Scouting Ball State Special Teams

Briggs Orsbon will be a player to watch in the return game for Ball State.

Special teams can make or break a game for many teams. We saw last week with Bonani's field goals that proved to be the deciding factor (on the scoreboard for USF).

Ball State has a solid unit coming into this game and had a nice day against Indiana in their win last week. Time to take a look at what the Bulls will be facing in this game.

At kicker, the Cardinals are lead by junior Steven Schott (6-1 163-pounds). Schott went 2 for 2 in field goals last week, 3 for 3 in XP attempts. He is also the kickoff specialist for the team (didn't kick a field goal in 2010). In 2010 as the kickoff specialist, he had 26 kickoffs, averaging 61.2 yards per kick and had 3 touchbacks. He doesn't have an over powerful leg, but is accurate enough. His reserve is freshman Scott Secor (5-9 155-pounds).

At punter is junior Scott Kovanda (6-3 195-pounds). Against Indiana, he had 3 punts for 133 yards, averaging 44.3 yards per kick. In 2010, he had 64 punts for 2557 yards (40 yards an average kick), including a long of 63 yards. Secor is also the reserve punter (freshman, probably won't step onto the field unless there is an injury).

On kick returns is senior wide receiver Briggs Orsbon (6-1 189-pounds). He had 4 returns for 92 yards against Indiana so he will be a player to shut down. Sophomore wide receiver Phil Dudley (5-9 170-pounds) had 9 returns for 145 yards in 2010 and will be on the field looking for a long kick. Junior running back Dwayne Donigan (5-6 171-pounds) and junior cornerback Armand Dehaney (5-8 165-pounds) (had 1 kick return in 2010 for 14 yards) are the reserves.

The Cardinals had no punt returns in the Indiana game, but sophomore wide receiver Jamill Smith (5-8 137-pounds) is the main return man. He had 17 returns for 146 yards in 2010. Orsbon had 1 return last season for no yards. Sean Baker, the senior safety (6-1 204-pounds) is also listed a possible return man on punts.

Overall, it is a very solid unit and the Bulls will have to make sure they allow nothing on returns and deal with the solid punting. We will see if Lamar and Mitchell are able to break out in the return game (held in check against Notre Dame).