MORGANTOWN - Among all the questions that ask what is wrong withLouisville this season, there is one explanation that cannot begiven.
There is nothing wrong with the offense.
Brian Brohm remains one of the nations' finest quarterbacks,ranking fourth in total offense (354.6 yards per game) and fifth inpass efficiency. The Cardinals are No. 4 in passing offense (360.9),No. 6 in total offense (510.4) and No. 15 in scoring offense (37points per game) and the senior Brohm is responsible for almost allof that productivity.
"He's one of the best, obviously, that we've ever played againstand one of the best in the history of not just the Big East, butNCAA football," said West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez, who mustcontend with Brohm at 7:45 Thursday night at Mountaineer Field.
Yet the Cardinals are just 5-4 and 2-2 in the Big East, mostlybecause the defense has not been able to support the offense. TheCardinals have lost games in which they've scored 34, 35 and 35points and had to scramble to beat Middle Tennessee State 58-42.
It's been an ongoing problem first-year Coach Steve Kragthorpehas had to address throughout the season.
"We give up too many big plays on defense," he said. "We've gotto cover guys, no question about it. We've got to get guys inposition to cover, and when we're in position to cover, we have tomake plays. We've had good coverages called a couple of times andknew exactly what they were throwing, and we didn't make plays onthe ball."
* n n
The Cardinals are No. 81 out of 109 Division I-A teams in totaldefense and allow an average of 411.3 yards per game. Louisville is2-3 in games that opponents gain at least 460 yards.
The rush defense is No. 63 (153.9 yards per game) and has allowedfive players rush for at least 115 yards.
The Cardinals have actually been worse against the pass, wherethey rank 105th in pass efficiency defense and 92nd in passingyardage (257.4). Six teams have passed for 249 yards or more againstthem.
An opponent has rushed for at least 175 yards and passed for atleast 275 yards in the same game four times.
"We're essentially not getting in position to make plays and whenwe are in position, we're not making them," Kragthorpe said.
* n n
To be fair, a lot is different this season and it begins withKraghtorpe, who enjoyed a brief honeymoon after leaving Tulsa toreplace Bobby Petrino. The Cardinals won the first game, 73-10,against Murray State, but the worries began following the winagainst Middle Tennessee. Kentucky and Syracuse then beat Louisvillein back-to-back weeks.
The Cardinals followed a 29-10 win against North Carolina Statewith a 44-35 loss to Utah in which they fell behind 21-0 and allowed582 yards of offense.
"We played much better at N.C. State and I felt like at thatpoint in time we had gotten things back in hand in terms of playingbetter defense, but obviously we didn't play very well againstUtah," Kragthorpe said. "I'm very disappointed playing the way wedid against Utah. I felt like we had made some improvements, but wedidn't sustain the improvement and we played real poorly."
Frustrations followed the defeats. Kragthorpe benched receiverMarrio Urrutia for continued unsportsmanlike conduct penalties andrunning back George Stripling missed three games after being citedfor violating team rules. Receiver JaJuan Spillman, who had beenarrested in January for driving under the influence and marijuanapossession, started against North Carolina State, but was suspendedfor the season 10 days later.
The Cardinals have been booed at home and have noted they've feltbetter playing on the road.
"What's happened last year or five years ago, nobody cares aboutthat," Kragthorpe said. "You've got to come out and play everyweek."
* n n
Rodriguez agreed that the past should not alter the perception ofthe present. That, he said, should be particularly true on defense,where Louisville replaces first-round draft pick Amobi Okoye on thedefensive line, two of the three starting linebackers and three ofthe four starters in the secondary.
"They played some pretty explosive offenses earlier in the year,"Rodriguez said.
The problems persisted and perhaps peaked against anything-but-explosive Syracuse. That the improvement against N.C. State wasfollowed by a failure against Utah eroded the support Kragthorpe hadenjoyed, even among the media.
Rick Bozich, columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal wrotefollowing that loss, "But this has not been normal slippage. It'sbeen a stunning slide to 3-3, especially when you realize thatLouisville is losing to the worst teams on its schedule and has yetto play many of the best."
Still, the defense is now playing noticeably better. Cincinnatigained 460 yards, UConn 305 and Pitt 270.
"There were 22 plays Pitt had that gained 23 yards total,"Rodriguez said. "The defense pretty much controlled that game forthem."
The difference has shown on the scoreboard, too, where theBearcats scored 24 points, UConn 21 and Pitt 17.
"They're probably playing their best defense recently and I thinkthey've found out who their starters are and found out what thosekids can do well and they're putting them in position now to makeplays," Rodriguez said.
Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec @dailymail.com or 319-1142.
No comments:
Post a Comment