Louisville vs. West Virginia

6:28pm

We’re coming to you live from my apartment in Menomonee Falls. The Mountaineers and Cardinals will get it started soon. I’ve got my bud light and my Jack’s pizza here and am ready for this game to start. I am going to go with: Louisville 36 West Virginia 24 tonight (hey, look at that, I flip flopped). I just think Papa John stadium is too big of an advantage.

6:44pm

According to the introductory song, it’s time for a showdown in the “ville”. It should be a great game, I’m looking forward to it. Louisville has won 15 straight at home, scoring an average of just under 51 points per game, averaging over 540 yards per game and have a touchdown to interception ratio of something like 36:4. Incredible home field advantage.

6:48pm
15:00 1st quarter

Alright, we’ll see the Louisville offense with Brian Brohm at the helm on the field first, here we go, time for some football. Oh, and before I get too far, good luck to the West Bend West girls volleyball team who have their first match at state tonight.

6:54pm
10:53 1st quarter

The drive went very well for Louisville, until a sack on first and 10 from the West Virginia 15, so they settle for a field goal. 3-0 Louisville, they really should have come away with 3 there, but Brohm did look pretty good, 3 for 5 for 46 yards and hit 3 different receivers.

Let me just add here one of the reasons why I love watching things on ESPN, the bottom line. Seriously, if the game isn’t interesting, you always have stats coming, how did we watch sports before this? For instance, I just saw, (Texas Quarterback Colt) McCoy- touchdown pass of 50+ yards in last 4 games and in 5 of 9 on season. Now that’s a stat. Wow.

6:58pm
10:31 1st quarter

Well, now we’ll see the West Virginia offense which features quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton on the field. They average 240 yards rushing per game between the two of them and the team averages well over 300 which is the best in the nation.

7:00pm

Yup, it’s time to switch the tv with the volume to NBC, so I won’t have any commentary to listen to for a while, but I’ll try and keep up anyway.

7:01pm
9:12 1st quarter

Well, a fumble gives Louisville the ball back. Huge penalty though, after the play and 15 yards is added to Louisville’s drive.

7:03pm
7:37 1st quareter

A huge 3 and out for the West Virginia defense. That is very big for them after the turnover. I am predicting a touchdown on this drive for West Virginia, to take some of the air out of Papa John stadium.

7:08pm
5:40 1st quarter

Wow, I was close to being way off as West Virginia almost turned the ball over again on another fumble, but this time, they recovered it and better learn how to hold onto the ball.

7:10pm
4:18 1st quarter

After a long completion from Pat White, the Mountaineers bust off a 42 yard run by Steve Slaton, and like I said, they scored a touchdown. Its response time for Louisville or Papa John isn’t going to be very happy tonight. 7-3 Mountaineers

7:26pm
End of the 1st quarter

Well, same score 7-3 West Virginia. My name is Earl, has some great music, first “Jesus is Just Alright with me” and now “Southern Cross”. Good times. Louisville has overcome a dropped wide open pass and a slip by their running back on a screen pass that just may have gone for a touchdown, but are now 2nd and 15 from inside the 20. They really need a score here, and not just 3.

7:31pm
13:35 2nd quarter

Louisville settles for a field goal and is now down 7-6. They have been fairly disappointing so far tonight, kind of like the bud light I just had. For whatever reason, it just didn’t go down well. Hopefully the second one goes down better.


7:41pm
9:55 2nd quarter

Well, that’s a good sign for Louisville, they hold West Virginia without any points and force them to punt, and wow it was a bad punt, except for the fact that Louisville almost turned it over because it hit one of their blockers. But, they end up recovering and now have a chance to take the lead and get the crowd back into the game.

7:49pm
7:04 2nd quarter

A great drive by Louisville although their wide receivers are slipping more than Michelle Kwan, with the extra point they are now up 13-7 over the Mountaineers. By the way, they had a shot of Pat White with his helmet off, and my God, he looks like he is about 12. He actually looks a lot like Michael Jackson circa 1982 without the perm.

7:55pm
4:42 2nd quarter

Take that Louisville fans, West Virginia comes back with an answer upside your head, 14-13 Mountaineers as they do what they do best and run the ball the whole drive for a touchdown.

Alright, and that’s enough with the commercials about this car that can parallel park itself. Are you kidding me? Are they just trying to get people to buy the car to try this out? Way to go Lexus. Oh, and hey we’re less than 3 weeks from them running, “A December to Remember Sales Event” commercials. I can’t wait. Someone shoot me now, seriously, shoot me now.

8:13pm
1:40 2nd quarter

Louisville ran the ball 5 times in a row inside the 5 yard line and got a total of 3 yards on those plays. They settle for a field goal on a Mountaineer stand and are now up 16-14. What’s incredible is how easily Louisville moves down the field and then they stop when in the red zone, like a kid who is really anxious to meet a sports start, runs up to them, and then when they get 10 feet away, can’t move.

8:18pm
Halftime

8:43pm
13:54 3rd quarter

The second half starts with West Virginia on offense. Steve Slaton is just running at will against Louisville right now, uh oh, he fumbles, and Louisville recovers, and another personal foul penalty is called, this time against West Virginia and they give Louisville 15 more yards. Wow, they are in business.

8:46pm
12:31 3rd quarter

So, the lights are going out in the stadium, and now Louisville turns the ball over on a fumble after a catch downfield, I don’t think he had possession of the ball, and I believe this will be overturned. We’ll see. Well, I’m an idiot and the Mountaineers have the ball back.

8:48pm
12:08 3rd quarter

Another fumble by Steve Slaton that is returned for a Louisville touchdown. This will be reviewed, but the call is going to stand, and Louisville will be up 23-14. What an incredible start to the second half.

8:57pm
10:10 3rd quarter

Now up 23-14, Louisville brought the pressure for 3 straight downs and forced a punt on 4th and 16. This is a huge turn in the game. Steve Slaton was out for the entire series as he was getting his arm looked at, and now Pat White is limping off the field, this could get very, very ugly for West Virginia. Now, Louisville returns the punt for a touchdown and Papa John is so into it, the stadium cameras are shaking. 30-14 now with 9:23 left in the quarter, 2 straight non-offensive touchdowns for Louisville, and that is terrible for West Virginia with Pat White nursing a sore leg, he’ll have to go right back onto the field. If the Mountaineers go 3 and out on this possession, game over.

9:06pm
6:02 3rd quarter

Well, they didn’t go 3 and out and Pat White’s foot/leg seems to be doing just fine right now and the refs missed a face mask against Louisville, they probably missed it because it is so dark on the field right now.

9:11pm
2:29 3rd quarter

A great response from the Mountaineers, a long drive and a touchdown, 30-21 Louisville. Now, the momentum has swung a little bit towards West Virginia because they took time off the clock and didn’t let the crowd get back into the game. Now it is on the defense, they need to keep the stadium quiet. If they do, we may see be seeing the beginning of a repeat of last year when West Virginia came back from down 17 in the fourth quarter, forced overtime and won.

9:21pm
End of 3rd quarter

This is shaping up to be quite a 4th quarter. Although it looks like Louisville will score again, it should still be fun.

9:25pm
14:55 4th quarter

7 yard touchdown pass and the Cardinals will be up 37-21, and my prediction will not come true, but Louisville is now on pace to keep to their average and score 50 points.

9:31pm
12:41 4th quarter

West Virginia marches right down the field and scores a touchdown of their own by what else, running it in. However, they missed the 2 point conversion to make the score 37-27. Louisville really needs a long sustained drive to keep West Virginia’s offense on the sideline.

9:38pm
10:19 4th quarter

Well, so much for a sustained drive, Louisville runs and throws and runs and scores again; 44-27 now. I don’t think there’s any chance of a West Virginia comeback at this point. Louisville’s offense has been dominating this half and aside from one turnover has really been moving at will. Not that West Virginia’s hasn’t, but the turnovers and the one 3 and out certainly gave Louisville all the momentum it needed.

9:50pm
7:16 4th quarter

Down 17, West Virginia goes for it on 4th down and the swing pass doesn’t even come close to getting a first down. It seems almost anti-climactic now that Louisville will reach the 50 point mark at home again this season.

9:56pm
4:43 4th quarter

So I see the following headline on cnn.com, “funny, heartbreaking letters to God found dumped”. Umm, where are they supposed to go? Are post offices just supposed to keep extra room so that they can store all of these letters to God? I really don’t get it, or is there an address for God somewhere in the bible that I missed in grade school?
Oh, anyway, West Virginia is getting the ball back, but this game is long over.

10:04pm
2:18 4th quarter

West Virginia scores what will end up being a meaningless touchdown. It is now 44-34 and the Mountaineers will have to recover 2 onside kicks and score 2 times, just to tie the game. This is not happening.

10:07pm
1:47 4th quarter

Onside kick fails, and there’s your ballgame, well, unless Louisville scores again.

Both of these teams did very well and it speaks to the talent in the Big East. I still think the best 2 teams I have seen all year are Ohio State and Michigan with Texas and Florida not far behind. While I don’t think Louisville could beat Michigan’s defense or Ohio State’s offense, the game would be close.

Then again, West Virginia wasn’t as good as they are this year when they laid the wood to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last January, so you never know.

10:15pm
0:00

44-34 Louisville, oh and if you didn’t know, the Breeder’s Cup Championships are this weekend at Churchill Downs on ESPN. The students pour onto the field and celebrate this huge victory, and the University is very smart and has easily collapsible goal posts so they don’t get torn down, fantastic.

-Until next time…