Special Teams Still Have Special Place In The Game

Sept 1, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; San Diego State Aztecs head coach Rocky Long looks to the scoreboard against the Washington Huskies during the second quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-US PRESSWIRE

There are three phases to the game.

I can’t count the number of times I have heard coaches reiterate the stance that special teams are as important to a team’s success as offense and defense, whether it was a game I covered, a press conference, or in a TV interview.

Of course, this cliché was almost exclusively addressed after special teams had a tangible impact on the final outcome: a punt return for a touchdown that shifted momentum, missed extra points, and what have you.

Recent developments in college football have generated a deeper level of special teams discussion – specifically, how important is that phase of the game, really?

Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback column celebrated Todd Berry’s decision to go for conversions on fourth down seven separate times in ULM’s upset of Arkansas. The Warhawks converted seven, including for the decisive touchdown in overtime.

Berry’s decisions are less indicative of special teams value than they are demonstrations of another theory: when you have nothing to lose and the opponent creates few openings, you have to try blasting one open.

Easterbrook cites Arkansas prep program Pulaski Academy, where head coach Kevin Kelley has gained national attention for his refusal to punt. Pulaski has a state title to show for it.

Of course, Pulaski can afford such reckless abandon. The Bruin defense is the antidote for such football poison as passing on fourth-and-23 from one’s own 20. When your defense enjoys the decisive talent advantage that allowed Pulaski to seven consecutive opponents below 20 points (while scoring no fewer than 41 on the opposite end), surrendering field position is no big deal. It’s essentially the same principle as the nothing-to-lose concept, turned on its head.

San Diego State head coach Rocky Long became the darling of the football blogosphere last month when he adopted Kelley’s philosophy, announcing the Aztecs would not punt inside the 50 or attempt field goals. A statistical probability chart would make Long’s special teams decisions, introducing the most mind-numbing debate perpetuated in baseball to college football. While Long was initially lauded, such decisions are more easily cheered in theory than in practice, which Long discovered immediately.

SDSU spurned special teams against Washington and was rightly criticized. He twice The warm-fuzzies felt for his Madden-esque preseason proclamation were wiped out by a big, fat reality check: special teams are pretty darn important in the college game. SDSU performed well in one of three phases, the Aztec defense containing the potentially explosive UW offense to 21 points. The offense managed two scores, losing that phase. The proverbial rubber match phase lost it for SDSU because Long — ironically enough — punted it away.

The decision to go for two on each Aztec touchdown and passing a field goal attempt deep in Husky territory late left five potential points off the board. A four-point gap is a much different animal than the two-score nine-point disadvantage SDSU found itself at by game’s end.

Long didn’t need to gamble like Berry, because his SDSU side was pretty evenly matched with UW. The possibility the SDSU roster simply lacks worthwhile kickers is real, but that does nothing to dispel the importance of a strong special teams unit. Quite the opposite — the loss exposed what a tremendous weakness lacking special teams consistency truly is.

Those contests in which the talent disparity between two teams is negligible comprise the majority of a season. These are games decided by chisels, not the sticks of dynamite Berry loaded up on Arkansas. Field position is a chisel. A punt from the opponent’s 43 is a chip, not an awe-inspiring explosion, but it serves a larger overall purpose and particularly when executed well.

Wielding an effective chisel has made Virginia Tech a perpetual winner. There are few programs that execute the un-sexy elements quite like the Hokies — Beamer Ball, we call it — but winning that phase so often is the tipping point for one of the nation’s most successful programs.