Present vs. Future
November 24, 2006 11:57 PM | General
November 24, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s the quarterback of the present versus the quarterback of the future when West Virginia takes on South Florida in an important Big East game at Milan Puskar Stadium Saturday afternoon.
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| West Virginia's Patrick White has passed for 1,346 yards and rushed for 1,057 yards so far this year.
AP photo |
West Virginia’s Patrick White is the quarterback of the present, having recently been named one of 11 finalists for the Manning Award as the nation’s top signal-caller. White became the first QB in Big East history to rush and pass for more than 200 yards in the same game at Pitt on Thursday, Nov. 16, and comes into Saturday’s contest having passed for 1,346 yards and nine touchdowns and having rushed for 1,057 yards and 17 scores.
White is the most exciting quarterback in the country this side of Columbus, Ohio.
South Florida’s Matt Grothe is the quarterback of the future, having already put together one of the most productive freshman campaigns in Big East history. A strong case could be made that he has been the best college quarterback in the Sunshine State this year.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez sees some similarities between Grothe and White as far as their play-making abilities.
“He’s similar from the standpoint that a lot of times Grothe will make a play when something breaks down and that’s hard to defend,” Rodriguez said. “You drop back and everybody is covered and he takes off or scrambles around and finds a guy down field.
“You practice the scramble drill but it is organized chaos and it’s hard to defend,” Rodriguez said. “He’s really kept his poise and he kind of reminds me of what Pat did when he got in at the end of last year and was making plays.”
In 11 games so far this season, Grothe has completed 174 of 277 passes for 2,216 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also rushing 148 times for 560 yards and eight scores.
“He’s really good,” says Rodriguez. “For a redshirt freshman to be as productive as he’s been … he is maybe having as good of a redshirt freshman year as has happened in a long time in college football.”
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| Matt Grothe |
His numbers compare very favorably to some of the Big East’s best ever freshman signal-callers. BC’s Glen Foley passed for 2,189 yards and 11 scores as a freshman in 1990. Syracuse’s Donovan McNabb passed for 1,991 yards and 16 touchdowns while also running for 291 yards and three TDs as a freshman in 1995. And Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick passed for 1,840 yards and 12 touchdowns, while rushing for 580 yards and eight scores as a freshman in 1999.
Grothe had a 25-of-35, 364-yard, two-TD passing performance in a 27-10 victory over Syracuse two weeks ago in Tampa. He also threw for more than 300 yards in a 24-17 win over Central Florida on Sept. 16.
“He’s been the difference in a lot of their games both running and throwing,” Rodriguez said.
Grothe’s arm and South Florida’s athletic group of wide receivers will present a difficult challenge for a Mountaineer pass defense that is giving up 228 yards per game through the air, including 354 to Louisville’s Brian Brohm and 341 to Pitt’s Tyler Palko.
In its last two games, West Virginia’s secondary has allowed 651 passing yards in victories against Cincinnati and Pitt.
Ean Randolph leads South Florida with 40 catches for 414 yards and three touchdowns. Tarus Johnson shows 32 catches for 449 yards and two scores, Amarri Jackson has 24 catches for 317 yards and two touchdowns and Marcus Edwards has 22 catches for 271 yards and two scores.
Rodriguez has said in the past that South Florida probably possesses the most athletic group of wide outs in the Big East.
Because of that, expect South Florida offensive coordinator Rod Smith – a Rodriguez protégé – to air the ball out on Saturday.
“Rod is probably doing some things more this year closer to what we’re doing with some of the quarterback runs and things in the spread offense,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve evolved now a lot more toward the running game than we’ve ever been. From the initial stages of the system to what we’ve done the last four-five years is new to him.
“He’s got a nice package put together and you can expect trick plays,” said Rodriguez. “They’ve run some reverse passes and things to try to keep you off-balance.”
West Virginia, meanwhile, will stick to the ground as the preferred means of moving the football despite a stingy South Florida defense that is giving up just 295.7 yards per game.
Sophomore Steve Slaton enters the contest as the nation’s second-leading rusher averaging 157.8 yards per game. The Levittown, Pa., resident has run for more than 100 yards in 14 of 17 career games and is coming off a career-high 215 yards in the win at Pitt.
White has been just as impressive on the ground, running for more than 200 yards twice this season and three times for his career. White is averaging 8.3 yards per rush and presently ranks 27th in NCAA history in single season quarterback rushing yards. Sixty yards on Saturday against South Florida will move White into the Top 20 among all-time single-season quarterback ground gainers.
South Florida coach Jim Leavitt recalled earlier this week preparing for Colorado’s outstanding duo of Rashaan Salaam and Kordell Stewart as Kansas State’s defensive coordinator back in 1994, and he says White and Slaton compare favorably.
“Several years ago Colorado had a one-two punch that was awfully good and both of them were up for the Heisman,” Leavitt said. “They are somewhat similar to that group. Everybody then was trying to figure out who you were going to stop. Pick either one and it’s going to be tough to stop either one.
“Nobody has stopped these guys and I don’t know if anybody can, but we’re going to find out if we can slow them down a little bit,” said Leavitt.
West Virginia (9-1, 4-1) is still in contention for a share of the Big East title and a possible BCS bowl berth. South Florida (7-4, 3-3) has locked up a bowl spot for the second straight season and the third time in program history.
The Bulls are coming off a 31-8 loss at Louisville last weekend.
“If we play like we did last weekend against West Virginia it will be a tough day for us,” admitted Leavitt.
The most recent weather.com forecast is calling for unseasonably mild temperatures in the mid 60s for Saturday’s game.
Kickoff is set for noon and the game will be televised on ESPN2 (Pam Ward, Bill Curry and Dave Ryan). MSN’s pre-game radio coverage (Sirius 107 and CSTV All Access) begins at 11:30 am with The Mountaineers Today.
