UW knows dependable kickers priceless; other teams learn not having one is costly

MADISON – Kickers can be overlooked or taken for granted, right up until the moment they start hooking or slicing the ball and costing their team victories.

No Wisconsin player or coach is overlooking the quiet consistency of redshirt junior Rafael Gaglianone.

“Those are points,” redshirt junior left tackle Michael Deiter said. “To end a drive with points is a win. To have a kicker that whenever we get into a certain range you can almost guarantee that you’re going to get points, that’s awesome. 

“It helps us with play-calling because we have a guy who can get us points in tough situations.”

Gaglianone made his only field-goal attempt, from 46 yards, in UW’s 17-9 victory over Purdue on Saturday.

He has made 6 of 7 attempts this season and 13 of 15 dating to last season, when he played in only three games before suffering a season-ending back injury.

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The importance of having a dependable kicker was reinforced last weekend as then-No. 2 Clemson and then-No. 4 Washington lost for the first time this season.

Clemson’s Alex Spence made just 1 of 3 attempts in the Tigers’ 27-24 loss at Syracuse. 

Spence, a redshirt junior who took over as the No. 1 kicker this season, missed from 35 yards, hit a 30-yarder and missed from 38 yards.

Washington’s Van Soderberg missed both his field-goal attempts in Washington’s 13-7 loss at Arizona State. 

The freshman missed from 27 and 21 yards, both in the third quarter with the Huskies trailing, 13-0.

Soderberg (1 of 3) and senior Tristan Vizcaino (4 of 9) have combined to make just 5 of 12 attempts this season for the Huskies.

Purdue used two kickers in the loss to UW, and they combined to make 3 of 4 attempts.

The miss was huge, however. That came in the second quarter after Purdue blocked a punt and got the ball at the UW 15. 

The Boilermakers lost a combined 10 yards on three plays and J.D. Dellinger missed from 42 yards.

“To give them a short field like that and they get nothing,” Deiter said, “it is a game-changer.”

Gaglianone is hitting the ball with power and accuracy again and pushed his overall totals at UW to 50 of 64. That is a success rate of 78.1%, which would put Gaglianone No. 2 in program history.

Matt Davenport, UW’s No. 1 kicker from 1996 through ’98, holds the record. He hit 33 of 38 attempts, or 86.8%.

Gaglianone made 19 of 22 attempts (86.4%) as a freshman but slumped to 18 of 27 attempts (66.7%) as a sophomore. 

It appears that season was an anomaly.

Gaglianone has had four chances to kick the game-winning field goal at UW. His mark: 4 for 4.

He hit a 25-yarder in overtime to defeat Auburn, 34-31, in the 2015 Outback Bowl; hit a 46-yarder with four seconds left to defeat Nebraska, 23-21, in 2015; hit a 29-yarder with 2 minutes 27 seconds left to defeat USC, 23-21, in the 2015 Holiday Bowl; and hit a 47-yarder with 3:47 left to defeat LSU, 16-14, in the 2016 opener.

“Him being my roommate, he lets me know when he is doing well,” inside linebacker T.J. Edwards joked. “I let him know when he is doing bad.

“I never forget about the kickers. When he was healthy he was a special kicker. Now that he is getting back to 100% you can only expect great things.

“I know as much as I joke with him, he works really hard at what he does.”

From the infirmary: The injury report for the Maryland game on Saturday included seven players listed as questionable – wide receivers Danny Davis (left leg), Jazz Peavy (right foot) and George Rushing (left leg), defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk (left leg), tailbacks Chris James (left leg) and Taiwan Deal (right ankle) and kicker P.J. Rosowski (right leg).

Davis went down in the fourth quarter and the injury initially appeared to be serious. However, several players said after the game Davis was fine. Davis was seen walking Monday with only a slight limp and wasn’t wearing a brace or protective boot.