Dodge "i Don't Know If I Will Be Back"

eulessismore · November 24, 2009

I didn't say a thing about blocked punts. My comment earlier was on the final kick. But really, I'll take the word of the ex NFL Pro field goal kicker standing next to me in the stands after the blocked kick over yours any day.
Rick

Touche. Still, the Army guy came through a wide open hole to block it.

LoveMG · November 24, 2009

Touche. Still, the Army guy came through a wide open hole to block it.

it was blocked at the line of scrimmage, so it must have been somewhat low.

UNTnewbie · November 24, 2009

Dude, the fact is, on that blocked FG Saturday, they DID break through. This isn't really to defend Knott so much, because he did have a flat out missed PAT and a short kickoff just minutes before, but this Upstate NY beat writer describes what I saw:
Army special teams play
And I hate to point out the above, because in many ways, ST has improved under Gandy. Still, I don't care what FFR says, low trajectory wasn't the cause of that blocked FG, and certainly not the blocked punts in earlier games (hey, let's admit it, teams started doing that to us beginning with MTSU this year, and kept after us-don't you think they saw something watching film that made them thing they could?); at least one of those blocked punts I saw had the guy blocking it coming around left end.
Yes, we need a better kicker, and yes, we need better protection for whoever is kicking or punting. And yeah, as much as I love Shelton Gandy, maybe we need some help coaching/mentoring kickers, whatever. Hell, I'll even concede one to that consultant loving UNT_Playmaker, bring in a kicking consultant if we can't afford to hire someone who knows how to coach kicking. Hell, tell Gandy/Dodge to swallow their pride and beg the previous S/C coach who was reported to coach kickers BACK to help out, have RV order the guy to help, if that's what it takes. Anything, but don't continue down this kicking game regression. If it's all on Knott, fine, but please, someone tell me how he screwed up the punting game.

FYI - Seroka, Head S/C coach, handles the kickers/snappers every day during practice until it is time for team drills then Gandy takes over. This has been the case for the entire Summer/Fall. This staff has many times called for the short K/O and utilize directional kicking most of the time. From what I saw it appeared that the short kick was on purpose, just check out the height of the kick which had much more hang time than our normal kicks and it did not appear that Jeremy mishit the ball. Agree that the problems are not with trajectory but with the protection for the most part.

The kick was NOT blocked at the line of scrimmage, the player that blocked it was behind our offensive line.

Edited November 24, 2009 by UNTnewbie

eulessismore · November 24, 2009

it was blocked at the line of scrimmage, so it must have been somewhat low.

My manager at work recorded it and told me he was going to watch it; I'll ask him what he saw. I remember it the way those Army players described it in the article I linked. Maybe those West Point guys don't really know what they did. Still, I'm not convinced it's trivial whether we're getting punts or FG's blocked; it's not good for the opponents to be running loose in our backfield when we're trying to punt or kick. If everyone thinks we're hunky dory with our kicking game other than one kicker, I guess we only have one more game of these nightmares, then Atterberry will be kicking them through from 55 yards out. And, if we can get the field goals kicked from far enough out, we won't have have to punt, thus no more blocked punts. Heck, maybe we'll figure out how to block one of them punts or field goal attempts, although the whole kicking aspect seems mighty mysterious to us.

Rudy · November 24, 2009

All this bitching amonst us, we really need a win.

stebo · November 24, 2009

FYI - Seroka, Head S/C coach, handles the kickers/snappers every day during practice until it is time for team drills then Gandy takes over. This has been the case for the entire Summer/Fall. This staff has many times called for the short K/O and utilize directional kicking most of the time. From what I saw it appeared that the short kick was on purpose, just check out the height of the kick which had much more hang time than our normal kicks and it did not appear that Jeremy mishit the ball. Agree that the problems are not with trajectory but with the protection for the most part.
The kick was NOT blocked at the line of scrimmage, the player that blocked it was behind our offensive line.

You are wrong. I have the game on TIVO and that kick was blocked at the line. The guy has missed 4 extra points this year and countless field goals. We had to burn a time out because the coach simply cannot trust his abilities. When a team has to consider going for it because they do not think that the kicker can make a 32 yd fg, there is a MAJOR problem with that kicker. Heck, when a team has to hold their collective breath every time an extra point is kicked - there is a huge problem. Knott has not turned things around like we all hoped. He needs to go bud... if he was your employee, you would fire him. He quite possibly cost us the game.

adman · November 24, 2009

this is the point where the a.d. steps in and issues the calming statement and says the coach has his full support, yada yada
we have not heard that yet.
maybe rv is waiting till after ark state game to evaluate but why would coach question status now instead of saying same, plus hurt recruiting?
noticed also while dodge was on the stage at groundbreaking he didn't get to speak, strange for a facility being built for his team.

He was the only one on the stage to stand and raise his talon rather than wave though. I appreciated that.

hickoryhouse · November 24, 2009

All of this speculation and nothing really concrete. A bunch of blame on a kicker... Rudy, you are right, we really do need a win.

On the other hand, I don't see what a coach has to gain by saying that he doesn't know if he will be here next year, that sounds to me like a guy who has seen the writing on the wall. If RV has mad a decision that the rest of us don't know about yet then he sees the opportunity cost of firing Dodge vs sitting it out as to great to pass up. If RV thinks that winning is going to bring more attendance, attention or money then we can save by living with Dodge another year then who can blame him for making the move and taking the risk of the lost cash.

I haven't really been able to take a side on the Dodge thing, I think that for the most part I have thought that this year looked substantially better than the last two and the with another year we might start seeing some progress. But after reevaluating the coaching decisions and seeing the justifications and descriptions of the bad coaching decisions from the last two weeks I think that I might be starting to settle in the Dodge has to go camp. I still think that he has the recruiting touch, our talent level is so much higher now than it has been in years, I also think that he has a great feel for the offensive side of the game. I just am having a hard time figuring out why the in game coaching thing hasn't come along with experience like we all hoped it would after the first year or so. Thsi is going to be an interesting off season and I am looking forward to seeing what happens on Monday November 30th.

IF, if RV has made a decision then he should probably have a replacement in mind right? Vito makes some interesting points in his most recent blog post about the cost of getting rid of Dodge. There are options and possibilities out there for lowering the cost and he discusses several. That doesn't mean that it isn't going to be expensive though. What is GB's take on the situation i wonder?

Pen Yan Fan · November 24, 2009

All of this speculation and nothing really concrete. A bunch of blame on a kicker... Rudy, you are right, we really do need a win.
On the other hand, I don't see what a coach has to gain by saying that he doesn't know if he will be here next year, that sounds to me like a guy who has seen the writing on the wall. If RV has mad a decision that the rest of us don't know about yet then he sees the opportunity cost of firing Dodge vs sitting it out as to great to pass up. If RV thinks that winning is going to bring more attendance, attention or money then we can save by living with Dodge another year then who can blame him for making the move and taking the risk of the lost cash.
I haven't really been able to take a side on the Dodge thing, I think that for the most part I have thought that this year looked substantially better than the last two and the with another year we might start seeing some progress. But after reevaluating the coaching decisions and seeing the justifications and descriptions of the bad coaching decisions from the last two weeks I think that I might be starting to settle in the Dodge has to go camp. I still think that he has the recruiting touch, our talent level is so much higher now than it has been in years, I also think that he has a great feel for the offensive side of the game. I just am having a hard time figuring out why the in game coaching thing hasn't come along with experience like we all hoped it would after the first year or so. Thsi is going to be an interesting off season and I am looking forward to seeing what happens on Monday November 30th.
IF, if RV has made a decision then he should probably have a replacement in mind right? Vito makes some interesting points in his most recent blog post about the cost of getting rid of Dodge. There are options and possibilities out there for lowering the cost and he discusses several. That doesn't mean that it isn't going to be expensive though. What is GB's take on the situation i wonder?

I don't think this is all RV's decision. There is pressure from the administration at UNT because of the risk that Dodge was when he was hired. The risk being a high school coach with a coaching staff with no college experience. Now that we have the results of this experiment, RV is going to have to fix his mistake either because he knows it is the right thing to do or because he is told to do so.

risinggreen · November 24, 2009

You are wrong. I have the game on TIVO and that kick was blocked at the line. The guy has missed 4 extra points this year and countless field goals. We had to burn a time out because the coach simply cannot trust his abilities. When a team has to consider going for it because they do not think that the kicker can make a 32 yd fg, there is a MAJOR problem with that kicker. Heck, when a team has to hold their collective breath every time an extra point is kicked - there is a huge problem. Knott has not turned things around like we all hoped. He needs to go bud... if he was your employee, you would fire him. He quite possibly cost us the game.

Are he and Chris Brown roommates? Sad couple of days for kickers. Hard not to blame the staff for not finding a consistent kicker by their third year here. It was pretty obvious last year that our guy had a trajectory problem, and with Dodge's supposed connections, you would think that he would have found someone by now.

UNTnewbie · November 24, 2009

My manager at work recorded it and told me he was going to watch it; I'll ask him what he saw. I remember it the way those Army players described it in the article I linked. Maybe those West Point guys don't really know what they did. Still, I'm not convinced it's trivial whether we're getting punts or FG's blocked; it's not good for the opponents to be running loose in our backfield when we're trying to punt or kick. If everyone thinks we're hunky dory with our kicking game other than one kicker, I guess we only have one more game of these nightmares, then Atterberry will be kicking them through from 55 yards out. And, if we can get the field goals kicked from far enough out, we won't have have to punt, thus no more blocked punts. Heck, maybe we'll figure out how to block one of them punts or field goal attempts, although the whole kicking aspect seems mighty mysterious to us.

The SMU Transfer Julian Herron is supposed to be a beast when it comes to blocking kicks, inside or outside. Another positive for the team next year.