Colorado-West Virginia: "John Denver Bowl" Takes Center Stage Thursday

West Virginia preview

This week’s T.I.P.S. for the West Virginia game—all you need to know to get ready for the "Blackout" at Folsom Field on Thursday.

T - Talent

You will find little argument that there is a disparity in talent at the quarterback position between West Virginia and Colorado.  Patrick White is an All-American for the Mountaineers, finishing sixth in the Heisman balloting last season while accumulating almost as many yards rushing as passing.

Cody Hawkins, conversely, is 8-7 as a starter for Colorado and is not ranked even in the top six amongst Big 12 quarterbacks (in this week’s Sporting News, Patrick White is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 quarterback.  Hawkins is ranked 44th—ninth best in the Big 12).

White is the nation’s top dual-threat quarterback, while Hawkins, by his own admission, needs to be clocked with a sundial when he runs.

Check out, however, these two stat lines from Sept. 6.

22 for 28, 236 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions

28 for 38, 261 yards, three touchdowns, one interception

Both quarterbacks had pretty good games, and both were victorious.  One quarterback’s performance, though, was hailed as the "perfect game," while the other’s efforts were condemned as a demonstration of that quarterback’s continued mediocrity.

The "perfect" performance was not the work of Patrick White.  Rather, it was the effort put in by East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney in the Pirates’ 24-3 win over West Virginia.  The other stat line belongs to the "lackluster" performance put in on the same day by Cody Hawkins against Eastern Washington.

Granted, you would expect Hawkins to put up better numbers against a top 10 FCS team than Pinkney put up against a top 10 FBS team.  My point is that it is not all about the quarterbacks.

Hawkins didn’t carve up the Eagles because he didn’t have time in the pocket to do so.  Pinkney carved up a good WVU defense because he did have the time.

This leads me to the real disparity in talent for Thursday’s game: the offensive lines.  West Virginia returns a unit Athlon tabbed as the best offensive line in the nation.

Four starters return, including two All-Big East performers and one All-American.  There are three seniors and two juniors on the line that produced 297.2 yards rushing per game last season (third best in the nation).

Compare Colorado: one senior starter (center Daniel Sanders)...and a bunch of guys with little game experience.

Junior Devin Head will return this week after serving a one-game suspension.  Head’s return will help, but he has only eight starts in his career.  Sophomore tackle Ryan Miller is the only other lineman with starting experience before this season, with nine career starts under his belt.

After that, you are looking at converted tight end Nate Solder and a host of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen.

As I sat through the DVD of the Eastern Washington game, it became clear to me why the Buffs struggled offensively.  The line is not creating holes for the running backs and is not giving adequate time to Hawkins to find his receivers.

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