Photo: Carter Oswood

Perhaps as fitting as the Drake Bulldogs that won the Pioneer Football League title this year, Drake football was in national headlines as well. Former Drake kicker Billy Cundiff and his Baltimore Ravens squad reached the AFC Championship Game this year. Cundiff may have missed the kick to tie the game, but his sterling eight-year career helped him garner the prestigious Drake University Double D Award on Sunday.

Cundiff, a 2003 graduate, started his NFL career undrafted but signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2002. In 2003, he tied the record for most field goals made in a Monday Night Football game (seven) including a 52-yard boot at the end of regulation to tie the game. He kicked his seventh and final field goal from 26 yards out to win the game in overtime. The shoe from the effort is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Six teams later, Cundiff is splitting the uprights for Baltimore. In 2010, he was selected to the Pro Bowl, and in 2011, he set a career high with 122 points.

At Drake, Cundiff smashed 15 school records and four PFL records. He owns the Drake records for total points, field goals and extra points. His 62-yarder versus San Diego in 2000 still stands as the longest field goal in PFL history.