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Nick Saban had a strict “no contact” policy regarding his kickers in-game. So, there’s one thing Texas coach Steve Sarkisian did not take with him to Austin from his time working under the legendary Alabama coach.
Texas kicker Bert Auburn made 29 of his 35 field goal attempts during the 2023 season. He was automatic on extra points and selected to the All-Big 12 First Team for his place-kicking efficiency. The 2024 season has been more challenging. Auburn is just 16-for-25. He missed 2 of his 3 attempts in Wednesday’s win over Arizona State, both of which came in the fourth quarter.
Auburn missed a 48-yard attempt with 1:39 to play that would have put Texas up by 3 points late. Then, when afforded a second chance to win the game in regulation, Auburn missed a 38-yarder off the left upright with 2 seconds to play.
Ahead of the last-second kick, Auburn was seen getting a pep talk from Sarkisian.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, Nick Saban compared kicking to golfing, saying that when someone thinks they need to make a good shot, they’ll shank it into the water.
“You can verify this with Rece Davis but when I saw that happening, I said, ‘I never talked to these guys,'” Saban said with a laugh. “Never. I didn’t want them to think it was a different kick than every other kick they had to make, and be so concerned about the outcome of making the kick that they didn’t just kick with confidence and go through their normal rhythm of how they do what they do.”
Saban had some real head-case kickers, too. Alabama’s primary place-kicker missed 7 kicks in 2016. The Tide missed 7 of their 25 kicks the following year. They missed 5 of their 20 kicks and 9 PATs in 2018.
Auburn missed 2 kicks in a 3-point loss to Georgia in the SEC title game. He missed kicks against Texas A&M and Kentucky as well. He has gone 8-for-14 in his last 5 appearances. It didn’t cost the Longhorns against the Sun Devils, but as the Playoff field shrinks and the competition turns up, Texas is going to need a reliable kicking game to win a national championship.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
