Oklahoma’s Tate Sandell wins Lou Groza Award as best kicker in college football
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Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell will have his talents on full display next Friday night when his Sooners clash with Alabama in a first-round College Football Playoff game.
The junior will be kicking in front of his home fans in Norman, in primetime and on national TV, with everything on the line. And exactly a week before that grand opportunity, Sandell cashed in on an individual accomplishment, capturing the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s best kicker on Friday night.
Sandell booted multiple field goals of 50 yards or more this year for Oklahoma, helping the Sooners go 10-2 and snag the 8 seed in the upcoming Playoff. His total stat line for the 2025 regular season was sensational, with Sandell making 23 of his 24 field-goal attempts while drilling all 32 of his extra-point tries.
He went an astonishing 7 for 7 on field-goal attempts of 50 yards or longer, with a season-high distance of 55 yards. Sandell was also 8 of 9 from 40 to 49 yards out, which is the distance range where his lone miss of the season came. He was 5 for 5 from 20 to 29 yards out and a perfect 3 for 3 between 30 and 39 yards.
The Oklahoma football social media account celebrated Sandell’s achievement on Friday night with this post:
And in a week, the nation will get to lock in on Sandell as he tries to be clutch yet again in the biggest moments of the season. Sandell could very well be called upon to kick Oklahoma into the Playoff quarterfinals.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
