HS Team Doesn't Punt All Season: Wins State Title

I just discovered this website and it is pretty cool. I am the head coach of the team that did not punt this year. I want to thank gambler00 for the nice words about me. Our schools have a longer history than he or I do at those schools. I have the utmost respect for CAC and the football program. One of my best friends has two kids over there.

Anyway, I wanted to address the two point conversion part of this. We played a superior team talent wise, very superior I might add, in the state championship game and went for two points on all four of our touchdowns. We converted four of four against arguably the best defensive team in the state. Turns out we needed all those points as we won 35 -32. (We also kicked our only field goal of the year that game.) They actually outscored us in touchdowns 5-4 but we won the game.

I don't think their is a blanket answer on when you should go for two and when you shouldn't. I am not sure what the optimum time to punt would be and when it would not (although some astrophysicist from Indiana University is trying to pinpoint that for me). I just believe that in the long haul, percentages say going for it everytime is gives you a better chance to win than punting in the traditional sense.

I am jacked about the website. Sorry my first ramble was so long.

We spend a 10 minute segment on them every day doubling that as "inside the 5" practice.

Coachk,
welcome, we are honored you are with us.
I'm sure that you will be a welcomed contributor in the future, thanks for posting.

OJW

outlawjoseywales, thank you. I appreciate it.


This is what the astrophysicist guy gave me so far. It appears that the time to punt is when you have the ball between the -30 and the +40. According to the data he gave me, you should NOT punt when you are inside your own 30 as the net you receive versus the chance of them scoring versus your chances of making a first down do not show an increase in your game winning%.

I know it sounds nuts but that is part of the beauty of it. Contrary to the coaches that say negatively that he is a professor that has never coached a game, I think it is a positive. He can purely look at the data logically with no emotion.

Anyway, that is what we have.

coachk and gambler: great contributions already. I for one am happy to have both of you guys here.

We really just try to mix them up a lot so the receiving team can't line up accordingly. We have what we call and NFL onside where our kicker kicks down on the ball and makes it bounce really high for a jump ball. We have a helicopter kick where we place the ball sideways on the tee and kick the end of the ball. It spins hard and is surprisingly tough to field. We have the old fake kick one way and come back and kick it the other way. We have an overload shift on one side where we shift one way and then kick it that way if the receiving team does not shift accordingly but we have another player who will kick it back where they came from (we leave one or two over there) if the team shifts and gives us an advantage. We have a middle onside where we kick the ball directly between the hashes. Usually this is done after we we do the others and people are shifted to one side or the other.
Finally, we have a dropkick (yes the old dropkick you don't see anymore). It is perfectly legal. Sometimes we even pick the ball up and throw it around before throwing it back to the original spot and drop kicking it.
Sounds kind of silly but people spend a lot of time preparing for it (which is time they won't be spending on your offense and defense) and I have previously explained my willingness to give up field position for a chance at the ball.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the response coach.

I meant it that way.

CoachK,
does that formula for punting factor in punting the ball out of bounds?
We never punt the ball to the middle, always to the edge.
When we are -30, our punts are directly out of bounds, seems to help us. Occasionally our knuckleheaded punter will not do it right. Then we get to yell at him for a long time.

I also believe in kicking off in non traditional ways.
I believe in ugly kicks, never ever down the middle to the deepest back.
Thanks for the helicopter idea, I will try it.
I would also like to know a little bit more about the drop-kickoff idea.

Thanks again for joining us.
I guess we are all a little "nuts" in some ways.
OJW

For that matter, could we get the astrophysicist's name, or does he want to stay anonymous? I'd love to get a copy of his research for myself.

Thanks for the reply CoachK,
You know I'd forgotten about the criticism I've taken over the years for not kicking off deep.
I truly had forgotten it until you wrote that.
I've had yelled "why don't you kick it off right" and stuff like that from the stands. Even after games I've had "experts" talk to me about why don't our kick off look like the ones on TV?
And this is after we win games!

But, "winning cues all ills," is what I say.

Again, thanks for posting.
OJW