Arizona State sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter led the country in pass efficiency last season. Two games into the 2006 campaign, Carpenter, a third-year sophomore who won the job over senior Sam Keller in August, is 4th in the nation in pass efficiency.
ASU head coach Dirk Koetter first named Keller the starter prior to the opening of the season. But in a bizarre about-face, and after several members of the ASU team were reportedly unhappy with the initial decision, Koetter decided to start Carpenter. Keller promptly transferred to Nebraska, where he’ll sit out a year and play in 2007.
Carpenter’s performance and Arizona State’s 2-0 record seems to have subdued what looked like an issue that could boil into a big controversy. Carpenter is 34-of-50 for 594 yards, with two interceptions and seven touchdowns in ASU’s wins over Northern Arizona and Nevada.
Add to that, what CU secondary coach Greg Brown calls a passing attack that includes great speed at wideout and a stud tight end (6-5 Playboy Preseason All-American Zach Miller), as well as an experienced offensive line, and the CU pass defense has its work cut out for it Saturday.
“You match all that with Dirk Koetter’s offensive mind — that doesn’t make for a lot of nights where the defensive staff is going to be getting a lot of sleep this week,” Brown said after Tuesday’s practice.
As for the Buffaloes secondary, it’s still a work in progress, according to Brown.
“We made some progress from Week 1 to Week 2,” Brown said. “We’re certainly not there yet. We’ve got a long way to go and we know that. But the guys are open to what we’re trying to instill as a new defensive staff, and they’re with us.”
Against Montana State, the Buffs defensive backs sometimes looked confused when facing the Bobcats’ spread attack. In the game with Colorado State, the confusion seemed to have been worked out, but CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie still had a career day, hitting 20-of-23 passes for 231 yards. Still, except for a WR screen that the Rams ran too often against CU, the Buffalo defensive backs looked in better position vs. Colorado State.
Senior safety J.J. Billingsley thinks the unit is headed in the right direction.
“There’s some mistakes here and there, but we’re getting better every week,” he said.
In an effort to get better, Brown indicated he’s still tinkering with the rotation for playing time on the back end. One player who missed last week’s game, sophomore cornerback Gardner McKay, was back in pads Tuesday for the first time since he injured his ankle against Montana State. Billingsley said the McKay “looked good” in practice. But team doctors still have to determine later this week if the sophomore can play Saturday.
Brown said it may even be a game time decision.
Scribes 1, Trainers 0
Dan Hawkins has a reputation for instilling some fun and games at the end of practices on occasion. In the past, he’s had offensive and defensive linemen, and even a coach, drop back and try and field a punt to see if their respective unit could get out of running gassers.
Hawkins raised the bar after Tuesday’s practice. In a practice-ending event longtime SID Dave Plati said he’d never seen at CU, the gathered group of roughly eight sportswriters took on the CU trainers in front of the entire football team and coaching staff for what would be four decisive plays.
Notepads, recorders and pens stuffed away in pants, the Scribes lined up at midfield on offense first. With Colorado Springs Gazette correspondent Jake Schaller under center — err, snapping to himself — the Scribes sent two deep on the second play from scrimmage.
Schaller purveyed the mass of flailing bodies floating in front of him then sent a missile down the left sideline where 5-foot-9, 195 pound Daily Camera beat writer Kyle Ringo — glasses firmly planted on his face — calmly hauled in an over-the-shoulder ball in double coverage at the goal line for the score.
Remarkably, the trainers failed to connect on two long passes during their offensive possession and the Scribes came away with the win. Deservedly so, Ringo proved the most popular interview request by CU players after the scrum.