This game lived up to the scoring hype, but man, I never thought I would be craving for a little defense more than I am right now.
The game turned on its head early in the third quarter. Hands down, Malik Jackson’s touchdown return on a Steve Slaton (156 yards and a TD) fumble and Trent Guy’s 26-yard punt return for a TD sparked this win for the Cardinals. After that, West Virginia was cooked – even with Pat White turning in one of the most incredible performances I’ve seen from a college football player (222 passing, 125 rushing and four TDs). Brian Brohm was fantastic as well for Louisville. Brohm threw for 353 yards and one score while hitting Harry Douglas (6 rec. 116 yards) and Mario Urrutia (6 rec. 113 yards and one TD) for first down after first down. I can’t believe how the Mountaineers defense allowed Douglas and Urrutia to take up real estate in the secondary all night long. The Cardinals did whatever they wanted to offensively in the second half.
Both White and Slaton were marvelous again for West Virginia, but turnovers sunk this team in the end. You just can’t give an offense like Louisville extra possessions – especially when your defense is playing with only four guys (WV’s defense was short handed tonight right? I swear it was with how open everybody was for Louisville).
Now of course, the topic of if Louisville is a deserving enough squad to be considered worthy of a National Championship appearance will be in full force. My opinion? Hell no. Are they good? Yes. Are they fun to watch? Absolutely. But watching the way West Virginia and these Big East teams play defense, there is no way that Louisville (or West Virginia for that matter) goes into a title game with Ohio State, Michigan or any stout SEC team and scores 44 points. You see, the Big Ten and the SEC have that little thing called: playing defense.
Fun game, I would do it again in a heartbeat. But don’t tell me either of these two offensive circus acts is better than the top dogs in the Big Ten or SEC.
