San Diego State is undefeated in the Mountain West, winning games against Hawaii and Wyoming by identical 27-24 scores.
Winning and losing can come down to any one of a dozen plays or more, but there’s no denying that SDSU couldn’t have won the past two weeks without its field goal kicker making field goals.
Junior Gabriel Plascencia made a pair of field goals in both victories for the Aztecs (3-3, 2-0 MW), settling down a situation that a few weeks ago was a kick away from being a crisis.
Plascencia’s 22-yard field goal in Saturday’s first quarter opened the scoring. His 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter completed the scoring against the Cowboys, making the difference in the outcome with 7:35 to play.
“Before I even go out there, I visualize myself making the kick,” Plascencia said after a midweek practice. “When I go out on the field I think to myself it’s the same kick that I’ve done a thousand times in practice, or even sometimes in games.”
Plascencia had 24- and 43-yard field goals last week against Hawaii. He is 5-for-6 on the season, counting a 50-yard make and a 48-yard miss against Texas A&M-Commerce.
After the victory over the Rainbow Warriors, SDSU coach Sean Lewis said: “He will be our guy going forward and, obviously, took a big step tonight in helping us win in a big-time fashion. … He was able to rise to that occasion.”
Plascencia seemed like the obvious choice this season to succeed kicker Jack Browning after going 4-for-4 late last year when Browning was hampered by a leg injury.
The kicking competition between Plascencia and Nick Lopez was marked with inconsistency during the spring and summer, however, and the kicking duties were up for grabs before Plascencia earned the job.
He kicked in the season opener against Texas A&M-Commerce and the following week against Oregon State, but Lopez kicked at Cal and Central Michigan.
Plascencia said special teams coordinator Zac Barton “expects excellence from us. We’re expected to be perfect, and that’s what we want to do. … In Coach’s eyes Nick was performing the best.”
Then came two fourth-quarter misses by Lopez in the 22-21 loss at Central Michigan, and all of the sudden the kicking competition was on again.
“I just stayed true to myself,” Plascencia said. “Go out there and pretend like every kick is a game-winning kick. Having that pressure on you in practice will make the games a lot easier for me.
“I tell myself, ‘You’re only as good as your next kick.’ Miss or make, the only thing that matters is that next kick. You just want to go 1-for-1 each kick.”
Despite the season’s ups and downs, Plascencia said he never had doubts creep in and cloud his mind.
“You practice at it every day, so you want to just rely on your level of training you’ve had,” he said. “It’s visualizing success. Visualizing success helps you be successful and that’s what I try to do every day.”