Harris quiet about QB’s punishment

On his first pass attempt of Saturday’s game, Rod Rutherford found Princell Brockenbrough… On his first pass attempt of Saturday’s game, Rod Rutherford found Princell Brockenbrough for a 20-yard touchdown.

On the next four Pitt possessions, Rutherford drove Pitt down inside the Kent State five-yard line. Three of those possessions ended in touchdowns, with only Brandon Miree’s fumble keeping the Panthers from a fourth.

In less than two quarters, Rutherford completed 17 of his 25 passes, for 288 yards and four touchdowns. When he entered the game on Pitt’s first possession of the second quarter, the Panthers trailed 3-0. When he left with 1:25 to go in the third, Pitt was ahead, 35-3.

So much for off-field distractions.

As you probably already know, Rutherford was charged with two misdemeanors – simple assault and indecent assault – and summary criminal mischief on Friday, stemming from an incident that occurred early last Monday morning, in the parking lot behind Philthy McNasty’s.

As you also probably already know, Pitt head coach Walt Harris “punished” Rutherford by not starting the senior quarterback against Kent State. Harris presumably decided to punish Rutherford because he broke a team rule, although he won’t say which one.

While the decision to sit Rutherford came before any legal decision had been made, Harris knew that his quarterback faced criminal charges before he sent him onto the field on Saturday.

With that in mind, should Rutherford’s off-field incident have kept him off the field?

After the game, Harris was rather secretive about whether Rutherford would be punished further.

“There is some team discipline that we have begun and that will remain our information,” Harris said. “Right now, I don’t want to say anything more about it because there’s a legal process going on right now. [Rutherford] suffered an obvious penalty and he’s being taken care of with our team.”

An obvious penalty? It’s hard to believe that Rutherford is upset about throwing for nearly 300 yards and four scores.

A more obvious penalty would have been to let Rutherford watch from the sidelines as Pitt lost to the Golden Flashes. I’m not saying that would have happened, but it is a possibility.

Remember South Florida two years ago? Harris probably does, and perhaps that’s why he wasn’t going to suspend Rutherford.

If he had suspended Rutherford, Harris wouldn’t be the first coach to do it. Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer suspended backup quarterback Marcus Vick and starting linebacker Brandon Manning from the Hokies game against James Madison on Saturday for violating team rules.

And how much would Pitt’s offense have suffered without Rutherford in the game? Luke Getsy was a few dropped passes away from putting the Panthers on the board in the first quarter.

While his numbers weren’t spectacular – Getsy completed just three of 11 passes – Harris didn’t give his backup much of a chance to show what he could do.

Pitt uncharacteristically started the game with seven straight running plays, and the Panthers kept the ball on the ground for nine of their 13 plays in the first quarter. When Getsy returned to the field in the third quarter, the game was already out of hand and Harris was content with running out the clock.

And according to the Pitt head coach, that was exactly what his game plan was.

So the question now is: What happens if Rutherford is found guilty of any of the charges filed against him? Harris would have to suspend him then.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many more Kent States on the schedule.

Joe Marchilena is the sports editor for The Pitt News.