At 10:19 a.m. on Saturday, Matt McGloin and Derek Moye walked together onto the FieldTurf inside Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.
It was a good 10 minutes before they were joined by any of their Penn State teammates.
Good, as in fun. And productive.
McGloin, the junior red-headed quarterback, was clad in a blue T-shirt and his white game pants. He carried a football, spinning it into the air.
Moye, the senior receiver with the spiky black hair, was wearing a matching blue shirt and shorts, and sporting those big white Mickey Mouse gloves.
They jogged to midfield and moved to the 40-yard line, starting to slowly the toss the ball back and forth. Ten yards to start, then 15, then 20 and 30. Moye ran a few outs and slants, at three-quarters speed.
The pre-game toss-around, well before anyone else took the field for official pre-game drills, is a ritual initiated when Daryll Clark was quarterback. Last year, Brett Brackett and Graham Zug joined Moye and McGloin “playing around a little, throwing a few passes,” said Moye.
On Saturday, the M&M Boys were jawing a bit. “Well, Matt does most of the talking,” Moye laughed later. “He was telling me what he was going to do today.”
PRESCIENT PENN STATER
Fast forward 249 minutes: It’s 2:28 p.m., and 1 minute and 41 seconds remained in the third quarter. Penn State led the woeful Hoosiers 6-3, but it wasn’t pretty. The Nittany Lion offense took over on its own 26-yard-line.
McGloin trotted onto the field for the first time in the second half. Moye followed. The play was called, Moye split right. Here’s what happened:
McGloin: “All week on film we knew we were going to throw on that guy (Indiana’s Greg Heban). They were pressing a lot, challenging us to throw it deep. We sent Derek up on a go route. I let it fly and he ran under it and made a great play.’
Moye: “When I heard the play – it was a double move, a curl and go – I felt like I had a good opportunity to make a big play. When I went to line up, I saw the corner there and it was just a matter of the safety not getting over and making the play. Matt threw a perfect ball.”
McGloin to Moye. One play, 74 yards, one touchdown, a 13-3 lead.
‘We kind of know what each other is thinking,’ Moye said.
‘Derek’s one of my good buddies,’ McGloin said. ‘We’re just communicating constantly. We’re always talking, always on the same page. It’s awkward if I throw the ball over his head or he runs the wrong route. He kind of looks at me like, ‘Matt, what were we thinking?’ ‘
We.
On Penn State’s next drive, McGloin drove PSU 63 yards downfield in 13 plays – three passes to Moye, one complete for 10 yards — to set up a 33-yard Anthony Fera field goal.
Two drives, 10 points, 16-3 lead. Thanks to McGloin and Friend, the Moye-mentum had finally shifted.
A CASE STUDY
A case can be made that McGloin plays to win. And that sophomore quarterback Rob Bolden plays not to lose. Let’s call it The Derek Moye Case Study.
Moye is a co-captain, a three-year starter at wide receiver and by far Penn State’s most reliable offensive player. He is, I think, a good benchmark for the Nittany Lions’ quarterback controversy. A quiet, non-judgmental measuring stick.
The touchstone, if you will. And the touchdown.
Over Penn State’s past 18 games – dating back to the 2010 season-opener, when Bolden was the first true freshman to start at quarterback in a century – Moye has caught 11 touchdown passes.
Ten of those passes have been thrown by McGloin. One by Bolden.
It’s not like McGloin, a senior with two years of eligibility, gets any more snaps than Bolden does. In 2010, they both appeared in 27 quarters. In 2010-2011, McGloin has thrown 291 passes. Bolden has thrown 278.
They’re equal. But they’re not.
In that time, McGloin has led Penn State on 32 touchdown drives. Bolden has directed 15. (For this season, McG has the edge, 8 to 4.)
In that time, Bolden has thrown 11 interceptions, McGloin nine.
In that time, McGloin has thrown a total of 18 touchdown passes to guys named Brackett, Brown, Cadogan, Moye, Royster, Suhey and Zug. Bolden has thrown six touchdown passes to guys named Brackett, Moye and Smith.
Beyond Moye, variety is the Matt of life.
THE POINT
Bolden, ever careful, is the one who plays point to point, A to B to C to D to F to End zone. “By the textbook,” one of his teammates told me a few weeks ago.
There was that three-yard dink last week that Moo-Moo Smith and His Afterburners turned into a 71-yard touchdown reception. But that’s not the 74-yard bomb McGloin laid on Moye. In years past, Joe Paterno would have said that Bolden “tends to his knitting.”
McGloin is seemingly never careful – although he’s the guy with no picks this season, thanks to the bad hands of an ungrateful ‘Bama defender. He likes to go from A to E, too – all at once. Like on Saturday.
“That’s a take-a-shot play,” admitted Red.
“I think every receiver likes to take shots,” Moye countered when reminded of McGloin’s predilection for the big play.
On Saturday, McGloin averaged 20.4 yards per catch on 10 completions. He threw to Moye nine times against Indiana on Saturday, completing four for 116 yards (29 yards a grab), while Bolden threw to Moye twice for 42 yards (21 yards a grab) in six attempts.
MORE NUMBERS
As we sift the TD leaves for the possibility of a full-time quarterback, maybe we should look at the candidates’ body of work with the 6-foot-5, 210-pound body of Moye.
McGloin is smart enough, and good enough, and in tune enough, to make best use of Moye, the team’s top passing game weapon. Almost exactly two-third of Moye’s receiving yards in 2011 — 287 of 433 — have come at the hand of McGloin.
After five games, here is how the Lion quarterbacks connect with Moye, the team’s No. 1 receiver and No. 44 in the nation. (I culled these stats from the official play-by-play sheets for Penn State’s first five games in 2011.)
Bolden — 11 of 23, 146 yards, 6.3 yards per Moye attempt, 13.3 yards per Moye completion, zero TDs.
McGloin – 15 of 28, 287 yards, 10.3 per Moye attempt, 19.1 yards per Moye completion, three TDs.
Completions to Moye of 14 yards or longer: Bolden 3, McGloin 8.
McGloin knows how to get Moye from Derek, while Bolden does less with Moye.
Still, Bolden has started five games, McGloin zero. “I would like to be out on the field first,” McGloin said after Saturday’s game. “I deserve to be out on the field first after the past two games. So we’ll see.”
EFFICIENT
It’s all about maximizing your abilities and those around you. McGloin does that.
His passing efficiency is 144.3. The NCAA says that is good enough for No. 42 in the country – and fifth in the Big Ten.
Bolden’s is 85.3.
Need we say Moye?
Related content
