Oklahoma football: Austin Seibert is unsung success story of special teams

Oklahoma football all-purpose kicker Austin Seibert is about to make history, again.

The senior special teams standout knocked through seven extra points following Sooner touchdowns in a 51-46 win over Texas Tech last Saturday, breaking the NCAA record for both made extra points and extra-point attempts.

Seibert’s first extra point of the night, following OU’s first touchdown of the game at Texas Tech, broke the previous record, held by Aaron Jones of Baylor, who made 274 extra points on 278 attempts from 2010 to 2013. Seibert has made 281 of 285 extra-point attempts in three and a half seasons at Oklahoma, and he still has three games plus a potential conference championship game and a postseason bowl remaining this season.

The Oklahoma do-everything kicker has not missed an extra-point attempt in a school-record 149 consecutive tries. Seibert in 58 of 58 on extra-point kicks this season. He was a perfect 81 of 81 last season.

Sometime this Saturday, as Oklahoma entertains in-state rival Oklahoma State, Seibert will probably become the all-time Oklahoma scoring leader. He 446 career points OU all-time scoring leader Michael Hunnicutt by four points. Seibert currently ranks eighth on the all-time NCAA record list.

Seibert remarkably does the kickoff and punting for the Sooners as well as kicking field goals and extra points. He has a 77 percent career field-goal percentage (55 of 71) and has averaged 41.8 yards on punts.

He doesn’t miss many field goal tries, but one he did miss last season will probably haunt him for some time to come. Seibert had a 27-yard field-goal attempt blocked in the second overtime of the College Football Playoff national semifinal game against Georgia that would have put Oklahoma ahead 51-48. Instead, Georgia scored a touchdown in its ensuing overtime possession to win the game and advance to the championship game against Alabama.

Sixty one of his 71 kickoffs this season have gone deep into or out of the end zone for touchbacks.

Head coach Lincoln Riley recognizes how special it is to have one player who is able to handle all of the kicking chores.

"“To be able to do all three is, it’s rare,” the OU head coach said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “Somebody compared it the other day to being able to swing a golf club right- and left-handed.“They’re so different and they’re different challenges, and trying to improve at all three and be as good as he’s been in all three, it’s remarkable.”"

Seibert was a preseason candidate for both the 2018 Ray Guy Award and the Lou Groza Award, which go to college football’s most outstanding punter and placekicker, respectively.