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Even having produced three Ray Guy Award winners in a row, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham would prefer that his football program not become known as Punting U.
And as Andy Phillips concludes the most prolific place-kicking career in school history, having played through toe and knee injuries as a senior, he's bracing for more of Whittingham's displeasure whenever the coach orders a field-goal attempt in next week's Foster Farms Bowl vs. Indiana.
This is the irony of the Utes' celebration of Mitch Wishnowsky's punting trophy in his first major college season and Phillips' four-year kicking success: They've appeared on the field too often, at the wrong times. Mix in how one of Wishnowsky's 60 punts altered the College Football Playoff landscape in Washington's favor and how Phillips' three field goals indirectly helped Colorado become the Pac-12 South champion, and you get another element of the Utes' weird season.
The old coaching expression is that every offensive possession should end with a kick — anything but a turnover, in other words. That phrase sounds like something Whittingham would have invented, with his defensive orientation. Yet, he values extra points, above all.
He's thankful for the work of Wishnowsky, who followed Tom Hackett, a two-time Ray Guy honoree. Even so, "You don't want to punt too often," Whittingham said. "I don't want to say it's a dubious award …"
But he used that adjective, without any prompting.
Hackett/Wishnowsky teamed with Phillips to make kicking a major factor in Utah's success with a 27-11 record over three seasons. After everyone wondered how the Utes would replace Hackett, they topped him by landing another phenomenal Australian punter, via a California junior college.
"He'll punt for a long time in the NFL, if he keeps punting like he is," Phillips said.
Hackett couldn't make it, being cut by the New York Jets. Yet Wishnowsky could become another Marv Bateman, who punted in the NFL for six seasons in the 1970s after starring for Utah as a kicker-punter.
Wishnowsky is a unanimous All-America punter as a sophomore, with a 48.0-yard average that tells only part of his story. Of his 60 punts, 17 were downed inside the 10-yard line and eight inside the 5. Only two punts went into the end zone — both in the season opener — and Utah leads the nation with a net punting average of 44.9 yards.
And that's with Washington's Dante Pettis having returned a punt 58 yards for the winning touchdown in Washington's 24-17 victory in late October. The Huskies' illegal blocks may have gone undetected, but Wishnowsky also blames himself for a low kick out of his end zone and credits Pettis as a "bloody electric" returner.
"I gave him an opportunity, and he made it work," Wishnowsky said.
So his only truly game-changing punt of the season worked against the Utes. As for Phillips, his three field goals vs. UCLA proved critical in a 52-45 victory and his fourth-quarter kick vs. BYU forced the Cougars to try a two-point conversion for the win, which failed.
But his three short field goals vs. Colorado became a symbol of Utah's futility, ending drives that reached the 5-yard line in a 27-22 defeat. That explains how Phillips often has been sent onto the field by Whittingham, with "an angry look on his face … he's all mad that we didn't punch it in," said Phillips, who learned not to take it personally. "It took me a little bit to understand that dynamic."
As it turned out, Utah could have used two more field goals in a 28-23 loss at California. But after Whittingham's fourth-and-1 call at the Cal 10-yard line failed early in the fourth quarter, the Utes still needed a touchdown. They were denied at the 1 on the game's final play.
So for all he has accomplished in four seasons, with 80 field goals in 96 attempts and 413 points (all school records), Phillips has delivered a game-winning kick only once, at UCLA in 2014. Maybe that will happen again in the Foster Farms Bowl, as Whittingham orders one last attempt from Phillips — happily, in this case.
Twitter: @tribkurt