Kicker Ryan Coe Goes Deep Twice in Cal's Victory at Wake Forest

Bouncing back from a tough start to his season, the senior transfer kicks a pair of 54-yard field goals

Ryan Coe in action earlier this season. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Ryan Coe found redemption on Friday night in Winston-Salem, NC.

Coe arrived at Cal before this season having converted 48 of 61 field goals in five seasons at Delaware, Cincinnati and North Carolina.

He seemed a sure thing to fill the Bears’ vacancy at placekicker.

And then his season went off the rails. 

He missed seven field goals over Bears’ first six games, misfiring twice each in wins over Auburn and San Diego State, then twice more in a five-point loss at Florida State. The final straw was a missed 40-yard goal with 1:50 left in Cals 17-15 loss at Pitt.

The Bears replaced him with freshman Derek Morris for their Oct. 19 game against North Carolina State. Morris made his first three field goals, before he missed a 28-yard try with 1:34 left in the Bears’ 24-23 defeat.

Morris found his footing a week later, making all five of his field goal attempts in a 44-7 rout of Oregon State. He made two more against Wake Forest and is now 10 for 11 on the season.

Meanwhile, Coe continued to handle kickoffs, and he did a good job with those.

But his opportunities on field goals, coach Justin Wilcox said, would be limited to long ones — 50 yards or more. The coaching staff believes he has the stronger leg.

So the Bears sent him onto the field for a 54-yard try on the final play of the first half on Friday night. His kick from the right hash barely slipped over the crossbar and just inside the right upright, giving the Bears a 29-14 lead and sending his teammates into hysterics.

They mobbed him as the team ran off the field to the locker room. 

“That was big for him. I was leaping around,” Cal senior cornerback Nohl Williams said. “This year is not exactly what he wanted but he came up big in this situation. That was big for our team. 

“You see a moment like that you want to gather around him and just support him. He’s been through a lot . . . it was just big-time.”

Coe got one more chance — this one with even more on the line. The Bears were clinging to a 36-29 lead with less than 7 minutes when he lined up for another 54-yard attempt, this one from the left hash.

He nailed it and the Bears went on to close out a 46-36 victory for their first ACC win after four painful defeats.

“That’s a hard position because everybody knows how you’re performing,” Wilcox said of being the kicker. “It’s not like D-tackle or guard and sometimes it’s a little muddy and you’re not quite sure if they’re doing their job of not. 

“But those guys, everybody knows. Everybody knows how you’re playing.”

Especially if you miss.

Wilcox said he was impressed. “It’s not like we’re putting him in to kick the 28-yarder,” he said. “I’m just proud of that guy for continuing to stick with it through some tough times. For Ryan to come in and hit two 54-yarders, that’s big-time. 

“We knew he could do it. We’ve seen it. It’s not surprising.”

Coe's kicks were 1 yard shy of the school record of 55 yards, shared by Robbie Keen (vs. Washington, 1988) and Tom Schneider (vs. Stanford, 2006).

Asked if he thinks the pressure is less now because no one expects a kicker to bat 1.000 on 50-yard field goals, Wilcox said he’s pretty sure Coe does expect to make all of them.

“Taking the pressure off would be going in there and hitting the singles,” he explained. “We’re asking him to go in and hit the home runs. And he did it.”