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Ten thousand miles from where the game was invented, in a place where football might refer to any number of sports but probably not American football, the punter is king.This is not because of any mythical accomplishments, though to be sure, the punters who emerge from Australia are good. No, the positions popularity is by default.In Australia, kids learn to kick, and when theyve run out of more appealing uses for their foot, they turn to punting.We dont grow up throwing a baseball, shooting a hoop or trying to be the No. 1 quarterback, said Daniel Pasquariello, a native of Melbourne, Australia, and the starting punter at Penn State. We grow up trying to be the best footy player we can, and thats kicking an oval shaped ball around all day and all night.Footy, for those uninitiated, is Australian-rules football, a sport thats closer to soccer or rugby than American football. Its the sport most Australian kids hope to play when they grow up, and when the dream fades the fallback plan is punting.It is, in many ways, the most un-American of entry points to American football.Blame it on the time zones and the TV networks, really. Pasquariello knew a bit about the game from watching Monday Night Football, only there its Tuesday mornings action. If youre not up at 6 a.m., you probably missed it.Thats the case for the bulk of the players who come through Nathan Chapmans kicking school in Melbourne. Chapman, a former footy player who spent two preseasons with the Green Bay Packers, opened the camp eight years ago with an inaugural class of five. That number dipped to three the next year, as the program struggled to catch on with Australians who had didnt know a punter from a plumber.Id say 90 percent of our guys who come down here have never touched an American football, Chapman said.But that changes. The players with the strongest legs get access to a program that offers 18 months of intense training and education -- as physically demanding an existence as most punters could ever imagine. And when its over, more than 90 percent will land a scholarship in the States.This is where the roots of the game are taking hold Down Under, growing little by little with two short steps and a kick.Pasquariello heard about Chapmans program, Pro Kick Australia, through a handful of friends. He bottomed out playing footy professionally, and he didnt see many other options. He had a strong leg, though, so he decided to give punting a go.It was 110 degrees in Melbourne for Pasquariellos first day in camp. It was a Sunday morning, and the handful of American college football games shown on Australian TV had just wrapped up. The way Pasquariello remembers it, he turned in a lousy performance.But the coaches saw something in me, Pasquariello said. And from there it was a pretty quick route to Penn State.Quick, yes. Easy, no.Most Australian-rules players are on club teams that practice once per week and play games on the weekend. Pro Kick is a full-time job. Many who try out arent accepted to the program, and the ones who get a look go on to work six days a week, enduring daylong sessions that include significant weight training, stretching and theory courses on how the American game is played, along with extensive kicking sessions.The goal, Chapman said, isnt to get his players ready for America. Its to make them better than anyone kicking on the East side of the Pacific Ocean.We realize that if we want to get a scholarship offer, we need to be better than a thousand kids in America each year, Chapman said. Weve got to have that X factor. Thats the difficulty of 16,000 miles of water.Those early years were tough on Chapman. He knew the American game, and hed made a few inroads with coaches in the U.S. But getting one of them to take a chance on a kid from Australia, often sight unseen, was another story.To get the attention of coaches stateside, Chapman had to take the one play most American fans skip so they can grab a snack from the fridge and turn it into something spectacular. The beauty of the job, however, was that his kids were capable of doing just that.In Aussie rules, the kickers learn to boot it for hang time, learn to place the ball on a dime, learn to get kicks off quick and angle them just right. The talent and the leg strength are already in place when Chapman gets them. He just has to teach them everything else.Over here, college ball is boring, Chapman said of Australian football. Theres no crowd, no real fanfare. Sometimes they come in with the expectation that theyll just take a couple steps and kick it.They learn to kick long and high, because thats what sells their game film in the U.S. They learn to kick consistently, because thats what keeps them atop a depth chart once they arrive. They learn to boot the ball all over the field, because versatility makes them valuable.We think on our feet, Pasquariello said, and we punt with our feet.Chapman is obsessed with nuance, and that means a lot of repetition. For the former footy players, theres 20 years of muscle memory to relearn, and when the pressure comes, its easy to revert to old habits. But when they finally get it right, its a thing of beauty.Wake Forest punter Alex Kinal, an Adelaide, Australia, native, set the NCAA record for career punts last year.Tom Hackett, from Melbourne, averaged 48 yards per punt for Utah last year, tops among all Power 5 punters. He went through the New York Jets offseason training camp with seventh-round pick Lachlan Edwards, a native of Hastings, Australia.This year, Pasquariello isnt even the only Aussie punting in the Big Ten. Cameron Johnston, from Geelong, is at Ohio State. LSU, Arkansas and Alabama have all had Australians on their rosters in recent years.In all, 63 punters who have come through Chapmans program have played at an American university.Thats enough success that those early struggles to gain attention in the U.S. have largely evaporated. This summer, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh turned heads by scheduling a satellite camp at Pro Kick, though the NCAA quickly nixed the plan, much to Chapmans consternation. But the spotlight Harbaughs plans put on the school was just the latest sign that American punting is gaining real -- ahem -- footing Down Under.They dont really grasp it, Pasquariello said of the locals, but guys coming over and having success, [Australians] are starting to see college football is a really big deal.The punting thing is great, Denver Broncos rookie Adam Gotsis said, but its a bit of a stereotype.Gotsis grew up playing Aussie rules football, too, and when he hit a wall, he looked to American football as an alternative. But at 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, he wasnt exactly built like a punter.I was just a big kid, Gotsis said, so they said I could play on the line.Gotsis was part of a small community of players learning the American game in its entirety, but it was still remedial work. The club team he played with ran just one or two different plays, so when he got to the U.S., the game got far more complicated.Still, Gotsis thrived. He got his first starting assignment as a true freshman at Georgia Tech, and by his senior season, he was All-ACC and was drafted in the second round by Denver.But hes the exception to the rule.These Aussie players, they get approached to go into punting, Gotsis said. They dont ever say, You could be a great receiver or defensive back. Because they see them kick the ball, they get pushed into the bracket of being a punter.Gotsis admits, however, that punting has been a nice gateway for the sport. And truth be told, its kind of fun. Throughout his time at Georgia Tech, Gotsis would make a point of goofing off with the kickers, booting a few balls around for old times sake.And when Gotsis goes back home now, he sees more and more kids playing American football, and the club teams he started with are running a more complex style of play. Its hardly a new Australian pastime, but its a start, something Chapman has helped build from the ground up. Those camps now have from 25-30 players enrolled at any given time.Pasquariello got his start with a phone call in April 2014 from James Franklin, inviting him to Penn States spring game. As it turned out, Pasquariellos father had business in Chicago the same week, so the two traveled together. A few months later, Pasquariello booked another trip.That one was a one-way flight, he said. And Ive loved it here ever since.Before he arrived in Happy Valley, the biggest crowd Pasquariello ever played in front of mightve been 400 people. This year, hell sprint onto the field and get his leg loose as 110,000 fans dressed in blue and white wonder if its a good time to get up to use the bathroom.In Australia, hes a pioneer, exploring the ranks of college football at its highest levels. But here, hes still the punter.But the journey here -- well, thats as thrilling as a booming 50-yarder with enough hang time to contemplate that great 10,000-mile divide and wonder if its really so big after all. 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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Teriyon Gipson ran for a career-best 217 yards and two touchdowns and Richard McQuarley had three touchdowns and 121 yards, leading a New Mexico rushing onslaught Saturday for a 56-35 win over Wyoming.Lobos quarterback Lamar Jordan also had a career-best with 176 yards on the ground, and threw for 122 yards.Brian Hill ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns for Wyoming (8-4, 6-2 Mountain West).But New Mexico (8-4, 6-2) could not be stopped on the ground with 568 yards rushing, the most Wyoming has ever permitted.Against a team representing our division in the championship game next week, a team that is very well coached on defense, without a doubt, you cant play much better than that, Lobos coach Bob Davie said.The Lobos scored their first three possessions, taking just 12 total plays in building a 21-0 lead, a deficit from which Wyoming never recovered.It was a rough night, said Wyoming coach Craig Bohl. I think we really need to give credit to New Mexico. They finished off on a high note. In particular, their offense was more troublesome than what we anticipated. Their numbers were true (Saturday). The speed of the game, we could never get caught up to that. Obviously it was something we need to prepare better for and we will.The Lobos didnt attempt their first pass until three minutes into the second quarter. They had already rolled up 262 rushing yards by that point.THE TAKEAWAY: New Mexico entered the game leading the country in rushing with 342 yards a game, but what it did to the Cowboys was downright ridiculous, reeling off 428 yards -- in the first half. The Lobos had 10 rushing plays of 20 or more yards -- in the first half.It was a ton of big plays, Bohl said. It was an abysmal defensive performance; Im not going to sugar coat it.New Mexico finished with 568 rushing yards and 690 yards of tootal offense.dddddddddddd dont think you can ask for much more offensively, Davie said. As we continue to go, weve got a pretty good answer for certain things.The Cowboys lost two of their final three games, sandwiching a win over then-No. 24 San Diego State between road losses to UNLV and the Lobos. Wyoming, New Mexico and Boise State tied for the lead of the conferences Mountain Division, but the Cowboys get the championship berth based on tiebreakers.STATS: With three touchdowns, McQuarley has 16 on the season, second most in school history.New Mexicos eight regular-season wins are its most since winning eight in 2007.Its a lot better waiting when you have eight wins, being 8-4, waiting to hear where were going to go, Davie said.UP NEXT: Although the Lobos have the possibility of going to one of several different bowl games, New Mexico coach Bob Davie has already lobbied for a berth in the hometown New Mexico Bowl.Id probably like to play in the New Mexico Bowl, he said at his weekly news conference. The thought of, if were bowl-eligible, somebody else playing in our stadium, somebody else using our locker room. ... I think the chance to play at home and win a game here, win a bowl game here (is preferable to going elsewhere).The Cowboys next play San Diego State in Saturdays conference championship game at a site still to be determined. Wyoming just beat the Aztecs 34-33 on Nov. 19.We didnt get it done and we need to get ready to play San Diego State in a short amount of time, Bohl said. What we have to do is get ready for an offense that is 180 degrees different and lick our wounds, well learn from this and move forward. Were playing for a championship and thats why we have to bounce back. ' ' '