Bliss' 'big-time' effort helps keep Auburn perfect

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AUBURN REPORT: Bliss' 'big-time' effort helps keep Auburn perfect

By Jay G. Tate

Montgomery Advertiser

AUBURN -- Kody Bliss isn't supposed to be a star.

Auburn's punter is the smallest player on the team's roster, which helps make him the most able to move around campus undetected. Bliss' slender build, moppy hair and lack of pretense make him an unlikely candidate for football success.

Yet coaches and teammates think he was the savior in Auburn's 7-3 win against LSU last week.

"He kicks it and it goes a mile. I lose sight of it sometimes," fullback Carl Stewart said. "He changed that game (Saturday). We don't win that game without Kody Bliss. He better get a lot of 'Thank yous' from people."

Bliss was at his best against the Bayou Bengals. He averaged 48.2 yards per punt in that game, which rewarded field position because of the defensive dominance.

When the Tigers needed to pin LSU deep with a shorter kick, Bliss obliged.

When the Tigers needed Bliss to kick the ball as deep as possible, he came through. When given freedom to punt without regard to location, his distances charted like this: 50 yards, 61 yards, 62 yards.

LSU's punt returner, Chevis Jackson, spent far more time chasing down Bliss' punts that he did returning them for yards. Jackson kept lining up 35 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Bliss kept banging the ball well over Jackson's head.

"Every single punt in that situation was the perfect punt," Bliss said. "The first three, we're sitting back at our 20 and have the whole field to work with and launch it. The fourth one, we're sitting plus-40, so I have to hang it up and let our guys get down there. The very last punt is just getting the ball off fast and was able to get another good punt there."

Sounds easy.

It's clearly not. Bliss is a senior and has been the Tigers' top punter since the day he arrived on campus in 2003. His punting average during his first two seasons hovered under 43 yards.

Bliss then improved to 44.9 yards per punt last season, which earned him all-conference honors.

This season, Bliss is looking more like an All-American with a 48.1 average. Only four college punters are having more success.

Bliss says he expects that kind of success even if NFL scouts don't. Professional teams have been signing larger punters during the past 10 years, and now it's common to see 6-foot-2 guys playing on Sundays.

At 5-foot-10, Bliss won't wow anyone with his measurements.

The leg's the thing.

"I'm about 40 pounds too light and five inches too short, but I got a lot of leg strength and have been working real hard on form and consistency," Bliss said. "It's worked out well."

If there's a secret to Bliss' unusual success this season, he doesn't seem to know it. His off-season strength training went as expected. He's not significantly heavier than he was a year ago. He isn't significantly stronger, either.

Bliss said paying attention to form has made him better.

Nowhere is that form more challenging than during the rugby-style kicks Auburn implemented last season. Rather than take the snap and immediately punt, Bliss now sometimes runs to his right for a few seconds before kicking the ball.

That allows the Tigers' coverage teams added time to defend a return.

"We're asking him to do a lot. It sure does help us in our coverage and what we're doing," assistant coach Eddie Gran said. "He's a fourth-year guy. This is how he should be producing. Maybe not as good as (against LSU) -- I mean, that was just phenomenal. That was big time."

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Tate on the scene: The wait is almost over for fans waiting to see freshman Ben Tate play.

Minor injuries to starting tailback Kenny Irons are expected to limit his role against Buffalo this weekend. Top reserve Brad Lester said coaches have told him to prepare for a more central role this weekend.

Tate will serve as Lester's primary backup Saturday.

"Ben's going to get a lot of reps this week because he was getting a lot of reps in practice and he doesn't usually get that many," Lester said. "It's fun. I remember my freshman year when we were playing Citadel and schools like that. I knew we were going to get reps. It's fun for a guy like me and Kenny to sit back and watch."

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Rivals honors Muschamp: Rivals.com named Auburn's Will Muschamp its National Coordinator of the Week. Muschamp's defense held LSU to three points and 154 yards less than its average last week.