Kyle Dugandzic
Arizona senior punter Kyle Dugandzic, who was a bright spot Saturday night amid woes elsewhere on special teams, earned Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors Monday.
He punted five times for an average of 46.8 yards, with four landed inside the 20, against Oregon State.
Dugandzic said he was somewhat surprised by the honor, adding, “I take it with a grain of salt because it came in a loss.”
One of his punts was a 70-yarder that rolled to a stop at the Oregon State 5. He hit that punt rugby-style, taking a few steps to his right before booting the ball on a line.
The rugby punts are something Dugandzic didn’t do last season, but first-year coach Rich Rodriguez has called for those as a change-up to the traditional punts.
“Either way is fine,” Dugandzic said. “I prefer to just do a normal punt, because that way I can get it up in the air and have a fair catch. But if asks me to rugby kick, I’ll do that also.”
Dugandzic is averaging 44.89 yards per attempt, which ranks third in the Pac-12 and 18th in the NCAA.
Elsewhere on special teams, Arizona ranks 81th nationally in punt returns (6.33 yards per attempt), 70th in punt return defense (allowing 7.83 yards per return) and 113th in kick returns (15.91 yards per attempt).
Kicker John Bonano has missed field goals from 24, 25, 25, 31 and 41 yards.