MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Louisville’s defense can’t seem to catch a break against West Virginia.
Pat White left a lasting imprint on the Cardinals with four standout games, including last year when he ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns, threw for two more scores and set an NCAA career rushing record by a quarterback in the Mountaineers’ 35-21 win.
While White grabbed the headlines, running back Noel Devine quietly did his share of the legwork. His 154 rushing yards on just 13 carries last year wasn’t lost on Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe.
“Gosh dang it, every time that guy touches the ball, something magical is going to happen,” Kragthorpe said. “He makes you hold your breath.”
Devine needs 46 yards when West Virginia (6-2, 2-1 Big East) meets Louisville (3-5, 0-3) on Saturday to reach 1,000 for the second straight season.
South Florida found a way to slow down Devine last week, plugging up his escape routes and limiting him to a season-low 42 yards in the Bulls’ 30-19 win. Devine also failed to score for the first time this season and six of his 17 carries went for no gain or lost yardage.
“You can’t have seams where he can stick his foot in the ground and get back north and south and get started again,” Kragthorpe said. “They did a nice job of containing him and defending the edge on the defensive front with their linebackers and safeties.”
Louisville figures to have a difficult time mirroring South Florida’s effort. The Cardinals rank last in the Big East in several defensive categories, including stopping the run.
Third-place West Virginia still holds onto faint hopes of a conference title and must likely win its remaining four games to achieve that. Among them are tough tests with No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 14 Pittsburgh.
First, the Mountaineers must get over the South Florida loss and get psyched up to play heavy-underdog Louisville.
“You take the good, you learn from the bad and keep going,” said West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown. “It’s as simple as that. You’ve got to have amnesia in this league.”
Louisville is 0-4 on the road and has struggled to score in two of its three league games. Its best effort was a 38-25 loss at Connecticut. Three Cardinals quarterbacks have managed just six touchdown passes total this season and Kragthorpe has indicated he may not know his starting backfield until game time.
Walk-on quarterback Will Stein engineered a 21-13 win over Arkansas State last week. Adam Froman and backup Justin Burke were hurt two weeks ago against Cincinnati and they may be healed in time to play at West Virginia.
Victor Anderson, Louisville’s top rusher with 480 yards and five TDs, missed the Arkansas State game with a knee injury but is closer to returning to action. Bilal Powell ran for 93 yards and Darius Ashley had a career-high 77 yards and two TDs in Anderson’s place last week.
Kragthorpe said the Cardinals need to have a solid rushing effort on Saturday, especially if they hope to exploit West Virginia’s pass defense, which has been shoddy the past two games. The Mountaineers are giving up 236 yards per contest through the air, 12 more than Louisville.
“If we get those matchups we like, we’ll certainly try to take advantage of them,” Kragthorpe said. “The whole key is those matchups aren’t created unless you’re running the football well.”
Despite Louisville’s struggles, an opponent can’t be counted out when playing at West Virginia, which is 5-0 at home but needed second-half comebacks to beat Marshall, Colorado and Connecticut.
“It’s a good opportunity to get things back on track,” said West Virginia safety Robert Sands. “We know we have to win out and dominate our opponents to get back into the BCS running. All the goals are still on the table.”
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