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PROVO — Rhett Almond wasn’t sure if he’d get another chance this year.
The sophomore from Valencia, California, was named the starting place-kicker at BYU, and he hoped to live up to the title against Arizona.
But after a less-than-perfect 24-yard field goal against the Wildcats — and then missing a point-after touchdown kick — Almond found himself on the wrong side of the starting lineup.
When freshman Jake Oldroyd slotted the game-winning field goal in an 18-16 win over Arizona, Almond was relegated to second string.
“It was rough, obviously, after being pulled,” Almond said. “But Jake was amazing. He was clutch. All I did was make sure I was ready for when my next opportunity came, whether it was this season or next.”
A funny thing happens over the course of a college football season, even five games in for a sophomore kicker who also moonlights as the team’s backup punter: Almond got better.
He slotted home both attempted field goals in the Cougars’ 35-32 loss to West Virginia, and even added a field goal both times head coach Kalani Sitake called on him against the Mountaineers.
Then, on the final kick of the game and trailing 53-52 at home to Toledo, Almond was called up with all the pressure on his leg.
Rockets quarterback Logan Woodside had just converted a two-point toss-after-fumble to take the lead. But quarterback Taysom Hill rallied the troops, and Jamaal Williams used part of his career-best day to bring BYU into field goal range.
Not just field goal range, PAT range, and Almond’s chip shot from 19 yards away loomed to snap a three-game losing streak at BYU.
“It was like a PAT — that’s what I was trying to think of the whole time,” Almond said after securing the 55-53 win. “A game-winner or not, the kick is the same.
“There’s a little bit more pressure on me. But I tried my best to stay relaxed and be ready for whatever came.”
Yes, Williams rushed for 286 yards and five touchdowns, eclipsing BYU’s single-game program record set by Eldon “the Phantom” Fortie in 1962. Yes, the Cougars piled up 586 yards of offense, scoring from the first play of the game by Jonah Trinnaman.
But without the last score — on a kick by a reformed punter who missed his first career PAT — the total would’ve been merely an impressive effort in a loss to a Mid-American Conference power.
“I think it was rough for Rhett because in the first game, he was mishitting the ball against Arizona and we benched him and put Jake out there,” head coach Kalani Sitake said of Almond, who has made three-straight field goals since his benching. “To Rhett’s credit, he’s been working hard and Ed Lamb just kept telling him to be ready. As we got closer to when Jake got hurt, we felt more comfortable with Rhett. Having that adversity behind him, he was able to put that stuff behind him.
“I’m just glad he made the kick.”
Video: Rhett Almond drilled 2 field goals in the 4th Q, including the 19-yard game-winner, in @BYUfootball's wild 55-53 win over Toledo pic.twitter.com/8UdxQcGYdM
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) October 1, 2016
Toledo (3-1), which won 10 games a year ago and averaged 42 points per game entering Friday night’s contest, proved to be every bit of the offensive juggernaut that it looked like in blowout wins over Arkansas State, Fresno State and FCS Maine.
Traveling to Provo didn’t slow them down; a knee injury to linebacker Butch Pau’u and another to cornerback Troy Warner put a stinger on BYU’s defense, and the Rockets carved out 692 total yards, gaining 8.9 per play.
But BYU — which failed to top the 20-point mark in its first three games of the season — kept pace. Hill completed 11 passes for 248 yards, including the 75-yard strike to Trinnaman. But recognizing the efficiency of Williams, Squally Canada and the rushing game, the fifth-year senior deferred to his backfield mates.
“We had a great night tonight,” Hill said. “The mentality of the offense is to score 50 points every night. I don’t anticipate this many possessions all season, but we’ll take advantage of every possession we get. We’ve been doing a really good job of that the last couple of games.”
A team that Sitake joked prior to the season “would just go for two every time” if they couldn’t find a starting kicker now has two place-kickers with a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds of a game.
The Cougars also find themselves preparing to travel to Big Ten country, where Michigan State has lost back-to-back games after Saturday’s stunning upset by Indiana.
But if next weekend’s game comes down to a clutch field goal, Sitake knows he has options.
“Our guys fight. We know we’ve been on the wrong side of 2-3 point games,” Almond said. “But I’m proud of our team. Coach Kalani is real proud of our team. Yeah, it’s been a tough couple of games, going 1-3. But now we are ready to turn it around.”
