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THIS IS TYPESETIN PAPER

'Head up,' coach, teammates implore Nate Smith

By Russ Brown

FORT WORTH, Tex. -- Moments after he watched his potential game-tying kick bounce harmlessly off the crossbar of the upright at Amon G. Carter Stadium last Wednesday night as time expired, University of Louisville placekicker Nate Smith slumped to the ground on his knees and buried his head in his hands.

Teammates rushed to console him and offensive lineman Will Rabatin put his arm around Smith's shoulder and walked off the field with him.

The narrow miss, perhaps three inches, capped the worst game of Smith's collegiate career and assured U of L's 31-28 loss to TCU. Until that Wednesday night Smith had been Mr. Automatic.

He entered the game with seven successful field-goal attempts in a row and added two more in the first half against TCU - 21 and 26 yards. Going into the game, he was 11 of 12 on the season, his only miss coming in a 31-28 double-overtime loss at South Florida on Oct. 4 on a 49-yarder that was blocked.

But he pushed a 22-yarder wide right with 1:29 left in the third quarter and U of L trailing 24-21. Smith, a senior from Pleasure Ridge Park High School, then missed two attempts in the last three minutes. A 47-yarder was short and to the left at the 2:42 mark before the game-ending try.

Of course, no one blamed Smith for the loss. He got nothing but enthusiastic support from his teammates and coach Bobby Petrino, who offered words of encouragement afterwards.

"I told Nate to keep his head up," Petrino said. "He's not the first guy to ever miss a field goal like that. It was a great effort, too, with the wind right in his face. We didn't get it as close as we would have liked to. Nate is a dang good kicker - he has meant a lot to this football team and it certainly isn't all Nate's fault, that's for sure."

The 44-yarder certainly was well within Smith's range. He has kicked five over 50 yards, including a school-record-tying 52-yarder last year against Southern Miss.

"Nate is a great kicker," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "He's been doing it for us all year. We expect him to do it every time, which isn't very realistic. He just came up a little short this time, but this loss wasn't one person's fault."

"You can't blame the loss on Nate," said LeFors.

Ironically, Smith's nightmarish evening came the same week he was named among the 20 semifinalists for the 12th annual Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top collegiate placekicker. TCU's Nick Browne is also a semifinalist.

Smith is now 13-for-17 on the season and has been successful on all 35 of his extra-point attempts, giving him a total of 74 points for the year. Smith ranks 18th in the country with 1.38 field goals per game and his total of 13 is tied for the second-highest total in school history.

In his career, Smith has hit 43-of-61 field- goal attempts, a 70.4 percent conversion rate that is third in U of L annals. Smith holds the Cardinal career records for field goals (43) and extra points (128).

Started in 1992, the Lou Groza Award is named after Lou "The Toe" Groza, the Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame placekicker who is credited with elevating the role of placekicker to one of an offensive weapon and scoring machine. Groza, who played 21 seasons in the NFL, set NFL records for field goals and extra points in a season as a rookie and he ended his career with 10 league records and 24 Cleveland Browns marks.

Players from Conference USA schools have won the award four times. Memphis' Joe Allison was the first-ever recipient in 1992 and TCU's Michael Reeder won it in 1995. C-USA produced back-to-back winners in 2000 and 2001, when Cincinnati's Jonathan Ruffin and Tulane's Seth Marler won the award, respectively.

The three finalists for the 2003 award will be announced on November 17. The award, which is presented by the FedEx Orange Bowl, will be presented during a ceremony on Dec. 9, at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.

2003 LOU GROZA AWARD SEMIFINALISTS

Name, School, Class

Steve Azar, Northern Illinois University, Sr.

Xavier Beitia, Florida State University, Jr.

Nick Browne, TCU, Sr.

Trey DiCarlo, University of Oklahoma, Soph.

Drew Dunning, Washington State University, Sr.

Connor Hughes, University of Virginia, So.

Ben Jones, Purdue University, So.

Nate Kaeding, University of Iowa, Sr.

Ryan Killeen, USC, Jr.

Matt Leach, University of Florida, Jr.

J.C. Mejia, San Diego State University, Sr.

Jonathan Nichols, University of Mississippi, Jr.

Nick Novak, University of Maryland, Jr.

Matt Payne, Brigham Young University, Jr.

Jon Peattie, University of Miami (Fla.), Fr.

Dillon Pieffer, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Sr.,

David Rayner, Michigan State University, Jr.

Nate Smith, University of Louisville, Sr.

Andrew Wellock, Eastern Michigan University, Fr.

Kirk Yliniemi, Oregon State University, Sr.