BOWLING GREEN — Don’t sleep on the specialists.
The undisputed brightest spot in Bowling Green State University’s football season was the upset pulled off at Minnesota last week. The defense has been lauded for holding a potent Golden Gophers offense to just 10 points, but the Falcons’ special teams unit of long snapper James Carolan, place-kicker Nate Needham, and punter Matt Naranjo went under the radar.
“I think when you talk about our specialists, you have to talk about our operation,” first-year Falcons special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky said on this week’s Falcon’s Nest Coaches Show. “Because it isn’t just one guy. It starts with the snapper James Carolan, another senior that send them the ball so [Naranjo] can catch it and put it in the position to kick the football.
“And then those young men, along with Nate Needham, they’re all seniors. They set a high standard in the meeting room and our practice field for our young kids to follow. They work their butts off, they bought into the system, and what we’re trying to do right there.”
Needham is 5-for-5 on field goal attempts and 5-for-6 on PAT attempts. His longest kick was a 50-yarder at Tennessee in Week 1 that helped cut a BGSU deficit to 14-6 in the second quarter. He’s 3-for-3 on kicks between 40 and 49 yards.
Naranjo attracted attention in the Minnesota game.
Naranjo booted eight punts for an average of 44.1 yards and dropped two inside the 20-yard line. Most impressive, he set a Huntington Bank Stadium record with a 77-yard blast that barely rolled into the end zone for a touchback in the second quarter.
“I had no idea how long the punt was originally,” Naranjo said. “Someone was right in my face, and I was just trying to [kick it] real quick. ... I really didn’t think about it until maybe two quarters later. Somebody pulled me aside and whispered in my ear, and they were like, ‘You know, that was a stadium record 77 yards,’ and I was like, ‘Wow.’ It was nice to set a record in my last year and especially to do it in a game like that.”
Falcons head coach Scot Loeffler talked up his special teams unit this week.
“The punt team has been exceptional, and they’ve got to be,” Loeffler said. “With this young offense, it’s no secret the strength of our team is our defense [and] right now our special teams, and offensively we’re doing enough to get by. Offensively we need to improve, but when you’ve got two phases of your team clicking in the right direction, you got a chance.”
Naranjo said his previous personal-best punt was 72 yards, which he has accomplished twice.
In total, Naranjo is averaging 43.8 yards on 25 punts, good for 40th in the nation. His 77-yarder ties for the fifth-longest punt of the season. BYU’s Ryan Rehkow has the longest boot of 83 yards.
The veteran special teams unit has been together from the start of their respective careers, and the synergy between Carolan, Needham, and Naranjo was only fortified by the arrival of Ligashesky, who previously served as special teams coordinator for four NFL teams.
“I think overall, if you look at our special teams unit, James came in when I came in, and Nate came in the semester after me,” Naranjo said. “We’re a super tight group, we’re very close, we hang out together. When [Ligashesky] came in, it just brought a more elite aspect. He has us very focused. We’re on top of our stuff.”
First Published October 1, 2021, 2:01 p.m.
