I said in my last post that we cannot celebrate Penn State's win over Michigan for too long, due to the fact that a 10th ranked Ohio State is waiting to attempt a repeat of last years performance against the Lions.However, I must retract that statement and take one step back to last weekend. I have (with great shame) forgotten to mention the fact that Kevin Kelly has become the Big Ten Conference's all-time kick scoring leader.
With his three field goals (42, 32, 20) and five PAT's, Kelly broke the conference record of 367 kicking points, previously held by Minnesota's Dan Nystrom and Iowa's Nate Kaeding. Kelly now holds the outright record at 376 kicking points. The Big Ten is recognizing his efforts and has named him the Big Ten Specialist of the Week (Derrick Williams also won this award for his efforts against Illinois).
Not satisfied with the kicking record, Kelly is also on the verge of breaking the Big Ten field goal record as well. The senior from Neshaminy High School currently has 70 career field goals, trailing Ohio State's Mike Nugent (72) and Nystrom (71). Not since the Garbage Picking, Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon has Pennsylvania seen such a leg.
In a conference where defense's and power runner's frequently shine, Kelly has been quietly racking up the points since he was a true freshman. Sure, at certain times we've all wanted to kill the kid or at least get him the hell off the field when we all want to go for it on 4th down. We've called him names, thrown things in his direction, punched our walls and gotten blacked out drunk when he hasn't succeeded. Hell, he caused a fellow blogger on The Floating Lion to vomit in his seat when he missed his second field goal in the 2005 Orange Bowl. Literally vomit due to a missed field goal. However, I believe this honor speaks for itself and Kelly deserves a lot of credit for Penn State's success.
This season Kelly leads all Penn State scorers with 79 points. He has connected on 12 of 14 field goals (his two misses coming from 51 and 45 yards) and has nailed all 43 PAT attempts.
Let's hope he gets 7 more on Saturday.
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1 comment:
Indeed.. we have all had mixed feelings about Kevin Kelly over the past 4 years but without a doubt, he has been the one constant aspect of Penn State football we have come to rely on, week in and week out. Those 3 OT were just too much to stomach though, literally.
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