skinny on tonight's game

[smazza]

WEST VIRGINIA AT LOUISVILLE

They have unbridled interest in this game

As the unbeaten teams prepare to play, the matchup in Louisville is upstaging even the Breeders' Cup.

By Robyn Norwood, Times Staff Writer

November 2, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  It is not so much being stopped on the final play of last year's 46-44 triple-overtime loss to West Virginia that Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm remembers.

It is the long walk afterward.

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"It definitely hurt coming off the field, having to walk all the way back to the locker room, hearing their fans cheering," Brohm said.

Last year's game in Morgantown, W.Va., was big. This one dwarfs it.

West Virginia is 7-0 and No. 3 in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Louisville is 7-0 and No. 5, and tonight's game is in Louisville.

The Breeders' Cup is a few blocks away at Churchill Downs on Saturday, but this week it is getting second billing.

"I've never seen anything upstage the Breeders' Cup in my life," said Louisville basketball Coach Rick Pitino, who will be at the game. "Nobody's even mentioning it right now, except the horse people."

When USC lost to Oregon State last week, West Virginia and Louisville quickly realized the stakes had risen.

"Certainly, you keep your eye on that, and when you saw USC lose, you know it is one step closer for the winner of this game  or maybe the winner of the Big East Conference  having an opportunity to get to the national championship game," Louisville Coach Bobby Petrino said, careful to note that Rutgers, another Big East team, also has yet to lose.

"You've got three teams right now sitting there undefeated. So certainly, there's a lot more to this season than just this game."

West Virginia inserted itself into the preseason national title talk with its head-turning upset of Georgia in last season's Sugar Bowl, led by the elusiveness of running back Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White.

But for Louisville to be where it is, after two seemingly devastating early-season injuries, is remarkable.

The Cardinals are undefeated, despite having lost Michael Bush  a running back who scored four touchdowns against West Virginia last season and was being touted for the Heisman Trophy  when he broke a leg after scoring three times against Kentucky in the season opener.

Two games later, Brohm  also being promoted for the Heisman  injured his right thumb during Louisville's 31-7 victory over Miami and needed surgery.

Bush is out for the season, but Brohm returned two games ago, passing for 324 yards but throwing an interception in a close game against Cincinnati. He has been at less than his best, but says he is 100% for this game  the rematch of the one that ended last season with his being tackled by Eric Wicks at the three-yard line when he tried to run the ball on a two-point conversion attempt on the final play of the third overtime.

"We practiced that play all week," Brohm said. "We had five wide receivers in the game. It was definitely a pass. It wasn't a quarterback draw, but they covered up our receivers and stuffed me when I ran."

Petrino wasn't crazy about the decision, but Brohm had put them in position to win, completing 31 of 49 passes for 277 yards.

"They changed the coverage on us," Petrino said. "I thought he showed a little inexperience and tucked the ball and ran, as opposed to keeping himself in position to throw the ball if he found somebody."

What he told Brohm later was, it doesn't matter what happens to you in life, it's how you respond to it.

Many expect a wide-open game after the way last year's went because West Virginia is second in the nation in scoring and Louisville is fifth

But last year's game wasn't as wide open as the score made it appear. Louisville led, 24-7, in the fourth quarter, and regulation ended 24-24.

Even though West Virginia's Slaton scored six touchdowns in that game and White didn't even start, Mountaineers Coach Rich Rodriguez is wary of a shootout.

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"If it's a high-scoring game, it certainly will not bode well for us," he said. "They're built more for throwing the football, with Brohm and their wide receivers. If we're giving up lots of points and going up and down the field in that environment, it's going to be tough."

Tough is what Louisville, a slight favorite at home, has in mind.

Brohm tried to take Petrino's advice and move on to the next play, but it wasn't always easy, especially when a knee injury ended his season early.

"This whole off-season, that game stayed in my mind," Brohm said. "This game is very important. We want to have the good feeling at the end of the game, not the bad feeling we had at the end of that one."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

robyn.norwood@latimes.com

*

(INFOBOX BELOW)

WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS

•  Overall record (7-0)

•  Associated Press ranking 3

•  BCS standing 3

•  Games remaining:

Tonight at Louisville (7-0)

Nov. 11 vs. Cincinnati (5-4)

Nov. 16 at Pittsburgh (6-2)

Nov. 25 vs. South Florida (5-3)

Dec. 2 vs. No. 15 Rutgers (8-0)

*

(INFOBOX BELOW)

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

•  Overall record (7-0)

•  Associated Press ranking 5

•  BCS standing 5

•  Games remaining:

Tonight vs. No. 3 West Virginia (7-0)

Nov. 9 at No. 15 Rutgers (8-0)

Nov. 18 vs. South Florida (5-3)

Nov. 25 at Pittsburgh (6-2)

Dec. 2 vs. Connecticut (3-5)

[smazza]

CHRIS DUFRESNE ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Mountaineers' Moment of Truth

Chris Dufresne

November 2, 2006

A scribe can carry a team only so far. The rest, West Virginia Mountaineers, is up to you.

We now hand the kids off at the kindergarten gate, to Louisville and destiny, perhaps, or disappointment.

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Ranking West Virginia No. 1 last summer and keeping the Mountaineers on Pikes Peak as Ohio State tank-rolls over opponents has not been altogether comforting, but neither would have been pulling the trapdoor on West Virginia for no good reason.

The West Virginia postulate held that this team had the best chance to go 12-0 and get to the Bowl Championship Series championship game.

People could grumble about West Virginia's nonconference pastry treats  Marshall, Eastern Washington, Maryland  and it's agreed that teams should be dissected for trying to negotiate their way to titles. That was the argument against Kansas State in 1998 and Virginia Tech in 1999.

This is different. It wasn't West Virginia's fault that three of the Big East Conference's signature franchises  Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College  dropped off the Mountaineers' schedule because they'd bolted for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Little did we know those departures would make the Big East better than the ACC.

West Virginia's "weak" schedule was accompanied by extenuating circumstances  and even that's not a settled issue.

"Everybody says our nonconference is not that difficult," Coach Rich Rodriguez said this week, "but look at what Maryland is doing now."

Maryland, a team West Virginia defeated by 21 points, is 6-2 and fresh off a victory over defending ACC champion Florida State.

Second point: West Virginia began the season with street cred. Last January, the Mountaineers defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Because of Hurricane Katrina, the game was played in Atlanta, instead of New Orleans, which virtually made it a home game for Georgia. The Bulldogs were champions of the Southeastern Conference, touted by various talking heads and the cover of Sports Illustrated as the nation's best.

West Virginia defeated the champion from the best conference  and kept all its difference-makers on offense  Patrick White, Steve Slaton, fullback Owen Schmitt and Dan Mozes, the nation's best center.

So the Mountaineers couldn't be ranked No. 1 because … ?

West Virginia or bust was predicated on the Mountaineers being in position to make a BCS strike by Nov. 2.

That's tonight.

USC's loss to Oregon State last Saturday moved West Virginia to No. 3 in the BCS rankings. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan have to play each other Nov. 18.

If West Virginia beats Louisville, and that's certainly no cinch, the Mountaineers have a path to Jan. 8 and a title showdown against the Ohio State-Michigan winner.

It's more complicated than that, of course, because it's the BCS.

If the Ohio State-Michigan game is close, that one-loss loser might fall to only No. 2 in the BCS standings  more likely should Ohio State fall to defeat.

In 2003, remember, No. 1 Oklahoma got blown out by Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game and still stayed No. 1 in the BCS, causing the doomsday scenario that led to split national titles for USC and Louisiana State.

An undefeated West Virginia might also get tracked down in the BCS by a one-loss team from the SEC.

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For now, at least, the napkins are in place.

West Virginia, your table is ready.

And what if Louisville wins?

Just switch Big East party hats and make the Cardinals the possible 12-0 feel-good story. The only real reason to take West Virginia over Louisville in August was that Louisville had to play Miami  whatever that means now.

But come on, man, how could anyone rank West Virginia ahead of Ohio State?

Well, gulp, might we offer a cautionary tale about so-called invincible teams.

In 2002, when Miami was king, the Hurricanes took a 34-game winning streak into the BCS national title game in Tempe.

Miami's opponent that night was a rag-tag outfit that had won six games by seven points or fewer, surviving an overtime win at Illinois and beating Purdue on a fourth-down touchdown pass in the final two minutes.

You were a fool not to have Miami ranked No. 1.

Final score: Ohio State 31, Miami 24.

They went Piscataway

What is a Rutgers?

Legend has it, a Tennessee media type once asked that question before a game against the state university of New Jersey.

No one is cracking Rutgers jokes anymore.

Rutgers is 8-0, ranked 14th in the latest BCS standings and a team that will be very interested in tonight's West Virginia-Louisville game.

It was almost unthinkable before the season that spoiler-sports Rutgers might be a wild card in championship scenarios.

"I'm not going to watch it as a fan for any team," Ray Rice, Rutgers' star sophomore tailback, said this week. "I'm just going to watch the game and kind of see what happens."

Rutgers probably started too far back in the polls to make a national title run, but the Scarlet Knights could make things very BCS interesting.

They play host to Louisville next week in one of the most anticipated games in Rutgers history, and close the season Dec. 2 at West Virginia.

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Rice is the nation's second-leading rusher and says the ankle he injured in Sunday night's victory over Connecticut will be healed well in advance of Louisville's arrival a week from today.

For years, Rutgers was the abysmal Big East bookend to Temple, a football program so wretched it got kicked out of the league.

Rutgers survived to enjoy this revival and is one of six undefeated teams  three of which reside in the Big East.

The irony of the resurgence cannot be lost. Greg Schiano, an assistant at Miami under Butch Davis, took the Rutgers job in 2000, just before Davis left for the NFL.

Had he stayed, Schiano might have become Miami's coach, instead of Larry Coker, who led the Hurricanes to the national title in 2001. Now, with Coker and the Miami program foundering, Schiano might get the chance to turn Miami down and give as a reason … he has a better job. Ouch.

You need a little luck along the way.

Rice, Rutgers' star tailback from New Rochelle, N.Y., appeared headed to Syracuse two years ago before the school fired Paul Pasqualoni.

Rice changed directions but wanted to stay in the Big East, and he's now rewriting Rutgers' rushing records.

The interesting thing is how all-in-stride Rutgers is handling success.

"The celebration will happen at the end of the season … when everybody's finished," Rice said. "It's all about business now."

Blitz package

•  Money matters (a lot). It is around this time of year that we annually wonder why conferences stage championship games and whether they are detrimental to a team's national title hopes. Three of the six BCS conferences have title games  Big 12, Atlantic Coast, SEC  and three don't.

"Any coach in the six BCS conferences would agree," Rutgers' Schiano said this week. "The way the Pac-10, Big Ten and Big East do it is the best way."

The top three teams in this week's BCS standings, Ohio State, Michigan and West Virginia, play in conferences that don't stage championship games  and it may be to their advantage

What's the point of a 13th game, when schedules have already been expanded to 12 games, other than making more money?

"I'm not sure, other than that, it's a real benefit to anyone," Schiano said.

Here's all you need to know: A decade ago, when the Big Eight became the Big 12 by expanding, then split into divisions, the coaches voted 12-0 against a title game and the athletic directors voted 12-0 in favor.

In 1996, Nebraska got knocked out of the national championship game with a stunning loss to Texas in the first Big 12 title game.

In 1998, Kansas State got knocked out of the national title game with a stunning loss to Texas A&M.

In 2003, only the BCS computers saved Oklahoma from getting knocked out after the Sooners were stunned by Kansas State.

In the 2003 SEC title game, Tennessee got bounced out of the national title game with a stunning loss to Louisiana State.

It can be argued that a team can also play its way into the BCS title by winning its conference championship game  Florida, this year, might need the boost to capture the No. 2 BCS flag.

On the flip side, Auburn and Tennessee probably have better shots at a BCS at-large berth this year by not advancing to the SEC title game. Each school could finish 11-1 but not make the game. Florida holds a win over Tennessee in the SEC East, and Arkansas, with a win over Auburn, controls its SEC West destiny.

•  Should West Virginia fans be worried about losing superstar Coach Rodriguez to North Carolina? Rodriguez could have shot down the speculation this week, but he didn't.

"You never say never to something," Rodriguez said. "After the season, I'm sure I'll sit down with our people here and my family."

Despite its struggles under outgoing Coach John Bunting, North Carolina is considered a plum job in the coaching fraternity.

[T-Man]

I will take WVU 31- UL 27...

[smazza]

i like home team

[Triple B]

I know it's probably already been gone over here but, IF we aren't fortunate enough to beat either one of these teams, which one winning is best for the BE?

[dabull80]

Despite its struggles under outgoing Coach John Bunting, North Carolina is considered a plum job in the coaching fraternity

Is this true ?  I have never heard this before.

[smazza]

from ny t

Rebuilt Big East Gets Big Bounce From Football

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By PETE THAMEL

Published: November 2, 2006

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 31  Down the hall from the home of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, in a stale downtown office building, is the headquarters of one of the greatest comebacks in recent college football history.

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Jeff Gentner/Associated Press

No. 5 Louisville will play against No. 3 West Virginia and running back Pat White, above, in a nationally televised game on Thursday night.

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Three years ago at the Big East office, the situation looked so bleak that Commissioner Michael Tranghese spent three weeks preparing a tactful way to dissolve the conference. The defections of Miami and Virginia Tech to the Atlantic Coast Conference in June 2003 had athletic directors plotting a breakup.

“That was probably the darkest time, only because this thing created in 1979 was going to split,†Tranghese said in an interview at his office Tuesday.

Now, it appears, the road to college football’s national championship will run through the Big East. On Thursday night, No. 3 West Virginia plays at No. 5 Louisville in a conference meeting of unbeaten teams that will help position the winner to play for the Division I-A title.

The turning point on the field came last January, when West Virginia upset Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta. That gave the Big East a desperately needed credibility boost. But the more intriguing story is off the field, where creative scheduling, aggressive marketing, a savvy consultant, strong leadership and a dollop of luck have transformed the league’s fortunes.

From 2003 through 2005, the Big East endured relentless criticism in football, particularly from the Mountain West, for retaining its Bowl Championship Series bid.

This season, however, the Big East has three teams in the B.C.S. top 12, as many as the powerful Southeastern Conference. Rutgers (8-0) is the third conference team, behind West Virginia and Louisville (both 7-0). The A.C.C.’s highest-ranked team is No. 15 Boston College. The Mountain West has no teams in the B.C.S. top 25.

“This league is where it is today because of Mike Tranghese,†Tom Jurich, the Louisville athletic director, said. “He had a ship with a bunch of cracks in it and not only patched them, but rebuilt it to the envy of a lot of people.â€Â

The new Big East was formed with breaking up in mind. In the fall of 2003, conference officials decided to reconfigure to an eight-team football league and a 16-team basketball league. Both have lucrative television deals through 2013.

The meeting that shaped this vision actually happened without Tranghese. In the summer of 2003, Kevin O’Malley, a sports consultant and former executive at CBS, met at the Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott with the athletic directors of the remaining Big East football programs: Boston College, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Connecticut.

O’Malley said the gathering was contentious. Amid talk of the football universities’ pulling away from the basketball programs, O’Malley said, he made a major point: “If they broke up, they were on the verge of taking a precipitous step backwards. They had to step back and ask why they’d do it.â€Â

Many of the Big East’s assets could be saved, including its automatic N.C.A.A. tournament berth, its B.C.S. bid and some of the country’s largest television markets.

“We hadn’t been formal and polite, but it was important for them to listen,†said O’Malley, who serves as a consultant to several conferences, the B.C.S. and Notre Dame.

The league pressed on. But after meeting with Cincinnati and Louisville at a Hyatt hotel in Pittsburgh in October 2003, Tranghese received a phone call from Boston College’s president, Father William Leahy, to say that the university would be leaving. That call came on a Sunday. By that Friday, the league’s presidents had met with South Florida officials at Newark Airport to fill the vacancy.

The next week, Marquette and DePaul, which were known for basketball, were taken aboard to increase the league to 16 members. That was the culmination of five exhausting months.

“Working to rebuild the Big East conference was one of the most time-consuming and energy-consuming initiatives in more than 11 years of being chancellor here,†Mark Nordenberg, Pittsburgh’s chancellor, said. “And it was also one of the most rewarding.â€Â

The league retained its B.C.S. bid in February 2004, only to endure a year of criticism. Then Pittsburgh was crushed by Utah of the Mountain West in the Fiesta Bowl.

“Then the second year comes, and before we even played a game, we got blitzed every day,†Tranghese said. “All I told our people was, ‘Please don’t lash back.’ â€Â

Tranghese said he knew respect could come only on the field. It arrived with West Virginia’s victory over Georgia. From there, the Big East showed its strength in the boardroom.

O’Malley said that one of the league’s strategies was to have its teams play nonconference games against opponents from B.C.S. conferences.

“There’s no other standard you can use,†he said. “Who’d you play, and who’d you beat?â€Â

For example, West Virginia has won at Mississippi State, Rutgers has won at North Carolina and Louisville has won at Kansas State. The Big East has six nonconference road victories against B.C.S. conference teams, compared with one for the SEC (Vanderbilt at Duke) and none for the Big 12.

The Big East has also been creative in showcasing itself. After ABC’s telecast of last season’s triple-overtime game between Louisville and West Virginia went to only 11 percent of the country, the league gladly accepted a Thursday night slot on ESPN. Instead of fighting Michigan and Penn State for viewers, like Big East teams did last season, the biggest competition for the game Thursday night will be “Grey’s Anatomy.â€Â

“We personally think Thursday night has developed into the ‘Monday Night Football’ of college,†said Nick Carparelli Jr., the league’s associate commissioner in charge of football scheduling. “It’s a big event.â€Â

The league also devised its schedule so that its top four teams  West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers and Pittsburgh  would wait well into the season to play one another. As the top teams have kept winning, the perception of the league has improved.

Compare that with the A.C.C., which watched its marquee teams, Miami and Florida State, play on the season’s opening weekend. That game, a dreary 13-10 victory by Florida State, exposed the flaws of both teams and sent them and their conference into a downward spiral.

The Big East’s smarter scheduling has generated television demand for its games. The conference’s contract with ABC and ESPN requires that 14 games by league home teams be televised. The league’s strong play has Big East teams on track for at least 20 home appearances.

“We’ve tried to position our games annually where the networks thought we could be the most useful to them, be they on weeknights or the right Saturday,†said Tom Odjakjian, the Big East’s associate commissioner, who is in charge of television scheduling. “That’s been critical.â€Â

In the next few weeks, the league will probably receive another test, as one-loss teams from the SEC, the Big 12, the Big Ten and the Pac-10 attempt to assert superiority over an undefeated Big East team.

Tranghese said he is not too concerned. “I’d be disappointed,†he said. “But if the worst thing that happens to the Big East is that we have a 12-0 team who finishes third in the country left out of the championship game, and we go play in another major bowl, it isn’t so bad.â€Â

[smazza]

Despite its struggles under outgoing Coach John Bunting, North Carolina is considered a plum job in the coaching fraternity

Is this true ?  I have never heard this before.

mack parlayed into texas job

but i wouldnt call it a plum job