Pass fail? Most Big East quarterbacks disappoint

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, October 23, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

College Football
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This was supposed to be the Year of the Quarterback in the Big East.

West Virginia's Pat White was considered among the Heisman front-runners, with Matt Grothe of South Florida close behind.

Mike Teel of Rutgers had all of his top 2007 receivers back, along with a healed thumb on his throwing hand, prompting ESPN's Brian Bennett to write in the spring: "Now completely healthy for his senior campaign, Teel stands poised for an even bigger year."

Louisville's Hunter Cantwell was labeled a possible first-round NFL pick by draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. Pitt's Bill Stull was back after an injury (also to his hand) that sidelined him in 2007, and Cincinnati's Dustin Grutza was expected to step out of the shadow of Ben Mauk and become a star in his own right. Tyler Lorenzen of Connecticut had a so-so season in 2007, but he had grown comfortable with the offense and was also expected to blossom.

Even Syracuse, with all its other problems, had a rising star at quarterback in Andrew Robinson.

Fast forward six weeks into the season, and the QB glut is looking more like a drought. Only four teams -- West Virginia, South Florida, Cincinnati and Syracuse -- have more touchdown passes than interceptions. But Syracuse accomplished that with backup Cam Dantley, not Robinson, and White had only 590 passing yards at the halfway point. Cincinnati, meanwhile, was working on its third quarterback after Grutza and Tony Pike went down with injuries.

Cantwell was even in the TD-vs.-INT category with eight apiece, while UConn's Lorenzen and Zach Frazer (Lorenzen also went to the sidelines via injury) produced a three-to-nine ratio. Teel had just three touchdown passes and seven picks. Stull was also on the short end, four to five.

The only big East quarterback who was living up to his advance hype was Grothe of South Florida, who was humming along with 1,552 yards, 12 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 65.4 completion percentage. He was also his team's leading rusher with 316 yards.

What happened to the rest?

Robinson struggled, to put it mildly, in the early going. He now has the Mark of the Beast as his quarterback rating: 66.6. The Orange offensive line is better this year than last (when Robinson was sacked 58 times), but the nimbler Dantley was still able to buy more time to unload.

Teel's problems may well be mental. In his latest game, a 12-10 squeaker over Connecticut, he repeatedly overthrew open receivers.

The biggest surprise, perhaps, has been Stull, who was by no means a shoo-in to be a starter this season. Yet he beat out Pat Bostick, Kevan Smith and Greg Cross for the right to take the blame for the season-opening loss to Bowling Green. Since then, however, the junior has steadily improved, thanks in part to the emergence of Randy Moss impersonator (his play, not his attitude) Jonathan Baldwin.

With Donald Brown, LeSean McCoy, Victor Anderson and Curtis Brinkley reeling off strings of 100-yard games, maybe this is instead the Year of the Running Back.
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