First Big East foe, South Florida, is familiar

[bullwark]

LOUISVILLE  Funny thing about Louisville's long-awaited football debut in the Big East Conference: It looks a lot like the Cardinals' old league, Conference USA.

U of L (2-0) will play its inaugural Big East game Saturday night in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (6:45 p.m. kickoff) against South Florida (2-1), one of the two football-playing schools that joined the Cards in moving from C-USA to the Big East. The other is Cincinnati.

And that, U of L coach Bobby Petrino said during his weekly press conference Monday, makes the whole thing seem kind of strange. The Cards probably won't feel the true impact of their switch until their next Big East encounter, which doesn't come until Oct. 15 at West Virginia, starting a string of six straight league games.

"It doesn't feel a whole lot different because we're opening with South Florida," Petrino said. "We know them real well, they know us real well. We've been seeing them, recruiting against them, so there's really not a whole big difference."

U of L, ranked No. 8 nationally in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 9 by the Associated Press, is entering Big East play as an even bigger favorite for the conference championship than it was in the pre-season considering how weak the rest of the league has turned out to be.

The Cards are 10th in the Sagarin computer rankings and only one other Big East team  West Virginia  is in the top 20, but the Mountaineers aren't ranked in the polls. No other Big East club is in the first 65 in Sagarin. Overall, the Big East ranks seventh, next-to-last among major conferences and barely ahead of C-USA.

The showdown between the Cards and Mountaineers (3-0) in Morgantown will almost certainly determine the conference champ and the league's automatic bid to a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl.

Petrino says he won't try to convince his players that the South Florida game is more important than any other on the schedule because with the Cards moving up in the rankings and having an eye on a possible national championship, remaining undefeated is the primary focus.

"We don't say it's more important," Petrino said. "We do understand the stakes are a lot higher this year because if you win the conference you're in a BCS bowl game and that's certainly one of our goals. I can't say that this game is more important than the next one or the previous one because as of right now, there's a lot at stake in every game we play."

South Florida has been playing football for only nine years and was a late-comer to C-USA, so this will be just the third time the teams have met. The Bulls upset the Cards 31-28 in double overtime in Tampa in 2003 and U of L won last year's meeting in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium 41-9.

USF coach Jim Leavitt said he watched part of U of L's 63-27 romp past Oregon State Saturday and came away wondering how the Bulls can compete.

"My goodness, they just rolled right over Oregon State, and Oregon State is a good football team," Leavitt said during the Big East teleconference call. "It wasn't even a game. they just destroyed them. Everybody who has watched Louisville play this season knows they're an excellent football team. They've got great players all over the place. Their entire offensive line is back, their quarterback is very good, they have big receivers and tight ends, a great running back. It's all there."

Leavitt said he takes no comfort in the fact that South Florida is one of the few teams that has been able to slow U of L down somewhat during Petrino's tenure. The Bulls limited the Cards to 21 points in regulation in the 2003 win, tying their second-lowest total in 27 games under Petrino.

"We had that game to look at a year ago and we didn't get much done, did we?" Leavitt said. "It sure didn't help us because they beat the dog out of us. Besides, they're a different team than they were two years ago. They're more powerful on all fronts."

South Florida dropped its opener at Penn State, 23-13, then beat Division 1-AA Florida A&M 37-3 and handed Central Florida its 17th straight loss, 31-14, last Saturday.

"We're stepping up to a whole new level now," Leavitt said. "We're a team that has some talent, but we're facing a heck of a challenge."

CLARK ON THE MEND

Wide receiver/kick returner Broderick Clark, who led U of L in receiving with 45 yards in the opening win over Kentucky, will be out at least three to four weeks with the twisted knee he suffered on the opening kickoff against Oregon State.

"Three to four weeks is an optimistic look," Petrino said. "Some guys can come off it that fast and for some it takes awhile longer. It's probably a harder injury for a receiver than a lineman because of the amount of cutting and change of direction a receiver does."

Clark's absence will mean that redshirt freshman Mario Urrutia will play most of the game against South Florida, as he did against Oregon State when he caught seven passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.

CARD FILEâ€â€With Utah's loss last week at TCU, Louisville owns the nation's third-longest winning streak among NCAA Division 1-A schools at nine. Southern Cal has won 24 in a row, Texas 10 ... The Cards rank fifth nationally in rushing defense, having allowed an average of just 44.5 yards per game and an average of 1.4 yards per carry ... Quarterback Brian Brohm has been nominated for Cingular Wireless/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week after passing for 368 yards and five touchdowns against OSU. Fans vote on the award. Brohm said he hadn't voted for himself, but asked if he had instructed his family to do so, he replied: "No, but that's a good idea." ... In his first two seasons at Louisville, Petrino played 14 true freshmen, but he has used only three rookies so far this year  defensive backs Lamar Alson (Paducah) and Travis North (Tallahassee, Fla.), both on special teams, and defensive tackle Earl Heyman (Louisville).

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/12689024.htm

[South_Florida_Flip]

The showdown between the Cards and Mountaineers (3-0) in Morgantown will almost certainly determine the conference champ and the league's automatic bid to a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl.

I hope our players see that.

[S p e n c e]

From the sounds of this article sounds like UofL is looking right past us.  

[Guest Collegecard]

From the sounds of this article sounds like UofL is looking right past us.  

There are zero player quotes in the article. As for Petrino, I want him taking it one game at a time. Right now, Saturday is all that matters. As for the players, they know what's on the line every gameday. The fact that you beat us the only other time we played in Tampa will not be lost on the Cards. Many were there for that loss.

[smazza]

saturday is our bowl game

[TyBull]

saturday is our bowl game

WOW! I agree with SMazza 100%  

[bullwark]

Spence

From the sounds of this article sounds like UofL is looking right past us.

 I thought the same thing, sounds like the Cards are more interested in reading their press clippings.

[E.T.]

... The Cards rank fifth nationally in rushing defense, having allowed an average of just 44.5 yards per game and an average of 1.4 yards per carry ...

They haven't meet Andre Hall this season yet, and much of that stat has to do with their sacks. They haven't meet our O-Line.

Go BULLS !!!

[mutt]

[bulls96go]

saturday is our bowl game

yes but we get another against UM in a few weeks

and if WVU is ranked when they come in they would qualify as a bowl game as well

what a schedule!

what is our SOS anyway?