The similarities between Louisville of 2007 and Rutgers and West Virginia of 2008 are striking. All three teams lost significant amounts of players from the previous season, and all had major coaching changes going into the year: Louisville lost Petrino, WVU lost RichRod, and Rutgers lost multiple assistants, including Darren Rizzi (URI Head Coach). We have six new coaches on the staff right now. All three teams started the season in the same position: all ranked (or close to being ranked) with high expectations. All teams responded with less than steller starts to the season, and none met the expectations of their lofty rankings. Louisville began 2-0, beating up on Murray State and Midd Tenn. They then dropped the next two to Kentucky and Syracuse. West Virginia began with a win over Nova, then lost to ECU and Colorado. Rutgers has dropped it's opening two games to Fresno State and North Carolina. They were all able to take advantage of lesser opponents, but struggled against higher level (aside from Cuse) talent. Furthermore, RU and West Virginia have even more in common. They are both 2-3 in their last 5. West Virginia has won against Oklahoma and and Villanova: one high quality opponent, one cupcake. They have lost to Pitt, ECU, and Colorado. Rutgers has won against Pitt and Ball State: two middle of the pack opponents. They have lost to Louisville, Fresno State, and UNC. The losses are even more similar: each has one loss to a BE team, a team from a non-BCS conference, and a rising young team from a BCS conference. This was just a post where I wanted to think out loud. It's interesting.
