UMass kicker Armando Cuko was named a A10 "Special Teams Player of the Week" (click on "award winners" tab) for his game winning with a 41 yard boot with eight seconds left in the JMU game. He also won the UMass "C0-Player-of-the-week" with Christian Koegel.
This was redemption for Cuko, who had struggled so far with his field goal kicking.
Cuko said to Coach Brown before the kick,"I'm going to hit this one" and he drilled the most important kick of the year so far. Congratulations to Cuko and may he make many more.
As for Christian Koegel, if he is not having an ALL-AMERICAN year, I don't know what else he would have to do.
For the second game in a row, he averaged 41.5 yards/punt under atrocious conditions. He hit back to back 56 and 55 yard punts to totally change the field position. After the UMass defense held JMU to three-and-out on their last series, Cuko came in to win the game.
JMU's coach Mickey Matthew said after the game "Their punter out kicked our punter"
Koegel is fourth in the nation in punting average 43.62 yards/punt and he is second nationally with 39.20 yards/punt in net punting average (NCAA stats here ) Of course he is leading the A10 in Punting. A10 stats here .
