Jack Mitchell was not very good last year and must be much better this year.
Ant
- Thread starter NJCat
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Jack Mitchell was not very good last year and must be much better this year.
They are bad! Sorry, but below average is bad when you're in the Big Ten and should be able to recruit quality specialists. Instead, we have repeatedly whiffed on the specialists that we really wanted. Niswander was a reach after others told us no. Mitchell is a former walk on whose better sport was baseball.
Your "facts" are that Mitchell made some clutch kicks. I love him for beating ND. I give him credit that that performance in the 2014 season. In 2015, however, Mitchell missed 3 PAT tries and 9 manageable field goals.
You cited the 2015 Nebraska game. That kick was a 27-yarder and it was not a game-winner. It only proved important when the defense had trouble holding the 8-point lead.
You mentioned Stanford? Missed a FG.
You mentioned Duke? Missed a PAT.
You mentioned Penn State? Missed two FG and a PAT.
Them's the facts.
He had big misses vs. Wisconsin and PSU that could have cost us those games. We won those contests in spite of him. As I said earlier, I give him a lot of credit for the pressure kick at Notre Dame in bad conditions, but let's be intellectually honest. That ND kick was for a losing team in 2014. Mitchell had a bad year in 2015.
We won Penn State game BECAUSE Mitchell made a 35 yarder at the end of the game, keeping his string of game-winning kicks alive. Sure, he missed 2 FG and an extra point and he has to work on his consistency, but he has always come through with big kicks for wins.
Which he had to make because he missed other kicks. It was a game that shouldn't have been that close.
Does it really matter how he did earlier if he recovers in the end and wins it anyway? I don't really care how NU wins as long as they win.
Does it take a lot to explain that two or three made kicks earlier in the game to keep a significant lead and avoid a tight game altogether is better than the marginal score in a tight game?
Well he still hit it when it mattered. And "2015: Redshirt junior ... Played in all 12 regular season games ... Made a career-long field goal of 49 yards in the win against Stanford ... Made all three field goals at Nebraska ... Hit a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the NU victory over Penn State ... Converted a pair of field goals in shutout victory over Minnesota ... Also hit two field goals in wins over Eastern Illinois and Duke ... Kicked a 44-yard field goal in game vs. the Blue Devils ... Drilled a season-high four extra points versus the Panthers ... Completed 25 out of 27 PATs ... Made 18-of-26 field goals on the season ... Recorded 1,463 yards in 24 kickoffs in the last five regular season games ... Made a solo tackle against Penn State ... Named a fourth-team specialist on the 2015 Preseason All-Big Ten Team by Athlon Sports." -http://www.nusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4082
Which is nice... But a handful of those kicks would not have "mattered" if he had taken care of business earlier in the game.
For a couple games last year, I found myself nervous about converting XPs if that is ever the case, the kicker is struggling pretty mightily.
As long as he doesn't lose us any games I'm fine with it. We didn't win in spite of him either as someone said above (I'm not gonna go look up and find out who due to laziness) because he ended up hitting it when he needed to. Granted there's always room for improvement but I would not say he had a bad or below average year for a kicker. I did not look at this northwestern team and say they need an improvment in their kicking game to be better. I would say he had a good year no more no less he had game winners and hit some against Stanford in the biggest win of the year.
There's no way that we can win a Big Ten title without better placekicking and punting. The good news is that they can get better.
LOL. Punting and kicking aren't likely to be the reason NU doesn't win a Big 10 title.........inability to score TDs will be.
Doesn't it go without saying that you have to score points and defend? The obvious goes right over your head sometimes, but when you decide not to bait people and be intellectually honest, you'll realize that champions don't usually have below average specialists.
I would say NU has at least average specialists besides the punting game but I wouldn't put that on the punter I think that was what he was told to do. Mitchel's kicking was also average to good for the reasons I stated previously. Also what's holding northwestern back from a big ten championship is certainly not special teams. I'd rank a passing game a lot higher then special teams since our special teams made some huge plays over the season.
Thatkid, You are absolutely correct! Unfortunately, you are dealing with gocats, who will never admit to anyone that he is wrong. He is arrogant and all-knowing. Your points are very well taken, but you won't hear it from him. Fortunately, he is now fixated on the idea that we are presently recruiting too many linebackers. Of course, he knows more than the coaching staff, but this diversion should keep him busy for a while.
I hope he never admits he's wrong because what would the fun of messages boards be without different opinions. And thanks for the support!
Well you seem like fun.
Just because kicking is marginally less of a problem than our passing game doesn't mean it isn't a problem.
So far place-kicking has not been a problem, since JM has made all of his kicks with the game on the line. If that does not continue next year, then it will be a problem. I'm hoping that a problem does not develop in the future and that Jack becomes more consistent.
We can keep going in this circle if you would like, but the game may not have been on the line had he made FGs earlier in the game(s). He went through a VERY rough stretch last year during which I was nervous every time he lined up to take a kick (XP included). I have a tough time calling that a good year, or even an average year.
I can name 3. Michigan. Iowa. Tennessee. Oh wait, those were ass-kickings.
If that's your gauge for whether someone had a good year, we have different ideas of "good."
Since when do you have to actually lose a game due to kicking to say that it was sub-par? Theoretically a team with a dominant offense and defense could win every game with the kicking team not even showing up.
I was not using that as an argument for good kicking more as an argument for the statement of it needing to improve for a big ten championship. As for an argument for Mitchell actually being a good kicker again he has proven again and again how clutch he is. Also he only missed 3 kicks inside the 40 so his other misses we not easy chip shots. As long as he executes when his team needs him to I will say he had a good year. A game winner or two will also sway my opinion a bit, Again this an opinion on his year not a fact because it can be argued both ways with stats and such.
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Would you say PAT kicks are "chip shots"? Mitchell has missed too many of them. He missed 3 last year and 2 the year before.
Yeah, I like Jack, too. I'm just saying that he wasn't good in 2015 and has to get better and I bet he would agree with the latter.
Special teams performance played a part in two of those losses. We lost in all three phases versus Michigan and Tennessee. I don't recall special teams or the kicking game being a problem against Iowa.
