The Tulane Green Wave saw their special teams rack up 18 points worth of field goals in their win at Temple, and it highlighted what a stellar phase of the game it’s become for the Green Wave this season. Fittingly, after his kicker hit his career-high on Saturday Tulane football team's special teams coordinator Johnathan Galante was nominated on Tuesday for the 30th annual Broyles Award.

The award honors the top assistant coaches in all of college football, and it’s nice to see some attention go towards the special teams phase. That unit is best in the American Conference in the following metrics: net punting (42.48), made field goals (20) and field goal percentage (95.2). They’re second in kick returns average with 23.00 yards. Green Wave kicker leads the conference with an average 1.82 made field goals per game and a 95.2% field goal percentage. His 20 field goals this season are the fourth-most in a single year in school history with one regular season game left to play.

It was undeniable that the third phase was a crucial one for the mentality of the team in the critical road win over the Owls, as Durkin acknowledged.

“I felt like the first field goal was a momentum shifter,” Durkin said. “It really brought juice to our whole team. And whatever way I can contribute, whether that's touchbacks or hitting big field goals, I just want to impact the team in a positive way. And I felt like I did that. The win's the biggest thing, like I always say, because team success is the biggest thing.”

On a cold, windy night, Durkin was perfect on 5-of-5 field goals, two from 50-plus yards out. That requires a level of confidence that his coordinator Galante helped instill that week leading up to the game.

“He was just motivating me the whole week,” Durkin said. “We're leading up to what we want to get to, the conference championship, so each game is super important. It feels like it's a must win game every week. He just motivates us and he's been amazing. He just holds us to a standard every day at practice, and he makes the practices harder than the games. So, when we get to the games, success is, it should be just what we do and the standard. He’s been just so great. It’s no coincidence why we're doing what we're doing on special teams and we're ranked so high in the country.”

Past Durkin, transfer punter Alec Clark leads the conference and is fourth in the nation with an average of 47.5 yards per punt. Kick returner Anthony-Brown Stephens is fifth-best with an average 23.3 yards per return.

All of that makes a huge difference for the offense and defense throughout contests. Even more impressive is that Galante has made such a stamp on a unit that has a new full-time kicker to start the year, new punter and holder, and new long snapper in his first year of college football. He did so following up a special teams legend in coach Greg McMahon, which is an impressive feat alone. Altogether, it shows that, while Durkin was snubbed as a Lou Groza finalist, that his Broyles Award nomination is more than earned.