By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — In the wake of last Saturday’s barbecuing in Greenville, N.C., we are all in need of a laugh to lighten up a Sunday morning.
After all, it was only a football game.
Right?
And whenever spirits need to be raised around these parts, there is only one place to go around the Puskar Center.
Paging Dr. McAfee. Dr. Pat McAfee.
Pat McAfee, you see, is the one bright spot — in more ways than one — to come out of this football season to date. His work on kickoffs, punts, extra points and field goals has been All-America in nature.
More important than that, he is the one man who can bring a smile to your face moments after you’ve been told you failed that history test you needed to pass to graduate, your identity has been stolen by a tribe of gypsies who have moved onto the next town, and you’ve just drained your bank account to begin the process of getting that check for $30 million a disposed Nigerian prince has for you.
You offer the first straight line, asking the senior who seems as if he’s from Mars but instead is from nearby Plum, Pa., if he’s thought about the affect the altitude in Boulder, Colo., will have on his punting and kicking.
“I’ve done some scientific experiments in the altitude room we have downstairs here at the Puskar Center,” he answered without so much as blinking an eye or waiting to think about it.
“I had the compass out, matched that up with their stadium. It actually runs from northeast to southwest. I did the math and I figured the ball should travel seven and one-half to eight yards farther in the high altitude there.”
Are you talking about punting or field goal kicking?
“I’m not a mathematist or scientician, but that’s what I think will happen. I’m talking about all phases,” McAfee said, keeping a straight face.
A mathematist? A scientician?
You move on. You overheard him talking some talk about a 75-yard field goal out there and ask him what that was all about.
“Last year my friend, Garrett Hartley, the kicker at Oklahoma last year, kicked a 70-yard field goal on walk-through day when they played at Colorado. It was the Top 10 plays on ESPN that day. I’m going to go for 75,” McAfee said.
Seventy five yards? Even in practice, that’s a long, long way, even if you are at 6,000 feet altitude. It isn’t like you’re on the moon, you know.
Surely, you say, that will take a little warming up. Will McAfee first try to match his buddy from 70 yards?
“Nah, I don’t even think I need that. I’ll just go right from 75 yards,” he said, rather confidently.
And how far behind the crossbars should they stand to catch the ball?
“They should stand about where the band sits. That’s about 15 yards behind the end zone. Going back to being a mathematist, that would be about 90 yards away.”
The problem with McAfee the mathematist is that nothing does seem out of his range. So you ask just what limits there are on his punts. Again, he is ready with an answer that you have to laugh at.
“I’m a big, firm believer … you know, I can hit a ball 6 yards, as we all found out. (The reference is to McAfee’s most embarrassing moment when he got off a 6-yard punt in one game. To his credit, there was no return). I can also hit a ball about 80 yards. As long as I stay consistent and get a solid hit on the ball, I think it will travel a long way. I really do,” he said.
“I never kicked in Colorado. I’ve never been in Colorado, so I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think it will help a lot,” he concluded.
So, he might even be trying to kick at the coffin corner from his own 30?
“I try that on every punt everywhere,” he said.
Before you could laugh at that one, he let you know he wasn’t kidding.
“I think anytime you punt from anywhere other than the end zone one you should be able to get the ball inside the 20. That’s just the way I look at it,” he said.
McAfee is averaging 44.3 yards a punt this year with no returns, although he maintains he didn’t punt well at East Carolina and got some lucky breaks. He’s made all three of his field goal attempts, the long from 52 yards, has hit four of 10 kickoffs into the end zone and averages kicking off to the 4-yard line.
If you look at that, you have to think that this guy who came to WVU thinking he might develop into an NFL place-kicker might just be able to handle both jobs in the NFL.
“It depends what day you ask me,” he said when this was brought up to him. “Some days I punt the ball and say, ‘Wow, I could probably punt in the NFL.’ Then there’s some days when I kick and I think, ‘Wow, I could probably kick in the NFL.’ I’m trying to get better in each now, so we can finish out the season well. I really do think I have the tools to do both.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
