Breaking Down The Bowl Game: Field Goal Kicking

Any long time fan of FSU will tell you how important field goal kicking is and how many other national championships FSU might have won if not for the field goal kicker.

UCLA has All-American place kicker Justin Medlock who for the year has kicked 26-30 for a field goal percentage of 86.7 % The senior is 2-2 for field goals 50 yards or longer and 9-10 for FGs between 30 and 40 yards.

UCLA place kicker Justin Medlock has been selected first-team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association. He is the third Bruin kicker in the last 14 years to earn first-team All-America status, joining Chris Sailer (1997) and Bjorn Merten in 1993.

Thus far in 2006, Medlock has made 24 of 28 field goals (he had a string of 14 straight halted at Notre Dame) -- 85.7% -- and all 25 PATs for a team-high 97 points. He ranks first nationally in field goals (2.18 per game) and 10th in the NCAA and first in the Pac-10 in scoring (8.82). His 97 points are a career high and rank No. 11 on UCLA's single-season scoring list and his 24 field goals are the second-most in school history.

And FSU has Gary Cismesia. Cismesia talks a good game but rarely performs as well as he talks. For the season, he is 11-17 ( 64.7% ). Cismesia is 3-4 on FGs between 30 and 4o yards and is 1-1 on FGs of 50 yds. or longer. He ranks 7th in the ACC in field goal percentage. He has also missed his last 5 FG attempts. This does not bode well for FSU relying on its field goal kicker in a critical part of the game.

Advantage: UCLA