving after '14 with 2 years of eligibility really hurt.

So all of Mullen's kickers were statistically better than Hazelwood and half were better than Westerfield (probably recognized as our best ever).

The big issue was not having someone who could back up Graves so he kicked all year injured.
To the point about range- that is a big deal because if we have to get to the 20 yard line to get in field goal range as opposed to the 30-35 it still makes it difficult to score as many points because our offense has to get deeper into the opponent's territory and run more plays potentially with time running down.

And that lack of range partly explains why Dan's kickers don't have apt of memorable game winners. A couple of times they missed field goals that were at the edge of their range like Sobiesk in 2013 Egg Bowl and Bell against LSU in 2015.