Shama: Punting could be a concern for Minnesota.

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,716
Reaction score
15,969
Points
113
per Shama:

It looks like Gophers special team headliners will include kickoff returner Rodney Smith, punt returner Antoine Winfield Jr., placekicker Emmitt Carpenter and punter Jacob Herbers.

Punting could be a concern for Minnesota. The now departed Ryan Santoso punted 66 times last season, while Herbers punted once. Head coach P.J. Fleck said SMU transfer Alex Melvin will also have opportunities in games.

The Gophers were No. 1 nationally in both fewest total penalties and yards penalized last season. The year before Minnesota ranked 91st in fewest penalty yards and 86th in yards penalized.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 

Simple solution is do the mathematically correct thing and go for it on 4th down far more often.
 

Really wish we had other guys as our returners instead of putting Rodney & Winfield at risk. They likely are clearly the best guys though, so fingers crossed.
 


Seauville said:
Really wish we had other guys as our returners instead of putting Rodney & Winfield at risk. They likely are clearly the best guys though, so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

I wonder if there is any math behind just going for a block every time and not catching the punt at all? Set a guy back there to feign that we will catch it and step away and allow them to down it. If you got really good at blocking it would the 2 or 3 times you actually do block it outweight the 5-10 yards you lose on punts not being caught?

I'm giving this 0 thought beyond my typing so I could be completely idiotic. I guess this would be doubly troubling with the fact that you cannot punt yourself.
 


Winasota Gopher said:
I wonder if there is any math behind just going for a block every time and not catching the punt at all? Set a guy back there to feign that we will catch it and step away and allow them to down it. If you got really good at blocking it would the 2 or 3 times you actually do block it outweight the 5-10 yards you lose on punts not being caught?

I'm giving this 0 thought beyond my typing so I could be completely idiotic. I guess this would be doubly troubling with the fact that you cannot punt yourself.
Click to expand...

We can't be bad at kicking if we just remove kickers & punters from the equation altogether! :drink:
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I wonder if there is any math behind just going for a block every time and not catching the punt at all? Set a guy back there to feign that we will catch it and step away and allow them to down it. If you got really good at blocking it would the 2 or 3 times you actually do block it outweight the 5-10 yards you lose on punts not being caught?

I'm giving this 0 thought beyond my typing so I could be completely idiotic. I guess this would be doubly troubling with the fact that you cannot punt yourself.
Click to expand...

You'd lose far more than 5 to 10 yards as most punters are really good at having it hit and roll the correct direction. I would think it is more like 10 - 20 yards
 


We knew that Ryan would be graduating and long gone. Did our potential punters just not pan out? Not get stronger etc.?
 



#2Gopher said:
We knew that Ryan would be graduating and long gone. Did our potential punters just not pan out? Not get stronger etc.?
Click to expand...
They didn't fail so they didn't grow. Failure=growth.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk
 

Urbandale said:
The math behind it is really fascinating. Coaches, however, are risk averse for the most part.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I haven’t really looked at it in a few years but it was pretty compelling, and definitely on the face of it counterintuitive - like a lot of blackjack hands. Obviously YMMV based on a number of team and personnel related factors but I was absolutely shocked by the analysis. I wish someone would have the guts to try it at the FBS level. Surely someone has tried this on Madden.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Yeah, I haven’t really looked at it in a few years but it was pretty compelling, and definitely on the face of it counterintuitive - like a lot of blackjack hands. Obviously YMMV based on a number of team and personnel related factors but I was absolutely shocked by the analysis. I wish someone would have the guts to try it at the FBS level. Surely someone has tried this on Madden.
Click to expand...

The HS coach in the town where I live now goes for it on most 4th downs. I do think they've got some kind of chart, so they don't go on like 4th & 20 from their own 10, but they'll go for every 4th & 10 around the 50, for example. They also onside kick about 75% of the time (another percentages play that was analyzed a few years back). It's been quite interesting. It puts defenses in a bind on 3rd downs, as they'll often run on 3rd and 10, for example, to get into a more manageable 4th down. So you can't really come out in nickel or like a soft cover 4 or something. Fascinating stuff, and I agree that I'd love to see it in major CFB. I'd also like to see "A 11" but that'll never happen either.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom