Gaglianone’s reliability appreciated
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.
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 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, hit 33 of 38 attempts, or 86.8%. Gaglianone has had four chances to kick the game-winning field goal at UW. His mark: 4 for 4.
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.