Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994 TAG: 9401020143
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
"I accepted that," said Kirkeide, who had attempted every field goal and extra point for Virginia this season. "I didn't deserve to go out there in the second half after my performance in the first."
As it turned out, UVa went scoreless in the second half in falling to Boston College 31-13 in the Carquest Bowl, but coach George Welsh already had made the decision to go with Rafael Garcia or Patrick Harkleroad on placements.
"I was upset because I thought we should have been ahead [at the half]," said Welsh, whose team trailed 17-13. "We were not going to use Kirkeide. We had gone through that before."
However, nothing compared to Saturday, when Kirkeide missed on field-goal attempts of 37 and 29 yards and also missed an extra point after going 36-of-37 on point-after kicks during the regular season.
"At the end of the first half, he kicked two too quickly," Welsh said. "It's been a problem with him. You may remember I said he had NFL times [in getting the ball off]. Well, he's faster than that now.
"We've tried to slow him down, and he had a good week kicking, but I think [on] both of those, the ball wasn't set right. You've got to get the ball down and tilt it a little bit for him."
Kirkeide, a redshirt freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., whose brother was a tight end at Miami, said he felt he felt good on a 37-yard field-goal try to end the first quarter but that the ball drifted in the wind.
"The extra point was definitely rushed," Kirkeide said. "When I missed the extra point, that bothered me a lot. The last kick was basically a blur."
Kirkeide refused to use the Joe Robbie Stadium turf as an excuse, but his last two kicks came at the East end of the stadium, in the infield of the Florida Marlins' baseball diamond.
"Basically it's just painted dirt," Kirkeide said. "I noticed on my approach that there were tufts of grass sticking out of the ground, but it really didn't bother me that much."
Kirkeide's missed 29-yarder at the end of the half was particularly demoralizing because the Cavaliers had gained a first down at the BC 5-yard line with 1:14 left.
"Sometimes you go out there and you don't feel just right," Kirkeide said. "The clock was going down and we had to run out there but that's no excuse. I still should have made the kick."
Kirkeide, who was 4-for-4 on field goals to start the season but missed three of his next four, admitted the pressure built after the first miss.
"The team was telling me, `Don't worry about the first half,' " he said. "They said we had a first down at the 5 and should have scored a touchdown, but it's my job to kick field goals, and I put pressure on myself to do it well."
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB