Texas Tech Turmoil: Kick Or Go For It

There has been a lot of talk about the kicking situation in Lubbock.  Nervousness, trajectory, confidence, and experience have all been listed as words to describe the kicking situation for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.  And now, to add insult to injury, they have brought in a kicker off of the streets who has been on a football only long to collect free rent for a 30 yard field goal that he made at halftime.  This is starting to get a little ridiculous, wait, let's just call it like it is, stupid.  The main problem that I have noticed starts with the line.  They are getting pushed back off of the ball way too much to give any kicker a chance.  With that being said, the freshman kicker, Donnie Carona, should not have seen the field as long as he did.  He is clearly not ready to kick at the college level and is currently not capable to kick off of the ground.  Practice is what he needs and the game field for the #8 ranked Red Raiders is not where to get it.  I have not watched all of the Texas Tech games so I cannot comment from a witness standpoint but I was able to see his last start before he lost his job to the senior, Cory Fowler.  He is clearly not getting the ball up fast enough to clear the line and that generally comes from a lack of experience and practice from kicking off of the ground.  With that being said, Fowler finally gets his shot to right the ship and that comes at one of the toughest places to play which is Kyle Field in College Station, TX.  I was able to watch this game as well and did not see anything wrong with the trajectory coming off of his foot.  The first attempt that was blocked was all to do with the line not holding their block. When the defense is able to push through to within five yards of the spot it is virtually impossible.  Imagine standing at the free throw line on a basketball court with the ball placed at your feet and your job was to get that ball up in the air fast enough to clear the front of the goal.  That's not even taking into account the fact that they are getting closer as the ball takes flight and not standing flat but jumping.  It is almost a "no win" situation.  Luck really comes into play if the ball happens to find a way through the hands that are up in the air.  Fowler has now lost his job to a guy who kicked one kick at halftime from 30 yards.  For the non-intelligent people, that would mean that the ball would leave from the 20 yard line. So here is the set up for this weekend.  You will have #8 Texas Tech heading to #19 Kansas with a starting kicker that will need an oxygen mask to keep from fainting under the pressure.  The Red Raider nation should be in an uproar about this.  If you were in a situation where you had nothing to lose then it would be different but you are trying to keep your ranking as high as possible with a bleacher bum that earned free tuition at halftime.  There is a perfectly capable kicker in Cory Fowler that can handle the job but the line has to do a better job at holding a block.  You could have Nick Folk kicking, the placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys, and it not be any better.