Notre Dame's Kicking Woes Finally Come Back to Haunt Them

Yes, Jimmy Clausen threw two blatant interceptions and had a fumble that put UNC in great position to score, but Clausen's mistakes could have been easily covered if the Irish had a decent kicking game.

Instead, the Irish were forced to go for fourth-and-long well inside field goal range, costing the Irish three valuable points.

There were multiple areas of the Irish game against UNC that could have been improved.  Haywood could let the running game go and stick with our bread and butter, passing. 

Jimmy could actually look off his receivers, but instead, Jimmy prefers to stare them down and throw interceptions and multiple potential interceptions.  The Irish could have chosen to try to get a first down on second-and-seven instead of trying to throw a fade to Golden Tate toward the end zone over 30 yards away. 

Yes, there are things the Irish team could have done, but ultimately, the kicking game is killing us.

It is unacceptable when a kicker is making 25 percent of his field goals.  Kickers have one sole purpose in practice: KICK! 

Maybe the coaches need to put the kickers through Oklahoma or other tackling drills to toughen them up.  Right now, they are weak-minded, sensitive players who are easily overcome by the eyes of a crowd. 

They really need to keep life in perspective. They have a single job.

Could you imagine one of our kickers trying to run across the middle of the field watching the ball, trying to make a catch, and knowing someone is about to kill him?  It wouldn't happen!

Coach Weis needs to do something drastically different with the kickers, like he did with the team's practices last year when the team couldn't block.

Because we can't kick field goals, we are forced to go for it on fourth down, no matter how far away a first down might be.  If, instead, we had a kicking game and not a head case who can't make a field goal, even if the posts were twice as wide, the Irish would have been down by two points against UNC. 

Two points!!!  The Irish would have been in great shape to kick a field goal and escape from Chapel Hill with a win. 

No, we have to settle for a loss, because one position on the team has an inherent inability to exert the slightest competence.  Our kickers can't kick, and it finally cost us!