The wind swirled at Tiger Stadium last Saturday, sending game notes and rosters swirling out of the open press box, down on to the gold and purple clad fans below. Eddy Pineiro emerged out of the visitor’s locker room and began his usual routine.
A kicker, Pineiro must be acutely attuned to the wind, which was whipping around at more than 16 miles per hour. He missed a few during warmups from inside 40-yards, a distance he normally doesn’t struggle with at all.
“It was really windy. But I was just trying to hit the ball a little bit harder than I usually do,” he said. “I tried to rip it through the wind, so my concentration was to hit harder than I usually do.”
The process of kicking a football can be compared to a golf swing and changing anything throughout the process could prove detrimental. Have you ever stood over a golf ball thinking, “I’ll just give this one a little extra and I’ll clear that water no problem” only to be left fishing through your bag for a new ball after a duck hook sent the previous one into the land of no return?
Pinero also had to deal with a revelation of a mistake he made a month previous. The Wednesday before the tilt at Death Valley charges were filed against Pineiro for allegedly causing more $800 dollars in property damage to two scooters.
The alleged incident occurred in early October, but with charges just being filed this week, was brought to the forefront. A Florida spokesperson said that Florida had been aware of the incident and that the matter was handled internally.
“I made a mistake. Coach Mac handled it. Everybody else handled it and we’re moving on,” Pineiro said of the incident after the game.
With that distraction going on, Pineiro found a safe haven on the practice fields. Tiger Stadium would not be a safe haven, giving Pineiro his first opportunity to try a field goal in front of more than 100,000 fans after not attempting a field goal on the road at Tennessee earlier this season.
Pineiro’s first attempt came with just over four minutes left in the second quarter. He drilled a 36-yard field goal with ease. Pineiro had another opportunity in the fourth quarter, converting a 26-yard try with 7:45 left in the game.
His final opportunity was his biggest. Pineiro lined up from 34-yards out, kicking into the north end zone. Pineiro and his holder, punter Johnny Townsend, went through their normal routine but LSU head coach Ed Orgeron called a time out. That left both teams out on the field and left Pineiro, presumably, a lot of empty time to think about the situation.
Pineiro was unfazed.
The in-stadium camera zoomed in on his face, plastering it on three huge video boards inside Tiger Stadium. Townsend pointed it out to the kicker, who promptly smiled, stuck his tongue out and laughed.
“That last field goal, somebody had brought up that they had kinda focused in on him or something on the big screen,” McElwain said on Monday. “He just kinda smiled. Here’s the great thing about Eddy is that nothing bothers him. That’s a good thing.”
Pineiro came back out, drilled the field goal to give the Gators a six-point advantage, meaning LSU had to score a touchdown in order to beat Florida. In total, Pineiro scored 10 of the Gators 16 points (three field goals and an extra point) on his way to being named the SEC Special Teams Player of the week.
Pineiro played a huge role in sending the Gators back to Atlanta where they will face the Alabama Crimson Tide, the school Pineiro was committed to before flipping to Florida. He admitted it will be “scary” to see Nick Saban for the first time since switching his commitment but this is exactly why he came to Florida.
“Coach Mac puts me in, tells me to kick a ball and it goes in. that’s my job. I’ve only got one job on this team,” Pineiro said. “That’s what I came here to do, to make him happy and make this team happy.”
He did just that on Saturday.