[Roberton3]

The problem is that everyone, except for maybe David Shaw, has lost confidence in Williamson every time he lines up to attempt a big kick.  It's probably time to change kickers when everyone watching is pleasantly surprised and relieved if he kicks a short 30 yarder through the uprights.  I know I no longer expect him to convert on attempts under 40 yards, much less attempts over 40 yards.  Unlike David Shaw who thinks the problems are strictly mechanical, I think it's pretty clear that the problems are mental when he's shanking short kicks.  He's obviously a gifted kicker with an NFL leg...but since so much of kicking FGs is mental, maybe we should go in a different direction...

Isn't Nate Whitaker's brother Eric still on the team?  I remember he came up big against the team Under Stanford Control by not missing a single kick when Williamson was hurt last year.  That performance showed at least Whitaker wouldn't be affected by the tremendous pressure during actual games, which is something that appears Williamson has still not completely gotten over from the Fiesta Bowl. 

Edit: and some stats to back it up, Williamson has missed 5 FGs under 40 yards this year (2 missed under 30 yards in the biggest games so far, one against ND and one against the team Under Stanford Control).  Is it too much to expect anything under 40 yards to be a gimme?  He's also 50% on FGAs over 40 yards...

Try bringing your expectations in line with reality.  In college, those aren't gimmes.  Only one PAC-12 kicker has attempted more than 3 FGs from inside the 40 this season and hit them all.

Coming into the game, Williamson was 2nd in the PAC-12 in FG percentage.  Even after missing two attempts in this game, he's dropped to 4th, but that still puts him well above average.

[Roberton3]

The problem is that everyone, except for maybe David Shaw, has lost confidence in Williamson every time he lines up to attempt a big kick.  It's probably time to change kickers when everyone watching is pleasantly surprised and relieved if he kicks a short 30 yarder through the uprights.  I know I no longer expect him to convert on attempts under 40 yards, much less attempts over 40 yards.  Unlike David Shaw who thinks the problems are strictly mechanical, I think it's pretty clear that the problems are mental when he's shanking short kicks.  He's obviously a gifted kicker with an NFL leg...but since so much of kicking FGs is mental, maybe we should go in a different direction...

Isn't Nate Whitaker's brother Eric still on the team?  I remember he came up big against the team Under Stanford Control by not missing a single kick when Williamson was hurt last year.  That performance showed at least Whitaker wouldn't be affected by the tremendous pressure during actual games, which is something that appears Williamson has still not completely gotten over from the Fiesta Bowl. 

Edit: and some stats to back it up, Williamson has missed 5 FGs under 40 yards this year (2 missed under 30 yards in the biggest games so far, one against ND and one against the team Under Stanford Control).  Is it too much to expect anything under 40 yards to be a gimme?  He's also 50% on FGAs over 40 yards...

Try bringing your expectations in line with reality.  In college, those aren't gimmes.  Only one PAC-12 kicker has attempted more than 3 FGs from inside the 40 this season and hit them all.

Coming into the game, Williamson was 2nd in the PAC-12 in FG percentage.  Even after missing two attempts in this game, he's dropped to 4th, but that still puts him well above average.