You might be asking: What is Rutgers’ punter doing on the top of an article heavily insinuated to be a Hate Week think piece?
The answer: to share, far and wide, the failure the Big Ten made in their selection of Special Teams Player of the Week:
The #B1GFootball Special Teams Player of the Week is @OhioStateFB P Drue Chrisman, who dropped two of his three punts inside the Cincinnati 5-yard line in Ohio State’s victory over the Bearcats. pic.twitter.com/KxkoiMOAQR
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 9, 2019
What the fuck?
Now, I don’t doubt that Drue Chrisman is a nice kid and his stat line is all well and good. But did the suits in Chicago even watch the perfection we saw from Adam Korsak on Saturday? (not to mention, a very good performance from Iowa’s Michael Sleep-Dalton)
Chrisman punted thrice. Korsak punted three times that plus one! Chrisman downed two punts inside the five. Korsak, four! Of the six other punts, three others were inside the 20 (8, 11, & 19). He averaged 4.6 yards more per punt than Chrisman. That’s 47.6 yards per punt for the ISU fans still hanging around.
There’s no better way to put it than Hawk Central’s Mark Emmert:
.@MarkEmmert in the press box just now: "These punters are dealing. It's like Koufax vs. Marichal."
— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) September 7, 2019
Kirk Ferentz, a man who knows good punting, went OUT OF HIS WAY to point out the brilliance Korsak displayed:
I don’t know if I’ve ever been involved in a college game where two punters played as well as both those guys, or probably any game, ever. Both of them performed extremely well.
There’s a case Korsak, alone, kept Iowa from scoring 40 or even 50 points.
Chrisman, himself dove into the fray:
Thanks but my man @AdamKorsak balled out this week... weird being on the other side of this https://t.co/LAEMGryxKp
— Drue Chrisman (@DChrisman91) September 9, 2019
Despite Chrisman’s yielding, it’s unlikely the Big Ten will reverse this decision. So I speak on behalf of the BHGP staff in awarding Adam Korsak the inaugural BHGP “Award for Punting Good n Stuff.” It recognizes overlooked performances at punting (‘n’ stuff).
Also, Korsak is a redshirt junior.
Just saying.
Update: Chaos reigns.