Posted by John Antonik on Monday, January 12, 2009
(3:05 pm)
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Jeff Casteel's West Virginia defense has been ranked in the top 15 in two of the last four seasons.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
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Since Jeff Casteel has had a pretty good run as West Virginia’s defensive coordinator, I thought it might be interesting to dig into the stats and list some of the other great defenses the Mountaineers have produced through the years.
Casteel’s unit in 2007 ranked seventh in the country in total defense giving up just 301.7 yards per game and was eighth in scoring defense allowing 18.1 points per game.
This year, Casteel’s defense gave up 17 points per game to rank 17th. It is the first time in school history West Virginia has finished ranked in the top 20 in back-to-back years in scoring defense.
Casteel also had a top 15 defense in 2005 when the Mountaineers gave up just 310.8 yards per game to rank 15th.
Before that, Steve Dunlap’s 1996 defense finished the year ranked No. 1 in the country in total defense (217.5 yards per game), No. 2 in rushing defense (61.5 yards per game), fourth in scoring defense (12.4 points) and fifth in pass defense (86.8 yards per game).
Dunlap’s 1993 defense ranked 10th in scoring allowing 15.5 points per game and was 13th in total defense (351.2).
Denny Brown had a run of outstanding defenses from 1981-87, ranking in the top 15 four times (1981, 1982, 1983 and 1987) during a seven-year period. Brown’s best defense in 1983 was ranked seventh in the country against the run (99.9) and 10th in total defense (282.3).
Dick Inman ran Jim Carlen’s 1967 defense that ranked ninth in the nation in total defense (203.6) and 10th against the run (82.1).
West Virginia fielded its strongest defenses under Art Lewis from 1952-55, ranking in the top 10 in total defense each year. Lewis’ best defense was the 1954 unit the ranked sixth in the nation in total defense (186.7) and seventh against the run (110).
In all, West Virginia’s defense has finished ranked in the top 10 in total defense eight times since 1952.
Briefly:
With Pitt’s LeSean McCoy expected to announce later today that he is turning pro, that will make it three of the Big East’s top offensive players now leaving early for the draft.
Previously, Rutgers wide receiver Kenny Britt and Connecticut running back Donald Brown announced that they were leaving school early.
You can also add West Virginia offensive guard Greg Isdaner to that list.
With the early defections, look for USF to nab top preseason honors in 2009 with quarterback Matt Grothe and defensive end George Selvie returning. Both players considered leaving but did not get grades good enough to warrant early departures.
West Virginia won’t shed any tears if McCoy does follow through with his intention of leaving early. McCoy ran for 183 yards and scored both touchdowns in Pitt’s 19-15 win over the Mountaineers at Heinz Field this year. That comes after McCoy managed 148 yards as a freshman in Pitt’s 13-9 upset of West Virginia in 2007.
The 4.51 rating West Virginia and North Carolina produced for this year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl was a 21-percent increase from last year’s game. It was the second-best showing by a Big East bowl behind the disappointing 5.41 rating secured by Cincinnati and Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
The BCS championship game between Florida and Oklahoma got a 15.82 rating. That is slightly less than the 17.0 rating for West Virginia's appearance in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame.
Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe is looking for another defensive coordinator. Last month, Kragthorpe promoted Bill Miller when Ron English left to take the head coaching job at Eastern Michigan.
Now, Miller has left the Cardinal program to become the co-defensive coordinator at Kansas near where he grew up in Hutchinson, Kan.
Ernie Stepoulus sent me an email the other day informing me that the Meineke Car Care Bowl had the fourth highest attendance of all of the bowls, trailing just the BCS Championship Game, the Rose and the Cotton bowls. Ernie said he pulled that out of last week’s Sporting News.
Thanks for the info, Ernie.
Just like basketball, football is now considering an early signing period. The American Football Coaches Association has forwarded a proposal for an early signing day and it will be reviewed by conference commissioners later this week.
The proposal calls for an early signing day during the third week of December. Notre Dame assistant coach Rob Ianello said there are approximately 1,000 players verbally committed to schools right now and that averages out to about 15 per school.
“Why not sign them,” Ianello told ESPN’s Joe Schad. “Is it a reservation or a commitment?”
Ianello believes an early signing period would also reduce recruiting costs for all schools.
Just think, if an early signing period would have been in place 15-20 years ago guys like Vince Powell, John Avery and Rohan Davey would have actually showed up in Morgantown.
Speaking of Vince Powell, I wonder where he is these days?
Despite a pair of losses to Connecticut and Marquette last week, West Virginia’s RPI is still in good shape at 23rd, according to today’s RealTimeRPI.com.
Unfortunately, even if the Mountaineers rebound to win its next two games this week against Marshall and USF they won’t get much help. Marshall is presently 140th in the RPI while the Bulls are No. 183.
Do you want to know how much times have changed? Well consider this. I was digging through some old press guides when I came across the 1973-74 basketball guide. On page one in bold face type you can get the home telephone numbers of coaches Sonny Moran, Gary McPherson and Chuck Machock.
Now that would go over real well today.
Four pages later is a listing of the game promotions for the season. The Dec. 1 home game against Pitt was High School Team Night. Any organized athletic team that showed up at the Coliseum got into the game for free.
Also admitted for free were cheerleaders, provided they came to the game in their uniforms. It does not specify if high school players had to show up in their game uniforms.
Groups of 25 or more got into the game for $25 and anyone buying a 25 cent scorecard received a glossy team photo, suitable for framing.
The Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Richmond, Virginia and Manhattan games were family nights with a family of four getting into the game for just $4. Additional family members were charged $1.
The Syracuse game had a double promotion: Band Night and Ladies Night. All high school bands and all women were admitted for free.
All of that hard work led to the Mountaineers averaging just 5,881 per game – the third lowest average attendance in the history of the Coliseum.
Have a great week!
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