For all you Cougar fans who watched that final kick get blocked and heard everyone say that the refs changed the game by calling the celebration penalty. Here's what the Washington kicker said about it.....
(If you don't want to read the whole thing...it's not really that long....he basically said the kick was like any other kick, not harder because it was 15 yards back. The problem was the line and that BYU got through and blocked the kick 3 yards in front of him. The trajectory wasn't different because it was farther back.....just read it! (: )
September 9, 2008 12:26 PM
Perkins' view of final kickPosted by
Bob CondottaOne person whose view of the end of the UW-BYU game has yet to be heard is that of the man who had to take the final kick --- UW placekicker Ryan Perkins.
He talked with reporters today, however, and said that he thought the kick was just like any other kick until the point that it got blocked.
"The kick is the same after watching it on film,'' he said. "The kick looks like any other kick I did all day. It's a matter of just driving through the ball the same way, every single time. Like I said, I don't know quiute what happened down there (on the line). You'll have to ask the coach.''
UW coach Tyrone Willingham has said there was penetration on the line that led to the block.
Said Perkins: "We have a pretty good film angle of it, and it’s an above angle and not from FSN from behind and it looks like the block point is three yards in front of me. So I don't think there is much you can do when the block point is three yards in front of the kicker.''
Perkins said he thought the added length of the PAT might have impacted how BYU approached the kick in terms of blocking it, but not in terms of how he viewedit.
"A lot of people are saying when you back up it will be a lower trajectory, and that's not the case,'' he said. "The kick should be the same no matter what, and after looking at the form on my kick, everything looks the same as it did all day. I was fine. We did a 35-yard field goal against Oregon the week before and essentially it is straight down the middle, so that didn't bother me at all.''
Perkins also said that suddenly having to move back 15 yards didn't impact him mentally.
"Not with two seconds to go on the clock or anything, no,'' he said. "Essentially, it's still right down the middle, 35 yards. It's going to be the same kick, and that how I approached it. After watching on film, everything looked the same as every other kick I took that day.''
He added that, "the dynamic changes when they bring the whole house. I think that was the only thing different on that kick from any other kick that day. I think our linemen were facing something different and I think that was the only thing different about that whole thing.''
Oh, there was one other thing a little different, he said.
"The only thing that was unusual was it was right away when I heard another thud right after I hit it,'' he said. "Like I said, the block point looks on film, we have pretty good film of it, the block point was three-and-a-half, three yards in front of me where the guy got through. ... I've seen a couple of side-view photographs of it, the ball was carrying up pretty good about 5-6 feet off the ground at the three-yard mark. So it was still climbing.''