Media Overhyping the Louisville Cardinals Due to Petrino?

Special Teams

[related tag tag=”ACC”]

This is a unit that should be great this year. If all else fails on defense, or the Cardinals face quarterback woes, the kicking game could possibly change the outcome of a few games. It is that good.

In his second season as a starter last year, place kicker John Wallace made 20 of 24 field goals. Two of those misses were from 20 to 29 yards, but I’m convinced they were mental lapses because he was 9 of 9 from 30 to 39 yards and 2 of 3 from 40 to 49 yards. So outside of those two misses under 30 yards, the other two were from beyond 40 and beyond 50. But if he gets those two back, we’re talking about a kicker that does everything you ask: be perfect up to 39 yards and decent from beyond 40. Wallace should be fine this year.

Ryan Johnson didn’t see a lot of action last year, but he did have a 41.5 average on yards per punt with 39 punts, and 11 of them went inside the 20. Johnson will be a senior this year and will likely be called upon a little bit more with a new quarterback running the offense. Should that happen, he shouldn’t have any problem changing field position.