The Fate of the Season lies on...a foot?

Whoops wrong guy

I hope you are sitting down Wahooze readers because your mind is about to get blown by a pretty bold statement. Also because it means you own a computer and aren’t a weird person that surfs the internet at like a public library or airport terminal, we have a classy clientele from what I’ve gathered, but I digress. I think, and will over the next few paragraphs, that the key to this season lies on the now seemingly golden foot of Robert Randolph. Here’s why:

1. Momentum- Let me cite two specific examples from last season of how important the kicking game is to a team. First is our trip to the University of Spoiled Children last season which ended with a close moral victory. In that game Randolph shanked field goals attempts of 35 and 45 yards. Both kicks that this year’s incarnation has handled with ease so far. What was the final score of that game?  A 14-17 loss for the Hoos. Winning that game puts the season in a whole new light. While the team returned with a new found buzz and optimism about them even without the win if they had managed to swing the upset they would have returned to burning couches on McCormick Road and passed out first years who still don’t know how to drink like adults yet strewn throughout the grounds University of Maryland style.

Look Familiar?

Need another example? I gotcha. Trailing 13-17 in the 4^th quarter in that shithole of depression in Chestnut Hill that BC tries to pass off as a football field (I’m sorry BC but you can leave the athletic Catholics to notre dame, just focus on recruiting 7 year basketball stars) Robert Randolph capped off a 4:37 drive with a shankopotamus. I will take this moment to remind the Wahooze readers I have an engineering degree and am aware that that would not have given us the lead, but you need look no further than the Indiana game from this past weekend to see the tremendous factor that momentum plays. And shoving points down BC’s throat in their home stadium in the 4^th quarter in front of literally dozens of fans who know anything about football would have been huge.

2. The team- No one is going to confuse our offense with Oklahoma. Shit no one is going to confuse our offense with anyone. The level of conservativeness we seem to be playing with this season is enough to make Rick Santorum blush. One of the keys to a super ball control offense, especially when coupled with a rather stout defense and young QB, is to get points on the board. If Randolph can show that he can be as lights out as he is right now for the whole season that is a ton more points scored than last season, which could be the difference between going bowling or Mike London trying to sell the future again.

3. The pressure- Not to say the Randolph wasn’t clutch last year but…well yeah let’s say that. Watching UVA try and score from anywhere was like watching the Jim Zorn redskins try to score in the redzone. Excruciating, except somehow Shaun Suisam would bang the field goals through the uprights. When the skins got close that season my brother and I knew it would end in a field goal, and when the Hoos stalled last season I knew it would end most likely in a missed field goal. This put a tremendous amount of pressure on one Marc Verica to get the ball into the endzone, the kind of pressure that lead to some poor decisions from a 5^th year senior. Think of the consequences that would have on a young QB. Having a solid kicker takes some of the pressure off of Rocco which is good because he doesn’t need any more of that, though I will admit he did come up big towards the end of the Indiana game, but I was in team Metheny through camp, gotta stick with the lefties. Antinonundisirregardless having a good kicking game is going to make managing the games so much easier for Rocco until he develops enough to be able to win them.

                So is it outlandish to think that consistent field goal kicking will add two wins to the season? I don’t think so. Refute me, debate me, do whatever you want, but I firmly believe that the success of this season will have a lot to do with a certain right foot walking around grounds.