Arizona football countdown: 8 days, the same number of field goals Casey Skowron missed last year

He may have missed eight field goals, but it was still a successful year for the Arizona kicker

Like all college kickers, Casey Skowron had his share of ups and downs last season.

He missed three field goals in the two-point loss to USC, including a 36-yarder that would've have won the Arizona Wildcats the game.

A few weeks later though, he made up for it when he made a 47-yarder in the final seconds of the game to beat Washington. He scored a rushing touchdown on a fake field goal in that game too.

He received death threats after one instance, and was carried off the field by his teammates as the hero in the other. That's life for a college kicker.

Nonetheless, Skowron had a solid overall season. He finished the season making 20 of his 28 field goal attempts, which gave him a FG% of 71.4%. That mark is the best by an Arizona kicker since -- gasp! -- Alex Zendejas in 2010. As we unfortunately know, Zendejas had his infamous share of missed extra points, a department that Skowron went a perfect 57 of out 57 in.

Skowron also went 4-5 in kicks that were 40+ yards, including a career-best 49 yarder in the opening game against UNLV. He is a master at onside kicks as well. There would have been no "Hill Mary" without his ability to get the right bounce, and it also took an onside kick recovery for Arizona to even have a chance to beat USC.

Of course, on the flip side, he went just 9-14 on kicks from 30-39 yards out and missed two field goals from closer than 29 yards out.

The moral of the story is that college kickers are inconsistent and can be unbelievably frustrating, but Skowron shouldn't be taken for granted. He's not the greatest of kickers, but Arizona could have it a whole lot worse -- like, perhaps a kicker that misses two costly extra points against an arch-rival.

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