Kahut provides theatrics

OSU’s junior kicker has come through with games on the line

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Sep 21, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Holder Taylor Kavanaugh says Oregon State kicker Justin Kahut demonstrated his mental toughness in making the game-winner last week at Nevada-Las Vegas.

COURTESY OF OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

CORVALLIS – Justin Kahut is majoring in construction engineering management at Oregon State, so his recent proclivity to theatrics on the gridiron may not be inherent.

“I’m going to give up on that whole making-it-dramatic thing for now,” jokes the junior kicker as he prepares for Saturday’s home date with 17th-ranked Cincinnati at Reser Stadium. “I’ve had enough of that.”

Kahut’s 33-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining lifted the Beavers past Nevada-Las Vegas 23-21 Saturday night, the suspenseful conclusion in part created by the kicker’s missed first-half conversion.

It was déjà vu from a year ago, when Kahut’s 24-yard field goal as time expired gave Oregon State a 19-17 victory over Arizona – after he had botched a PAT moments before.

Kahut had the mental toughness Saturday to fight a swirling wind and the pressure of being the difference between victory and defeat. The game-winning kick helped the Beavers – ranked 24th in the USA Today coaches poll – to a 2-0 start.

“I give Justin lots of credit,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley says. “He knows it, we all know it – you can’t miss an extra point if the snap, hold and protection are good. But it took a lot of courage to come back and mental toughness to make that field goal. That says a lot about him. And he has done that a couple of times now.”

The 5-8, 175-pound Kahut has made game-deciding field goals in Oregon State’s last three victories away from home – Arizona and against Pittsburgh (3-0 win) at the Sun Bowl last season, and versus the Rebels.

Any kicker’s self-assurance would have been shaken by the missed PAT and a 47-yard field goal try that bounced off the left upright in the first half at Vegas. On the game-winning attempt, Kahut never wavered, despite a pair of timeouts called by UNLV to ice the kicker.

“We’ve been through this type of thing before,” holder Taylor Kavanaugh says. “I have the utmost confidence in Justin. Playing kicker is a very hard position. It’s not something I could handle.

“I’m extremely proud of Justin. After the missed kicks, to have that kind of mental toughness, when the wind was pretty strong out there. … It was a perfect kick down the middle to end the game. The same thing happened at Arizona last year. It’s a telling tale about Justin to come through like that.”

Following Serna

Kahut arrived at Oregon State in 2006 as a walk-on out of Clackamas High, the heir apparent to a Beaver legend – Lou Groza Award winner Alexis Serna. Kahut had only one Division-I scholarship offer – from Bowling Green – and chose between walk-on opportunities at OSU, Oregon, California and Arizona State. He decided to stay in-state and took visits to Corvallis and Eugene before picking the Beavers.

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