Even the most advanced video gamers playing at the most rudimentary levels would find trouble compiling the stat line Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil accumulated against Kentucky on Sept. 4.

But Dumervil didn’t have a controller in his hand nor a screen in front of him. In his grasp was the opposing quarterback. Time, after time, after time, after time, after time, after time.

The senior finished the game with a Big East-record six sacks, including five in the first half. He also tallied 12 tackles, including seven for a loss. Dumervil’s presence didn’t end there – he forced a pair of fumbles and recovered another. The numbers are enough to drop jaws. But to observe the offensive linemen assigned to guard him is even more telling.

‘You watch our offensive linemen when they come up on a pass play in practice and look over and see Elvis there, you can just see them go, `Oh, no, I have to block him again,” Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said.

The irony is that if you’ve never watched Dumervil, you wouldn’t be too impressed at first. Physically, he’s not overly imposing. At only 6 feet tall and 256 pounds, he doesn’t possess the freakish size of other standout defensive ends. However, Petrino said the senior’s inordinately long arms makes up for his lack of height.

‘He’s short, but has long, long arms,’ Petrino said. ‘He has the arms of 6-(foot)-6, 6-(foot)-7 guy. And he does a great job of getting those arms on the offensive lineman.’

The body type is similar to former Syracuse standout and Indianapolis Colts star Dwight Freeney. The Pro Bowl pass-rusher is listed at 6-foot-1, 268 pounds. Petrino likens Dumervil’s pass rushing style to Freeney’s.

Louisville has a rich collection of films of NFL stars and assigns their players to watch them. Dumervil is a devotee of Freeney’s tapes.

‘I like his style of play,’ Dumervil said. ‘But Freeney is at a whole other level. I’m not going to say I compare to him yet.’

Like Freeney, Dumervil brings an array of moves that doesn’t allow the opposing lineman to pinpoint one. In fact, when Dumervil’s on the field, he often decides the path he’ll take after he calculates the lineman’s method to stop him.

‘Whatever the offensive line gives me, I’ll take,’ Dumervil said. ‘If he gives me the outside, I’ll be a speed rusher. If he gives me the inside, I’ll be an inside rusher. If he’s slow on his feet, I’ll be a bull rusher.’

Both Dumervil and Petrino spoke about Dumervil’s ‘get-off,’ which is the initial explosiveness from the line of scrimmage. Even the best offensive linemen with the quickest feet seldom stand a chance with a high-motor pass rusher who utilizes a good ‘get-off.’

Dumervil said it allows him to get to his technique before the lineman is ready, and he can elect what to do from there. Great defensive ends throughout football history featured that characteristic. It’s why Dumervil finished with a team-high 10 sacks in 2004. It’s the reason he ended his high school career at Miami-Jackson with a school record 78 sacks and recorded an unfathomable 30 sacks in his senior season.

Entering Saturday’s home opener against Oregon State (noon, ESPN), Dumervil is on pace for 66 sacks this season.

But that number might not even be good enough for him. When asked about the historic performance against Kentucky, Dumervil said he wouldn’t have been content if he felt he left more sacks on the field.

‘Not at all,’ Dumervil said. ‘If I could have had 10 or 15 sacks, I would have.’

Mozes Moves to Middle for Mountaineers

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said star guard Dan Mozes will shift to center. The Mountaineers play Maryland on Saturday, an inter-conference rivalry that’s intensified the past few seasons.

‘As good a guard as he is, center is such a critical position,’ Rodriguez said. ‘And he might be a better center than guard.’

The junior is on the Lombardi Award watch list, a postseason honor awarded to America’s top lineman. He was first team All-Big East last season.

The move seems suspicious, considering the Mountaineers are 2-0 after wins against Syracuse and Wofford. Rodriguez said they tried Mozes in the middle for part of the Wofford game and liked what they saw.

It will also accommodate center Jeremy Hines, who will shift to guard, a position that Rodriguez thinks betters suits the junior. Still, don’t be surprised to see either back at their normal position at some point.

‘I think they’ll both flip-flop. It’s good to have that flexibility,’ Rodriguez said. ‘We’re always looking for flexibility, especially at the center position.’

Performer of the Week

Damien Rhodes, RB, Syracuse

Whenever in need of a big rushing performance, it’s probably beneficial to have Buffalo on the schedule. Rhodes ran for 236 yards and four touchdowns to propel the Orange to a 31-0 win over the Bulls on Saturday. He fell 16 yards shy of Joe Morris’ single-game school record, when he rushed for 252 yards at Kansas in 1979. The Carrier Dome record is 241 yards, set by Rhodes’ predecessor, Walter Reyes, two seasons ago against Central Florida.

Game to Watch

Pittsburgh at Nebraska, Saturday, 3:30, ABC

Although SU hosts Virginia and West Virginia travels to Maryland, there’s no more important game in the Big East this weekend than in Lincoln, Neb. When Pittsburgh hired Dave Wannstedt, there was an immediate buzz generated in the Steel City. But Pitt lost to Notre Dame to open the season and was upset by Ohio, 16-10, on Friday night, and the initial excitement is starting to severely subside. Sitting at 0-2 and traveling to one of the nation’s toughest places to play, the Panthers clearly have their backs against the wall. Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan – who led the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2003 – has the Cornhuskers undefeated and playing an exciting brand of football. After a disappointing 5-6 season in 2004, this is Callahan’s chance to show a national audience that ‘Huskers football is back.

Around the Conference

The Big East announced its players of the week on Monday, with Rhodes winning the offensive honors. The defense and special teams winners both came from Rutgers. Defensive end Ryan Neill is Defensive Player of the Week after tallying seven tackles – 4.5 of them for a loss – and a pair of sacks in the Scarlet Knights’ 38-7 win over Villanova. The first score was on the opening kickoff, when Rutgers’ returner Willie Foster returned the kick 93 yards for a touchdown – good enough to win him Special Teams Player of the Week. … South Florida running back Andre Hall tied a school record with the seventh 100-yard rushing performance of his career. Hall rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns in the Bulls’ 37-3 win over Florida A&M. … Late in Cincinnati’s 42-24 loss to Penn State, junior college transfer Nick Davila replaced starting quarterback Dustin Grutza, completing his only two passing attempts – one for a touchdown. Grutza, a redshirt freshman, earned Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors two weeks ago, but threw two interceptions against a stingy Nittany Lions defense. … After opening the season with two home wins, UConn finally leaves Storrs, Conn., for Saturday’s meeting with Georgia Tech. It’s a return of sorts for Huskies’ head coach Randy Edsall. The former Syracuse assistant spent the 1998 season as defensive coordinator for the Yellow Jackets.

Published on September 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm