Kicker May Be on Spot

By David Wharton

Dec. 31, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

MIAMI — The last time Garrett Hartley attempted a field goal in an actual game was more than a year ago, kicking for his high school team in the Texas state championship.

Forty-five yards. Wide left.

“We lost,” he said.

The next time Hartley lines up for a kick, the national championship of college football could hang in the balance.

That’s because Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops has decided to go with the freshman when the second-ranked Sooners face top-ranked USC in the Orange Bowl on Tuesday.

“I’ve got no problem with it,” Stoops said. “He’ll go in there and I’ve got great confidence he’ll put it right through.”

That confidence is based entirely on Hartley’s performance in practices. In terms of games, he hasn’t done much.

Coming off a high school career in which he set a national record for points scored, the 18-year-old spent most of this season on the bench, where he fully expected to remain. Playing ahead of him was junior Trey DiCarlo, who last season was among three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s best kicker.

But midway through the season DiCarlo started to miss, and miss badly. He made eight of 16 attempts and was 0 for 5 from 40 yards or farther.

Stoops said, “It’s just hard to replace a guy that was a Groza finalist,” explaining why he did not make the switch until the regular-season finale against Baylor.

In that game, and the subsequent Big 12 championship against Colorado, Hartley converted all 10 of his extra points but never got a chance at a field goal.

In the Big 12 title game, he lined up for a kick, but Stoops called a fake, the Sooners running for a first down even though they were on the way to a 42-3 rout.

Hartley would have welcomed an opportunity to break the ice in a setting less pressure-packed than, say, a national championship game. “That would have been nice,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal.”

Now, the best he can do is parrot his coach’s logic that kicking field goals in practice is the same as kicking in games.

“I don’t think it’s going to be any different,” he says.

What about the thousands of screaming fans? The millions watching on television? Maybe even a national title on the line?

The teenager with long blond hair and a seashell necklace can only imagine.

“Maybe you just feel it coming down on your shoulders,” he says. “The whole stadium in your helmet.”

Maybe.