MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The starting punter's job on the 2006 version of the West Virginia football team was Scott Kozlowski's to lose.

Eight games into that season, that's what he did.

With one kick -- aptly named a "blue" coverage -- Kozlowski blew it.

Undefeated and then No. 3-ranked West Virginia traveled to undefeated and No. 5-ranked Louisville for an early November Thursday night game. With a win, West Virginia would have had the inside track to the national title game.

In the third quarter, down nine points, Kozlowski -- then a redshirt freshman -- dropped back deep in his own territory, swung his powerful right leg and sent a punt into the Kentucky air.

"It was a left punt, the call was a 'blue' call, I remember it," Kozlowski said. "It was supposed to go left and it went in the middle of the field, it was my fault. So, the [returner] had an option to go right. And, uh, he went right."

Indeed he did.

Louisville's Trent Guy went right -- right past everyone for a 40-yard touchdown.

That one play sparked two things: Louisville's 44-34 victory and Kozlowski's banishment.

At that moment, the West Virginia staff -- mainly former head coach Rich Rodriguez -- unseated Kozlowski and inserted Pat McAfee as the punter.

McAfee went on to shine during the remainder of the 2006 season and all '07 and '08.

As McAfee thrived and turned himself into an NFL punter for the Indianapolis Colts, Kozlowski did not do much of anything.

Kozlowski remained on the team, but he had an admittedly strained relationship with McAfee and how much is there for a backup punter to do?

"The last couple [of] years were tough," said Kozlowski, now a senior. "I never really wanted to leave, I didn't want to transfer. It was just all about the waiting game. I didn't know it would be 21/2 years, but that's the way it goes."

Now, it goes more smoothly.

With McAfee gone, Kozlowski won his job back after a duel with Gregg Pugnetti in spring practice and fall camp. Through four games, Kozlowski has gone from "the punter who messed up the 2006 Louisville game" to one of the best in the country.

The reigning Big East special teams player of the week is fourth in the nation at 48.2 yards per punt, hit a key 56-yarder against Colorado last week and has five punts of more than 50 yards this season. Three of his punts have been downed inside the 20.

So, who gets the credit for him bouncing back?

"He could have packed it in, but he stayed the course," West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said of Kozlowski. "He didn't want to leave West Virginia without having proven to himself, first, that he could play at this level. He's a great young man, and he's going to be a success. I just hope, for his sake, for the rest of the games, he continues to punt well because he's very deserving. He has done all of the work himself."

West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown, a redshirt senior who waited his turn behind Pat White, sees similarities in his own situation and Kozlowski's.

"We were kind of in the same boat, but I never had the starting job," Brown said. "We used to talk, and I would just tell him, 'Me and you are going to be out there someday, we are going to make a big difference someday' and I know it was tough on him sometimes, but he just had to keep working hard. I knew his time would come, and Scott would just need to make the best of it. You have to feel good for him."

Feeling good? Can't do that -- or feel bad -- too much as a punter. You have to have a short memory and concentrate on your next kick.

"That's the thing about punting, you have to make every opportunity count," Kozlowski said. "That's what I try to focus on most now because you never know what punt is going to be your last."

Or, in Kozlowski's case, which one might relegate you to the bench for 21/2 seasons but provide a springboard for a great comeback.

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