Alex Trlica's kicking shoe was a hard one to fill, and two games into the regular season, it's a good thing the Texas Tech football team has not needed it to win a game.
But it's only a matter of time.
Until that time comes, true freshman Donnie Carona and the special teams unit, have their work cut out for them.
Against Eastern Washington, Carona made a 47-yard field goal, but he missed a 47-yard attempt and had an extra point blocked in the first quarter. At Nevada, another field goal was blocked - this time it was a 28-yard attempt.
Special teams coach Clay McGuire said he believes the inconsistency involves mistakes such as blocking and adjusting to the timing of college play.
"It's been a combination of both," McGuire said. "We had protection break downs. It's been operation times, and it's been trajectory. All three things have been a problem, and we're trying to get all three things fixed."
However, Carona has continued to progress each week, Tech coach Mike Leach said.
He would not trade Carona for any other kicker in the Big 12 Conference, he said.
For constructive purposes, Leach said he tells Carona to kick everything like an extra point because of how the ball clears the goal post with ease.
"He's never been short on anything and not even close to short," Leach said. "At least on his side of the 50, everything's an extra point because it's going to go plenty far enough."
Besides that advantage for Carona, he has an unwavering positive attitude, which is convenient at a position that requires a short-term memory, Leach said.
"With all due respect to kickers," Leach said, "it's a fact they have no control over their emotions whatsoever and tend to go all over and be all over the map as far as that stuff goes. (Carona is) not one of those guys, so I totally like that. I think that's going to allow him to develop a level of consistency early. He reminds me of Alex from that standpoint, because Alex wasn't one of those kickers that you had to wet nurse all the time."
Not many knew the effect of an absent Trlica would be felt this early, but Carona's extra-point attempt that was blocked against Eastern Washington was the first missed extra point in 233 tries going back to former kicker Keith Toogood against SMU in 2004.
Trlica holds the NCAA record for most consecutive extra points made in a career with 166 and had career long kicks to beat UTEP and force overtime against Minnesota in the Insight Bowl in 2006. Most recently, Trlica hit the game winner against Virginia in the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl in 2007.
If Carona is going to accomplish similar feats, Leach said he is going to have to worry about what matters most.
"The one unique thing about his job is there's 49,000 people that don't have anything to do with what he does," Leach said. "All there is, is a ball and air. If his foot contacts, the ball will go wherever it's directed, and so that's all he needs to worry about."
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