Smith, Ragone and White Bring Home More Hardware
December 06, 2001 | Football
Dec. 6, 2001
The post-season awards continue to roll in for the Louisville football team as the big three of junior quarterback Dave Ragone, sophomore defensive end Dewayne White and head coach John L. Smith were named Conference USA Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, in a vote by the league's 10 head football coaches and media members in each conference city.
This not only marks the first time in C-USA history that a school has claimed coach of the year and offensive and defensive player of the years honors, but it also marks the first time in league history that both offensive and defensive players of the year have come from the same school.
For Smith and Ragone, this is familiar territory as each claimed their respective awards last year. Smith joins Jeff Bower from Southern Miss as the only coaches to win the honor twice, however, Smith is the first in league history to win the award in consecutive years. With nine wins in 2000 and 10 so far this season, Smith's Cardinals, who are ranked No. 22 in this week's AP poll, have already established a new school standard for wins in a two-year period. The previous mark was held by the 1989 and 1990 squads which combined for 16 victories.
With consecutive offensive player of the year honors, Ragone joins Tulane's Shaun King as the only two-time winner in league history, and gives Louisville the award three straight years as QB Chris Redman won the award in 1999. Ragone, who has tallied a 19-4 overall record as a starter and a 12-2 mark in conference play, led the league in passing yards (3,056), total offense (260.2 ypg), passing touchdowns (23) and passing efficiency (143.5) and established a new league record for lowest interception percentage with only seven picks in 383 attempts.
Only a sophomore, White moved into fourth-place on both Louisville's and C-USA's career sack list with a league record-tying 15 sacks to lead a tenacious Cardinal defense. A pass rushing specialist, White led all C-USA defensive linemen with 86 tackles, including 73 solo stops and a school record 24 tackles for loss.
Louisville, which became the first C-USA school to claim back-to-back league titles, placed a league-high eight players on the all-conference first team and a league-best 11 players between the first and second teams combined.
