Cal Has Not Decided on a Place-Kicker for Saturday's Game

Derek Morris and Ryan Coe will compete for the job after both missed pivotal, late-game field goals in close Cal losses the past two weeks

Ryan Coe / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The question is the same as it was a week ago: Who will be Cal’s place-kicker on Saturday -- freshman Derek Morris or sixth-year player Ryan Coe?

As of Tuesday, nobody knew and that includes Cal head coach Justin Wilcox. When asked who his kicker will be against Oregon State on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, Wilcox said this:

“That’s day-to-day. Fair question. I can’t give you an answer right now because I don’t know.”

So Morris and Coe will compete during practice this week to see which one will handle the place-kicking chores this Saturday.

Of course, the problem with a practice competition is that it won’t tell you how a kicker will fare in a pressure-packed moment at the end of a game.  Failures in that situation doomed Cal the past two games.

Two weeks ago, against Pitt, Coe missed a 40-yard field goal with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter that would have put Cal ahead.  Instead Cal lost 17-15.

This past weekend, Morris made his first three field-goal attempts of his college career against North Carolina State, but he missed a 28-yard attempt with 1:37 left that would have put the Bears ahead.  Instead Cal lost 24-23.

Coe and Morris combined have missed six field goals of 40 yards or shorter this season, including two that were inside of 30 yards.

Obviously missed field goals at the end of games don’t account for all of the Bears’ fourth-quarter troubles. The Bears have been outscored 42-9 in the fourth quarter of its four ACC losses, which have come by a combined final margin of nine points. But those missed kicks are specific plays fans can point to as reasons for the defeats.

“This is just part of being a kicker,” Wilcox said. “Obviously everybody notices.”

Morris replaced Coe as the Bears’ kicker after Coe was just 7-for-14 on field goal attempts, including five misses of 40 yards or less.   Just the presumed loss of confidence after that run of failure was enough to try someone else.  But how does Morris feel about himself following his chip-shot miss at a vital time?

“I believe he can make it; I know he can make it,” Wilcox said of Morris’ late-game miss, “and we didn’t get it done.”

Coe has the stronger leg, had made more than 80 percent of his field goals before this season and wowed everyone with his range and accuracy during practice.  But he’s just having a challenging season, and being replaced won’t help his confidence.

Morris seemed to be the more consistent kicker, but will that missed chip shot haunt him?

We won’t know until one or the other steps on the field for a go-ahead field goal attempt late in a game.  And with five of Cal’s seven games being decided by one score this season, another close game against the Beavers would fit the trend.

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