Kicking Competition Renews

Coach Ken Niumatalolo hasn't been happy with Navy's kicking game, so he has reopened the competition for both field goal and kickoff duties.

Junior Joe Buckley is 8 of 8 on point-after attempts, but just 1 of 3 on field goal attempts. He has missed his last two kicks, of 34 and 32 yards. The latter—which came in the second quarter at Pittsburgh on Saturday—was especially bothersome, because it came from the middle of the field.

Sophomore Jon Teague handled kickoffs for the first three games, averaging 52.3 yards per kickoff—nearly 13 yards shorter than his average from last season.

"I was hoping this would be over," Niumatalolo said. "We've got to be able to make field goals in the middle of the field. Chip shots, we've got to make those… Field goals are very important because every time that team steps onto the field, there are points. We got to walk away with points every time that team steps on the field."