If you watched a college football game last weekend, chances are you saw the winning team plant a flag at midfield sparking a melee.
It happened at multiple games, producing a black eye for the sport amid perhaps its most exciting season ever.
A different image unfolded in Akron last Tuesday night. In the aftermath of the Zips’ dramatic overtime win against Toledo, Akron place-kicker Garrison Smith and punter Joseph Castle were seen consoling Toledo place-kicker Dylan Cunanan, who missed three field goals, including a would-be game-winner from 29 yards.
“It’s understanding that he is a person too, and he needs to know that,” Smith said. “He’s a true freshman. He’s a fantastic kicker. He had a fantastic year. Just watching him kick during warmups, he looks fantastic. I know what he’s going to go through. And I care.”
BCSN reporter Nicole Weaving captured the exchange and posted the video on X, formerly Twitter. It has been viewed 1.2 million times, receiving 3,600 likes and 225 retweets. Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports fame commented, “It’s not always about wins and losses.”
Here is the video:
HEARTWARMING HUGS
— Nicole Weaving (@NicoleWeavingTV) November 27, 2024
Tough night for true freshman kicker Dylan Cunanan (0-3 FG) but after the loss, the @ZipsFB's Special Teams unit came over to console him... pic.twitter.com/tGWl33fjDG
Smith embraced a crying Cunanan and talked to him for about 20 seconds, tapping him on the chest as he walked away. Then Castle did the same. Toledo long snapper James Roe walked off the field with an arm around Cunanan.
“Being a specialist, we’ve all been through something like that before,” Castle said. “He’s such a young guy and has so much talent. You only hear good things about him. When something like that happens, you’ve just got to remind him that it doesn’t define you.”
Cunanan — a true freshman walk-on from Phoenix — was 13 of 16 on the year before the Akron game. In October, he became the first UT place-kicker to make two 47-plus-yard field goals in the same game. Later that month, he made a 54-yard field goal, the second-longest in program history.
Then came a disastrous night in Akron.
“It’s a performance-based position that you have to be really, really, really good in various quick moments in a game,” Toledo special teams coach Stanton Weber said. “It’s an incredible mental challenge to be ready, and it’s an incredible mental challenge to maintain your focus on the present because there are always reasons to struggle with confidence if your performance hasn’t been up to par.
“Kickers do have the unique challenge of having the weight of an entire game rest on their performance on a given play. It’s certainly not easy, but it's one that the best embrace. I’m very hopeful that this moment becomes something that fortifies Dylan’s ability to be that person in the future who is able to execute.”
Earlier this season, Smith missed two field goals against Western Michigan. The ensuing vitriol didn’t come from Akron fans. Sports bettors were the ones who flooded his social media. And if you searched Cunanan’s name on X, a similar reaction occurred last week.
The legalization of sports betting in Ohio and the proliferation and ease of online betting have made college athletes easy targets.
“I had to turn off some comments, and I may have sent some people harassing me in the [direct messages] links to gambling addiction websites to go get help,” Smith said. “You can think that our games are small, but people who put money on the game just don't understand that there’s an actual person behind that phone.
“I don’t even have notifications on my social media. It’s helped me separate myself from the mental aspect. You can’t escape it, especially when people are posting about it and DMing you. Sometimes you just have to turn your phone off.”
Even as Cunanan and the Rockets lined up for the game-winning field goal at the end of regulation, Smith wasn’t rooting against his counterpart. The fraternity among specialists, especially place-kickers, is tight. He wanted Akron to win but not at the expense of Cunanan.
Smith knew all too well what would transpire.
“I didn’t hope he missed at all,” Smith said. “Never is there a time where a kicker walks out there and I hope they miss.”
First Published December 3, 2024, 7:46 p.m.
