Recap of West Virginia - Louisville

Last night's game cemented in my mind that an undefeated Big East school is less deserving of the BCS National Title game than a one loss team from the Big 10, SEC, PAC 10, Big 12, or ACC. First, I will give credit to West Virginia's two offensive studs, Pat White and Steve Slaton are exciting players to watch. West Virginia's offense is so gimmicky though. I actually thought I was watching a Pop Warner game for awhile when West Virginia would snap the ball to White in the shotgun and he would just run around left or right end. Though Slaton put up some big time numbers, the fact of the matter was that he put the ball on the turk twice and then attempted to milk an injury. Sorry, that's not Heisman caliber.

Louisville's offense is legit. Bobby Petrino is a hell of an offensive mind. Louisville's defense is nothing to write home about.

The fact of the matter between these two schools is that if they played a Big 10, SEC, etc schedule, I just don't think they could hang week end and week out. Slaton gets banged up and the announcers are declaring it over for West Virginia. Has there been a starting running back in the SEC make it through this year without getting banged up? West Virginia just doesn't have the size, talent, or depth to compete on a national scale every week. Yes, they can play with a Georgia for one game, but they couldn't compete against Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee throughout a season.

Louisville is a bit of a different beast than West Virginia. I really think that their program is on the rise and they have the potential to play with the big boys, but unfortunately have chosen not to. If you look at Louisville's recruiting under Petrino, he has been able to go into states like Alabama and Florida and steal away some top-notch prospects. Couple that with the fact that he basically owns the state of Kentucky which produces its fair share of talent (its not Florida, but the cupboard is far from bare in the state), and Louisville is a program that has the potential to compete on the national stage, even though their stadium is named after a pizza joint.

Finally, I mentioned yesterday that I wish both teams could loose, just as I wish before the Miami and Florida State game every year. I think these two teams just might be becoming the new Florida State and Miami. The game was extremely sloppy with at least 8 fumbles, 4 turnovers, and 7 personal foul penalties. I was actually hoping for a brawl to seal the deal.

On to this weekend:
So a decent, but far from great, card for the weekend. I will be tuning into the Penn State - Wisconsin game bright and early out here on the Left Coast with a Fat Tire and breakfast burrito at Busby's. Then, it's back home to catch the LSU-Tennessee and Arkansas-South Carolina games. It seems that everyone is riding South Carolina this week, but I think that they might be emotionally spent after last week's UT game. While I am obviously hoping for the Carolina win, I think Arkansas takes care of business on the road. Speaking of taking care of business on the road, LSU has yet been able to do so, so I am leaning towards the Vols in that game. On paper, I like LSU given Tennessee's issues in its secondary - JaMarcus should light them up if Jimbo allows him to do so.

Have a happy & safe weekend wherever you may be.....