College football’s top kicking award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Orange Bowl recognizes top kickers each week from FBS division teams as the “Stars of the Week.” This week’s selections have been chosen from among the 20 semifinalists.
Chris Howard kicked four field goals in the Tigers’ 26-10 home victory over Tulsa in Memphis, Tenn. on Thursday night, his second 4-FG goal game of the season. The Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. native scored from 44, 32, 31 and a career-long 49 yards to improve to 18-for-20 on field goals this season. That mark ties him for the third-best field goal percentage among FBS kickers with at least 20 attempts. Howard also made both his extra point attempts to increase his total there to 35-for-36. His 14 points were the most by any of the Groza semifinalists this week and his 89 points lead all Memphis players in scoring.
Buffalo senior Alex McNulty had a historic game, but the Bulls fell short as Central Michigan scored a 31-27 come-from-behind victory in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. on Saturday. McNulty, a native of Caledonia, N.Y., set the program record with his 18th field goal of the season on a 54-yard bomb. He scored earlier from 42 yards, with the pair of makes giving him 9 field goals from at least 40 yards, tied for the third-highest mark in FBS this year. He also made his three point-after tries with the 9-point game giving him a team-leading 88 on the year and 285 for his career, the most by a kicker in program history.
Will Reichard kicked a 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to break a tie, and then made a 49 yarder with just over two minutes left to secure a 30-24 SEC victory over Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. on Saturday. The senior from Hoover, Ala. also made a 39-yard field goal earlier, giving him a 7th multi-FG game this season, including each of the last four games. Reichard is 19-for-23 on field goals which puts him in a fourth-place tie for makes in the FBS. He converted his three extra point tries, moving to 47-for-47 on PATs for the season. He has scored 104 points this year, which is second among FBS kickers, fifth among players at all positions and leads all Crimson Tide players.
The Award is named for National Football League Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954. Although an All-Pro offensive lineman as well, Groza ushered in the notion that there should be a place on an NFL roster for a kicker.
