MORGANTOWN - Not that West Virginia's football team doesn't have even more pressing issues as far as offense, defense and injuries, but by Saturday's home game with Louisville the Mountaineers might also have some new looks on special teams.
MORGANTOWN - Not that West Virginia's football team doesn't have even more pressing issues as far as offense, defense and injuries, but by Saturday's home game with Louisville the Mountaineers might also have some new looks on special teams.
In fact, there could be shakeups in who does much of WVU's kicking and punting. The only job that appears safe is Tyler Bitancurt as the field goal kicker.
In Friday's 30-19 loss at South Florida, Bitancurt also took over the kickoff duties after Josh Lider sent the WVU's first kickoff of the game out of bounds, giving the Bulls the ball at their 40.
Coach Bill Stewart was not happy, and with good reason. The Mountaineers had just scored on their opening possession and then gift-wrapped an opportunity for USF to do the same.
"I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to see some more interchangeable parts,'' Stewart said. "There is nothing wrong with kickers and punters competing. We compete at every other position. This is not some sacred cow on sacred ground.''
Bitancurt's first kickoff, following his second-quarter field goal, went right to the goal line. And when the USF return man bobbled the ball and decided to stay in the end zone, it marked only West Virginia's second touchback of the season on the 44th kickoff.
"The wind was killing us, and I just said, 'Josh, you hang on and I'll save you for some other punch kicks. Tyler, I need you to see if you can hit this ball deep,' '' Stewart recalled. "He hit the ball in the end zone and he was hanging the ball well, so I said we're going to ride with him.''
Bitancurt remained the kickoff man the rest of the game, although he never approached the end zone again. His two subsequent kicks went to the 10- and 17-yard lines.
There could also be a change in some of the punting duties, as well. Scott Kozlowski ranks first in the Big East and No. 8 nationally, averaging just over 45 yards per punt, but several times this season he has failed when trying to kick out of bounds or get the ball in a position to be downed inside the 20.
The worst example was late in the third quarter Friday night. Trailing 27-19, WVU had fourth-and-eight at the USF 33. Rather than go for a first down and risk handing the ball over to USF in good field position if it failed, he wanted to pin the Bulls deep and try to maintain a field-position advantage. But Kozlowski's punt sailed into the end zone, giving USF the ball at the 20 - a net gain of just 13 yards.
"Kick the ball in the corner. That's what I want to see and I didn't see it,'' Stewart said. "And I'm not very happy about that.''
Truth be told, it nearly happened twice, although the other time it wound up benefiting the Mountaineers. That was when Kozlowski's late first-quarter punt from the South Florida 44 was downed just inside the 3 and the Bulls were penalized half the distance because return man Faron Hornes signaled for a fair catch and then blocked. On the next play, the Mountaineers tackled Jamar Taylor in the end zone for a safety.
MORGANTOWN - Not that West Virginia's football team doesn't have even more pressing issues as far as offense, defense and injuries, but by Saturday's home game with Louisville the Mountaineers might also have some new looks on special teams.
In fact, there could be shakeups in who does much of WVU's kicking and punting. The only job that appears safe is Tyler Bitancurt as the field goal kicker.
In Friday's 30-19 loss at South Florida, Bitancurt also took over the kickoff duties after Josh Lider sent the WVU's first kickoff of the game out of bounds, giving the Bulls the ball at their 40.
Coach Bill Stewart was not happy, and with good reason. The Mountaineers had just scored on their opening possession and then gift-wrapped an opportunity for USF to do the same.
"I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to see some more interchangeable parts,'' Stewart said. "There is nothing wrong with kickers and punters competing. We compete at every other position. This is not some sacred cow on sacred ground.''
Bitancurt's first kickoff, following his second-quarter field goal, went right to the goal line. And when the USF return man bobbled the ball and decided to stay in the end zone, it marked only West Virginia's second touchback of the season on the 44th kickoff.
"The wind was killing us, and I just said, 'Josh, you hang on and I'll save you for some other punch kicks. Tyler, I need you to see if you can hit this ball deep,' '' Stewart recalled. "He hit the ball in the end zone and he was hanging the ball well, so I said we're going to ride with him.''
Bitancurt remained the kickoff man the rest of the game, although he never approached the end zone again. His two subsequent kicks went to the 10- and 17-yard lines.
There could also be a change in some of the punting duties, as well. Scott Kozlowski ranks first in the Big East and No. 8 nationally, averaging just over 45 yards per punt, but several times this season he has failed when trying to kick out of bounds or get the ball in a position to be downed inside the 20.
The worst example was late in the third quarter Friday night. Trailing 27-19, WVU had fourth-and-eight at the USF 33. Rather than go for a first down and risk handing the ball over to USF in good field position if it failed, he wanted to pin the Bulls deep and try to maintain a field-position advantage. But Kozlowski's punt sailed into the end zone, giving USF the ball at the 20 - a net gain of just 13 yards.
"Kick the ball in the corner. That's what I want to see and I didn't see it,'' Stewart said. "And I'm not very happy about that.''
Truth be told, it nearly happened twice, although the other time it wound up benefiting the Mountaineers. That was when Kozlowski's late first-quarter punt from the South Florida 44 was downed just inside the 3 and the Bulls were penalized half the distance because return man Faron Hornes signaled for a fair catch and then blocked. On the next play, the Mountaineers tackled Jamar Taylor in the end zone for a safety.
The thing about that kick, though, was that when it hit the ground, it bounced backward, which is little more than pure luck. It was a good 10 yards from the sideline and, had it gone forward like most punts, it would have been a touchback and a 24-yard net punt.
"If I don't think someone is getting the job done, then somebody else gets an opportunity,'' Stewart said. "We kicked the ball out of bounds, we went with the other guy, and that's what I liked to see. Maybe we'll rotate some more kickers and punters. We'll just have to wait and see.''
Kozlowski isn't likely to lose his job as the full-field punter given his big average, but Stewart talked prior to the season about Lider perhaps handling the punting chores when a shorter or angled kick is necessary. He thought Lider had a knack for it. So even if he loses his kickoff job to Bitancurt, Lider might find another role.
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BRIEFLY: Louisville beat Arkansas State 21-13 Saturday with third-string walk-on Will Stein at quarterback. The team's two scholarship QBs, Justin Burke and Adam Froman, both sat out the game with injuries.
On Monday, Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said all three could be available for Saturday's noon game at West Virginia and that the starter might be a game-time decision.
Louisville is 3-5 (0-3 Big East) and a different quarterback started all three wins.
Kragthorpe also said he hoped to have tailback Victor Anderson (knee) back for the WVU game.
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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