As ACC schools ride the ups and downs of the early part of the 2024 college football season, the kickers are getting some bright lights. Two ACC kickers are named Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week.
The award, at the end of the season, goes to the best placekicker in the country. Weekly, during the season there are three stars of the week, as chosen by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.
All the Points for SMU
SMU lost in surprising fashion Thursday night to BYU, 18-15. The score might be an indicator as to why Mustangs’ place kicker Collin Rogers is on the stars of the week list. He accounted for all of SMU’s points with five field goals in the game. The junior set a school record by going five for five in field goals. His kicks were from 53, 52, 45, 38, and 28 yards. He is only the second kicker in SMU history to make multiple field goals from 50+ yards in one game.
Game Winner for Pitt
Ben Sauls of Pitt kicked the game-winning field goal over Cincinnati with just 17 seconds left in the game. The Panthers were down 27-6 going into the final minute of the third quarter. And yes, Sauls had accounted for the six points with two field goals, (from 57 and 43 yards). Pitt was down 27-25 with 17 seconds left in the game when Sauls hit the game-winning 35-yarder. It completed Pitt’s biggest comeback since 1971.
On the season, Sauls is perfect in field goals at five for five, and in extra points at eight for eight. He is one of only four kickers at the FBS level in college football to still be perfect on the season.
A Shocker
The third of the three kickers on this week’s stars list is Northern Illinois kicker Kanon Woodill. The senior had hit on field goal attempts from 42 and 21 yards. He had one more attempt. It was the kick of a lifetime. His 35-yard goal with 31 seconds left was the difference in giving the Huskies a 16-14 victory at Notre Dame. It was also the first time any team from the MAC had beaten a top-five team, and NIU’s first-ever win over a top-10 team.
The winner of the Lou Groza Award is to be announced on December 9 at a banquet in West Palm Beach, Florida.
