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What You Might Have Missed on Those Two Ill-Fated Bedlam Kicks

What I missed the first time I watched those two misses by Matt Ammendola.

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One maligned OSU kicker earned cult status on a last second kick in Norman. Another, more popular one, didn’t even get that chance.

Ben Grogan, who ended as the program’s all-time leader in scoring, was a favorite scapegoat for OSU’s fanbase before he put together a nice resume of clutch kicks, including a game-winner in Norman in 2014.

Matt Ammendola has had his history of slumps and head-scratching misses but has been mostly dependable and has shown off YouTube-worthy range during his career. But his connection with Bedlam will undoubtedly have a negative connotation.

Early in 2017, Ammendola went 2-for-4 at Texas Tech with misses from 18 and 22 yards. But then he finished the season 15-of-18. He started this season making 9 of 10 before slumping into a 2-of-6 stretch over Texas and Baylor. Add in his single field goal attempt from 41 yards in Norman, and it’s now 2 of 7 over the last three games.

After the game, Mike Gundy said Ammendola “has not been kicking good late, that’s for sure.”

“He missed a couple against Texas that in my opinion are pretty moderate kicks for this level. Baylor was a different deal. Here, we should have made those kicks. We’ll have to address that issue.”

Field goals are one thing, but it’s the missed point-after attempt that would have give OSU the lead midway through the fourth quarter that will remain in the memory of most. It’s easy to draw a conclusion from that to the 1-point loss the team suffered after a failed 2-point conversion attempt gave Oklahoma the ball with the lead with 1:03 left on the clock.

Ammendola is now 117 of 120 in PATs during his career. He missed his one during OSU’s season opener against Missouri State and then you have to go back to OSU’s game against Southeastern Louisiana in 2016 when Ammendola attempted and missed his only PAT of the season.

I reached out to someone who knows way more about special teams than I do (which admittedly isn’t hard), former OSU long snapper Josh Elias, and he provided some interesting insight into those two misses.

First on the missed PAT. As Brian Griese pointed out during the broadcast, holder Matt Hockett did not get the laces out on that now fateful would-be tiebreaker. However, on a kick that short, laces in/out shouldn’t matter all that much according to Elias.

But what was pointed out — which you can see later in the following clip — is that on the 41-yard field goal attempt, the ball was still spinning when Ammendola kicked it.


Here’s what Elias had to say about the missed field goal.

On the missed FG, you could see that the ball was still spinning when Amendola hit it, which isn’t good. Hockett caught the snap with the laces toward him (let’s say 3 o’clock when facing the line of scrimmage) and spun it the long way around (clockwise, in this case). He should’ve just left them as is or spun them the short way (counter clockwise).

Here’s another look. You definitely see the ball spinning on impact with foot.


Does this absolve Ammendola on either kick? No, but I think it does provide a little context. And I do think it’s important to remember a couple of things about special teams, specifically.

There is no nuance and there’s zero margin for error. You do your job right 95 percent of the time and you’re probably looked at as inconsistent. I don’t know of many other jobs in sports (or otherwise) that carry that weight. If you make one (or two) errors in a day, you are the talk around the water cooler for the next week. In the case of a Bedlam game, you’re a social media punching bag for the next year, or longer.

Also, it’s important to note that it’s not just the kicker out there. The snapper, holder, and blockers all affect the outcome of the play. Just like a good punt with bad coverage can result in a bad special teams play.

In a game like Saturday’s where an overmatched Cowboy squad stood toe-to-toe and went blow-for-blow with a juggernaut, almost everything has to go just right for the underdog to expect a win.

It’s easy to pin it all on Ammendola or the special teams in general, and they certainly deserve some of the blame. But what if Chuba Hubbard gets his knee down before turning loose of the football in the fourth quarter? Or better yet, doesn’t let loose of it at all.

If Taylor Cornelius connects on that second quarter swing pass to J.D. King that preceded the missed FG — or if the Cowboys went to the hot hand of Tylan Wallace who was carving up OU’s secondary — then you don’t settle for 3 in Sooner territory, which seemed like a L at the time.

A thousand things have to go your way when you’re David bowing up against a Philistine. On Saturday, about 997 did for OSU. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t good enough.

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