January 3 Notebook
January 03, 2007 07:12 PM | General
January 3, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Making comparisons is always a touchy subject, especially when comparing players from different eras.
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| Sophomore Patrick White has a 152.9 passer rating for his career against nationally ranked teams.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
I tried it once before and failed miserably when I brought up what I thought were similarities between Mike Gansey’s and Jerry West’s games. After I did it, I got a nice letter from a former student manager from the West era politely telling me that I was full of crap. He was right.
Well, I’m going to try it again.
Tuesday evening, MSN’s Tony Caridi mentioned on his nightly radio show that he believes Patrick White has already accomplished enough to be anointed the best quarterback in West Virginia University history. He bases this primarily on White’s 15-2 record as a starting quarterback and his pair of New Year’s Day Bowl victories.
“The bottom line is winning,” said Caridi. “Pat White has won 11 games in back-to-back seasons. He’s the first Mountaineer quarterback to win more than one bowl championship.
“If winning is the ultimate measuring stick then Pat White is the best quarterback,” said Caridi.
That’s hard to argue.
But I also wanted to check out White’s offensive numbers against some of the other great quarterbacks in school history. Removing the Villanovas, Richmonds, Eastern Washingtons, Citadels and VMIs from the equation, I wanted to narrow it down to how well some of WVU’s great quarterbacks have performed against the best teams in college football – specifically nationally ranked teams.
The results are surprising.
White has faced four nationally ranked teams in two seasons (he did not play against Rutgers this year) and West Virginia is 3-1 in those games.
Here is what West Virginia’s other prominent quarterbacks have done against nationally ranked teams:
White has completed 38 of 60 passes for 522 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against ranked teams for a passing efficiency rating of 152.91. He has also rushed 80 times for 416 yards and five touchdowns with a 5.2-yards-per-carry average.
Compare that to what other prominent WVU signal callers have done during their careers against ranked teams:
| Player | CP-ATT | Yards | TD | Int | Rating | Rush | Yards | Avg | TD |
| White | 38-60 | 522 | 3 | 0 | 152.9 | 80 | 416 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Marshall | 142-262 | 1,848 | 8 | 7 | 118.2 | 156 | 597 | 3.8 | 9 |
| Harris | 87-176 | 1,272 | 10 | 11 | 116.4 | 144 | 554 | 3.8 | 3 |
| Bulger | 121-205 | 1,386 | 7 | 11 | 116.3 | - | - | - | - |
| Hostetler | 105-213 | 1,437 | 7 | 7 | 110.3 | 51 | 34 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Sherwood | 26-58 | 370 | 2 | 6 | 89.1 | 14 | -14 | - | 0 |
| Luck | 83-187 | 782 | 5 | 14 | 73.3 | 59 | -31 | - | 2 |
Caridi bases his evaluation on winning, but so far the numbers also back him up.
Briefly:
Beau Morgan of Air Force has the NCAA single-season rushing record for quarterbacks with 1,494 yards produced in 1996.
Wrote Frenette: “Many historians point to the Jan. 2, 1971 Auburn-Ole Miss rematch as the bowl's pinnacle moment. That's when Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Pat Sullivan outdueled Archie Manning in a 35-28 Auburn victory, which featured 71 passes and 521 yards through the air.
“Sentimental Georgia fans will argue coach Vince Dooley's last game, a 34-27 win over Michigan State on New Year's Day 1989, was equally as memorable.
“But for a combination of drama, toughness and big plays, this was the Gator Bowl of all Gators Bowls.”
West Virginia came into the Gator Bowl sporting a 5-0 record when wearing white jerseys with blue pants. The Mountaineers are now 6-0 in White on Blue and the University of North Florida’s Alltel Stadium losing streak is history.
I’m sure in a couple of years if the bowl game struggles to draw 60,000 because the ACC can’t meet its ticket allotment, good, old, reliable West Virginia will be happy to accommodate them once again.
The Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte is discovering how valuable a partner the ACC is. After West Virginians helped give the bowl a 73,535 present in 2002 when it was called the Continental Tire Bowl, the game has seen declining attendance. This year, 52,303 showed up to witness Boston College beat Navy, 25-24. The majority of the fans at the game were not BC rooters.
The Meineke Bowl will be back with the Big East again next year.
The Big East has one bowl game remaining when Cincinnati takes on Western Michigan in the International Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 6.
For those of you keeping tabs the final score was Good Guys 7, Gordon Gekkos 3. The ACC also went 4-4 in bowl games this year with Florida State, Maryland, Boston College and Miami winning its bowl games and Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest losing.
Realistically, the Big East will most likely have three Top 15 teams with Louisville probably finishing fourth behind the Ohio State-Florida winner, USC, the Ohio State-Florida loser, and LSU if it beats Notre Dame.
West Virginia will move past Arkansas and Oklahoma, and if Notre Dame loses to LSU in tonight’s Sugar Bowl, the Mountaineers should finish 10th. Rutgers, at 16th, will jump ahead of Wake Forest and Virginia Tech for sure, and could get past Arkansas and possibly Notre Dame to reach 11th or 12th if the Irish lose.
That’s not too bad for a dying league.
After the game, Boise State’s star player Ian Johnson got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Chrissy Popadics on national TV. Their coach Chris Peterson is making a half-mil a year and hasn't lost a game yet.
How many people today are complaining that Boise State was allowed to play in a BCS bowl?
Compare that to this morning when Alabama sent notice to athletic departments around the country that there are no limits to the amount of money it is willing to spend to get its man. The Crimson Tide got him when Nick Saban accepted a contract offer that will pay him $32 million over eight years with the opportunity to make an extra $700,000 to $800,000 per year in bowl-game bonuses.
Getting Alabama to the right bowl game over the next eight years could net Saban another $5.6 million to $6.4 million.
How is that for diversity?
According to Holtz, his AD said “I don’t care what I pay you … if you’re good it’s not enough and if you’re no good it’s too much.”
Have a great week!
Note: The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of West Virginia University or the Mountaineer Sports Network.
