Rudy Carpenter vs. Willie Tuitama: What do They Say about Us?
Sun Devil quarterback Rudy Carpenter and Wildcat signal caller Willie Tuitama are linked by history and numbers but viewed very differently by their fans. What do comparisons between the two reveal about the fan bases that support them?
VS. 
Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter and Arizona’s Willie Tuitama will be forever linked in the minds of Grand Canyon State football fans.
They both ascended to starting roles for their respective programs as freshmen in the same season. They’ve both put up huge numbers and won their share of games—considering the programs they represent.
And that’s where the comparisons end. Tuitama is a program Hall of Famer. Carpenter is, in the minds of most ASU fans, not.
But check out the numbers and tell us who you’d rather have on your roster:
| Rudy Carpenter | Willie Tuitama | |
| Att-Comp | 786-for-1,272 | 737-for-1,204 |
| Yards | 10,367 | 8,602 |
| TD-INT | 80-34 | 63-30 |
| Record | 26-16 | 18-20 |
| Head-to-Head | 3-0 | 0-3 |
Dennis Erickson sees comparisons between the players that go beyond the stats. Quoth Erickson: “He and Rudy are very similar in that they are very competitive, they’re both fighters and you can see why they move the football.”
However, neither has moved the football quite as much as fans hoped after their freshman seasons. And this has been a big problem for one fan base.
The problem is that only one group of fans actually has an expectation of success, actually believes they deserve better. The other just hopes to luck into watchable football on the way to hoops season.
Personally, we’d rather be in the fan base that hasn’t been spending the last 10 years on the sidelines come bowl season.
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The fact is, when Rudy wins this game, people will remember him for going 4-0 vs uofa, and they will remember Willie for choking and going 0-4 while leaving ever rivalry game with an injury
DUItama has certainly had his ups and downs with his fanbase as well — as recently as the New Mexico loss this season you’d see quite a few message board posts saying he just didn’t have what it takes. That said, your larger point is correct — he’s gonna be viewed positively overall by rat fans, and will probably end up in whatever their version of a hall of fame or ring of honor is, regardless of the outcome of the game on Saturday. For most ASU fans, an upset win against the rats to ensure a 4-0 record will probably be the main highlight of his career. Despite being in the top 3 of most of ASU’s passing records, he could have a bit of a wait of his hands to make it into the school HOF.
Here’s a followup to the discussion, from Buster Sports via Ted Miller’s ESPN Pac 10 blog — which QB gets inducted into the Alex Brink We Love Numbers Hall of Fame. The guy who is a shoe-in won’t surprise.
http://www.bustersports.com/pac10posts.aspx?id=1238&blogid=79
@beatuofa, interesting idea on an all-numbers hall of fame. The only problem is that Rudy has one number that should disqualify him from something like this.
1, as in the number of Pac-10 titles he’s won. If winning championships is the only thing that matters when evaluating a quarterback, one mustn’t forget that only Jake Plummer, Jeff Van Raaphorst and Rudy have done it for ASU in the P-10 era.