Sports

Colleges

Miami, Florida State seek difference-makers at QB

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 20, 2007

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TALLAHASSEE - There may be no single, simple explanation for Florida State and Miami's offensive struggles in recent seasons, but the intrastate rivals share this similarity:

They have struggled at the position that once defined their success - quarterback - despite flip-flopping between two guys with slightly different skills.

For this afternoon's game, at least at the start, it will be Xavier Lee for the unranked Seminoles 4-2, 1-2 and Kyle Wright for the unranked Hurricanes (4-3, 1-2).

Is either really that guy?

Or could Drew Weatherford or Kirby Freeman be that guy?

You know, a difference-maker, week in and week out. The Seminoles were always in the Top 5 with Casey Weldon, Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke. Miami earned the nickname "Quarterback U" with Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson, Gino Torretta and Ken Dorsey.

"They're about like us," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said of the Hurricanes. "They've had some inconsistency at quarterback. There's some similarities (there), no doubt about it."

"The quarterbacks have not made plays, true, but it's not all on the quarterback's shoulders," added ESPN analyst Craig James. "Unfortunately for the quarterbacks at both schools, they're bearing the brunt of the verbal attacks for their teams' failures."

Lee, a heralded redshirt junior, will be making his third straight start, but he's coming off an uneven performance in a loss to Wake Forest. He turned the ball over three times, including a game-changing interception in the end zone on a first-and-10 from the Wake 25 with FSU up 14-7.

Shortly after that game, Bowden lamented that he apparently has one quarterback who's consistent but doesn't deliver the big play often enough (Weatherford) and one who has great big-play ability, throwing the long ball and running for long gains, but lacks consistency (Lee).

That's not a recipe for the Seminoles to improve on last year's fifth-place finish in the ACC's Atlantic Division, 7-6 record overall and a bowl game played before New Year's Day.

"Your quarterback (play) has got to become a factor," Bowden said. "Right now, one week it is, one week it is not."

New offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jimbo Fisher, who rightfully points out that any quarterback relies on his blockers, receivers and backs to execute properly and sometimes, extraordinarily, said Lee does know what to do and how to do it.

"He gives you the right answers, even when he makes a mistake," said Fisher, who, thanks to an under-construction press box, could be heard by fans and media screaming questions - laced with plenty of profanity - at Lee about what he saw or didn't see on a particular play last week. "I am very hard on him, and maybe that's something I have to look at myself as a coach and fix and create a better atmosphere for him to be successful because ultimately, that's what it gets down to."

Lee chuckled that Fisher's language was its worst "by far" that night at Wake Forest and that he "tuned out" almost all the invectives while trying to absorb the salient points.

"You just have to learn from your mistakes and your positives," Lee said, "and take it for what it's worth and move on."

Wright, a redshirt senior who was hailed as the nation's top prep quarterback coming out in 2003, began the season No. 2 behind Freeman, but regained the job after the loss at Oklahoma. He was nearly flawless in a win against then No. 16 Texas A&M and solid in a hardfought win against Duke.

"Once I came back in, I was doing a lot better job of managing the offense, taking what the defense was giving me and not forcing too many balls," Wright said.

He then completed 17 of 33 passes for two touchdowns but threw four interceptions at North Carolina and followed that with a tougher outing against Georgia Tech; he hit just 8 of 17 for 56 yards and one touchdown. UM lost both.

"This past week we kind of lived and died by the deep ball," he said. "There were a few of them we should have hit and we didn't. When we have those kind of plays, we've just got to be able to make them, quarterbacks and receivers."

For his part, first-year coach Randy Shannon said Wright is taking fewer sacks than in the past, is learning and is the guy.

"I'm always going to back Kyle if he makes mistakes," he said, adding that quarterback issues aren't restricted to Coral Gables and Tallahassee. "I think everybody in the country, you look at everybody, USC is going through quarterback changes, Notre Dame is going through quarterback changes. When you recruit one, you've just got to get the right one who best fits your program."

And that best fit there is often dependent on the other players around him. For example, Ward had a guy like Warrick Dunn and Weinke had All-America receivers like Peter Warrick and Snoop Minnis. UM can rattle off its own Who's Who of star tailbacks and wideouts complementing its legendary quarterbacks. It's not quite the same for Lee/Weatherford or Wright/Freeman.

"I would ask any Florida State fan or Miami fan, what would happen if you put any one of those four quarterbacks on those (championship-caliber) teams with that talent around them?" James said. "I think you've got a different quarterback."

Yep. Similar, these teams.

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified October 19, 2007, 18:08:01]