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Special Teams Index: Murphy carries Mizzou in convincing win
By Ethan Levine
Published:
Special teams often go under-appreciated, but they can affect a game in a number of ways. Beginning this week, Saturday Down South is giving the SECs special teamers the credit they deserve in the weekly Special Teams Index.
KICKOFFS
The Missouri Tigers shot to the top of the SEC in kickoff return average following a 42-13 win over Florida last week. The Tigers can thank star athlete Marcus Murphy for their improved numbers in the return game following his 96-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff against the Gators. Mizzou is now averaging just a hair shy of 30 yards per kickoff return, and Murphy’s touchdown was the team’s second kickoff return touchdown of the season.
Only one other SEC team — Vanderbilt — has returned multiple kickoffs for touchdowns this season, thanks to Darrius Sims’ two-touchdown performance against South Carolina earlier this season.
Two SEC teams are averaging fewer than 20 yards per kickoff return — Ole Miss and Florida – but both teams are averaging low return numbers for very different reasons. Ole Miss has only returned 13 kickoffs all season, a product of a dominant defense that rarely allows opponents to score. Florida, however, has been hit or miss in the return game, relying heavily on players like Andre Debose to use their athleticism to break big gainers.
Team | Kickoff Returns | Yards per Return | Return TDs |
---|---|---|---|
1. Missouri | 13 | 29.9 | 2 |
2. Arkansas | 16 | 26.8 | 1 |
3. Kentucky | 24 | 26.0 | 0 |
4. LSU | 17 | 24.5 | 0 |
5. Georgia | 14 | 24.4 | 1 |
6. Alabama | 19 | 24.2 | 0 |
7. Tennessee | 20 | 24.0 | 0 |
8. Texas A&M | 28 | 23.4 | 0 |
9. Auburn | 12 | 21.2 | 0 |
10. Vanderbilt | 35 | 20.9 | 2 |
T11. Mississippi State | 10 | 20.6 | 0 |
T11. South Carolina | 22 | 20.6 | 0 |
13. Florida | 22 | 19.1 | 0 |
14. Ole Miss | 13 | 18.5 | 0 |
Missouri is also the best in the SEC when it comes to covering kickoffs, limiting opponents to just 18 yards per return.Only three SEC teams have allowed more returns this season than the Tigers have, making their coverage numbers all the more impressive.
LSU, Vanderbilt and Auburn are the only other SEC schools limiting their opponents to fewer than 20 yards per kickoff return, while only two schools — Arkansas and Alabama — are allowing more than 25 yards per return.
South Carolina has had the most kickoffs returned of any SEC team with 36 opponent returns in seven games. The Gamecocks are allowing 22 yards per return, but that number was inflated by Sims’ two-touchdown showing last month.
Team | Opponent Returns | Yards per Return Allowed | Return TDs Allowed |
---|---|---|---|
1. Missouri | 27 | 18.3 | 0 |
2. LSU | 22 | 19.2 | 0 |
3. Vanderbilt | 31 | 19.6 | 0 |
4. Auburn | 17 | 19.8 | 0 |
5. Florida | 27 | 20.2 | 1 |
6. Texas A&M | 27 | 20.3 | 0 |
7. Kentucky | 17 | 20.4 | 0 |
8. Ole Miss | 23 | 21.2 | 0 |
9. Mississippi State | 31 | 22.1 | 0 |
10. South Carolina | 36 | 22.9 | 2 |
11. Tennessee | 14 | 23.3 | 0 |
12. Georgia | 15 | 23.7 | 0 |
13. Arkansas | 19 | 26.1 | 0 |
14. Alabama | 19 | 28.4 | 1 |
PUNTS
Auburn has returned the fewest punts of any team in the SEC, yet has averaged the most yards per return thanks to two Quan Bray return touchdowns this season. The Tigers have averaged 23 yards per return, and they are the only team averaging more than 18.5 yards per return this season.
Missouri’s averaged jumped up following last week’s win over Florida, once again thanks to Murphy’s dynamic performance. Murphy returned a punt for a touchdown in addition to his kickoff return touchdown, marking the Tigers’ first punt return touchdown of the season.
LSU also received its first punt return touchdown of the season in a 38-point win over Kentucky, as Tre’Davious White ran a punt back 67 yards for a touchdown against the Wildcats. The Tigers are now fifth in the conference in punt return average.
Team | Punt Returns | Yards per Return | Return TDs |
---|---|---|---|
1. Auburn | 10 | 23.0 | 2 |
2. Florida | 12 | 18.3 | 1 |
3. Missouri | 14 | 15.6 | 1 |
4. Texas A&M | 14 | 14.9 | 0 |
5. LSU | 18 | 13.1 | 1 |
6. Georgia | 22 | 11.1 | 1 |
7. Alabama | 16 | 10.4 | 0 |
8. Arkansas | 12 | 9.3 | 0 |
9. Kentucky | 20 | 8.1 | 0 |
10. Vanderbilt | 11 | 7.7 | 1 |
11. Tennessee | 14 | 7.1 | 0 |
12. Mississippi State | 14 | 6.5 | 0 |
13. South Carolina | 10 | 6.2 | 0 |
14. Ole Miss | 12 | 4.3 | 0 |
Georgia has been as impressive as any team in the nation when it comes to covering punts, allowing fewer than two yards per punt return on seven returns this season. Only Alabama (4) and Mississippi State (6) have allowed fewer punt returns on the year, but the Crimson Tide has allowed more than six yards per return while the Bulldogs are allowing nearly 11 yards per return.
Florida and Kentucky allowed their first punt return touchdowns of the season last week, dropping both teams to the bottom of the SEC in opponents’ punt return average. The Wildcats had allowed just three returns for a total of three yards prior to the loss to LSU. Florida had only allowed eight returns for 43 yards prior to the loss to Missouri, an average of just more than five yards per return.
Team | Opponent Returns | Yards per Return Allowed | Return TDs Allowed |
---|---|---|---|
1. Georgia | 7 | 1.9 | 0 |
2. Tennessee | 17 | 3.4 | 0 |
3. Ole Miss | 13 | 3.9 | 0 |
4. Arkansas | 9 | 4.1 | 0 |
5. Vanderbilt | 14 | 6.1 | 1 |
6. Alabama | 4 | 6.5 | 0 |
7. Missouri | 13 | 6.9 | 0 |
8. South Carolina | 8 | 7.3 | 0 |
9. Texas A&M | 7 | 10.6 | 0 |
10. Mississippi State | 6 | 10.7 | 0 |
11. Auburn | 8 | 11.4 | 0 |
12. LSU | 15 | 11.9 | 1 |
13. Florida | 12 | 12.0 | 1 |
14. Kentucky | 7 | 16.7 | 1 |
INDIVIDUALS
Murphy now leads the SEC in punt return average following his touchdown against Florida. He’s returned two punts for touchdowns on the season and is averaging more than 34 yards per return.
Two other players in the SEC are averaging more than 30 yards per return — Sims and Kentucky’s Boom Williams. Unlike Murphy and Sims, however, Williams has yet to return a kickoff for a touchdown, making his return average both impressive and puzzling.
Name | Team | Kickoff Returns | Yards per Return | Touchdowns |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Marcus Murphy | Missouri | 10 | 34.3 | 2 |
2. Darrius Sims | Vanderbilt | 14 | 30.8 | 2 |
3. Boom Williams | Kenticky | 8 | 30.0 | 0 |
4. Trey Williams | Texas A&M | 11 | 26.3 | 0 |
5. Christion Jones | Alabama | 17 | 25.1 | 0 |
It should come as no surprise to see Bray leading the SEC in punt return average considering he also leads the conference in return touchdowns with two. Every other member of the top five in return average has at least one return touchdown, and all four have returned more punts than Bray has to this point in the season.
Bray’s two touchdowns in eight returns is the best ratio of any player in the SEC.
Name | Team | Punt Returns | Yards per Return | Touchdowns |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Quan Bray | Auburn | 8 | 24.9 | 2 |
2. Andre Debose | Florida | 11 | 19.6 | 1 |
3. Marcus Murphy | Missouri | 14 | 15.6 | 1 |
4. Tre’Davious White | LSU | 17 | 13.4 | 1 |
5. Isaiah McKenzie | Georgia | 12 | 12.8 | 1 |
Elliott Fry’s streak of consecutive field goals made is now up to 12 in a row following a miss from 54 yards away in Week 1, his only miss of the season.
Three other players have made at least 10 field goals this year, but all three players have at least three misses as well. Kentucky’s Austin MacGinnis is second in the SEC with 11 made field goals, but he also has five misses, indicating his numbers are the result of more field goal attempts than any other player in the conference.
Aside from Fry, only two other players in the SEC can claim fewer than two misses with at least eight attempts — Florida’s Francisco Velez and Texas A&M’s Josh Lambo. Velez is 8 of 9 this season and Lambo is 7 of 8, but neither has enough attempts to crack the top five in field goals made.
Name | Team | Field Goals Made | Field Goals Attempted |
---|---|---|---|
T1. Elliott Fry | South Carolina | 12 | 13 |
2. Austin MacGinnis | Kentucky | 11 | 16 |
T3. Daniel Carlson | Auburn | 10 | 13 |
T3. Aaron Medley | Tennessee | 10 | 13 |
5. Adam Griffith | Alabama | 9 | 13 |
JK Scott remains the SEC’s best punter with an average of more than 47 yards per punt on 23 punts this season. LSU’s Jamie Keehn is second with an average of 45.5 yards per punt, but he’s punted more than twice as many times as Scott has.
Three other punters in the SEC can also claim more than 40 punts this season, but none of those players has averaged more than 42 yards per punt this season. Tennessee’s Matt Darr leads the SEC with 51 punts in seven games, an average of more than seven punts per game.
Only one other full-time punter has booted fewer punts than Scott — Auburn’s Daniel Carlson, who has punted just 22 times in six games (Alabama has played seven games in 2014). So not only does Scott have the best average per punt, he also averages the fewest punts per game among full-time punters.
Name | Team | Punts | Yards Per Punt |
---|---|---|---|
1. JK Scott | Alabama | 23 | 47.3 |
T2. Jamie Keehn | LSU | 48 | 45.5 |
T2. Will Gleeson | Ole Miss | 32 | 45.5 |
4. Kyle Christy | Florida | 33 | 44.5 |
5. Drew Kaser | Texas A&M | 36 | 44.1 |
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.