Post by elp525 on Nov 4, 2011 4:37:49 GMT -5
Friday November 4, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Not long ago, West Virginia and Louisville were playing football games against each other that would factor into not only who would be Big East Conference champion, but also the national champion.
"It's always been kind of like a rivalry game and it's always been competitive," said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who along with defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich has been involved with this series longer than anyone else on either side. "A couple of them have been classics."
A national championship contender will not be nominated when the teams meet Saturday, as was the case when the teams met in 2006 and '07, but the Big East title is out there for both.
Louisville (4-4, 2-1 Big East) faces No. 24 WVU (6-2, 2-1) at Mountaineer Field.
The Big East Network will televise the noon game, as opposed to the national network that used to reserve a prime-time slot for the two.
The game at Louisville in 2006, which followed WVU's controversy-aided triple overtime victory in 2005, remains ESPN's highest-rated Thursday night game.
Things have changed for both teams.
Both are on their second coach after Rich Rodriguez and Bobby Petrino. The Mountaineers haven't been alone in first place since the final week of the 2007 regular season.
The Cardinals have won their past two conference games, something they haven't done since winning the last three games of the 2006 regular season to win the Big East and represent it in the Sugar Bowl.
This could also be the last matchup of the two for many years. WVU, which is 5-1 against the Cardinals since they joined the Big East for the 2005 season, is off to the Big 12 and perhaps as soon as next season. That move did create some tension between the two schools, though.
The Mountaineers were accepted into the Big 12 last Tuesday and were readying a press conference for a day later. Tuesday night, the plan was paused and a day later Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked for an investigation if minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is also a Louisville graduate, became involved after WVU's acceptance and compromised the decision.
Suddenly, WVU and Louisville were again competing for high stakes and again the Mountaineers won. They were announced as the Big 12's newest member last Friday and a series that had lacked meaning for the past few years had new life, though perhaps not where it matters most.
"It doesn't filter down at all," Cardinals Coach Charlie Strong said. "We've got to go play a football game. It has nothing to do with the administration. I don't know if the players look at it on either side."
The Mountaineers say they are not swayed and their future conference affiliation or next opponent doesn't change their ultimate goal. WVU wants to win the Big East. So, too, does Louisville and it would be fitting if the game between teams tied for second place eventually decided who wins the league.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the winner won the Big East and the two teams were what the league needed as it recovered from the losses of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
WVU, which won in 2005 and 2007, finished ranked Nos. 5, 10 and 6. Louisville finished Nos. 19 and 6 and was then unranked after 2007, the first season with Steve Kragthorope
"I assume it was very competitive, like I assume it will be like this year," said WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen, who was an assistant at Texas Tech from 2000-2007. "I don't remember the specifics, but I remember, like I said when I first came here, the runs that specific teams had, the runs that West Virginia and Louisville had there for a year or two, the runs Rutgers had and Cincinnati had. I remember watching that stuff and seeing the games and just how competitive they were."
Louisville was the conference's preseason favorite in 2005 and ranked No. 19 when it came to Mountaineer Field. WVU trailed 24-7 in the fourth quarter, but rallied to tie the score with two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 8:16. The third score was set up when the Mountaineers recovered an onside kick that the Big East office later said should not have been allowed. WVU won 46-44 in three overtimes.
"It was pretty nuts," said WVU senior cornerback Keith Tandy, who was a high school junior in Hopkinsville, Ky., that year. "That's what got me started watching West Virginia. I remember watching that game and going, 'Man, I might want to go to West Virginia.' "
A year later, WVU was No. 3 and Louisville No. 5, but the Cardinals won 44-34 at home. Steve Slaton, who scored six touchdowns the year before against Louisville, lost fumbles on consecutive drives in the third quarter. The second was returned for a touchdown and gave the Cardinals a 23-14 lead.
In 2007, WVU was ranked No. 6 and won 38-31. The Cardinals erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit, but were undone by WVU quarterback Pat White, who won the game with a 50-yard touchdown run with 1:36 to go.
Afterward, White said Louisville linebacker Prestson Smith spit on him during the game. Rodriguez and Kragthorpe downplayed the allegation, but White never relented.
"He came off the field and he was real mad," said senior left tackle Don Barclay, who was redshirting that season. "He showed his passion for the game."
White got his revenge a year later when he set the NCAA record for career rushing yards by a quarterback at Louisville and ended one touchdown run by slowly striding into the end zone and coolly snapping his fingers the final few yards. WVU won 35-21. The past two games were 17-9 and 17-10.
WVU's defense clinched both games. Senior defensive lineman Julian Miller had two sacks after Louisville's final drive in 2009 made it to WVU's 42-yard line.
The Cardinals blocked a late field goal last season, but Tandy's interception ended Louisville's final drive.
"I just know this: In the last 12 games we played, Louisville has won twice and lost its last four," Strong said.
"That should be the eye-opener right there."
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Not long ago, West Virginia and Louisville were playing football games against each other that would factor into not only who would be Big East Conference champion, but also the national champion.
"It's always been kind of like a rivalry game and it's always been competitive," said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who along with defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich has been involved with this series longer than anyone else on either side. "A couple of them have been classics."
A national championship contender will not be nominated when the teams meet Saturday, as was the case when the teams met in 2006 and '07, but the Big East title is out there for both.
Louisville (4-4, 2-1 Big East) faces No. 24 WVU (6-2, 2-1) at Mountaineer Field.
The Big East Network will televise the noon game, as opposed to the national network that used to reserve a prime-time slot for the two.
The game at Louisville in 2006, which followed WVU's controversy-aided triple overtime victory in 2005, remains ESPN's highest-rated Thursday night game.
Things have changed for both teams.
Both are on their second coach after Rich Rodriguez and Bobby Petrino. The Mountaineers haven't been alone in first place since the final week of the 2007 regular season.
The Cardinals have won their past two conference games, something they haven't done since winning the last three games of the 2006 regular season to win the Big East and represent it in the Sugar Bowl.
This could also be the last matchup of the two for many years. WVU, which is 5-1 against the Cardinals since they joined the Big East for the 2005 season, is off to the Big 12 and perhaps as soon as next season. That move did create some tension between the two schools, though.
The Mountaineers were accepted into the Big 12 last Tuesday and were readying a press conference for a day later. Tuesday night, the plan was paused and a day later Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked for an investigation if minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is also a Louisville graduate, became involved after WVU's acceptance and compromised the decision.
Suddenly, WVU and Louisville were again competing for high stakes and again the Mountaineers won. They were announced as the Big 12's newest member last Friday and a series that had lacked meaning for the past few years had new life, though perhaps not where it matters most.
"It doesn't filter down at all," Cardinals Coach Charlie Strong said. "We've got to go play a football game. It has nothing to do with the administration. I don't know if the players look at it on either side."
The Mountaineers say they are not swayed and their future conference affiliation or next opponent doesn't change their ultimate goal. WVU wants to win the Big East. So, too, does Louisville and it would be fitting if the game between teams tied for second place eventually decided who wins the league.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the winner won the Big East and the two teams were what the league needed as it recovered from the losses of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
WVU, which won in 2005 and 2007, finished ranked Nos. 5, 10 and 6. Louisville finished Nos. 19 and 6 and was then unranked after 2007, the first season with Steve Kragthorope
"I assume it was very competitive, like I assume it will be like this year," said WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen, who was an assistant at Texas Tech from 2000-2007. "I don't remember the specifics, but I remember, like I said when I first came here, the runs that specific teams had, the runs that West Virginia and Louisville had there for a year or two, the runs Rutgers had and Cincinnati had. I remember watching that stuff and seeing the games and just how competitive they were."
Louisville was the conference's preseason favorite in 2005 and ranked No. 19 when it came to Mountaineer Field. WVU trailed 24-7 in the fourth quarter, but rallied to tie the score with two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 8:16. The third score was set up when the Mountaineers recovered an onside kick that the Big East office later said should not have been allowed. WVU won 46-44 in three overtimes.
"It was pretty nuts," said WVU senior cornerback Keith Tandy, who was a high school junior in Hopkinsville, Ky., that year. "That's what got me started watching West Virginia. I remember watching that game and going, 'Man, I might want to go to West Virginia.' "
A year later, WVU was No. 3 and Louisville No. 5, but the Cardinals won 44-34 at home. Steve Slaton, who scored six touchdowns the year before against Louisville, lost fumbles on consecutive drives in the third quarter. The second was returned for a touchdown and gave the Cardinals a 23-14 lead.
In 2007, WVU was ranked No. 6 and won 38-31. The Cardinals erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit, but were undone by WVU quarterback Pat White, who won the game with a 50-yard touchdown run with 1:36 to go.
Afterward, White said Louisville linebacker Prestson Smith spit on him during the game. Rodriguez and Kragthorpe downplayed the allegation, but White never relented.
"He came off the field and he was real mad," said senior left tackle Don Barclay, who was redshirting that season. "He showed his passion for the game."
White got his revenge a year later when he set the NCAA record for career rushing yards by a quarterback at Louisville and ended one touchdown run by slowly striding into the end zone and coolly snapping his fingers the final few yards. WVU won 35-21. The past two games were 17-9 and 17-10.
WVU's defense clinched both games. Senior defensive lineman Julian Miller had two sacks after Louisville's final drive in 2009 made it to WVU's 42-yard line.
The Cardinals blocked a late field goal last season, but Tandy's interception ended Louisville's final drive.
"I just know this: In the last 12 games we played, Louisville has won twice and lost its last four," Strong said.
"That should be the eye-opener right there."
