Louisville, Ky.
In lieu of a national playoff, in a sport in which every game is a win-or-out proposition, Thursday night’s massive West Virginia-Louisville showdown was billed as a pseudo national semifinal.
But it was so much more than that, and third-ranked West Virginia had no idea what it was getting itself into. The biggest game in state of Kentucky history. The largest crowd in Louisville history. The biggest college game in ESPN history.
In the end, as the field at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium was covered in a pulsating wave of dancing, black-clad Louisville fans chanting “B-C-S! B-C-S!” the nation learned there’s a new football power in the Bowl Championship Series equation. Fifth-ranked Louisville put on a show the country hasn’t seen in recent memory in racing past third-ranked West Virginia, 44-34.
“We’ve been waiting on a win like this,” Louisville cornerback William Gay said as some of the record 43,217 fans mobbed him and his teammates. “We’re going to put it together and hope the BCS respects this win and we can move up in the rankings.”
Count on it, William. Regardless of how Florida, fourth in the BCS, does at Vanderbilt on Saturday, bet on Louisville (8-0, 3-0 Big East) to leapfrog the Gators into that coveted No. 3 spot behind Ohio State and Michigan.
For one week at least. Louisville has exactly six days to relish the win before it plays its next biggest game in history when it visits 15th-ranked Rutgers (7-0, 2-0). Welcome to the new Beast of the East: Big East football.
Yes, this once-comatose conference is the new force in college football, and Thursday night proved it. The hoity-toity Southeastern Conference bills itself as having the wildest home-field advantage in the country, but it had nothing on Louisville.
The school promoted the game as “Black Out.” Everyone wore black in 39-degree temperatures, and the entire stadium was one black blanket, with a sliver of yellow West Virginia fans making no consequence whatsoever. With the loudspeaker playing the demonic theme music from “The Omen” as the Cardinals entered the stadium, Papa John resembled more of a haunted house than a football venue.
It definitely turned into a nightmare for West Virginia (7-1, 2-1), set on debunking its 97th-ranked schedule with Heisman candidate Steve Slaton and one of the nation’s fastest defenses. Instead, Louisville introduced next year’s Heisman Trophy favorite. Brian Brohm, fully recovered from a thumb injury that slowed Louisville’s offense the past two weeks, hit 19-of-26 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown.
Slaton and Pat White did their part. Slaton ran for 156 yards, and White ran for 125 and threw for 222 more – hey, SEC, you sure want some of the Big East? – but Louisville’s underrated defense had as big a role as Brohm.
Holding a precarious 16-13 halftime lead after three Louisville drives resulted in field goals, the Cardinals forced Slaton to fumble on back-to-back plays. Louisville fumbled back the first one, but on West Virginia’s next possession, defensive end Brandon Cox stripped Slaton and linebacker Malik Jackson returned it 13 yards for a 23-14 lead.
“It was a huge thing,” Brohm said. “Then the offense, defense and special teams all got a boost, and that got the crowd going.”
Slaton is indeed one of the nation’s scariest backs. Louisville barely touched him as he juked and jived for massive chunks of yards on simple off-tackle plays. However, he hurt a nerve in his arm, which helped produce the fumbles and sidelined him for the next series.
By the time he returned, it was too late. Louisville held on West Virginia’s next possession and freshman Trent Guy caught Scott Kozlowski’s low 26-yard punt and raced 40 yards for the score to make it 30-14.
It didn’t really matter that Smith and Slaton (when he hung on to the ball) were unstoppable. So was Brohm. With star tailback Michael Bush out for the year with a broken leg and the running attack hinting of mediocrity, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino didn’t sit on the lead.
Brohm was remarkable, showing the kind of big-game smarts and guts that could make him next year’s Troy Smith – if Brohm doesn’t leave school early. He’ll definitely put Thursday night on his NFL résumé. Junior Harry Douglas (six catches, 116 yards) and sophomore Mario Urrutia (six for 113) found huge holes in the Mountaineers’ suspect secondary.
Brohm continued dodging West Virginia’s desperate blitzes to keep answering. He drove Louisville 80 yards in only six plays, hitting 4-of-5 passes for 75 yards to ice the game with his 7-yard TD pass to Urrutia.
“He was awesome,” Petrino said. “To execute like that, with more than 350 yards and with his focus on not only dropping back and passing but also with his checks and reads at the line, really says a lot about him.”
The win, of course, could become nearly as worthless as the confetti covering the field after the game if Louisville loses at Rutgers. But for one night, there was a playoff atmosphere in a town where the only playoffs it ever understood were in March.
Welcome to the new Big East, folks. Enter if you dare.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
