Down the Pipe & Natty Lite - Episode 12: The Placekicker Blues

First off, we talked about the tragic death of Cyclone women’s golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. On Saturday at the football game, Arozamena will be honored as the Cyclone Women’s Athlete of the Year and with a moment of silence. If you’re attending the game, PLEASE WEAR GOLD. Gold was Celia’s favorite color, and we’d like to honor her in any way we can.

We also discussed last week’s contest against Oklahoma. We touched on a few of the things we saw that changed the outcome of the game, who we came away most impressed with, and where the largest improvements showed. Is Zeb the right choice to take snaps even after Kyle Kempt is cleared to return? What might the offense look like going forward, especially in the running game? What was up with those short kickoffs? Even Cole, our resident special teams expert, isn’t sure what the plan was behind them.

Last weekend, the Browns, Vikings, and Rams all lost chances at wins due to missed field goals. All three kickers have since lost their jobs. Cole talks about the mental and technical components that go along with making those late field goals, including the technical issues that seemed to cause the Viking’s Carlon to push consecutive field goals wide right. Without a doubt kickers are the position most commonly attacked on social media after a poor performance. What does online abuse do to the pyschological state of the kicker?