Big East Game of the Week: Rutgers vs. Louisville

Week 14 Feature Game

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-2, 5-1) vs. Louisville Cardinals (9-2, 4-2)

Thursday, November 29 • 7:30 PM • ESPN

High Point Solutions Stadium • Piscataway, New Jersey

The Big East football soap opera continued this week with the addition of Tulane University and East Carolina to the conference. Stand by for the entrance of Kevin’s pick to win the 2016 Big East Conference championship: Appalachian State.

In the meantime, a team that is leaving the league after 21 years – Rutgers – has finally earned a share of the Big East Championship. The Scarlet Knights can claim it exclusively with a win at home Thursday night against the preseason favorite, Louisville.

Many circled this date as the key matchup when the schedule was released. The prophecy was accurate….

Dating back to 1976, Rutgers leads the all-time series 7-4. The Scarlet Knights are 4-1 against the Cardinals in Piscataway, but Louisville is 4-3 in Big East Conference play Louisville ended a three-game losing streak last October with a 16-14 victory over Rutgers at Papa John’s Cardinals Stadium.

After a triple-overtime loss to UConn at home last Saturday, the Cardinals need a win at Rutgers to secure a BCS bowl berth. It could get interesting though….

Since Syracuse has already finished conference play with a 5-2 record, with a Louisville victory at Rutgers and a win by Cincinnati at UConn, there will be a four-way tie (Rutgers, Syracuse, Louisville and Cincinnati) for the Big East title.

Louisville and Rutgers would be 2-1 against the three other 5-2 teams. If that’s the case, the Cardinals would likely go to a BCS game because they would be the highest ranked team.

If Cincinnati loses and there is a three-way tie, the Cardinals would receive the berth in that scenario based on being the highest ranked team. Louisville would have beaten Rutgers and lost to Syracuse, while the Scarlet Knights would have lost to Louisville and defeated Syracuse.

Injuries and mental fatigue will play a factor in this game, along with the pressure of the BCS bowl game opportunity. Look for a turnover to decide the outcome.

Line: Rutgers (-3)

Pick: Louisville 27-23

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Big East Power Rankings:

1. Rutgers (9-2, 5-1)

2. Syracuse (7-5, 5-2)

3. Louisville (9-2, 4-2)

4. Cincinnati (8-3, 4-2)

5. UConn (5-6, 2-4)

6. Pitt (5-6, 2-4)

7. Temple (4-7, 2-5)

8. USF (3-8, 1-5)

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Other Big East Week 14 games:

Cincinnati (-5) at Connecticut

Pitt (-6) at USF

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Big East Week 13 Recap

Syracuse 38 at Temple 20

USF 10 at Cincinnati 27

UConn 23 at Louisville 20

Rutgers 6 at Pitt 27

Conference Players of Week 13:

Offense: Tino Sunseri, QB, Pittsburgh

Defense: Trevardo Williams, DE, Connecticut

Special Teams: Chad Christen, K, Connecticut

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 on Blog Talk Radio.