LARAMIE, Wyo. — Golden Whetman had been called upon to attempt a long end-of-the-first-half field goal before, but in 4-degree temperature on an ice sheet of a field with the Utes already leading 24-0, he was a little surprised to be setting up for a 55-yard attempt. After all, he was 1-for-10 on field goals this season with six of the attempts coming from beyond 40 yards.
"At the time I wasn't too thrilled that they wanted me to kick it," he said. The ball isn't pliable at that temperature, and there's no use trying to use a normal plant-foot slide on a field where there's no grip. "It was, essentially, tundra," Whetman said.
Whetman used his kickoff-style kick, "a hurdle kick," he called it, where he hops quickly off his plant foot after contact with the ball to avoid slipping. Using the odd motion, Whetman made the longest field goal of his entire career and tied with several others for the second-longest field goal in Utah history Saturday in Laramie to give Utah a 27-0 halftime advantage.
"I don't think it was the greatest decision in the world," admitted coach Ron McBride. "I took a gamble. It ended up being a good decision." He figured that with the Utes already ahead by 24 points, there was little to lose in attempting the field goal. "I just thought he was capable of kicking it. I thought he's got to be kind of relaxed here at 7,000 feet (altitude)."
Besides, said McBride, "It was one of those days where everything went right for us and nothing went right for them."
"I feel awesome," said Whetman, who has never questioned his own confidence, knowing that there have been other factors such as poor holds or protection that have hurt several of his previous kicks. "I didn't know how long it was," he said. "It didn't matter." It did matter that his teammates and coaches high-fived him.
MORE KICKING: Ryan Kaneshiro has also felt success in recent games. He made a 27-yard field goal and four PATs Saturday and is now 4-for-6 on field goals and 14-for-14 on PATs since taking over most of the score-kicking from Whetman, who also punts and kicks off.
Whetman added a 41.7 punting average that included a 67-yarder.