WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Punter Danny Baugher boots a kick downfield during the Wildcats' 48-10 loss to Oregon. Baugher has been a bright spot for Arizona's special teams this season, averaging 42.3 yards per punt.

In the UA football team's loss to UCLA two weeks ago, the team let the special talents of the offense and defense shine at times.

The one part of the team that didn't was the one with the word "special" in its name.

The Wildcats' special teams squad - in particular, the return team and kicking game - was the Achilles' heel in the loss that interim head coach Mike Hankwitz called the worst defeat in his 33-year coaching career.

With a bye week to work out the kinks, special teams coach Jay Boulware said he has put his full attention on what has become a dead weight to an already struggling Arizona football team - a team that will be looking to stop a six-game losing streak dating back to the first of September.

Boulware said he's focused most of his attention on his kickers, after both senior Bobby Gill and freshman Nicholas Folk missed field goal attempts against UCLA.

"We've worked some different things with our field goal kickers," Boulware said. "We tried to move them in closer, narrow the goal posts and get those guys used to squaring their hips up to the target line."

Boulware believes the kickers need to focus on kicking the ball straight through the middle of the goal posts this week.

"(The coaches) are making sure that they are kicking that ball down the middle and not hitting it too shallow or too far back," he said.

The two missed field goals last week were short ones, from 28 and 32 yards. Both misses were complete momentum-shifters.

The firing of head coach John Mackovic has had an effect on the focus of the kickers, Boulware said, and he blames that on himself.

"One of the things that has hurt (the kickers) was when we lost coach Mackovic," Boulware said. "He was the guy that was in charge of those guys, and he took those guys on personally. With the transition, (the kickers) got lost in the shuffle, and that's my fault."

Hankwitz said the blame shouldn't reside solely on the kickers themselves for the misses against the Bruins, and believes that simulating game situations this week will only help the kickers become more consistent.

"We did have a bad snap (against UCLA) that wasn't the kicker's fault," Hankwitz said. "Last week, we tried to simulate a game situation so the kickers would stay loose on the sidelines."

Boulware seemed confident about his team's chances this weekend against California, and said the week off gave the coaches an ample amount of time to weld the team's recent weak link.

"Bobby and Nicholas came back last week and booted the heck out of the ball in the back of the end zone, and if people can't see the improvement of our kickoff coverage then they're crazy," he said.