After miss vs. WVU, Penn State kicker Sander Sahaydak rebounded vs. Bowling Green

Sander Sahaydak, after winning the starting place-kicking job at Penn State for the second year in a row, lined up for his first field goal of the 2024 season at West Virginia in Week 1, a 47-yard try. The game was already in hand, late in the fourth quarter of an eventual 34-12 win.

The left-footer hooked it wide right.

Shades of 2023 immediately started to creep into the picture with Sahaydak. He had won the job out of camp in a battle with Columbia transfer Alex Felkins, and in Week 1 against West Virginia, missed two field goals inside of 40 yards. Felkins took over and held onto the job the rest of the season.

Coach James Franklin mentioned in his weekly press conference following the 2024 West Virginia win that the situation for Sahaydak’s kick was far from ideal. The staff originally wanted to get a few yards on third down to go for it on fourth, but a short gain on an option with quarterback Beau Pribual made the situation difficult, and led to the missed kick.

Franklin reiterated his confidence in Sahaydak, though, and left the question about his kicker by saying, “I know he’ll make the next one.”

And instead of turning his performance into some unfortunate example of deja vu, Sahaydak drilled a pair of field goals — from 43 and 28 yards — in a 34-27 win over Bowling Green. Both kicks also held a fair bit of significance, coming in the second quarter as Penn State trailed the visiting underdogs.

His makes made it 24-20 heading into halftime and gave way to a second-half comeback, rather than having the Nittany Lions trailing by eight with more work to do.

“He’s had such a good camp, and he’s such a talented kicker that (we) felt strongly about sticking with him. Just really pleased that he was able to hit two big field goals in the Bowling Green game,” special teams coordinator Justin Lustig said during the bye week. “Hoping that builds his confidence and getting those made field goals out of the way will propel them to do what he does in practice every day. So I’m excited about his future.”

Penn State made a similar decision to last season, bringing in a transfer kicker to battle Sahaydak through the offseason. Tulsa import Chase Meyer, alongside redshirt freshman Ryan Barker, kept the competition extremely close through fall camp. Franklin estimated the trio’s percentage of makes were within two points of each other, around 85%, 84% and 83%.

The differentiator, though, came from “pressure situations” Penn State tries to create in practice. The staff will simulate crowd noise, put push-ups on the line or try to emulate weather-related adversity, for example. Sahaydak’s numbers were the best in that department, too.

“If you look at Sander’s numbers last year, they weren’t as good, and he made a significant improvement in those pressure field goals and practice,” Lustig said. He added, depending on weather, Sahaydak is able to kick from close to 60 yards. “So (we) felt like he took steps there and was ready to go.”

After Sahaydak missed those two field goals in last year’s opener, Franklin said the Bethlehem native got up in front of the team to take ownership of the moment.

As kicker is one of the most pressure-filled positions, on which typically rides on a single snap in a game, Lustig knew he’d need to address Sahaydak’s mental performance as soon as he was hired. The first-year coordinator spent the summer building a relationship with his kicker and talking often about getting over the “anxiety” that might have come with last year’s disappointment.

“The mental part of it is big, and for him to overcome some of the anxiety that he’s had and being able to hit those field goals,” Lustig said, “I just think is huge for his confidence and his mental aspect of when he goes out on the field.”