No Split Personnel-ity : Northwestern’s Steve Schnur Prefers a One-Quarterback Offense to USC’s System

If Northwestern has a secret edge over USC in Monday’s Rose Bowl game, quarterback Steve Schnur thinks it might be the Wildcats’ one-quarterback system as opposed to the Trojans’ two-quarterback offense.

Schnur knows all about two quarterbacks. He and Tim Hughes, a junior college transfer from Butte College in Oroville, Calif., shared duties last year. Before the 3-7-1 season was over, the student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, referred to them as Beavis and Butt-head.

Combined, they completed fewer than half their passes, had 18 interceptions compared to nine touchdowns, were sacked 27 times and rushed for minus-85 yards.

“Two quarterbacks sharing the job just didn’t work,” said Schnur, a senior in college but a junior in football who plans to return next season. “It was a disaster. No one was real happy with it, not the quarterbacks, the coaches or the fans.

“We found that we needed one clear-cut quarterback to make the offense work. I’m surprised USC is sticking with two [Brad Otton and Kyle Wachholtz], but I guess they figure it’s working for them. I know as far as we’re concerned, it’s better for all of us this way.

“With two quarterbacks, you can’t help but keep looking over your shoulder, and that’s not good for either guy’s confidence. Even if I was not the one playing, I would be in favor of a one-quarterback system.”

Schnur, a 6-foot, 192-pounder from St. Louis who was Missouri’s high school player of the year in 1991, emerged from a group of four who shared the job during spring practice. He and Hughes were joined by Lloyd Abramson, a highly recruited freshman from Bloomfield, Mich., and Chris Hamdorf, a junior from Iowa City who played in only one game in 1994.

“Coach [Gary Barnett] told us we would start the season with one quarterback, but it wasn’t until a week before the season started that he told me it would be me,” Schnur said. “After spring, there was no clear-cut No. 1.”

Schnur seemed an unlikely choice when fall practice began, about three weeks before the Notre Dame opener. He had spent the summer with his foot in a cast after suffering a stress fracture in the spring game and was listed third on the depth chart.

Then Abramson quit school, saying he was burned out from football, and Hughes elected to redshirt. It was down to Schnur and Hamdorf, an all-Iowa quarterback in high school.

“Schnur earned the job with his toughness and leadership,” Barnett said. “He knows what to do with the ball, he plays within himself and now that he’s got the job by himself, he is playing with confidence.”

With Schnur directing the offense all season, Northwestern scored 32 touchdowns, the most since 1963, and ended a streak of 23 losing seasons with a 10-1 record that gave the Wildcats their first Big Ten championship since 1936.

Barnett said before the season that he wanted a quarterback who could approach a 60% completion rate, gain eight yards per pass and throw for more touchdowns than interceptions.

Schnur is close.

He has completed 54%, with 118 completions in 218 attempts, has averaged almost seven yards per throw and has nine passing touchdowns--plus two rushing--and only five interceptions.

It was a big improvement over last season, when Schnur had 10 interceptions and only four touchdowns.

“We’re not overly productive on offense, but we’ve been just as good offensively as we needed to be,” Barnett said. “The hardest thing in sports is playing quarterback at this level. Schnur gets the job done. That’s all we ask.”

An example is the Michigan game, the 19-13 victory that many Wildcats say was their most important one.

Schnur completed only 11 of 23 passes that day, but the 11th was for the winning touchdown, a two-yard throw to Matt Hartl.

The Michigan game also showed that if something happened to Schnur, Hamdorf was ready to step in. When Schnur suffered a bruised shoulder early in the game, Hamdorf completed three of four passes for 58 yards in a scoring drive. His 25-yard pass to Toussaint Waterman set up the first of Sam Valenzisi’s four field goals.

Schnur can also run. He has gained 83 yards on the ground, including a 26-yard scramble in a 35-0 rout of Wisconsin. Although Schnur downplayed it, saying, “It was not a designated thing, believe me,” Barnett said he encourages the idea.

“When he learns to do that, he’ll move to the next level as a quarterback,” the coach said. “People aren’t defending against him now. He can make something big happen by scrambling.”

When he was being recruited by Barnett, who had just taken the Wildcat job in 1992, Schnur said he was impressed with the coach’s energy, dedication and youthful enthusiasm.

“When he’s talking to you about Northwestern football, and you know the school’s long history of losing seasons, it’s hard to figure out if he’s completely crazy, or just so darned determined,” Schnur said. “I decided it was No. 2 and that’s why I’m here.

“His attitude toward the game seemed to run along the same lines as mine. I guess it still does.”

The Wildcats have been in Southern California for two weeks, working the first week at UC Irvine and the last week at Citrus College in Glendora.

“The first week or so we worked on fundamentals the way we do in preseason workouts. The coach worked us really hard on reps, doing the same thing over and over until we can do it in our sleep.

“Last Tuesday, we started working on our game plan. We’ll have our work cut out for us. USC has excellent athletes. They run extremely well, better than any Big Ten team we played.

“Their linebackers and secondary look very fast. I’d say they’re comparable to Michigan, which was almost impregnable. We had a couple of breaks to beat them, and we may need a couple against SC.”

The biggest break Northwestern got may have been when Barnett tabbed the quiet kid from St. Louis to run the offense.