Setta Shows Signs of Relief
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
September 3, 2000

Notre Dame, Ind - In his first game as the starting kicker at Notre Dame and in his first college football appearance, Nick Setta connected on all four of his kicks (three for three on PAT's and one for one on field goals).   Even though three of his kicks were PAT's and the other a 32 yard field goal, the place kicking looked much better than it had been last season.

All three of Setta's extra point attempts were right down the center and all looked good.  Last season it was rare for Notre Dame to either not miss an extra point or to have at least one just barely make it.  Field goals were just as reliable.  The Irish converted on just eight field goals in 18 attempts.   Give Notre Dame those extra 30 points and maybe 5-7 becomes 7-5.

Setta was also impressive on his field goal since there was a bad snap.  Setta remained calm however.  He simply reset and then booted it through the up rights after holder Adam Tibble pulled it down.  Last season the chances of a kick with that kind of snap being made were very low. 

Kicking has been a real problem for Notre Dame in recent years.  Jim Sanson's troubles as place kicker for Notre Dame are well documented and don't need to brought up again.  David Miller gave Notre Dame a slight improvement, but he was still not what you would call reliable last season.  This season however it appears as if Setta can finally bring some balance to the Irish place kicking job.

Setta came out of Lockport, Illinois as the most heralded high school kicker while picking up Rebook, Parade, and USA Today All American honors.   The stories of 70 and 80 yard attempts in practice surrounded him as did his 60+ yard attempts in games.  While his high school stats were modest, his potential was huge.  His stats suffered somewhat since most of his kicks were from long range.

After redshirting his freshman year at Notre Dame, Setta battled David Miller and walkon Matt Mc New in spring and summer drills.  Miller kept his job until Setta came up big in Notre Dame's final scrimmage.  Then he beat out Miller on Thursday in a kicking competition in practice. 

Had Notre Dame had a reliable kicker last year, close losses like against Pittsburgh, Boston College, Stanford, Michigan, and Purdue could have been wins and Notre Dame's embarrassing 5-7 mark may have been much different.

That is the past however and its time to think about the present and the future.  For now both the present and future at placing kicking at Notre Dame seem to be in Nick Setta.  Notre Dame has lacked a truly reliable place kicker since Craig Hentrich played for the Irish in the early 90's.

Mc Who?
Many Irish faithful who aren't avid internet message board readers might have been wondering, "Matt Mc Who?" when he was announced to kickoff to Texas A&M after Notre Dame's first touchdown.  The mystery man was Matt McNew as most internet Notre Dame fans know.  McNew, a former soccer player at Notre Dame, won the kick off duties and did a bang up job.

McNew booted three kickoffs for touchbacks and got enough hang time on his other two to give the coverage plenty of time to swarm down the field and prevent any decent return.  Mc New was a pleasant surprise and should help the defense greatly this year if he can keep the ball in the end zone.  A large part of Florida State's success last year hinged around Sebastain Janikowski's ability to put every kickoff in the end endzone.  In many instances a touchback saves a defense 10 yards or so.

All in all, every kicking job was much improved from last year.  Joey Hildbold was killing the ball on punts on top of Mc New's and Setta's impressive debuts.