Big East Game of the Week: Louisville vs. Syracuse

Week 11 Feature Game

#11 Louisville Cardinals (8-0, 3-0) vs. Temple Owls (3-4, 2-2)
Saturday, November 10 • Noon ET • ABC
Carrier Dome • Syracuse, New York

Louisville leads the all-time series 6-5, including a 3-2 record at the Carrier Dome. Last year, Louisville built an early 14-0 lead on the way to defeating Syracuse 27-10 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The Louisville defense kept the Orange out of the end zone until the final two minutes.

Syracuse has not defeated Louisville under head coach Doug Marrone. The Orange last win against the Cardinals was in 2008, a 28-21 decision at the Carrier Dome.

The Orange are 3-1 at the Carrier Dome in 2012. This game marks Syracuse’s final home game of the season, and as a member of the Big East Conference. It is senior day, and homecoming.

Led by quarterback Ryan Nassib, Syracuse has already set team record for passing yards in a season (2,773) and tied its record for passing touchdowns at 24.

Louisville remains one of six undefeated FBS teams. After three straight home games, the Cardinals hit the road for the first time since Oct. 13. The Cardinals are a 3-0 this season away from home and have won six straight road games dating back to last season. Louisville won its final three away games of the 2011 season with victories at West Virginia, Connecticut and USF.

The Cardinals have fallen behind in all three road games, being out-scored 52-43 in the first half, but have shut out their opponents 31-0 in the third quarter.

With last week’s a 45-17 win over Temple, Louisville raised its record to 9-0 for the first time since 2006 when the Cardinals finished the year at 12-1. The 9-0 start is just the 11th nine-win season in school history. With a win at Syracuse, the Cardinals have a 10 (or more) wins in a season for just the fourth time in the history of the school.

Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater took over as the starter against Marshall on Oct. 1, 2011, and
has led the team to a 14-5 record since. Bridgewater has 18 passing touchdowns this season, tied for Ed Rubbert (1984) and Chris Redman (1997) for 10th most in a single season. For his career, Bridgewater has tossed 32 touchdowns, tying him with Browning Nagle (1989-90) for eighth most in a career.

Line: Louisville -1.5

Pick: Louisville 27-24

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Big East Power Rankings:
1. Louisville (9-0, 4-0) #11
2. Rutgers (7-1, 4-0) #24
3. Cincinnati (6-2, 2-1)
4. Syracuse (4-5, 3-2)
5. Pitt (4-5, 1-3)
6. Temple (3-5, 2-3)
7. USF (3-6, 1-4)
8. UConn (3-6, 0-4)

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Other Big East Week 11 games:
Pitt at UConn
Cincinnati at Temple
Army at Rutgers

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Big East Week 10 Recap
Syracuse 24 at Cincinnati 35
Temple 17 at Louisville 45
Pitt 26 at Notre Dame 29 (3OT)
UConn 6 at USF 13

Conference Players of Week 10:
Offense: George Winn, RB, Cincinnati
Defense: Keith Brown, LB, Louisville
Special Teams: Matt Brown, RB, Temple

Pete Sonski is a contributor to College Football Zealots. Follow him on Twitter @29sonski and check out his work at Big East Coast Bias and his Three Point Stance show every Tuesday at 9 PM ET on Blog Talk Radio.