Big kicks, big misses and big returns: special teams creating game-changing moments in the CFP

AUSTIN, Texas — Missed kicks and makes. Big returns. Shaky nerves.

Special teams have produced some nerve-wracking, game-changing and game-clinching moments so far in the College Football Playoff.

The potential for more blink-of-an-eye touchdowns and knee-knocking pressure on late game field goals gets even bigger heading into the semifinals with Notre Dame-Penn State on Thursday night at the Orange Bowl and Ohio State-Texas on Friday night at the Cotton Bowl.

Makes and misses

Notre Dame seems to have resolved its kicking struggles just at the right time.

Fighting Irish kicker Mitch Jeter, a graduate transfer from South Carolina, missed two games in the regular season with a hip injury and was just 8 of 15 on field goals heading into the quarterfinal against Georgia. Then he nailed kicks of 44, 48 yards, and 47 yards to become the first kicker in playoff history to make three from 40 yards or longer in a single game.

Texas' Bert Auburn could use a boost of confidence like that. His 66 career field goals is a record at a school that has produced future pro standouts Phil Dawson, Justin Tucker and Cameron Dicker. But he is just 16 of 25 this season, including a 6-of-14 mark beyond 40 yards.

In the quarterfinal win over Arizona State, he missed twice in the final 2 minutes of regulation. The first, from 48 yards, went wide right. Before he lined up 38 yards out with 3 seconds left, coach Steve Sarkisian tried giving him a pep talk. The ball doinked off the left upright. Texas prevailed in double overtime.

Auburn sent the SEC championship game into overtime with a tying kick in the final seconds. Teammates insist they believe he can deliver another big kick if needed.

“He’s made a lot of amazing kicks for us in the past. He’s going to come up big when we need him,” Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron said. “So, if he could just block out the noise. He knows we’re riding with him. We’ve got his back through it all. That’s what the culture is here.”

Big returns

Texas and Notre Dame both scored on kick returns in the quarterfinals.

The Longhorns' Silas Bolden returned the first punt of the game 75 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead against Arizona State. A senior transfer from Oregon State, the speedy Bolden hasn't delivered as much as hoped as a receiver, where he has 22 catches for 243 yards, but he finally broke off the big play in the return game.

It was a Notre Dame kickoff return against Georgia that swung the game for the Irish.

Jaydon Harrison's 98-yard return to open the second half stretched Notre Dame's lead to 20-3 and stunned the Bulldogs, who had been tied 3-all in the final minute before halftime.

A Jeter field goal and a Beaux Collins touchdown catch made it 13-3 before Harrison delivered. Fifteen seconds into the second half, Notre Dame led 20-3.

Getting tricky

Notre Dame closed out the win with a little special teams trickery.

Notre Dame had a fourth-and-short deep in his own territory when coach Marcus Freeman sent the punt team out before running all 11 players off the field and sending in the offense.

Surprised, Georgia raced to match up and then jumped offside as the play clock ticked down. Notre Dame got the first down and kept the ball for another five minute, bleeding away the game clock.

“We practiced it to a point where I felt like we couldn’t get it wrong,” Freeman said. “I thought they did a great job of not panicking, which the whole point of that is trying to get some other panic.”