By Dave Morrison
West Virginia has won 14 straight against Rutgers, the last loss coming in 1994 when starting quarterback Jarrett Brown was 8 years old.
Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage was barely out of diapers.
All that means nothing Saturday when the Mountaineers visit Piscataway, N.J., to face the Scarlet Knights at noon. The game will be televised on ESPN.
“We just have to focus on what they have,” receiver Wes Lyons said. “We don’t look too much into things like (the) winning streak because it doesn’t matter. We want to focus on them as a team and what’s going on right now.”
Right now means a long, hard look at freshman quarterback Savage, receiver Tim Brown and fellow wideout/wildcat back Mohamed Sanu.
Savage, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound true freshman, has completed 126 of 231 passes for 1,764 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has been picked off just four times.
Brown has 51 receptions for 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns. Sanu has 41 catches for 437 yards and a touchdown and he has 258 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Joe Martinek leads the Scarlet Knights on the ground with 874 yards and nine touchdowns.
Savage has already earned the Mountaineers’ respect.
“I see a youngster (Savage) that is doing absolutely awesome,” coach Bill Stewart said. “He has it. We have to rattle him. I don’t know if we can. He has been hit and knocked down, but he just makes plays and throws balls on the money. He is a good player.”
“He seems very calm and poised for being a freshman quarterback,” cornerback Brandon Hogan said. “He doesn’t try to make a lot of things happen. He just goes with the game.”
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said Brown is listed day-to-day with various injuries, but he did play in the Knights’ win over Louisville last week.
“Like I said after the game, it was a very gutsy effort,” Schiano said of Brown.
“What the adrenaline and will to compete can do is when you need to turn it on you just put it out of your mind and go. The minute that the play is over, you can see Tim decelerating, almost. Make no mistake about it — Tim is not playing at full speed. You take a speed guy and take away his No. 1 tool, that makes what he has done more impressive I think because he is doing it without his No. 1 weapon. He can’t run as fast as he normally could.”
Hogan said the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Brown can be prolific, injury or not.
“It’s always hard dealing with the short, quick guys because you can’t see them getting out of the cut or breaking down, so it will be a challenge playing him,” Hogan said.
And Stewart said the Mountaineers must also prepare for the wildcat offense, with Sanu at the controls.
“The wildcat is a very simple formation that puts the ball in an athlete’s hands,” Stewart said. “That’s what it is meant for. Everybody zone blocks and lets the guy outsweep them or cut up.
“(Sanu) is a big man. He’s fast and tough. He’s an H-back kind of guy. He isn’t a tight end, but he’s not a flanker. He reminds me of Pitt’s No. 2 (Dorin Dickerson). He is that kind of athlete and much like our Will Johnson.”
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