LOUISVILLE, Ky. - From a purely X's and O's standpoint, there are plenty of different ways to look at West Virginia's game with Louisville today, not the least of which is the matchup of the Mountaineers' Big East-leading rushing attack against the Cardinals' run defense, ranked eighth in the country.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - From a purely X's and O's standpoint, there are plenty of different ways to look at West Virginia's game with Louisville today, not the least of which is the matchup of the Mountaineers' Big East-leading rushing attack against the Cardinals' run defense, ranked eighth in the country.
Then there is Louisville's porous pass defense, which took yet another hit last week when the league leader in interceptions, cornerback Woodny Turenne, was lost for the season with a broken clavicle. Can quarterback Pat White and a West Virginia passing offense that ranks 109th in the country do anything to exploit that?
Oh, and of course there is the weekly question of how badly Louisville might be able to abuse WVU's nation's-worst kickoff coverage. If the Mountaineers were looking for a reprieve this week, they won't get it. Louisville's Trent Guy - who returned a punt for a touchdown against WVU here two years ago - is third in the league and has a 95-yard return for a score on his resume.
None of those matchups, however, seem to intrigue the head coaches as much as this one in general: Louisville's offense against West Virginia's defense.
"I think what gets lost a little bit in the West Virginia story is how well they're playing on defense,'' Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "Certainly Pat [White] is a great player. He's a marquee player not only in our conference, but in college football. He's a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. But people don't talk about their defense much.
"I think [defensive coordinator] Jeff [Casteel] is doing a great job with their crew defensively. They're very aggressive, they're very sound schematically, they give you a lot of different looks. They do an excellent job.''
Indeed, West Virginia's defense is what has kept the Mountaineers afloat this season as the offense has mostly struggled. While the Mountaineers rank seventh out of eight Big East teams in total offense and scoring, the defense is in the top 20 nationally in yards allowed and No. 10 in points allowed.
Against Louisville, the Mountaineer defense isn't exactly facing a powerhouse, given that the Cards are roughly in the middle of the Big East pack in most offensive statistics. But Louisville is also dangerous when things go right. The Cards averaged 512 yards of offense during one early stretch of games this season against Tennessee Tech, Kansas State and Connecticut.
It all starts with quarterback Hunter Cantwell, who has been hobbled by various injuries this year, but when the season started he was projected as one of the top quarterbacks available in next spring's NFL draft.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - From a purely X's and O's standpoint, there are plenty of different ways to look at West Virginia's game with Louisville today, not the least of which is the matchup of the Mountaineers' Big East-leading rushing attack against the Cardinals' run defense, ranked eighth in the country.
Then there is Louisville's porous pass defense, which took yet another hit last week when the league leader in interceptions, cornerback Woodny Turenne, was lost for the season with a broken clavicle. Can quarterback Pat White and a West Virginia passing offense that ranks 109th in the country do anything to exploit that?
Oh, and of course there is the weekly question of how badly Louisville might be able to abuse WVU's nation's-worst kickoff coverage. If the Mountaineers were looking for a reprieve this week, they won't get it. Louisville's Trent Guy - who returned a punt for a touchdown against WVU here two years ago - is third in the league and has a 95-yard return for a score on his resume.
None of those matchups, however, seem to intrigue the head coaches as much as this one in general: Louisville's offense against West Virginia's defense.
"I think what gets lost a little bit in the West Virginia story is how well they're playing on defense,'' Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "Certainly Pat [White] is a great player. He's a marquee player not only in our conference, but in college football. He's a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. But people don't talk about their defense much.
"I think [defensive coordinator] Jeff [Casteel] is doing a great job with their crew defensively. They're very aggressive, they're very sound schematically, they give you a lot of different looks. They do an excellent job.''
Indeed, West Virginia's defense is what has kept the Mountaineers afloat this season as the offense has mostly struggled. While the Mountaineers rank seventh out of eight Big East teams in total offense and scoring, the defense is in the top 20 nationally in yards allowed and No. 10 in points allowed.
Against Louisville, the Mountaineer defense isn't exactly facing a powerhouse, given that the Cards are roughly in the middle of the Big East pack in most offensive statistics. But Louisville is also dangerous when things go right. The Cards averaged 512 yards of offense during one early stretch of games this season against Tennessee Tech, Kansas State and Connecticut.
It all starts with quarterback Hunter Cantwell, who has been hobbled by various injuries this year, but when the season started he was projected as one of the top quarterbacks available in next spring's NFL draft.
"We have to keep Hunter Cantwell out of rhythm,'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "When he gets in a rhythm he reminds me of Mike Teel [of Rutgers]. I said that earlier in the year and people looked at me like I was nuts. Well, have you seen Rutgers play lately? Have you seen him get into a rhythm with [wide receiver Kenny] Britt?''
Indeed, after struggling early in the season, Teel and Rutgers have become an aerial circus, throwing for almost 300 yards per game during a current four-game win streak.
Louisville and Cantwell, said Stewart, are capable of doing the same.
"This is the same thing with Cantwell and [wideouts Doug] Beaumont and [Josh] Chichester,'' Stewart said. "When they get into a rhythm, when they get into a pattern of pitching and catching that ball, they're really special. I think he's a lot like Mike Teel in that when he gets hot, he's real, real hot. And the receivers catch balls.''
Louisville is also blessed with a pretty good stable of running backs in 6-foot, 238-pound senior Brock Bolen, 5-9, 182-pound redshirt freshman Victor Anderson and 6-foot, 208-pound sophomore Bilal Powell.
"What a threesome they bring to you, whether Brock's a fullback or the I-back,'' Stewart said. "Those are three tough runners. They're good.''
The key, according to Stewart, is pretty much the same as always - keeping Louisville and Cantwell out of a rhythm and off schedule.
"I hope we can keep them off rhythm on first down,'' Stewart said. "If we can slow them down on first down, it makes it difficult on second and third down. If you can give that ball to Brock Bolen, Victor Anderson and Powell on third-and-3, third-and-4, third-and-2, we're going to be out there a long, long time.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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