Tag: Mitchell Fineran

Top three NFL draft-eligible kickers in the Big Ten for 2022

Top three NFL draft-eligible kickers in the Big Ten for 2022 #GoBucks #B1G

It is never too early to talk about the NFL Draft, and one of the less celebrated, but still very important positions in the game of football is the kicker position. Despite popular belief, specialists are vital for victory and a strong kicker can be a main factor in the win column.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have a great history of producing elite kickers with the most notable being Mike Nugent. It appears that Ohio State has another historically great one that they snagged from North Carolina in the transfer portal.

It should be no surprise that a Michigan star has made this list along with the kicker from Purdue, but enough discussing the list, let’s dive in.

Iowa Hawkeyes 2022 schedule breakdown: Purdue

Iowa will be looking to exact revenge on Purdue in the start of a West division gauntlet. Here’s several Boilermakers to watch in 2022.

Hopefully, Iowa enjoyed a nice easy win over Northwestern because the pressure is back on. The honeymoon is over, here comes the Big Ten West division gauntlet.

While their midseason clashes against Michigan and Ohio State will show just where Iowa stacks up nationally, the Hawkeyes’ season really depends on the final four games of the season. Iowa faces four straight extremely tough divisional rivals as they push for a spot in the Big Ten championship.

Iowa fans will want to forget all about Purdue. Just when it looked like the Hawkeyes were legitimate national contenders last year, Iowa ranked No. 2 in the country and coming off of a massive win over Penn State, everything came crashing down against Purdue. The offense couldn’t do anything against the Boilermakers, losing 24-7.

Purdue is an interesting team in 2022. They played spoiler in 2021, knocking off both Iowa and Michigan State. They just weren’t consistent enough, though, dropping some key games against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Their offense emerged as one of the best in the nation over their last six games, averaging 37.1 points per game during that stretch. Can Purdue keep that hot streak rolling into 2022?

Top five returning field goal kickers in the Big Ten

Top five returning field goal kickers in the Big Ten #GoBucks

The NFL draft is in the books and the annual spring games have come to an end across the Big Ten and it is time to start diving into who to watch and what to expect during the 2022 season. We already dove into the top five returning rushers, passers, receivers, overall scorers and kick return leaders returning in the Big Ten.

Next, I wanted to provide the top five returning field goal kickers in the Big Ten. This may not be the sexiest list, but kickers are extremely important and below are the kickers who finished with the highest completion percentage.

Off we go.

Top five returning scoring leaders in the Big Ten

Top five returning scoring leaders in the #B1G #GoBucks

The NFL draft is in the books and the annual spring games have come to an end across the Big Ten and it is time to start diving into who to watch and what to expect during the 2022 season. We already dove into the top five returning rushers and passers in the Big Ten, but the top five returning scorers may be even more interesting.

The top scorers are usually kickers, but it is important to remember that special teams win championships and it monitoring who is coming back is important to the landscape of the Big Ten. Like most of these lists, a Buckeye is going to kick it off!

Off we go.

Notre Dame vs. Purdue: First-Quarter Analysis

This game has been blah so far.

We’re one quarter into Notre Dame’s game against Purdue, and things don’t seem to have gotten any better. The good news for the Irish is it’s a long game, and a lot still can happen. The bad news is they haven’t given their crowd much hope that that’s in the cards. Thus, they find themselves with a 3-0 deficit.

The first play from scrimmage set the stage for the rest of the quarter when Jack Coan was sacked by Jaylan Alexander. Not helped by a false start, the Irish never got back to the original line of scrimmage, and the Boilermakers ended up starting their first drive in Irish territory. A couple of third-down conversions helped get them into the red zone, though that didn’t happen until the Irish finally forced a fourth down. It still was enough for Mitchell Fineran to kick an easy 34-yard field goal for the game’s first points.

Both teams punted over the game’s next three drives in a display of sloppy football. There were costly penalties, stuffed runs, incomplete passes and even a fumble, though that wasn’t lost. Kyle Hamilton gave the Irish a bit of life when he came up with a stop on fourth down, as did Coan through the air and Tyler Buchner on the ground before the clock ran out on the quarter. Still, from a neutral fan’s perspective, this did not start off as a game worthy of attention on the last official Saturday afternoon of summer.