I’m going to think a little bit outside the box and go with a position that isn’t talked about unless the player screwed up.

Of course, it’s the kicker.

It’s particularly enjoyable to watch Pat McAfee’s 33-yard field goal challenge every week on ESPN’s College Gameday. Regular college students are put to the challenge to win a boat load of money, and most of the time the students fail miserably. It’s not an easy job.

Story time: I played Division III college football as an offensive tackle more than a decade ago. One day before practice, our coach told me that if I could kick an extra point, we wouldn’t have a conditioning period that day.

Just a 20-yard field goal.

The kicker even came over to give me a few pointers before the attempt. I got more than enough leg on it, but the ball didn’t even get off the ground.

Ever since that day, I feel for kickers when they don’t get the job done.

It’s also a thankless job, but Ryan Barker has been fantastic this season for Penn State.

Consider that Barker wasn’t even the starter at the beginning of the season. Ever since he took over the placekicking duties in the UCLA game the first week of October, Barker has only missed three field goals, and all of them were from 40-plus yards. He also boomed one for 49 yards in the cold against Maryland.

This was after Sander Sahaydak once again won the job out of training camp, and once again Sahaydak lost the job.

He was just 2-of-5 in the Lions’ first four games of the year, and Franklin made the change after Sahaydak missed two makeable field goals against Illinois — both from 40 yards.

It was easy for a lot of PSU fans to groan and say, “Here we go again.”

Many PSU fans like to ask the question, “Where would this team have been if they don’t pull out the USC game?”

It’s a fair question, and the Lions wouldn’t have won without Barker, who went 4-for-4 in the game, including the game-winner in overtime.

If Barker isn’t perfect that day, Penn State never would have made an appearance in the Big Ten championship game or the College Football Playoffs and probably would have been playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl or some other bowl with an interesting sponsor.

The next time you want to cuss out a kicker after a miss, especially if it’s Barker, cut the guy some slack. It’s such a tough job, and that guy may be responsible for a win or two in the future.

Just ask former Nittany Lion favorite Sam Ficken.

Andy Stine can be reached at astine@altoonamirror.com.