COLUMN: Quakers learn about 'foot'ball

Jorand Smith, Commentary But for two members of every football team, the name is accurate. The punter and placekicker both earn their keep through their feet. As Penn stumbles into its third game of the season Saturday night, these two players, usually subject to scarce attention, simply must improve their play. On a certain level, the early struggles of Penn punter Jeff Salvino and field goal kicker Jeremiah Greathouse are the most surprising of the young season. Both are returning starters with a track record of consistent, if rarely spectacular, performance. Greathouse's problems are the more obvious of the two. Last weekend at Bucknell, the senior kicker missed a pair of chip shots. The first from 33 yards was bad enough, but that was only compounded by a 22-yarder -- a glorified extra point -- he pushed wide right. Considering the final score, 20-16 for the Bison, those two missed field goals loomed large. Considering his pedigree, second-team All-Ivy and already Penn's career leading scorer by foot, they are shocking. Greathouse has rarely been a goat -- during his time at Penn. So putting the disastrous Bucknell game behind him is essential. "I hope not," said Penn coach Al Bagnoli, about his kicker being haunted by last Saturday. "A kicker's got to have a short memory. There's going to be plenty of opportunities down the line for him to win the game for us." For his part, Bagnoli called Greathouse's performance a "fluke." Even more anonymous than Greathouse -- whose name at least appears in box scores as "(Greathouse kick)" after a touchdown -- is Salvino. For the time being, that anonymity is serving him and the punting squad well. Although Salvino is averaging a healthy 41.2 yards per boot, punting has been more part of the problem than the solution during Penn's first two games. Thanks to line-drive kicks and spotty coverage, opponents are averaging 10.8 return yards per punt. Taken together, that means a ridiculous net average of 30.4 yards. Against Dartmouth, Salvino was kicking well, but being undercut by the cover men. The worst example came in the third quarter when a short Salvino kick was taken by the Big Green returner at his own 33-yard line. He carried 42 yards to the Penn 25. Dartmouth's offense moved the ball a whopping four yards and kicked a field goal for a 23-0 lead. On paper, that's three points against the Quakers' defense; in reality, it's three points against the punting team. Last weekend, Salvino punted five times. None was fair caught. None was downed by Penn coverage men. But two were brought back for more than 10 yards, including an 18-yarder that left Bucknell at the Quakers' 14. Again the Penn defense held, but the opposition came away with a field goal. "I think sometimes I might be stretching the team out by kicking the ball too far on a line drive," Salvino said. "I've got to do a better job kicking it 37 to 41 yards with good hang time." Bagnoli places much of the blame for his team's special teams mess on preseason injury woes, citing a lack of steady personnel on the various units due to injury, and so a less cohesive group. If that's true, then Penn's woes should soon be a thing of the best. And the real "football" players have to make themselves anonymous again on Saturday.