The Gold Rush.

In the mid-1800’s, thousands of people from far away lands set out for Northern California in search of fortune in the form of gold. The scene quickly became a free for all place where seekers scavenged the streams in search of this get-rich-quick scheme.

The milestone in American history was monumental in the development of the West.

Fast forward about 150 years.

There is a new gold rush. You could say it is still related to the West. This time, however, all the buzz is surrounding a football team. West Virginia.

People will travel from miles around to Morgantown hoping for excitement and extravaganza. Viewers will tune into ESPN’s national broadcast in primetime television. Last year’s showdown at Louisville was the most-watched Thursday night game in ESPN history.

The spectacular show that is West Virginia versus Louisville will take place on Mountaineer Field. WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez has called for all fans to come to the game wearing gold. The turf may be the only thing not glowing gold come Thursday night, but if the previous two meetings between these ball clubs gives any indication, the players competing on it should be golden once more.

Enter Louisville.

Quarterback Brian Brohm elected to remain in school for his senior year and lead the Cardinals again. He flirted with the NFL when former head coach Bobby Petrino departed to fill the Atlanta Falcons’ coaching vacancy.

The Cardinals are 5-4 under the direction of new head coach Steve Kragthorpe. He has gotten solid production out of his star quarterback, Brohm. UL’s signal caller has thrown for 3,229 yards and 26 touchdowns. Brohm’s favorite target has been receiver Harry Douglas who has 55 catches, good for 879 yards and six touchdowns. Louisville’s passing game is the fourth best in college football at 360.9 yards per game.

“He’s (Douglas) one of the fastest players in college football,” said Rodriguez. “The key guy is Brohm. He understands the game. He’s very accurate. He’s an outstanding quarterback. You’re talking about one of the top offenses in the country. One of the top quarterbacks in the country. Nobody’s really stopped them.”

The Cardinals’ high octane offense has came up just short, however, in losses to Kentucky, Syracuse, Utah and Connecticut. Their defensive struggles probably had something to do with their losses. The UL ‘D’ has surrendered an average of 411.3 yards per game. That lands them at 79^th in the nation and seventh in the Big East conference.

UL will have its hands full with an evenly explosive West Virginia team. The No. 6 Mountaineers boast the third best “gold” rush offense and the 13th overall offense in the NCAA. Quarterback Patrick White has thrown for 1,070 pass yards and nine touchdowns. The dual-threat phenomenon has also rushed for 656 yards and nine scores.

White’s counterpart, Steve Slaton, has sprinted through defenses for 825 rush yards and 13 touchdowns. The tag-team of White and Slaton have been wreaking havoc on opponents all season long.

“People talk about yards after contact,” Kragthorpe said. “With these guys, it’s yards after juke. They juke a lot of defenders and make plays not just by breaking tackles, but by creating vapor tackles. This is our toughest task to date.”

So we know both teams can put up points in a hurry. What separates the two teams?

WVU’s defense is the answer. The Mountaineer defense sits atop the Big East allowing just 262.1 yards per game, while only allowing a meager 14.9 points per game. WVU owns the fourth best defense in college football. Perhaps the most notable stat for the Mountaineers is the 15^th-ranked pass defense. The WVU secondary has vastly improved that mark, which finished 109th in 2006. Brohm exposed the Mountaineer secondary in last year’s game, passing for 354 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s hard to confuse a veteran guy (Brohm) like that. You can’t give him the same look. He’ll eat you up. You got to try to do different things to try to create some confusion,” explained Rodriguez. “Nobody’s really been able to do that.”

Graduate transfer and safety Ryan Mundy leads the improved secondary with three interceptions and 36 tackles. Linebacker Reed Williams has a team leading 68 tackles and an interception. Defensive end Johnny Dingle has been a man on a mission. The vocal leader of the defense has registered six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss, while totaling 27 tackles.

The Mountaineers have yet to be tested by a quarterback and receiving core as capable and potent as Louisville’s. We will all know more about that side of the ball after Thursday night’s game. WVU will need to get after Brohm and not let him have time to sit back and find his receivers as he did in last season’s game.

“He (Brohm) gets rid of the football quick, so he’s hard to pressure,” said Rodriguez. “This is a tremendous challenge. The biggest one we’ve faced so far this year defensively.”

WVU should expect to be in for a fight for three quarters, but in the end, their offense will prove to be too speedy and powerful. White, Slaton, the ‘Incredible Hulk’ type fullback Owen Schmitt, the elusive receiver Darius Reynaud and newcomer, speed-demon running back Noel Devine, should steamroll the Mountaineer Express to the endzone time and time again. If Louisville lets White’s galloping gazelle speed into the open field, the Daphne, Ala. native will do more than enough to put the nail in the coffin and avenge last year’s 44-34 loss.

Rodriguez is undefeated during night games taking place in Morgantown. WVU is 6-2 all-time against Louisville.Rodriguez is 1-1 against the Cardinals. His single victory against UL was a triple overtime thriller in 2005 where the Mountaineers prevailed when White and Slaton sparked an unbelievable fourth quarter comeback. UL fell to WVU 46-44.

West Virginia will look to capture its eighth victory of the season and remain in contention for the Big East championship. Mountaineer fans will be keeping a close eye on the team’s ranked ahead of WVU to see if their team can perhaps creep back into the national title hunt.

Louisville hopes to improve to 6-4 and become bowl eligible. A win over WVU on the road would be a tremendous addition to their 2007 resume.

“This is a game to earn respect,” Louisville defensive back Rod Council said. “It hasn’t been the season we had hoped for, but it can still turn out to be a positive, so we’re going to go down to Morgantown and play the best football we can play.”

The Cardinal defense will have to be up to the daunting task or else White will be the conductor of the Mountaineer Express, rushing his team and loyal supporters to another golden victory. All aboard!