The Oklahoma Sooners have been strong in many areas so far in the 2023 college football season. That’s helped lead to a 7-0 record and No. 6 ranking in the country.
But one of the areas in which Oklahoma has not been good has been the punting game. Even after a strong performance against the [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag], the Sooners rank No. 66 in net punting, averaging 39.17 yards per punt.
The Sooners’ punting game nearly cost them the game in the Red River Rivalry. One punt was blocked and a couple of others weren’t great. So, the Sooners made a change at punter. Out went [autotag]Josh Plaster[/autotag], and in went [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag].
The move paid dividends. Elzinga averaged 51.6 yards per punt with a long of 58 yards against UCF. He also pinned four of his five punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
He talked to reporters about how well it went last week.
“That went pretty well,” Elzinga said. “First start here. I’m just going to keep building, keep competing every day. It’s a competition every day between all of us. I’m happy with how it went. All of the snipers running down there, helping cover kicks. All of the protection and everything. Everyone just flat-out played well.”
Now, Elzinga has to keep stacking good performances like he just had, but it’s a great start to what could be the solution to Oklahoma’s punting woes.
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