Karmic Comeuppance for Mouthy Rudy Carpenter
Rudy Carpenter may not play against Southern California this Saturday due to an injury suffered against Cal. Did Carpenter get what was coming to him?
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Rudy Carpenter hobbled out of Cal’s Memorial Stadium on crutches after badly spraining his ankle near the end of the Sun Devils’ loss. He could miss Saturday’s visit to USC and end his stretch of 36 straight starts dating back to Sam Keller’s season-ending hand injury in 2005. That’s the second-longest active streak in the nation.
The injury may have been karmic comeuppance for the mouthy Carpenter.
Cal linebacker Zach Follett told the Contra Costa Times that Carpenter got overly personal with his trash talk during ASU’s upset of Cal last season. He also claims his parents were spit on in Sun Devil Stadium last year.
So when Follett beat an offensive lineman badly and got a free shot at Carpenter in the fourth quarter, he took it – delivering a third-down pummeling to Carpenter’s blindside that caused a fumble. (Watch Follett abuse Jon Hargis and light up Carpenter at the one-minute mark of the video below.)
Quoth Follett: “Thank the lord I finally got him. It was a long time coming since last year. He said some things in my ear last year. A year of frustration was let out on that play.”
If you heard Follett chattering away about Carpenter during pregame warm-ups, it was clear he had an axe to grind. And he must’ve let his teammates know about it. After Follett recapped the play in his postgame press conference on Saturday, Cal coach Jeff Tedford hugged him and said “You got him.”
Cameron Jordan, a defensive end from Chandler High, described the play thusly: “I saw Zack make contact and I might literally have stopped playing and just watched. I told the offensive lineman, ‘You’re quarterback just died.’ If you guys could have seen the pain, his face when he got hit, it was the funniest thing in the world.”
While Jordan was having a nice laugh and Tedford and Follett were hugging it out, Carpenter was hobbling around on crutches outside the visitors’ locker room. Dennis Erickson has said that Carpenter’s availability against USC will probably be based on his pain tolerance.
We’re betting that Carpenter will play simply because he’s one tough cookie. But he’s also a bit of a punk whose on-field jabbering and off-field controversies have inspired disdain from a lot of people around the Pac-10 and even in this fan base.
You never want to see an athlete get hurt. However, one can hope Rudy discovers the glee with which Follett’s hit was delivered and tone down his antics moving forward. Carpenter’s talent demands respect, but his mouth too often inspires contempt.
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I’ll tell you this, if Rudy does play on Saturday, he won’t make it through the first half. A concussion is just waiting to happen, particularly if his mobility is limited.
It’s hard not to side with Follett on this one. Everyone has run into that one annoying shit-talker you’d just love to blindside. Follett took his shot in a perfectly legal way, and I would have too.
One more thing…we’re going to see how serious Lisa Love is about winning this coming offseason. My bet is that Rich Olson will get the ax.
What happens when Mr. Carpenter talks shit to a Ray Lewis type at the next level? He’ll have his head taken off.
Rudy Carpenter- Most divisive player in the Pac-10!
On two of Cal’s sacks on saturday (including Follett’s), offensive lineman completely whiffed on their blocks. Hargis did it, and Fanaika did it on a sack in the first half.
I wonder if Rudy’s linemen don’t like him either.
Glad to hear Rudy called out, especially from our local writers. This selfish punk has been on my radar since the Keller debacle, he a whiner and sore loser. He has no heart and plays solely for his stats. Have you noticed that he always seems to lose his helmet during nationally televised games, he’s trying way too hard- too bad he doesn’t want to win for us.
Rudy needs to keep his piehole shut and let his completions do the talking. This guy has regressed significantly since his freshman year, in no small part due to the fact that he talks way too much.
Am I the only one who sort of likes shit-talking? Given how big the Cal win was at the time last year, wouldn’t you have yapped up a storm too?
If you ask me, Follett and Jordan are talking just as much shit in return– if anything, doing it through the media is even more classless.
I don’t disagree with you, BoldSaguaro. It is fun to watch guys jabber at each other and you need someone to wear the black hat. But when the black hat gets his, I think he has it coming. It’s just too bad that in this situation the black hat was one of our best players.
[...] to Echo from the Buttes? Don’t miss: Our thoughts on Rudy Carpenter getting his due against Cal. Our debate on Michael Crow’s campaign to supersize ASU. Our celebration of Mill Avenue’s top 10 [...]
[...] to Echo from the Buttes? Don’t miss: Our thoughts on Rudy Carpenter getting his due against Cal. Our debate on Michael Crow’s campaign to supersize ASU. Our celebration of Mill Avenue’s top 10 [...]