Kickers Have Nerve, but Yergensen Is Nervous : College football: He kicked game-winner against BYU but hopes Utah doesn’t need him against USC.

Chris Yergensen predicts a laugher. The Freedom Bowl game tonight at Anaheim Stadium will be Utah’s party. USC doesn’t have enough defense or offensive firepower to keep up with the high-scoring Utes, or so says Yergensen.

Maybe Yergensen, Utah’s kicker, believes what he says. But sometimes you wonder if he’s not merely trying to minimize the pressure building inside him--the pressure that puts a sharp pain in his stomach, the pressure he can’t seem to escape.

“To anybody looking inside me, they’d say, ‘God, it’s really hell,’ ” said Yergensen, who has had that anxiety inside him since his days as an All-Southern Section kicker at Antelope Valley High.

Two days before each game, the nervousness starts. The thought hounds him that come game day, his teammates’ hopes could fall squarely on his shoulders. As the kickoff approaches, his worries worsen. He knows he’ll be eating antacid tablets throughout the game to help ease the pain of his stomach ulcers.

“I don’t know if every kicker gets this nervous,” said the 6-foot-1, 174-pound senior. “But I’ve been this way every game since high school. And I wonder, ‘How much longer do I want to start worrying two days before every game?’ ”

And how soon does he want to face another game-winning/game-losing field-goal attempt? Is tonight too soon?

With Yergensen, it has never been a question of ability. He kicked 20 field goals at Antelope Valley (including a 52-yarder), and he has made 43 of 67 attempts (64.2%) in three seasons at Utah.

But his career to this point boils down to one high and one low: the kick he missed against Washington State and the kick he made against Brigham Young.

The 1992 Copper Bowl game against Washington State contained the worst moment of Yergensen’s career. He attempted a 20-yarder with 3 minutes 19 seconds left and missed it wide left. Utah lost, 31-28, and Yergensen became the goat.

“When he’s on, he’s as good as they come,” said Sean McNabb, Utah’s special-teams coach. “The problem is he’s not focused sometimes. Sometimes he’s his own worst enemy.

“He gets to talking to himself, gets down on himself and starts thinking things he doesn’t need to be thinking.”

Against rival BYU on Nov. 20 of this year, McNabb thought history was repeating itself. Yergensen missed field-goal attempts of 37 and 35 yards but was called on to try a 55-yarder with 25 seconds left. Yergensen boomed it through the uprights, stunning a Cougar crowd of 63,800 in a 34-31 victory that eventually led to Utah’s Freedom Bowl berth.

“He stuck it,” McNabb said. “It would have been good from over 60 yards, it went so high on the net.

“I was elated. And for Yergy, it kind of killed two birds with one stone.”

Utah beat BYU in Provo for the first time since 1971, and Yergensen chased a demon from the Copper Bowl, right? Not necessarily.

Yes, people congratulate him on the streets of Salt Lake City, and his personal life has seen a dramatic turn for the better. But, no, he hasn’t forgotten the past and he’s still that worrisome soul who shanked the short one and became Utah’s poster boy for frustration.

“My problem is I’m sort of a pessimist,” Yergensen said. “I’m not negative, but I can envision the bad side and think, ‘Well, I could miss. . . . ‘ “

Yergensen went into semi-seclusion after the Copper Bowl. He was a no-show at the team awards banquet. He didn’t read the newspapers.

“I was contemplating whether I actually wanted to come back,” he said.

Several weeks later in the campus library, curiosity got the better of him. He grabbed an old newspaper from the racks and read the game stories and postgame accounts.

“I took the whole brunt of it,” he said. “Nobody talked about a dropped pass or an interception or anything like that. It was all Chris. I didn’t deserve that.”

McNabb rallied to Yergensen’s defense. But it was no use. The public wanted a single culprit.

“It was a little unfair he was branded with the loss,” McNabb said. “Sure, he didn’t do his part. But there were others, too. If I showed you the film, there were breakdowns blocking by people who had been solid all year long. The problem was basically my fault.”

Yergensen, fueled by what he had read, started lifting weights more seriously. When spring workouts rolled around, Yergensen and Utah sports psychologist Dr. Evelyn Hall met daily. The sessions were informal, but effective. Remarkably, Hall not only helped Yergensen with the mental aspects of the game, she counseled him on his kicking technique. She worked with kickers previously, when she was at Louisiana State.

“She’ll go out there in rain, snow, whatever and just sit and watch,” Yergensen said. “She’s like a video camera the way she can break down my kicks.”

Hall, in a sense, became Yergensen’s kicking coach while McNabb’s attention remained on the kicking teams as units.

“She’s not a doctor on the sidelines,” Yergensen said. “She’s almost like my second mother.”

Throughout the season, Yergensen would approach Hall before and after kicks. The message from Hall was usually, “Remember exactly what you did on that last good kick.” They rarely talked about the pressure he felt.

“He got enough blame from a lot of other people--more than he put on himself,” Hall said. “It’s so obvious when people are not happy with you. I’m sure it was unbearable. But he had to make a comeback with all of that.”

Surprisingly, Yergensen felt little pressure before he kicked the game-winner against BYU. “How many people actually expect somebody to make a 55-yarder?” Yergensen said.

Before he trotted out to the 45-yard line at Cougar Stadium, Hall reminded Yergensen how many times he made the same kick in practice. It was just another kick, she said. He said nothing in return, but his expression spoke volumes.

“I’d say by the look in his eyes he was determined,” Hall said. “I knew he was going to make it.”

Said Yergensen: “If I hadn’t made that kick, I’d probably be in Colorado in January. I wouldn’t have wanted to stay in Salt Lake much longer.”

Now Salt Lake City is Camelot. Yergensen is recognized by fans in supermarkets, gas stations and airport terminals. He received a hero’s welcome from family and friends when he returned home for Thanksgiving weekend. He gave a pregame speech to the Antelope Valley football team before a playoff game, then during that game was reunited with a former girlfriend. They’ve since started a new relationship.

Yergensen calls it “the blessing in the kick.”

“It’s like everything good’s happening,” he said. “Everything with my schoolwork has been positive. I’ve got 15 hours left to graduate, which is pretty much a cake walk with two quarters left. It’s almost like a constant smile.”

His career seems headed for a storybook ending. However, a little voice inside reminds him what another missed kick could bring.

“It’s like I’m waiting for something bad to happen,” he said.

The idea that he can step onto the field for one play and determine the outcome of a game still eats at Yergensen and his sensitive stomach and his peptic ulcers.

The ulcer condition usually flares during football season. Yergensen said he takes about eight antacid tablets per game while he agonizes on the sidelines.

“Kicking footballs is fun,” he said. “But I would rather be on the field playing receiver.”