Extra points harder to come by these days
- by Brian Davis: KRT NewsWire

DALLAS (KRT) — Extra points are usually an afterthought in college football because kickers are normally automatic. But several extra point attempts have been hooked, sliced or blocked this season, altering a team’s national championship destiny.

The point after is now almost as treacherous as third-and-long.

“I don’t know if they’ve got the yips or what’s the deal,” Boise State coach Dan Hawkins said.

Division I-A kickers connected on 95.3 percent of their extra point attempts last season, the best performance since 1990. By comparison, NFL kickers converted 98.4 percent in 2003.

Overall this season, college kickers are hitting 94.9 percent of their extra point attempts, according to NCAA statistics. If that figure were to hold up all year, it would be the second-highest total since `90.

Fifty-three out of 1,043 attempts have been missed this season in Division I-A. Several were huge.

Oregon State’s Alexis Serna missed three in the season opener against LSU, allowing the Tigers to escape with a win, 22-21, in overtime. Tennessee missed an extra point against Florida on Saturday, but the kicker redeemed himself with a last-gasp field goal that gave the Volunteers a two-point victory. LSU missed its own extra point last weekend against Auburn. This time, the Tigers came up one point short, losing 10-9.

“When they score, I used to flip (the channel),” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “Now, I’m going to stay and watch.”

Most, if not all, coaches preach the importance of the kicking game. Kickers routinely lead their team in scoring. Most teams work on extra points for about five minutes during their daily two-hour workout.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill said his team’s practices consist of nine extra point attempts in a four-minute span. Kickers and other specialists then work by themselves. Oklahoma’s kickers, for example, work by themselves inside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium while the rest of the team practices on the adjacent grass fields.

Still, several coaches, including Brown, said they do not offer scholarships to high school kickers. Coaches encourage kickers to walk on, and then the player could earn a scholarship with his performance.

“We’re sure not shy about using a scholarship if we find the right one,” Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said. The Cyclones, however, have found most of their kickers through the walk-on process during McCarney’s tenure.

Texas kicker Dusty Mangum of Mesquite was not given a scholarship until this season, his senior year. Mangum is 166-for-168 on extra points during his career and has hit 67.7 percent of his field goals.

Baylor senior Kenny Webb and Oklahoma junior Trey DiCarlo of Carrollton also earned scholarships after walking on. Sophomore Keith Toogood of Dallas Christian walked on at Texas Tech, as did fellow Red Raiders redshirt freshman Alex Trlica.

Other coaches actively recruit and sign kickers out of high school.

Texas A&M’s Todd Pegram and Oklahoma State’s Jason Ricks earned scholarships as freshmen. Pegram, a junior, has hit 69.6 percent of his field goals and missed only four extra points (73-for-77) during his college career. Ricks, a freshman, is 16-for-16 on extra points and has made all three field goal attempts.

“If you’re going to be a good football team, you have to be sound in all phases,” OSU coach Les Miles said. “The opportunity to score points with a field goal or extra point is imperative.”

A kicker’s mechanics and ability are just as important as the snapper and holder doing their jobs.

“Our special teams coach said that if you think about it, when you kick an extra point or a field goal, three people touch the ball in 1.2 seconds,” Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. “Everything’s got to go just right.”