Reassessing Rudy Carpenter: More Jake Plummer or More Ryan Kealy?
Nobody enjoys beating Arizona more than Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter. And so we kick off Arizona week by reassessing Carpenter’s legacy. Great Sun Devil or whiny brat? You decide.
Prior to the start of this Arizona State football season, we called Rudy Carpenter the most divisive athlete in Sun Devil history. Eleven games into his final campaign in Tempe, we stand by our assertion.
How else can one explain the smattering off boos hurled Carpenter’s way on Senior Night, not to mention the fact that he received just 25.5 percent of the vote when we asked fans to name their favorite Sun Devil senior last week.
Carpenter has led his squad to three wins over Arizona and three bowl berths – 2005 Insight, 2006 Hawai’i and 2007 Holiday. No quarterback has achieved either feat four times. He’s also one of three quarterbacks in school history to lead ASU to a Pac-10 championship along with Jeff Van Raaphorst and Jake Plummer.
And just take a look at these numbers:
- 786 career completions (first in ASU history)
- 10,367 passing yards (second in ASU history)
- 81 touchdowns passes (second in ASU history)
- 42 consecutive starts (third in ASU history)
- 26 victories (second in ASU history)
Of course, many perceive Carpenter as a pink shirt-wearing cry baby who yells at teammates and taunts opponents on the field. Or as the backup who drove off teammate Sam Keller when he didn’t get his way. (He even stole a coke from the Memorial Union!)
Back in August we asked Sun Devil fans if Rudy Carpenter would be remembered more like Jake Plummer or Ryan Kealy.
Well, the Plummer ship sailed with the UNLV loss. Carpenter’s no miracle worker. But his numbers indicate he deserves better treatment from the Sun Devil Nation than he’s so often received.
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
Where does Carpenter stand in the pantheon of Sun Devil signal callers? Are pure numbers and three, maybe four, wins over Arizona enough to overcome an attitude that turns off so many fans? Let us know in the comments below.
Rudy’s numbers are certainly impressive and as a season ticket holder for over 10 years I appreciate his effort.
But, stats only get you so far. Unfortunately he never won a ‘big game”. The Cal win last year was good but as we would later find out Cal was at the beginning of a losing streak.
For Rudy his legacy will depend more on his final season that his overall career.
In my opinion, if he beats UA for a 4th time he’s deserves a place in the Sundevil hall of fame.
A few thoughts:
1. It’s too early to tell. Carpenter’s legacy should be that he is the first ASU QB to hold a 4-0 record over the rats. Obviously, Rudy has to go out and do his best to make this happen Saturday. But if he can do it, it would be a fine legacy for him and for all fans to embrace, putting aside some of the dislike.
2. It’s not fair to hate the kid. He may not be a great QB, but he isn’t an incapable QB, and he is the best QB on the team right now. Moreover, every week he goes out and nearly gets killed for ASU Football. He has taken a beating unlike anything I have ever seen over the last two years, all because he bleeds maroon and gold.
3. He rubs people the wrong way. The kid is either an asshole (probably) or he just doesn’t have social skills. I tend to think he just isn’t a good guy and it’s easily perceived. If this is the case, then he is Kealy-esque, even given the above. However, his legacy can and should be much, much better than Kealy’s.
Although Rudy has great numbers, I think his legacy was etched in stone this year w/UNLV. He has often been ineffective and has made bad decisions throughout his career. Unfortunately, you can’t blame to O line on everything. Personally, I would have liked to see the younger guys get a shot this year at QB because we have a rough schedule to open the season and we will be taking an inexperienced QB to Athens to play Georgia.
@Tom, the UNLV game and consequent six-game losing streak was defining for both the team and sadly for Rudy. But I wonder if a fourth win over UA would change your mind?
What does everyone else think of the importance of this week’s game for Rudy’s legacy?
I think Saturday’s game makes a big difference when it comes to Rudy’s legacy. If the Devils lose, Rudy will be viewed even more harshly as someone who couldn’t win any important games. If he doesn’t have the 4-0 record vs UofA to fall back on, he’ll go out at the lowest point of a four-year career.
I think he’s been a fine player and a not-so-fine player on essentially a good-but-not-great team. Last year is a perfect example of the former: three blowout losses, none of which I believe could be lain at his feet. That also means ten wins, some even on the road against conference foes. This year’s basically an example of the latter: downright dreadful numbers more often than not.
I just wish the guy didn’t bring so much of this onto himself. It may be the case of having to take the good with the bad, but running his mouth seemed to only fire up the opposition — if that jerk from Cal is any indication. Teams shouldn’t need the opposing team to motivate them, but we all know it happens anyhow, and rarely improves things for the instigator(s).
I’ll say the win over the U in ’06 is the top Rudy game — given the circumstances and the big 4th-down pass to Lewis. The Insight Bowl victory is right up there as well. And hopefully this Saturday’s game makes the cut, in the long run.
@ZD, I beleive Rudy played the Insight Bowl with a broken collarbone in his non-throwing shoulder. Pretty balls. Also, good point on the “jerk from Cal”. I had totally forgotten about that.
For those unfamiliar, check out this story about Zach Follett’s hit on Rudy Carpenter.
I know it’s not fair to mix his personal and athletic life, but I know too many things about him off the field to have any respect for him on the field.
NOT EVEN IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS THE JAKE THE SNAKE!!!!!!!!! WHEN I THINK OF JAKE PLUMMER I REMEMBER A GREAT SUNDEVIL TEAM AND A GREAT LEADER. CARPENTER REMINDS ME OF A LUKE WARM BATH. (SORRY, I DON’T LIKE TO HATE ON A SUNDEVIL, BUT RUDY…..MMMMM LET’S JUST SAY I AM GLAD HE IS GRADUATING THIS YEAR…NOTHING TOO MEMORABLE FOR ME…JUST MY OPINION) I KNOW IT WAS NOT ALL HIS FAULT.
I CAN’T WAIT TO WHOOP THE PUSSYCATS THIS WEEKEND! GOOOOOO DEVILS!! >:)
CARPenter’s is CRAP! I could sell out some stories I know about him for some pretty good money and probably get him in some pretty good trouble!
[...] favorite Sun Devil blog, Echo from the Buttes, just had some commentary about assessing Rudy Carpenter’s legacy at ASU. I’m [...]
I don’t really get today’s poll. To me, Rudy is blatantly not as good as Jake or Andrew. He is also blatantly better than Kealy and Campbell – WTF? Campbell didn’t even play. He doesn’t have a legacy of any kind to compare to.
Rudy has huge numbers, but he rode the wave of the best passing era in ASU history that was set up Andrew Walter and Dirk Koetter (you know it’s true). Ever since Walter threw for 3800 yards in 10 games in 2002 the Sun Devils recruited higher ranked receivers than at any point in the school’s history. If you truly watch the games, it’s obvious Rudy can’t throw a football half as good as Andrew Walter, and he isn’t nearly the athlete or gamer that Jake Plummer was. By the same token, Rudy is better than probably 75 percent of the quarterbacks in school history….we’ve had a couple great ones, but a long list of forgettably awful ones. Fans were spoiled by Walter and probably even Sam Keller, but I think we’d all agree to have Rudy over Kealy, Griffen Goodman or Jeff Krohn. To use a trendy cliche…he is what he is
@ Drexel, that’s a fair criticism. There should probably be a level between guy who put up unreal numbers (Andrew Walter) and guy who didn’t really play (Steve Campbell).
We were thinking more about the emotions each guy conjures up. I think most ASU fans remember Walter as someone who put up a lot of stats but never really accomplished anything on a team level. And most remember Campbell very neutrally. He backed up Jake Plummer and then QB’d ASU to a Sun Bowl win after Ryan Kealy got hurt.
So, poorly constructed as it is, it’s more an emotional thing than a skill thing.
Didn’t even play is rather harsh, no? Wasn’t Campbell a threat to occasionally block kicks?
[...] And that’s where the comparisons end. Tuitama is a program Hall of Famer. Carpenter is, in the minds of most ASU fans, not. [...]
I am not sure if today’s game really impact’s Rudy’s legacy. It might due to the fact that it is considered a “big game” from a bowl bid perspective… this would give our younger players another few weeks of practice to build chemistry next year and boost recruiting. So, Rudy has the opportunity to shed the Chris Simms syndrome if he can win this one. Also, I think beating the U of A four consecutive years is a nice achievement and not one the legendary ASU QB’s have ever have accomplished. So, good luck to him today! However, knowing that we have one of the best places to play football in America, the hottest looking girls on campus, good recruiting classes, and generally good coaching, etc., We should be reloading every year like USC, Florida, et al and not constantly rebuilding. Anyway, I have been baffled about how we have one good or great year surrounded by alot of 7-5, 6-6, and 5-7 mediocrity… that’s U of A football (with the lone exception of the Operation Desert “Snore” era) and not ASU football. We once had a tradition of being extremely dominant and playing regularly on New Years’ Day. Personally, I would rather us be discussing the pressure that Rudy has to beat the U of A so we can go to the BCS Championship game as opposed to settling for the Rose Bowl. Oh well… maybe some day we will be doing this when we are talking about Samson or Elway. Go Devils!
[...] Rudy Carpenter’s Legacy Took a Hit We expended a lot of ink this week dissecting Rudy Carpenter’s legacy and decided that he had a lot riding on this game. It’d be awfully hard to forget a guy who led [...]