Comparing Zach Sinor to the Ray Guy Award Finalists

The Ray Guy Awarded is given annually to the nation’s top college punter. On Monday, the Ray Guy Award race was narrowed down to three finalists. Outstanding Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor was not among them.

The three finalists are Ohio State’s Cameron Johnston, Texas’s Michael Dickson, and Utah’s Mitch Wishnowsky. So, what gave them the advantage over Sinor? We here at CRFF were curious, so I set out to do some hard hitting #research to see if Sinor’s snub was, in fact, a snub. All stats are courtesy of the punter’s respective school.

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First off, let’s take a look at Ohio State’s Cameron Johnston.

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Punts: 43
Total Yards: 1990
Average Punt Length: 46.3
Long: 70
Touchbacks: 5
Fair Catch: 16
Inside 20: 21
50+: 13
Blocked: 0

Not a bad season.

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Up next, we have Texas’s Michael Dickson. You may remember Dickson from the 2015 game against the Pokes.

(Skip ahead to 1:47 for the good part.)

As bad as that was, Dickson is having a better sophomore year, as evidenced by his nomination as a finalist.

Punts: 57
Yards: 2694
Average: 47.3
Long: 64
Touchbacks: 9
Fair Catch: 16
Inside 20: 24
50+: 22
Blocked: 0

Advantage: Dickson

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The last finalist is Utah’s Mitch Wishnowsky. A punter out of Utah has won the last two Ray Guy Awards, and Wishnowsky is looking to make it a three peat in his first year as the Utah punter.

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Punts: 54
Yards: 2625
Average: 48.6
Long: 66
Touchbacks: 2
Fair Catch: 17
Inside 20: 31
50+: 26
Blocked: 0

Wishnowsky should be considered the clear favorite of the three finalists, especially once you see these statistics pulled off the Utah Utes’ website.

In his first NCAA season, Wishnowsky leads the nation in punt average (48.6) and punts of 50+ yards (26). He leads the nation in punts inside the 10-yard line (14) and has seven punts at or inside the 5-yard line. Wishnowsky is second in the nation and first in the Pac-12 in punts inside the 20-yard line (31) and percentage of punts inside the 20 (57.41%, 31-of-54). Utah leads the NCAA in net punting (45.20).

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So, seeing the three finalists, all that is left to do is compare them to Zach Sinor.

Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

Punts: 46
Yards: 1964
Average: 42.7
Long: 65
Touchbacks: 1
Fair Catch: 16
Inside 20: 29
50+: 13
Blocked: 2

While Sinor is the only one on the list to have a blocked kick, he has more than made up for it with one lonely touchback. That is incredible. After looking up the stats, I feel he and Johnston could be interchangeable, but what ultimately hurts Sinor’s resume is his average. One could argue that the OSU offense doesn’t allow him to have a better average, since they often get to midfield or better before having to punt. Either way, Sinor has had one hell of a season, and we love him for it.

So, was he snubbed? That’s up to you to decide. Let us know in the comments.

#SinorForHeisman