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Tory Taylor snub: Ray Guy Award decision generates ire from Hawkeye faithful
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Tory Taylor put on a punting clinic in Week 1, and it is hard to overstate the impact his performance had on the game.
Taylor was called on 10 times in the outing, putting up 479 total punting yards, but it was not the total yardage that is impressive. He downed 5 punts inside the 10-yard line and another 2 inside the 20 for a master class of pinning opponents deep.
As a result, the Hawkeye defense was able to generate a pair of safeties as Iowa held on for a 7-3 victory to open the season. Taylor was also the B1G’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his outing.
Though Taylor was electric (an attribute not usually associated with a punter), he was passed over for the weekly Ray Guy Award honor for college punters. Instead, that honor went to South Carolina’s Kai Kroeger.
Needless to say, that was not cool for most Hawkeye fans with many taking time to let their feelings be known on social media:
Total fraud- Tory Taylor was this weeks winner.
— Travis Waldstein (@waldsteinhvac) September 6, 2022
Tory Taylor ???
— Jesse Lussier (@Jesse_Lussier_) September 6, 2022
— Admiral Donk Bonkers (@HawkeyeScharny) September 6, 2022
Hold up, did Tory Taylor die or something?
— Mike Ott (Lover of beer, GBC & the Indiana Fever) (@DustyBottoms04) September 6, 2022
Do you watch the games or nah?!?
— Josh Hein (@joshuahein) September 6, 2022
Sorry Kai… No offense to you.
— FAFO (Vicki) 🖤💛🐥🏈🏀 (@HawkeyeFan1986) September 6, 2022
Week 1 and your award is already a joke. Go check out Tory Taylor (Iowa) stats and get back to us.
— David Harkness (@Hawkhoe) September 6, 2022
they gotta be iowa state fans.
— hawkeyefan402 (@hawkeyefan402) September 6, 2022
How to delegitimize your award after week #1.
What a joke— Hawkeye Fatman (@HawkeyeFatMan) September 6, 2022
https://t.co/FNKsyKeYde pic.twitter.com/a5oE2aExAX
— PitS (@PainInTheSash) September 6, 2022
Your honor, I offer Exhibit A as evidence of someone not watching all the games before making a decision. #Hawkeyes https://t.co/BF4jTTj6wT
— From The Corner of Kinnick (@CornerOfKinnick) September 6, 2022
Iowa was trending nation wide Saturday and Tory Taylor was one of the 2 biggest reasons why.
No offense to Kai, but he was 2nd at best in week 1 https://t.co/0yhJ72xqNj pic.twitter.com/zx8sIranR4
— B1G Mhawk (@B1G_Mhawk) September 6, 2022
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.