After bombing away on a career-high 10 punts, Iowa Hawkeyes punter Tory Taylor was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week.
Taylor’s 10 punts went for 479 yards or an average of 47.9 yards per punt. The Aussie was a pivotal figure in the Hawkeyes securing their 7-3 season-opening win over South Dakota State as he pinned the Jackrabbits deep in their own territory with regularity.
In total, Taylor saw seven punts downed inside the 20-yard line and five inside the 10-yard line. It’s the second Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honor of Taylor’s career, adding to his co-Special Teams Player of the Week honors versus Iowa State last season.
The Iowa fan base took note of Taylor’s impact on the game, too, chanting “MVP” inside Kinnick Stadium to celebrate the Australia native’s performance.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that. I think it’s just a few Hawkeye fans taking things a bit too seriously, but it’s pretty cool. And I know I’ve probably got up here and said this a few times, it really does help me. I know it helps my family just knowing that there’s that sort of stuff that goes on. Not necessarily the MVP chant, but just the love from the fans in general. It helps me. It gives me even a greater deal of confidence,” Taylor said.
Taylor has helped popularize the phrase “punting is winning” in Iowa City. He was asked by reporters following his Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week performance if he believes in the moniker.
“Wow, that’s a great question. I’m going to say yes. Yeah, I do. Not even necessarily like me or anything like here, but I think probably last year you kind of saw there was a lot of punters, especially from the Big Ten. You look at guys like Jordan Stout and things like that. He’s doing great things in the league now, but I think it really does. It’s more so probably just the field position, so, to answer your question, I think so, yeah,” Taylor said.
Punting certainly meant winning this past Saturday as Taylor helped the Hawkeyes with field positioning and set up a pair of second-half safeties that proved to be the difference. In one of the stranger college football stats, according to Matt Benson, Iowa improved to 6-1 when punting eight-plus times since 2020. The rest of the FBS is a combined 45-170.
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