Flashback: Good Payne in a season full of bad pain

BYU placekicker Matt Payne (Source: BYU Football Wiki).

By and large, the 2003 football season was forgettable for the BYU Cougars. Offensive futility and a horrible win-loss record highlight the pain Cougar fans felt while cheering for their team. One player, however, did play well through all of the adversity the team experienced: punter and placekicker Matt Payne.

Payne was a junior in 2003, and by his own standards, he would probably say that was not a very good season punting. He averaged 44.0 yards per punt. Whereas, his senior and sophomore seasons he averaged 45.3 and 47.6 yards, respectively. However, Payne's 44.0 yard average is still very good, by BYU standards, and it was the best in the Mountain West Conference that season. He was the first-team All-MWC punter.

First, before Payne came along, only five punters since 1960 had averaged more than 44 yards per punt. Since Payne left, that 44 yard standard has been exceeded just twice.

Second, because of BYU's struggles on offense, Payne punted 78 times that season. Punting that many times can lead to fatigue and increases the chances for blocked or shanked punts that drag down a punter's average. In fact, it is the fourth most punts in school history. No punter has had a better average when punting 70 times or more. That makes Payne's 3,433 yards punting the most in school history by a comfortable margin.

Every single game that season, Payne had at least one punt over 50 yards. He averaged over 50 yards per punt in three games.

1. Stanford (9 punts, 50.2 yard average)
2. Wyoming (5 punts, 51.0 yard average)
3. UNLV (5 punts, 51.6 yard average)

His two longest punts of the season came during these games; a 67-yard boot against Stanford, and a 66-yard punt against Wyoming. He had a total of 22 punts that were half a football field or longer. An equal number of punts landed inside the opponents 20-yard line, while just eight of Payne's 78 punts were touchbacks.

In addition to his punting prowess, Payne was also a great asset as a placekicker. He earned honorable mention All-MWC honors at that position.

He became just the second player in BYU history who handled the full-time placekicking duties to successfully convert every point after touchdown (PAT) he attempted in a season (Owen Pochman, 2000, 29 of 29). Payne was 20 of 20. He became the first Cougar to have multiple 50+ yard field goals in the same game (53 and 52 yards at USC).

Payne's 53-yard field goal against the Trojans was tied for the second longest field goal in BYU history (Owen Pochman 56-yards, 2000 vs. New Mexico). He added a third 50-yard field goal against UNLV.

Payne finished the season making 14 of 18 field goal attempts. That is a 77.8 percent success rate, which was the fourth best in school history (currently ninth).

He had a perfect game against San Diego State. All three field goal attempts were good, and all five extra points were made. That went a long way in the Cougars coming away victorious, 44-36. His 20-yard field goal at New Mexico was the difference maker in that 10-7 game. 

Just how good and how much of a bright spot was Payne in 2003? Enough to earn a spot on the cover of BYU's 2004 Media Guide.

Editor's Note: Other BYU football players before Payne converted 100 percent of their PAT attempts, but none of them, besides Pochman, did it with more than six attempts.

The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com