Louisville looks to beat Rutgers for first time

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Top 25 Overview

LOUISVILLE, KY - 8:00 PM ET Who would have thought in August that it would be Louisville chasing Rutgers in the Big East. More bad news for the Cardinals? Rutgers has won all four games between the two schools. Scouts, Inc.: Matchups to watch

Complete Top 25 Overview

Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
RUTG	6-4	260	253	3-2	3-2	3-3	3-3
LOU	7-2	426	213	5-0	2-2	3-2	3-2
· Complete Standings

Record When Scoring... (Since 2001)
	20 OR MORE	30 OR MORE	40 OR MORE	50 OR MORE
RUTG	15-12-0	10-7-0	2-0-0	0-0-0
LOU	43-8-0	36-4-0	25-1-0	12-0-0
	LESS THAN 20	LESS THAN 30	LESS THAN 40	LESS THAN 50
RUTG	3-25-0	8-30-0	16-37-0	18-37-0
LOU	1-7-0	8-11-0	19-14-0	32-15-0

TEAM AVERAGES & NCAA RANKS
OFFENSE	TM	PER GAME AVERAGE / NCAA RANK
Total Yards	RUTG	384.8 / 50th
	LOU	494.7 / 7th
Passing Yards	RUTG	232.0 / 67th
	LOU	314.9 / 10th
Rushing Yards	RUTG	162.6 / 40th
	LOU	194.1 / 27th
Points Scored	RUTG	27.6 / 47th
	LOU	45.2 / 3rd
Full Team Stats: Rutgers | Louisville

THIS WEEK'S LINE
FAVORITE	SPREAD	UNDERDOG	OVER/UNDER
LOUISVILLE	22	RUTGERS	68
Full Daily Lines

Individual Leaders

Rutgers Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Savage 54.0 1601 10 4 Natale 50.0 213 0 3

Louisville Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Froman 60.7 1100 5 5 Burke 50.5 654 3 5

Rutgers Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Martin... 156 784 5.0 8 Brooks 59 278 4.7 4

Louisville Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Anders... 89 473 5.3 5 Ashley 88 416 4.7 3

Rutgers Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Brown 44 927 21.1 7 Sanu 40 427 10.7 1

Louisville Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Long 46 661 14.4 2 Beaumo... 35 440 12.6 0

Full Player Stats: Rutgers | Louisville

(AP) -- Louisville and Rutgers are bowl-eligible, but don't know where they fit in the postseason picture.

The No. 23 Cardinals (6-2, 2-2 Big East) host the Scarlet Knights (6-3, 3-2) Friday night at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in a game that should play a key role in determining the bowl destination -- if any -- of the two teams.

Louisville entered its first season in the Big East with dreams of playing in a Bowl Championship Series game, but losses to South Florida and league leader West Virginia ended those aspirations.

Now the Cardinals -- who have won their last 10 home games, the fifth-longest such streak in NCAA Division I-A -- would like to finish as high as possible in the league and earn a berth in the Gator Bowl.

Rutgers, which has broken a streak of 10 straight losing seasons, hasn't played in a bowl game since 1978 -- when the Scarlet Knights appeared in the Garden State Bowl -- and just wants to make sure it is included somewhere. After the Gator Bowl, the Big East's other agreements are with the Insight Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

"Right now, with where we are with this program ... we still have a lot of things that are out there on the table for us," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said."One of them is to secure a bowl bid and play good football."

There are numerous similarities between the teams.

Both have strong offenses, ranking 1-2 in the conference: Louisville averages 495.8 yards per game, the Scarlet Knights 385.8 yards. Both had a disappointing loss to South Florida, a team they're now chasing in the league standings. Both have one of the nation's best defensive ends: Elvis Dumervil for Louisville, Ryan Neill for Rutgers.

Both also could be without key players. Louisville running back Michael Bush, who is second in Division I-A with 21 touchdowns, sprained his right foot last Thursday in a 42-20 win over Pittsburgh and did not practice all week.

Bush's availability will be a game-time decision, team spokesman Rocco Gasparro said Thursday. Kolby Smith, who returned last week from a knee injury, would replace Bush as the feature back.

Rutgers senior quarterback Ryan Hart, who has an injured right shoulder, won't start. Redshirt freshman Mike Teel, who started two games last month before injuring his throwing shoulder, will get the nod instead, although Hart likely will be available.

Whomever is playing quarterback for the Scarlet Knights will be aware of Dumervil, who has 20 sacks this season, four shy of the Division I-A record set by Terrell Suggs of Arizona State in 2002. Dumervil forced his ninth fumble of the season in the win over Pittsburgh, breaking the Division I-A mark set in 2001 by Dwight Freeney of Syracuse. (The NCAA began keeping defensive records in 2000.)

Dumervil also leads the nation in tackles for a loss, averaging almost 2.7 per game. Neill is third nationally in that category at 2.00 per game. They are two of six finalists for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award.

Rutgers is seeking its third straight Big East road win. The Scarlet Knights had never won consecutive Big East road games until this season, when they won at both Syracuse and Connecticut.

Rutgers is 4-0 all-time against Louisville -- all the games were played between 1976 and 1986 -- but the Scarlet Knights haven't beaten a ranked foe since Sept. 24, 1988, when they upset Penn State 21-16.