Okay, so this won't be as eloquent or over-the-top of Q's sweet analysis earlier, but clearly we all saw tonight how not-great Louisville and WVU really are. I won't take anything away from their Offenses. Brohm is legit, and the combo of White and Slaton (when they hold onto the ball) is exciting to watch. But these two teams were undefeated coming into tonight because of some weak-ass schedules and some luck. Summary? They have no D. Neither one. None. Zippo.
The scheduling was even more fortuitous for both teams because they played teams that MIGHT AS WELL HAVE FIELDED 3 players on offense, because it would have been as effective. Tonight, both teams faced good offenses. And both teams showed just how horrid their defenses are. Don't believe me? Check out the statistics of the offenses each team has faced.
West Virginia played their first 7 games against Marshall, E. Washington (I-AA), Maryland, E. Carolina, Miss St, Syracuse and UCONN. What an intimidating list this is! Not even counting I-AA E-Dub (which might as well be a high school squad), here are the combined average stats of these offensive powerhouses:
WVU Competition Average Points-per-Game: 21 Average National Rank: 79 of 119
Highest ranked in PPG was Maryland at 58 and WVU faced 3 teams in the 90's.
WVU Competition Average Yards-per-Game: 312 Average National Rank: 81 of 119
Here the highest ranked was E. Carolina at 44, and they faced 3 teams in the BOTTOM 23.
What's the point? WVU put up great offensive numbers against so-so defenses and scored a ton of points. But that didn't expose the weaknesses in their D, because they played against teams that CAN'T MOVE THE BALL. But the pollsters are all impressed bc of the fancy O and the goose-egg in the Loss column (well, til tonight).
Louisville? Not any better. They played the oh-so-scary list of Cincy, Kansas State, Kentucky, Miami (THUG U), Middle Tennessee, Syracuse and Temple.
Louisville Competition Average Points-per-Game: 20 Average National Rank: 82 of 119
Highest ranked in there was Kentucky at 53rd and they faced 2 teams in the 90's and Temple at #117.
Louisville Competition Average Yards-per-Game: 296 Average National Rank: 89
Highest ranked here is Thug U at 63rd, and 3 teams are in the 100's.
MY. GOOD. LORD.
Out the door, these two teams, until tonight, played only a SINGLE GAME against a team with a top 50 offense in EITHER CATEGORY. And that was WVU vs. powerhouse E. Carolina ranked #44 in PPG.
Almost any decent program, anywhere, in any league college high school or POP WARNER would look good after a schedule like that. And would most likely be undefeated as well. Both teams' weakness was revealed tonight, and I think we all know that these are top 15 teams at best...would any of you seriously place them in the same league as OSU, Michigan, Auburn, FL or ND? Even an ND fan that knows the weakness of our own D has to notice the difference here...
I just don't get how all the pollsters somehow miss this. Oh wait, maybe they don't spend their Thursday nights running freaking averages...I need a beer.
By gwzimm November 3, 2006 - 2:09 pm
I’ve been saying all alone that Worst Virginia and Loisville are imposters. Jimmy Clausen’s high school team would likely beat both of them in the same afternoon
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By The Biscuit November 7, 2006 - 5:53 pm
Gene Woje at ESPN agrees with me:
“Updated: Nov. 7, 2006, 1:34 PM ET
Even an unbeaten Big East team seems Miami boundBy Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
Archive
Louisville fan: Whooee!! We’re going to the BCS championship! All Coach P — Petrino, not Pitino — and the boys have to do is beat that team with those Radio Shack logos on their helmets, then beat South Florida, then Pittsburgh, then Connecticut, then keep Coach P from secretly flirting with an NFL team or some money-whipping college program, and we’ll be in Glendale, Ariz., come Jan. 8!
Me: You sure?
Son, you fall off the top bunk one too many times? Of course we’re going. We’d be 12-0. It’ll be us against Ohio State or Michigan.
Just because you’re undefeated doesn’t make you the second-best team in the country.
They got cable TV where you live? We just got done performing a loss transplant on West Virginia, which, by the way, was ranked No. 3 at the time.
Saw it. Also saw your defense give up 34 points and 540 total yards, including 318 on the ground: 156 to a running back playing with one good hand, and 125 to a quarterback playing on one good ankle.
Maybe you saw our offense too — the one scoring 30 of our 44 points. We did that against the No. 12-ranked defense in the country.
You did that against a West Virginia defense that had faced Marshall (44th out of 119 in total offense), Maryland (95th), East Carolina (51st), Mississippi State (104th), Syracuse (112th), UConn (77th) and Eastern Washington (77th out of 119 in Division I-AA). The Mountaineers were the 12th-best defense in the country like Borat really has a son named Hooeylewis.”
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