Oct. 6, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The number one reason Jim Sanson will start this weekend is because of his performance in practice. Unlike the fans, our coaches get to watch our kickers perform in practice on a daily basis. Sometimes people think that change will always be for the better, but that is not always the case. At this time Jim Sanson gives us the best opportunity to be successful, based on the performances we have seen in practice. If we had someone who had been performing close to Jim’s level in practice, then we might make that change. I am not going to make a blind change and hope it works. Someone has to step up and prove to me by his performance that he can take the job. As of yet, that has not happened.
This week we have worked both David Miller and Nick Setta in with the first field goal team. The biggest reason that Jim is still starting is because I still have confidence in him. I also know that this football team has confidence in him and most of importantly, Jim Sanson still has confidence in himself.
The true indication of how well Jim is handling the pressure is how he responds and performs in the game on Saturday. Jim is a mature young man who has been through this before. He is going to handle it the right way, on and off the field. Visiting with Jim, you can tell he sees the big picture and he understands the responsibility and the pressure. The true test is whether he can bounce back and perform. It is the same as our football team. We are going to practice the right way and do the right things. The bottom line is, can you be successful. The final answer will be whether Jim comes back this week and has a heck of a football game and then continues that the remainder of the season.
We are frustrated because we thought we had made improvement in the overall kicking game. We really thought that the kicking game was going to be our edge against Oklahoma and we sold our team on the fact that we had better special teams. Obviously that did not turn out to be true.
We out-gained Oklahoma 566 yards total offense to 237, but the three kickoff returns almost cost us the game. If you add in the two missed field goals and the dropped snap on the punt, it is obvious that we should have lost the game based on our special teams performance. It is frustrating because we have spent so much time on it and put so much emphasis on it as a team.
It is something that I know we can be good at and we have shown signs of being good. The stakes go up the next two weeks because Arizona State and USC have explosive return games. Once again, we are going to have to emphasize special teams and work on them. We also must gain productivity. If we do not become productive, there will be some personnel changes we will have to make. We have already made some personnel changes this week.