There is nothing particularly remarkable about Donald Brown and Victor Anderson until they get the ball in their hands.
Then, all bets are off.
The 5-foot-10, 200-pound Brown has been the steadily spectacular constant for unbeaten (4-0). He leads the nation in rushing, averaging 179 yards per game under a heavy workload that hardly seems to bother him.
Anderson, meanwhile, has been the spark Louisville's offense desperately needed after a nightmarish opening game loss to Kentucky. The redshirt freshman, all 5-foot-7 and 180-pounds of him, ran for 176 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Kansas State last week as the Cardinals (2-1) put together their most complete performance under second-year coach Steve Kragthorpe.
Whichever team does the best job of stopping the other's budding superstar Friday night will get a leg up in a cluttered Big East.
It won't be easy.
Anderson is part of a two-headed monster at running back for the Cardinals, his quickness providing the yin to the bulldozing yang of fullback Brock Bolen. They became the first Louisville teammates in three years to both rush for over 100 yards in the same game against Kansas State as the Cardinals displayed the kind of firepower that propelled them to the Big East title two years ago.
The Huskies have relied more heavily on Brown. He's averaging 27 carries a game and has accounted for more than 40 percent of Connecticut's offensive production.
"He gets in a rhythm and he doesn't want to come out,"
said coach Randy Edsall. "He wants to play every play."
And he makes every play count. The last run of his 34-carry, 150-yard performance in a 31-28 win over Baylor last week was the game-deciding touchdown.
"He's an excellent tackle-breaker, he's got excellent vision,"
Kragthorpe said. "He can put his foot in the ground and change directions very quickly. He's not the No. 1 rusher in the country for nothing."
The Huskies, however, have piled up their wins over a largely nondescript nonconference schedule. The combined record of the four teams they've beaten is 5-9. A second straight win over the Cardinals would go a long way toward validating their quick start and proving last year's success—when UConn tied for the Big East championship—was no fluke.
Yet the Cardinals, particularly on defense, appear to be far from the muddled mess they were a year ago. New defensive coordinator Ron English has shored up one of the worst defenses in the country, turning the Cardinals into a snarling, attacking unit that doesn't play like it has a slew of new starters.
"Coach English told us that 'You are not the same players as you were last year,'"
Heyman said. "We don't even worry about last year. We just erase it."
Good idea.
The memories of last season are painful, particularly of a 21-17 loss to the Huskies, a game the Cardinals had under control until a controversial punt return for a touchdown by Larry Taylor that sparked UConn's comeback.
Louisville was leading early in the third quarter when the Cardinals punted the ball away to Taylor, who appeared to signal for a fair catch. The Cardinals stopped running. Taylor didn't, scooting up the left sideline for a touchdown that ignited UConn's rally.
The Big East later admitted officials made an error, though it was of little solace to the Cardinals, who stress they've moved on.
"We're not looking back on last year and saying 'If this had happened or if that had happened,'"
said quarterback Hunter Cantwell. "I think in every loss there's some pain there and you want to go out that next year and get the win. As far as we owe them one or anything like that, no, not really."
Louisville has more pressing concerns than revenge, like proving last week's romp over Kansas State was no fluke. It'll help if Anderson can duplicate his breakout performance against the Wildcats, when he ran for touchdowns of 27, 29 and 56 yards.
Kragthorpe considered playing Anderson last year but thought better of it to give Anderson a year to get stronger. Apparently, it's worked. As quick as he is, it's his power that has surprised opponents and teammates alike.
"I saw him in practice one day run over our linebackers,"
Heyman said. "That just took me off guard. You think of a little guy as elusive and shifty. He stutter stepped and you think he's going to stutter step again, and the linebacker just froze and he just ran over him. It catches you off guard."
The winner on Friday could do the same in the wide-open Big East.
