ESPN omits ASU’s Zane Gonzalez from midseason All-American Team
Oct 19, 2016, 3:14 PM | Updated: 3:16 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona State kicker Zane Gonzalez has been, in a word, amazing this season.
The senior has connected on 19-of-20 field goal attempts and has made 25-of-26 extra points this season for the 5-2 Sun Devils. He’s tops among FBS kickers with 82 points, which is 12 more than his closest competition, Ricky Aguayo of Florida State and Louie Zervos of Ohio.
Gonzalez has broken NCAA records for career field goals made and career points by a kicker and tied a record by booting three field goals of 50 yards or more in one game in last Saturday’s loss to Colorado.
He’s also won four consecutive Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week awards, so you’d think he’d be a shoo-in for the various midseason All-American teams released by various outlets, right?
SI.com recognized Gonzalez. So did CBS Sports and USA Today.
So Gonzalez got his due, just not from the “Worldwide Leader”. ESPN released its midseason All-American team, and chose Auburn’s Daniel Carlson as their kicker.
“He’s no longer perfect on field goals, but 13 of 14 is still pretty good, especially when you consider his only miss came from 56 yards out. For the year, he’s still 2 of 3 on kicks from 50 yards or more,” ESPN’s Greg Ostendorf wrote.
Carlson’s been great this year — he kicked six field goals in the Tigers’ win over LSU on Sept. 24 and 31 of his 32 kickoffs have been touchbacks, which takes a lot of pressure off of Auburn’s kick coverage team.
But his statistics and résumé are inferior to Gonzalez’s, except for the kickoff numbers. Gonzalez has sailed 41 of 53 kickoffs into (or beyond) the end zone for touchbacks. And if he can amass 60 more points over the rest of ASU’s schedule, he’ll be college football’s all-time leading scorer, eclipsing the mark of former Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who had 528 points from 2009 to 2012.
Many ASU fans and the school’s media relations department let ESPN know about their oversight.
.@GregO_ESPN You spelled "Zane Gonzalez" incorrectly on your mid-season All American pick for best Kicker.
— Doug Anderson (@ASUSportDoug) October 19, 2016
@ESPNRittenberg dud seriously Zane Gonzalez holds NCAA career FG record, made like 5 FG over 50 this year, way better then these 2
— Kelly Harper (@da_kellyman) October 19, 2016
When ESPN does not select Zane Gonzalez to their ESPN Midseason All-American Team. pic.twitter.com/6lxLkQzrZH
— Jedi ASU (@JediASU) October 19, 2016
Let us explain…No, there is too much. Let us sum up.
Twitter can't handle @ZaneG_5's resume. But we'd be happy to fax it to you. #GOAT https://t.co/5eXr0UTkxJ
— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) October 19, 2016
ESPN’s selection of Carlson didn’t do much to quiet criticism from West coast football fans that the network is nothing more than a public relations arm of the Southeastern Conference.