Tale of the Tape on Danny Sullivan and Mitch Mustain
Rudy Carpenter and USC starter Mark Sanchez are both hobbled. Here’s the tale of the tape on the young men who could be leading our respective teams into this weekend’s game.
VS. 
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Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter watched practice last night in street clothes and a walking boot after receiving karmic comeuppance upside the head against Cal.
A couple hundred miles to the West, Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez jogged around USC’s practice field but was sidelined from drills with a bone bruise in his left knee.
The anticipated match-up of the Pac-10’s top two quarterbacks (unless you’re one to believe Carpenter is the second best quarterback in Arizona) looks as though it’s unlikely to occur. Instead, we may be treated on Saturday to a battle between ASU’s Danny Sullivan and USC’s Mitch Mustain.
Here’s the tale of the tape.
| Danny Sullivan | Mitch Mustain | |
| Size | 6-8, 235 | 6-3, 210 |
| Year | Junior | Sophomore |
| Hometown | Los Gatos, Calif. | Springdale, Ark. |
| HS Ranking | Unranked | Tops in the nation |
| Career Numbers | 26-for-52, 257 yards, two touchdowns | 69-for-132, 894 yards, 10 touchdowns |
| Coach Says | “He has a strong arm, his feet have really improved since I have been here, and he gets it off. Probably more than anything is that he really understands. He studies as much as any backup quarterback I’ve ever been around.” – Dennis Erickson | “He had a particular day last week that he just looked like he really was in command of stuff. He looked like the best guy (competing for USC’s backup job). But you couple that with (his competitors failing to perform) and it was kind of a combination of things that happened.” – Pete Carroll |
| Claim to Fame | With last year’s Holiday Bowl out of hand, Sullivan sliced and diced Texas’s junior varsity to the tune of 118 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, leading to countless calls for Rudy to be benched. | You think Rudy’s whiney? This guy transferred out of Arkansas after losing his starting job midway through his freshman season. When he lost his job, the Razorbacks were en route to a 10-2 regular season. |
| Supporting Cast | A bad offensive line facing the Pac-10’s most imposing pass rushes. | 10 USC Trojans |
| Advantage | X |
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
Do we have any shot this weekend with Danny Sullivan as quarterback? Did we have any shot if Rudy Carpenter was healthy? Let us know in the comments below.
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Sullivan needs a new picture — my god. Was that from junior high?
he had the starting job taken away in the 10th game of the year get your facts right. Then houston nutt went on to crap the rest of the year away.
Seriously! That pic does not look like a guy that is 6’8″ and 235 lbs. He looks like he is 12-years-old. And Mustain looks like a 70′s era news broadcaster. Who takes these pictures? Man is this gonna be an interesting game.
You’re more right than you know, karnivore. I heard Mustain won over the USC coaching staff due to his many leather-bound books and his apartment smelling of rich mahogany.
ASU by two touchdowns! THREE TOUCHDOWNS!
Karnivore — if by interesting, you mean a blowout in favor of USC, I fear you’re right. All USC needs to do is run 40 times and they’ll probably put up 40 points.
And dammit Matt, get that Megadeth trivia right!
ZD- If that’s what the USC coaching staff was looking for in their quarterback, then we just might have a shot!
And ak47- I don’t know where I have been, but I was really surprised that Sullivan was such a big dude. And he really hung in there against Texas last year so as long as Sanchez doesn’t play, I think we could have an actual battle. If Rudy or Sullivan play Sanchez I think it will be a blowout.
Sorry jzilla, we’re not trying to skew Arkansas football history here. Are you Mitch’s cousin, or just a Houston Nutt hater? Trust us, we don’t like former Boise State coaches any more than you do.
“he had the starting job taken away in the 10th game of the year get your facts right. Then houston nutt went on to crap the rest of the year away.”
Let’s try to get our facts right on when Mustain lost his job and when Arkansas, or Nutt specifically, “went to crap”…
The game Mustain lost his job in was after the first offensive set in a win against South Carolina, the ninth game of a 14-game season.
The next game, Dick’s first start, was against No. 13 Tennessee, which Arkansas won.
It was followed by a win over Mississippi State (decidedly less impressive, obviously).
The three games they then lost were to No. 9 LSU (by five points), eventual National Champion No. 5 Florida (in the SEC Championship Game) and No. 5 Wisconsin (by three points in the Capital One Bowl, which Mustain played in briefly, and went 5-for-10 with an INT).
Now I know this is the SEC and every fan expects their team to go undefeated every year, and I know that Arkansas fans hated Houston Nutt, but really, we’re going to call going 2-3 — with all three losses to teams then-ranked in the Top-10 — “went to crap”?
Since Mustain lost that starting job during the ninth game of a 14-game season, then “midway through his freshman season” does seem fair to say.
Not like I’m some Arkansas football expert or anything, but I’m not sure it’s this blog that has its facts wrong…
“Touche, Mr. Garrison, touche.”