Illinois St

[1998braves64]

You didnt use that bullshit excuse did you? He was terrible.

Wasn't an excuse, he stated a fact to say here is a defense for why they put him on the field. For whatever reason Klieman did not have a punter in the wings after lecompte, seems strange that koontz was our best option. Net yards he was a terrible punter but maybe all they asked of him was get it as far as you can with good hang time so that it just forces a fair catch or they don't get anywhere if they try to return.

Not a good punter imo (think we all agree there) but apparently he did as much as they were asking of him and nobody else could outperform that was on the team apparently. Also in a small defense he did improve slightly the 2nd year if I recall correctly.

Sent by my phone on a bullet train from Hillsboro.

[HerdistheWord]

Kick returns have been pretty poor also. They've only had 8 returns all year but the 18.88 yards per kick return average is 90th out of 124 FCS teams. With the caliber of athletes they have back there that should be much better. I'm pretty sure the last kick return TD was Bruce Anderson's Houdini act against UNI in the 2015 quarters. Hopefully that average improves and that dry streak ends soon.

Clearly, we are not getting kick return touchdowns so that we can get our offense on the field and give our defense a rest. /purple

[Bison 4 Life]

Wasn't an excuse, he stated a fact to say here is a defense for why they put him on the field. For whatever reason Klieman did not have a punter in the wings after lecompte, seems strange that koontz was our best option. Net yards he was a terrible punter but maybe all they asked of him was get it as far as you can with good hang time so that it just forces a fair catch or they don't get anywhere if they try to return.

Not a good punter imo (think we all agree there) but apparently he did as much as they were asking of him and nobody else could outperform that was on the team apparently. Also in a small defense he did improve slightly the 2nd year if I recall correctly.

Sent by my phone on a bullet train from Hillsboro.

he technically did have a punter in the wings but he liked breaking into cars more than football, it seems.

[BisonHorns]

Kick returns have been pretty poor also. They've only had 8 returns all year but the 18.88 yards per kick return average is 90th out of 124 FCS teams. With the caliber of athletes they have back there that should be much better. I'm pretty sure the last kick return TD was Bruce Anderson's Houdini act against UNI in the 2015 quarters. Hopefully that average improves and that dry streak ends soon.

The kicking game rules have changed so much. It is making big returns more rare than before.

[Professor Chaos]

The kicking game rules have changed so much. It is making big returns more rare than before.

Maybe but the rules are the same for everyone yet NDSU is still 90th out of 124 in kick return average. They don't need to start returning kicks for TDs on a regular basis but there's room for improvement.

[MankatoBison]

he technically did have a punter in the wings but he liked breaking into cars more than football, it seems.

I cant remember- who was that??

[Bison 4 Life]

I cant remember- who was that??

The wayback machine tells me his name was Ian Gallagher and he was dropped after getting arrested. Looks like he was just being dumb rather than a hard criminal but a Walk On punter seemed more expendable in the LeCompte days.

He might have saved us from Koonce.

[semobison]

Maybe but the rules are the same for everyone yet NDSU is still 90th out of 124 in kick return average. They don't need to start returning kicks for TDs on a regular basis but there's room for improvement.

Yep, our kick/punt return game has been meh for a while now.

[aces1180]

The wayback machine tells me his name was Ian Gallagher and he was dropped after getting arrested. Looks like he was just being dumb rather than a hard criminal but a Walk On punter seemed more expendable in the LeCompte days.

He might have saved us from Koonce.

He also became the Gay Jesus and started a van on fire...Now he is in prison with his lover, Mickey Malkovich.

Oh, wrong Ian Gallager.

[Professor Chaos]

Yep, our kick/punt return game has been meh for a while now.

I think punt returns have been pretty good so far this year. Shepherd and Grimsley have done a nice job of not allowing too many of those low line drive bouncers go uncovered where they pick up 20+ yards rolling and Shepherd has had at least a couple nice returns.

EDIT: The NCAA stats site shows 10 punt returns for 115 yards for an 11.5 yard average so far this year. That's 34th in the FCS. So not elite but pretty good punt return averages. On a related note JMU already has 3 punt return TDs on the year (I believe they had 2 last Saturday alone) from their punt returner Amos who torched the Bison a time or two in Frisco last year.