Thursday Notes
September 16, 2010 12:11 PM | General
Quarterback play is going to go a long way in determining which team comes out on top in the Big East Conference this year. Of course, that’s the case just about every year.
Heading into this season, Rutgers sophomore Tom Savage was the only Big East QB with any meaningful experience, completing 149 of 285 passes for 2,211 yards and 14 touchdowns last year as a true freshman. He was supposed to come out of the gates and lead the Scarlet Knights to a pair of easy wins over Norfolk State and Florida International.
Well, that hasn’t happened. Last week Rutgers got a big scare from FIU in a 19-14 win and Savage’s numbers were a pedestrian 7 of 15 for 72 yards with an interception. In fact, Savage is the lowest rated passer in the Big East with a 108.18 passer rating through two weeks of action heading into next weekend’s game against North Carolina.
Two other touted QBs, Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros and South Florida’s B.J. Daniels, have also had so-so starts. Collaros is 67th with a passer rating of 127.96 while Daniels is 76th with a passer rating of 121.74.
Connecticut’s Zach Fraser (122.95), Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib (122.75) and Louisville’s Adam Froman (110.32) are ranked among the bottom third on this week’s NCAA passer list.
That leaves just Pitt’s Tino Sunseri and West Virginia’s Geno Smith. Sunseri has completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 459 yards and three touchdowns and is the nation’s 53rd-rated passer, while Smith is completing 72.2 percent of his passes for a conference-best 532 yards with three TDs. Smith’s 145.26 passer rating is 40th this week, making him the only Big East QB to rank among the nation’s top 40 QBs.
Smith orchestrated two length-of-the-field scoring drives in the final 8:28 of last week’s game against Marshall to help West Virginia to a 24-21 overtime victory. Smith tried 45 passes – the most by a WVU quarterback since Brad Lewis threw 52 against Maryland in 2001 – and his 45 attempts were the most ever by a Mountaineer quarterback in a winning cause (The top six on West Virginia’s all-time pass attempt list were each losses).
“No one can write the script of two 90-plus drives to win it, so clearly that was unexpected,” said WVU offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen of Smith’s Marshall performance. “But how he handled that situation … I don’t think anyone on our staff was taken by surprise with his ability to manage each play and then look up at the scoreboard at the end.”
At one point, Smith was visibly demonstrative on the sidelines before West Virginia’s first TD drive, imploring his teammates to get their acts together. Mullen said that was a little surprising from the otherwise soft-spoken sophomore.
“He really hadn’t earned his bones yet to do that,” said Mullen, “but he’s the quarterback of the football team and he’s in a position to do that sometimes.”
And now that he’s got a pair of long scoring drives under his belt at a key moment in the game?
“Yeah, I think he definitely helped his situation in that area,” said Mullen.
Thursday Tidbits …
Mullen is not quite yet ready to anoint Smith the second coming at quarterback after his 316-yard passing performance against Marshall. He said Tuesday there were plenty of things Smith needs to clean up in all facets of his game.
“He’s done well through games one and two, but we’ve got a lot of work to do through games 12 and 13,” Mullen pointed out. “He’s got a lot of mechanical things he still needs to work on, he needs to continue to take care of the football, and he’s missed a couple of reads that would have really made a difference.”
Mullen is hopeful the last eight minutes against Marshall will jumpstart an offense that has done well between the 20s before stalling in the red zone. Mullen recalled something similar happening when he was at Wake Forest in 2006 when the Demon Deacons had a tough time moving the ball in a 14-13 victory over Duke.
“Our second game we stumbled a little bit and found a way to win it in the end and went on to have a pretty special season,” Mullen recalled. “I hope that’s the same case here.”
According to Mullen, West Virginia was able to sustain drives against Marshall but was just not able to finish them.
“We put drives together - we just didn’t put points on the board,” he said. “We finished with 87 football plays and not a lot of three-and-outs, it’s just when we got down in there we didn’t finish a drive and the difference in the fourth quarter was we finished those drives and put points on the board when we needed to.”
On Tuesday, Coach Bill Stewart was asked about changing the team’s tempo to a hurry up earlier in the game to throw defenses off guard. He said that is something the offensive staff is considering, but cautions that it is not just a simple matter of changing pace.
“Those wide receivers and running backs out there running around get tired in the two-minute offense,” Stewart pointed out. “You’ve got to have enough guys to do that.”
Mullen believes the hurry up is better served as a change of pace instead of a full-time offense.
“There has been a lot made about tempo and I agree with that but it’s kind of like a pitcher, if all you are is a fastball guy I think change of speed is important,” Mullen said. “But certainly we will continue to use the fast tempo and maybe do it a little bit more than we’ve done in the past, but I also think it’s important to keep our defense fresh and off the field and sustain some long drives and keep the clock moving.”
Mullen expects to see a lot of zone blitzing from Maryland’s defense this weekend. He also expects Terrapin defensive coordinator Don Brown to try and play a little cat and mouse game in an effort to try and confuse Smith.
Chris Boyer, a WVU Sports Management graduate and once a graduate assistant in WVU’s sports marketing department, is now Senior Associate Athletic Director in charge of administration at Maryland.
Chris earned his undergraduate degree from Maryland and has also worked in the sports marketing departments at Villanova and Northwestern before returning to his alma mater.
Bill Stewart has several ties to coaches on Maryland’s staff. He worked with Maryland offensive line coach Tom Brattan when the two were at William & Mary, and actually replaced Ralph Friedgen as William & Mary’s offensive line coach when Friedgen left to take the assistant head coaching position on Frank Beamer’s staff at Murray State.
“I've known five to six of those coaches throughout my entire coaching career,” Stewart noted.
With the suspension of Brandon Hogan for this week’s Maryland game, Stewart said his replacement at corner could be Brodrick Jenkins, Pat Miller or Brantwon Bowser. On punt returns, Stewart mentioned Tavon Austin or J.D. Woods as replacement possibilities.
Some preseason women’s basketball rankings are starting to trickle out and one I came across (Sporting News) recently had the Mountaineers ranked ninth. Veteran coach Mike Carey has all five starters returning from last year’s team that won 29 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
One area Carey is looking for help this year is perimeter scoring and he will have plenty of newcomers to look at next month when preseason practice begins, including junior college guard Bianca Jarrett, who with Sarah Miles, could give the Mountaineers one of the fastest backcourts in the country.
WVU will also have the services of LSU transfer Ayana Dunning this season to either spell sophomore Aysa Bussie or play alongside her if Carey chooses to go big. Dunning made nine starts at LSU as a freshman in 2009, averaging 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
The 6-foot-3 Dunning prepped at Eastmoor High in Columbus, Ohio where she was rated the No. 12 high school player in the country and played in the McDonald’s All-America game.
I am told the ESPN Big Monday schedule will be released later this afternoon. I am also hearing the Big East is very close to releasing its 2011 men’s basketball schedules.
New women’s tennis coach Tina Samara will be in town Saturday to take in the Maryland football game and talk to reporters beforehand. Samara has spent the last two years as an assistant coach at Colorado and has 21 years of experience as both a player and a coach.
The former Georgia Bulldog star qualified for the U.S. Open singles draw in 1994 and 1995, and is also a scratch golfer who has participated in numerous golf events including the Florida Women’s Open and the New York State Amateur.
More than 20 former women’s soccer alums are expected to be in town for West Virginia’s matchup against fifth-ranked Virginia on Sunday. The last time the Cavaliers played in Morgantown in 2008, West Virginia came away with a 3-0 victory.
The Mountaineers have a big one tonight against Pitt to open the conference portion of their schedule.
West Virginia is one of six Big East schools in this week’s women’s cross country rankings. The Mountaineers are rated No. 17 in a loaded Big East that also includes No. 1-ranked Villanova, No. 7 Georgetown, No. 9 Syracuse, No. 14 Providence and No. 15 Notre Dame. The Big East and the Big Ten share the most teams in the women’s cross country ratings this week with six each.
Owen Schmitt wasn’t out of work long. The ex-Seattle Seahawk is now employed by the Philadelphia Eagles and is expected to play some this weekend when the Eagles take on the Detroit Lions this Sunday. Schmitt’s signing now gives West Virginia eight former players in the pros.
I checked Maryland’s NFL list and was astonished to discover that the Terps have 27 players currently on NFL rosters with three more on practice squads. There is definitely a lot of pro talent going through College Park, Md.
Thursday’s Links …
Budget Travel has named Morgantown, W.Va., one of the best college football towns in its Sept. 14 newsletter. “As a coal town set at the intersection of the Appalachian foothills and the Rust Belt, Morgantown is filled with reminders of its industrial history—but this unassuming city is far from stuck in the past,” wrote Danielle Lipp.
You can read the entire article here … http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090802916.html
Here is what the Washington Post’s Tarik El-Bashir writes about West Virginia sophomore quarterback Geno Smith … http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/15/AR2010091506126.html
The Washington Post’s Maryland Insider Eric Prisbell offers his thoughts on Milan Puskar Stadium and West Virginia’s rabid football fans … http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/09/thoughts_on_west_virginia_foot.html
The Star-ledger’s Dave Hutchinson writes that West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith’s stock is rising … http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2010/09/big_east_football_notebook_wes_1.html
The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker writes in his blog that 2-0 Maryland is once again playing a meaningful non-conference game this weekend at West Virginia … http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2010/09/terps_get_to_play_a_meaningful_game.html
Barker also asks the question, does Maryland have a true football rival? http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2010/09/has_maryland_found_a_true_rival.html
Wheeling Intelligencer’s Jim Elliott writes today that some West Virginia fans are getting irrational with the football program … http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/541796.html
Have a great weekend!
Heading into this season, Rutgers sophomore Tom Savage was the only Big East QB with any meaningful experience, completing 149 of 285 passes for 2,211 yards and 14 touchdowns last year as a true freshman. He was supposed to come out of the gates and lead the Scarlet Knights to a pair of easy wins over Norfolk State and Florida International.
Well, that hasn’t happened. Last week Rutgers got a big scare from FIU in a 19-14 win and Savage’s numbers were a pedestrian 7 of 15 for 72 yards with an interception. In fact, Savage is the lowest rated passer in the Big East with a 108.18 passer rating through two weeks of action heading into next weekend’s game against North Carolina.
Two other touted QBs, Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros and South Florida’s B.J. Daniels, have also had so-so starts. Collaros is 67th with a passer rating of 127.96 while Daniels is 76th with a passer rating of 121.74.
Connecticut’s Zach Fraser (122.95), Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib (122.75) and Louisville’s Adam Froman (110.32) are ranked among the bottom third on this week’s NCAA passer list.
That leaves just Pitt’s Tino Sunseri and West Virginia’s Geno Smith. Sunseri has completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 459 yards and three touchdowns and is the nation’s 53rd-rated passer, while Smith is completing 72.2 percent of his passes for a conference-best 532 yards with three TDs. Smith’s 145.26 passer rating is 40th this week, making him the only Big East QB to rank among the nation’s top 40 QBs.
Smith orchestrated two length-of-the-field scoring drives in the final 8:28 of last week’s game against Marshall to help West Virginia to a 24-21 overtime victory. Smith tried 45 passes – the most by a WVU quarterback since Brad Lewis threw 52 against Maryland in 2001 – and his 45 attempts were the most ever by a Mountaineer quarterback in a winning cause (The top six on West Virginia’s all-time pass attempt list were each losses).
“No one can write the script of two 90-plus drives to win it, so clearly that was unexpected,” said WVU offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen of Smith’s Marshall performance. “But how he handled that situation … I don’t think anyone on our staff was taken by surprise with his ability to manage each play and then look up at the scoreboard at the end.”
At one point, Smith was visibly demonstrative on the sidelines before West Virginia’s first TD drive, imploring his teammates to get their acts together. Mullen said that was a little surprising from the otherwise soft-spoken sophomore.
“He really hadn’t earned his bones yet to do that,” said Mullen, “but he’s the quarterback of the football team and he’s in a position to do that sometimes.”
And now that he’s got a pair of long scoring drives under his belt at a key moment in the game?
“Yeah, I think he definitely helped his situation in that area,” said Mullen.
Thursday Tidbits …
“He’s done well through games one and two, but we’ve got a lot of work to do through games 12 and 13,” Mullen pointed out. “He’s got a lot of mechanical things he still needs to work on, he needs to continue to take care of the football, and he’s missed a couple of reads that would have really made a difference.”
Mullen is hopeful the last eight minutes against Marshall will jumpstart an offense that has done well between the 20s before stalling in the red zone. Mullen recalled something similar happening when he was at Wake Forest in 2006 when the Demon Deacons had a tough time moving the ball in a 14-13 victory over Duke.
“Our second game we stumbled a little bit and found a way to win it in the end and went on to have a pretty special season,” Mullen recalled. “I hope that’s the same case here.”
According to Mullen, West Virginia was able to sustain drives against Marshall but was just not able to finish them.
“We put drives together - we just didn’t put points on the board,” he said. “We finished with 87 football plays and not a lot of three-and-outs, it’s just when we got down in there we didn’t finish a drive and the difference in the fourth quarter was we finished those drives and put points on the board when we needed to.”
“Those wide receivers and running backs out there running around get tired in the two-minute offense,” Stewart pointed out. “You’ve got to have enough guys to do that.”
Mullen believes the hurry up is better served as a change of pace instead of a full-time offense.
“There has been a lot made about tempo and I agree with that but it’s kind of like a pitcher, if all you are is a fastball guy I think change of speed is important,” Mullen said. “But certainly we will continue to use the fast tempo and maybe do it a little bit more than we’ve done in the past, but I also think it’s important to keep our defense fresh and off the field and sustain some long drives and keep the clock moving.”
Chris earned his undergraduate degree from Maryland and has also worked in the sports marketing departments at Villanova and Northwestern before returning to his alma mater.
“I've known five to six of those coaches throughout my entire coaching career,” Stewart noted.
One area Carey is looking for help this year is perimeter scoring and he will have plenty of newcomers to look at next month when preseason practice begins, including junior college guard Bianca Jarrett, who with Sarah Miles, could give the Mountaineers one of the fastest backcourts in the country.
WVU will also have the services of LSU transfer Ayana Dunning this season to either spell sophomore Aysa Bussie or play alongside her if Carey chooses to go big. Dunning made nine starts at LSU as a freshman in 2009, averaging 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
The 6-foot-3 Dunning prepped at Eastmoor High in Columbus, Ohio where she was rated the No. 12 high school player in the country and played in the McDonald’s All-America game.
The former Georgia Bulldog star qualified for the U.S. Open singles draw in 1994 and 1995, and is also a scratch golfer who has participated in numerous golf events including the Florida Women’s Open and the New York State Amateur.
The Mountaineers have a big one tonight against Pitt to open the conference portion of their schedule.
I checked Maryland’s NFL list and was astonished to discover that the Terps have 27 players currently on NFL rosters with three more on practice squads. There is definitely a lot of pro talent going through College Park, Md.
Thursday’s Links …
You can read the entire article here … http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090802916.html
Barker also asks the question, does Maryland have a true football rival? http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2010/09/has_maryland_found_a_true_rival.html
Have a great weekend!
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