Editor's note: Christian Alexander is back tonight with another Thursday winner.
Louisville (5-4, 2-2 Big East) at West Virginia (7-1, 2-1 Big East)
Thursday, November 8
7:30 PM ET on ESPN
Mountaineer Field (FieldTurf)
It was nice to see the Virginia Tech Hokies deliver a convincing win last week over Georgia Tech. After losing a couple straight Thursday night plays, a win was needed to push my record back to a respectable 6-4 (60%) for the year and a blowout win made it even nicer. When the dust finally settled, Virginia Tech left Atlanta with a 27-3 thumping of the Yellow Jackets as two and a half point underdogs.
If it were only that easy every week.
Looking ahead to this week and its amazing to note what a difference a year makes. Last season when West Virginia and Louisville hooked up it was a huge showdown, pitting two teams that were undefeated and in the top 5.
This season? Not exactly.
Actually, to be fair, the Mountaineers are holding up their end of the deal. West Virginia still has an outside shot at a chance for the national title game. Obviously, any hope for that to materialize rests on a W Thursday night against the Cardinals and a big one with a lot of “style points” – read, BLOWOUT win – would certainly help.
Meanwhile, after big expectations to start the year, Louisville has already lost four games and are merely hoping to salvage something out of the season and get to a bowl game for the 10th straight year.
While these two teams have had pretty competitive games over the past couple of years, the Cardinals will need a supreme effort, especially from their defense to stay competitive this go round. Louisville won last year's game 44-34 at home while West Virginia won a wild 46-44 decision in triple overtime two years ago in Morgantown.
By now there is certainly no secret to West Virginia’s success. QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton are both Heisman worthy players and make up the most dangerous offensive duo in the nation. Their numbers are staggering.
Slaton leads all active Division 1-A players with 51 career touchdowns and nearly 10 points a game. The diminutive back also ranks second among running backs in all-purpose yards (144.0 a game), third in rushing yards (119.3 yards a game) and fourth in yards per carry (6.1).
If those weren’t impressive enough, consider that the man handing off or throwing to him has just as impressive credentials. White has rushed for just under 3,000 yards since the start of the 2005 season, more than any quarterback in the country during that span. He holds both the school and Big East career records for rushing yards by a quarterback.
Together, White and Slaton lead an offensive juggernaut that is scoring 40.8 points a game, the top mark in the Big East and seventh nationally. The Mountaineers are also converting 51.4 percent of their third downs, the fifth-best mark in the country.
While West Virginia eats up the yards on the ground, Louisville is much more of a pass orientated attack. While QB Brian Brohm is wrapping up his collegiate career and getting ready to play at the next level I’m sure he is also hoping to wow the scouts one more time against a West Virginia defense that he threw for 354 yards against last year. Look for the senior to go to receivers Harry Douglas and Mario Urrutia early and often while also mixing running back Anthony Allen into the playbook.
The bad news is the Mountaineers have made great strides this season to shore up their defense. Coach Rich Rodriguez has been playing a lot more Cover 2 defense instead of that funky 3-3-5 stack defense. The new alignments and schemes have already paid off this season as WVU is ranked fourth in the nation in total defense, allowing just 262 yards per game and surrendering just under 15 points per game. That type of effort should certainly help down slow down Brohm and company.
On the season, West Virginia has been a nice source of profit as they stand at 5-2 against the spread. Predictably, Louisville hasn’t been as generous to players as the Cardinals are a lowly 2-6 against the number.
With all the focus on the two offenses going into this one, chances are the team with the better and more consistent defense will come out on top here.
