MORGANTOWN - Louisville is known for a lot of things. Brohms? Yes. Pizza? You bet. (The Cardinals play in Papa John's Stadium). Three-pointers? Better than anyone.

Still, if there's one thing Louisville has always been a stranger to, it's defense.

Former Utah State head coach Brent Guy was brought in this season as the program's fourth defensive coordinator in the last three seasons, following in the footsteps of Bill Miller, Ron English and Mike Cassity.

This job is apparently so unappealing, Miller resigned before he ever set a formation, though to be fair, the real reason he left U of L was to take the defensive coordinator position at the University of Kansas so he could get closer to his family.

Still, for all the offensive numbers and NFL caliber quarterbacks to have gone through Louisville, the Cards have always struggled stopping people.

Those of us around these parts once watched redshirt freshman Pat White and the Mountaineers come back from 17 points down in the final 8 minutes and eventually beat the Cards in three overtimes, 46-44, in 2005.

This season's unit has been, um, worse.

Louisville is dead last in the Big East in total defense, as it is allowing 372 yards a game, and scoring defense, where it allows four touchdowns a game. Those numbers include a non-conference schedule that is suspect at best. Louisville has played Indiana State, Southern Miss, and Arkansas State.

In league games, where the Cardinals have lost eight straight under hot-seat coach Steve Kragthorpe, opponents are averaging 38 points per game against the Cards, with all three foes to this point having scored more than 35.

The defense has given up 450 yards on average in those games with no particular preference in its generosity (184 on the ground, 267 through the air per league game). In those three games, the Cards have forced just two turnovers.

No wonder West Virginia is a 19-point favorite.

Having said all of that, it was no surprise West Virginia offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen was complimenting the Louisville defenders earlier this week.

We all enjoy watching football. It's one of the most popular spectator sports in the world, but if there's one thing Mullen likes to point out, it's a job to him. One he takes very seriously.

And so he began

"They've got a three-technique (nose tackle L.D. Scott) that's a real good player, inside guy. They've got a couple back-end kids that can really run," Mullen said. "And they're very well coached. They bring a little bit more blitzing than the last two few teams we've played so we're going to have to be prepared for that. They do a lot of that on third down, a lot of it in that score zone, that red zone area as well so we're going to have to have a plan for that."

More blitzing? Than the last two teams? Huh?

The differences between English's defenses and Guys are subtle, according to Mullen.

''Little more movement, little more odd front, little more multiple," he said. "The new coordinator has brought a different flavor in there. Certainly, we're going to have to be ready for all of that."

On defense, the Mountaineers have been preparing for any one of three quarterbacks Will Stein, Adam Froman, and Justin Blake, each of whom has started and won a game this season.

Mullen said he's never had to prepare three different guys to play, thankfully.

''I've been blessed that way," he said. "That must be a very difficult thing. I've had to prepare a starter then not know who the backup was."

So is it possible Louisville is in just as much trouble on offense as it is on defense at the moment?

''It's a good and a bad thing," Mullen said. "It's nice to know you have depth. But there's no question, you want your starter to get two-thirds of the reps, and you want your backup to get a third. When you've got to split thirds, I think sometimes you may not come into it as prepared with you would have liked."

Jim Elliott can be reached via e-mail at: Elliott@theintelligencer.net