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Devils, Wildcats QBs have a lot in commonArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.29.2007
Willie Tuitama has never met Rudy Carpenter off the field, but he had him over for Thanksgiving dinner.
On television, at least.
The Tuitama family's holiday in Stockton, Calif., was built around the USC-Arizona State game. The UA quarterback was scouting Saturday's opponent, the rival Sun Devils.
"We ate dinner at halftime," he said.
What Tuitama saw on the television screen hardly mirrored his own team. The Sun Devils run a single-back offense, similar to what the UA ran last year, that averages 151.1 rushing yards per game. The "Air Zona" offense logs only 79.7 rushing yards per game. Carpenter runs play-action; Tuitama does not move much at all.
But there are similarities.
The two juniors rank either second or third in the conference in passing average, passing efficiency and passing offense. The duo, along with Washington State's Alex Brink, are the only Pac-10 quarterbacks to start every game.
"They're both competitive," UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes said. "That's something that I think stands out when you look at them."
They do different things the same way.
"Willie's a little bit bigger; their offense is different," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. "But they're both warriors and play hard and are both huge leaders.
"They probably have more in common than you would think."
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