College football’s top kicking award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Orange Bowl recognizes three of the top kickers each week from FBS division teams as the “Stars of the Week.”
Missouri beat Boston College 27-21 to take over the nation’s longest winning streak, but they needed 24 straight points and a career-best performance by Blake Craig to get there. The freshman from Kansas City, Mo. went 4-for-4 on field goals including a 56 yarder at the end of the first half to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish. He added a pair of kicks from 38 and 31 yards to cap Mizzou’s comeback. The outburst doubled his field goal total for the season, giving him a total of eight which is tied for the national lead.
Kentucky nearly knocked off the No. 1 team in the country with a combination of defense and kicker Alex Raynor. The senior from Kennesaw, Ga. scored all of the Wildcats’ points in a 13-12 loss to the Bulldogs, going 4-for-4 to extend his consecutive field goal streak to 10 straight. With makes from 55 and 51 yards out, he becomes just the second kicker in program history to kick two long distance field goals in the same game, a feat accomplished only once in 1977. The 55 yarder also set a new Kentucky record for the longest field goad by a Wildcat. Now at 7-for-7 on the year, Raynor has the most field goals by an FBS kicker yet to miss this season.
NC State trailed by double-digits at the half, but Kanoah Vinesett’s first career multi-field goal game put them ahead for good as the Wolfpack rallied for a 30-20 victory over Louisiana Tech. The sophomore from Rock Hill, S.C. went 3-for-3, opening the scoring with makes from 39 and 35 yards out before his career-long 52 yarder early in the fourth quarter. He now has a team-leading 24 points after his first three games as NC State’s starting kicker.
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.
For more information on the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award and to see the “Stars of the Week” throughout the season, please go to www.lougrozaaward.com. For even more updates on the best kicking performances throughout the season, follow @LouGrozaAward on Twitter.
