Relax, I was prepared to agree with you and your thoughts piqued my curiosity. The research took all of 5 minutes. It's an interesting exercise and if you still feel there were 3 wins out there, I would be curious to hear which ones you believe could have changed and why. I said I was open to the theory that our ineptitude changed our offensive philosophy.
In a few of those games they went for it on 4th down instead of kicking a field goal. Those would not show up on the Stat sheet. If a few kicks go our way and turn into a win does that help lead to more confidence and wins later? That could be debated. We are where we are and kicking has a part in it. Sucks but true.
A decent debate when talking about our woeful special teams.
Go thru the schedule since Frost has been here, the amount of plays ran because they had no kicker, the amount of sheer misses, the 4th downs and 8 at the 30. Go thru it, you’ll see. It’s really an eye opener. One dude. I keep saying it, but when you have 20% confidence in your kicker, it alters the way you play. So so many close losses, where a kicker would have made a massive difference. Just a kicker. Now, factor in that kicker, then add a difference maker or two, a solid defense, and you have a West front runner.
Yeah, they beat OU, MSU, Illinois, Michigan and possibly Iowa. Add 5 to the win column, subtract 5 from the loss column, that’s 8-4. Those games were all managed unlike what normal would be, with an eye to the future of said games, that they don’t have a kicker. A FG on that opening drive probably would have made a difference. I’d bet a dollar to a dozen, Frost holds his breath on XP’s, and that’s what the FG would have been. Just one small example.
Look at the confidence instilled across the whole team of the Bengals, knowing that they got THAT GUY warming up in the practice net. It permeates everything, just like Aaron Donald impacts the confidence of the offense despite not playing a down with them.
We saw a team this year wait the entire season for the other shoe to drop. What's gonna go wrong next? When a team has the best kicker in the league, it bolsters everything else. Its dependability, like hitting a light switch and getting light.
l don't take issue with what you are saying but can't see three more wins there. There were plenty of reasons for 3-9 with the kicking game being one of those reasons. Unfortunately, even when we had that All Conference kicker, we were a 3-5 team and this year found creative ways to lose games that didn't involve field goals. Would a reliable kicker have helped the team, of course it would, I'm just not sure it impacts the season as much as others believe? I can buy 1-2 games but not 3 or even 5 as one poster suggested. It's just my opinion and there is obviously no way to prove either way.
Not likely pal. Dream on
Making those decisions call for better coaching
I’m talking over 4 years. 2019 was a disaster all by itself. And, IMO, NU does beat Oklahoma with a kicker. Lost by 7. Had an extra point blocked and returned for 2, and missed two FG’s. Also, what I think you might not be considering is, how it altered what the coaches did, what plays, planning, and getting in situations where you have to go for it instead of attempting a 40 yard FG.
