Who do you want to be the best player on your football team? In an ideal world, it is your superstar quarterback. If not him, then maybe an elite wide receiver, a dominant offensive lineman, or a ball hawk linebacker. Generally, you don’t want the best player on your football team to be the punter, but that has been exactly the case for USC football in 2024. USC punter Eddie Czaplicki has quietly become one of the top punters in the nation.
Czaplicki had yet another effective game on Saturday night against UCLA, averaging 47 yards on his three attempts. Czaplicki’s 48.8 yards per punt are good for first in the Big Ten and third in the country.
That is great for Czaplicki. He deserves every bit of recognition as one of the nation’s top punters. However, the fact that the Trojans‘ best player is their punter is not such a good thing for USC.
Generally, if a team is punting enough that their punter is in contention for the Ray Guy Award, that means their offense is not playing very well. For the Trojans, who managed to score just 19 points last night against a bad UCLA team, that is indeed the case.
If more players (and coaches) on USC’s offense had stepped up this season, there would not have been a need or opportunity for Czaplicki to step up as much as he has. But with the Trojans struggling to score, the spotlight has shifted to their punter, who has shined in it.
So give Czaplicki all of his flowers. When USC’s seniors are honored prior to the game against Notre Dame this Saturday, he deserves the loudest cheer of any of them.
For the Trojans, that is a problem.
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Eddie Czaplicki is one of USC’s top players, and that isn’t a good thing
