RATTAY-TAT-TAT

It’s the details that get you.

Seven 500-yard passing games in Louisiana Tech quarterback Tim Rattay’s career.

A 46-for-68 day for 590 yards against Nebraska last season.

Seven touchdown passes in a game, twice.

Thirty-two touchdown passes this season, 112 in his career.

And after 1,484 passes and counting, only 32 interceptions.

“This quarterback is one of the premier players in the country,” USC Coach Paul Hackett said. “It’s certainly the best quarterback we’ve faced this year, and maybe that we’ve faced in a long time.”

Hey, it doesn’t take a quarterback expert to know this guy is good.

He’s like Purdue’s Drew Brees, Hackett said.

“Just a little better.”

The bottom line is this: Rattay leads the nation in total offense this season at almost 379 yards a game.

Even more impressive, he ranks third in NCAA history in passing yards with 12,341.

And go ahead and pencil him in at No. 2: He needs only 201 yards against USC on Friday to pass Louisville’s Chris Redman for second behind former Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer. Rattay has thrown for at least 200 yards every start of his career.

“Tim Rattay will, in my opinion, go down as one of the great quarterbacks in the history of the game, as far as statistically,” said Louisiana Tech Coach Jack Bicknell III, whose team made its debut in the top 25 this week at No. 25.

Rattay also will go down as one who got away from the Pacific 10 Conference: He is a Louisiana hero who hails from a football family in Arizona.

His younger brother, John, is a senior quarterback at Desert Vista High in Phoenix and is headed for Tennessee next fall.

His father, Jim, is a high school coach, and his older brother Chris played receiver at Claremont McKenna--and now, by coincidence, works as a campus minister on the staff of USC’s office of religious life.

But Rattay, now a 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior, didn’t draw much recruiting interest playing his senior year at a small school, Phoenix Christian High, or during his one season for the Scottsdale Community College Artichokes.

He was finally recruited to Louisiana Tech by former coach Gary Crowton, now the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears.

“I’d never heard of Tech before, being from the West Coast,” Rattay said. “But when I came to visit I liked it, and I liked the way they throw the ball.”

That is to say, almost every down.

Consider, for example, that Bobby Ray Tell, the starting tailback, can count on only six, seven, eight carries a game sometimes and hasn’t had more than 23 all season.

“Maybe we’ll run it five or six times a game, maybe more toward the end of the game,” Rattay said.

Officially, the Bulldogs average 24 running plays a game.

“We try to set up the run with the pass,” Bicknell said.

Louisiana Tech’s spread offense, with its four- and five-receiver sets, has given Rattay a stage.

“The big thing is, he’s very, very accurate,” Bicknell said. “He puts the ball where it needs to be put. He throws a real catchable ball.

“There’s very few times where it’s the quarterback’s fault that there was an incompletion. So if you get some receivers that can catch, you can be effective.”

Last season, Rattay’s No. 1 target was record-setting receiver Troy Edwards, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

When Edwards left, some wondered if Rattay’s magic would be gone, but Louisiana Tech has found more targets, and three of them--James Jordan, Delwyn Daigre and running back John Simon--have at least 70 catches each this season.

“That’s awfully amazing,” said USC cornerback Kris Richard, who will be the veteran of a crew that will include two freshmen because Antuan Simmons is out after back surgery.

“It seems as if they don’t even attempt to run the ball,” Richard said. “They’re not that interested. Their game plan is to throw.”

No secret about that.

“They tell you they’re going to throw,” said Rattay’s brother, Chris, the USC campus minister. “You know what they’re going to do. It’s just a matter of, can you stop it?

“If you don’t get a rush on him, he’s going to do something.”

Even the rush can be a problem, because Rattay gets rid of the ball so quickly, and he always seems to see the pressure coming.

“Just with an offense that spreads people out, you can tell when they’re going to blitz,” Rattay said. “It’s easy to see where the blitz is coming from.”

Hackett, a longtime NFL quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, likes what he sees.

“He has a great release,” Hackett said. “He has real snap on the ball. It’s not flaming, but very firm. That’s where his accuracy comes from. He doesn’t try to throw it through you, he just puts it exactly where he wants to.

“Release, accuracy, poise, rhythm, athletic ability, is all solid. He’s a very strong NFL prospect. With the need in the NFL for quarterbacks, he’s a premier candidate.”

Friday, he gets his day in the Pac-10.

“All the students are saying, ‘Who are you going to root for?’ ” said Rattay’s brother Chris, who has been seen wearing a USC T-shirt and a Louisiana Tech cap around campus and will spend part of Thanksgiving with his brother today.

“I say, ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ I was loving that victory last week, but this one, I’ve got to root against USC.”

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VIRGINIA TECH GETS HELP: The BCS has changed its rules, providing an assist to the No. 2 Hokies. Page 8

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Friday

USC vs. LOUISIANA TECH

3:30 p.m.

Coliseum

Fox Sports Net

Rattay’s Records

Louisiana Tech quarterback Tim Rattay’s carer statistics and where he ranks in NCAA history.

PASSING YARDS

1. Ty Detmer (BYU): 15,031

2. Chris Redman (Louisville): 12,541

3. Tim Rattay (La. Tech): 12,341

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YARDS PER GAME

1. Tim Rattay (La. Tech): 385.7

2. Ty Detmer (BYU): 326.8

3. Chris Vargas (Nevada): 1318.0

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TOTAL OFFENSE

1. Ty Detmer (BYU): 14,665

2. Tim Rattay (La. Tech): 12,240

3. Chris Redman (Louisville): 11,806

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TOTAL OFFENSE PER GAME

1. Tim Rattay (La. Tech): 382.5

2. Chris Vargas (Nevada): 320.9

3. Ty Detmer (BYU): 309.1

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TOUCHDOWN PASSES

1. Ty Detmer (BYU): 121

2. Danny Wuerffel (Florida): 114

3. Tim Rattay (La. Tech): 112

Tim Rattay File

A look at Louisiana Tech senior quarterback Tim Rattay:

* Personal: 6 feet 1, 210 pounds; born March 15, 1977; played junior college football in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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CAREER HIGHS

* Attempts: 68 (Nebraska, 1998)

* Completions: 46 (Nebraska, 1998; Central Florida, 1999)

* Passing yards: 590 (Nebraska, 1998)

* Interceptions: 4 (Auburn, 1998)

* Touchdown passes: 7 (Boise State, 1998; Arkansas State, 1998)

* Longest completion: 94 yards (Nebraska, 1998)

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STATISTICS BY SEASON

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Yr. Com Att Yards TD Int So. 293 477 3,881 34 10 Jr. 380 559 4,943 46 13 Sr. 307 448 3,517 32 9 Total 980 1,484 12,341 112 32

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