Kickers Stay on Their Toes for Opportunity to Be Hero

One, two, three, kick?

With two of the nation’s top defenses squaring off, tonight’s national title game might be decided by a field goal.

Which team has the edge?

It’s a tough call. Florida State and Tennessee have excellent kickers in Sebastian Janikowski and Jeff Hall.

Janikowski won the Lou Groza Award this season, making 27 of his 32 field-goal attempts.

But he has not been tested in pressure situations.

“I haven’t kicked any game-winning field goals this year and definitely there will be pressure on me if this game comes down to a field goal,” Janikowski said. “Everyone is saying that this game might come down to that, so I’ll just try my best if that’s the situation.”

Advantage Hall?

The Tennessee kicker, who made 19 of his 24 attempts, booted game-winning field goals against Syracuse and Florida this season, and had three field-goal games in key Southeastern Conference wins against Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Hall, however, said he isn’t as calm in the clutch as he appears.

“I’m nervous when I step on the field for an extra point, that’s just the way I play,” Hall said. “I’m not a very relaxed person, I never have been and I never will, because I feel I play better when I’m nervous, when I’m tense.”

*

Travis Minor is a tailback, just like Warrick Dunn. Minor is from Dunn’s hometown, went to the same school, Catholic High in Baton Rouge, La., and followed Dunn to Florida State.

But Minor, a key to Florida State’s national title chances tonight, really doesn’t like the comparisons.

“We grew up together, ran in the same track program, but we never played football together,” said the sophomore Minor, who led the Seminoles in rushing this season with 857 yards despite missing two games because of injury. “We’re two different people.”

With quarterback Marcus Outzen making only his third career start, Florida State figures to need a huge game from Minor to defeat Tennessee.

Minor said he has a different running style from Dunn, the former Seminole star. Minor, for one, is bigger at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds.

“He’s more of a true scat-back, like Barry Sanders,” Minor said of Dunn, now a budding NFL star with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He’ll make five, 10 guys miss. I feel I can make guys miss, but I feel I can run between the tackles and outside the tackles.”