LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- With the Big East Conference in yet another state of flux, the University of Louisville's conference football schedule is changing, even as the bigger questions concern the Cardinals' non-conference schedule.
The Big East conference again shuffled its 2013 schedule in the wake of Boise State and San Diego State deciding not to join the league. As a result, U of L's Big East schedule next season looks like this:
Home: Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and Rutgers.
Away: Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and Temple.
Dates will be announced at a later time. The lone Big East team that U of L will not play next season is Southern Methodist.
It's a blow for the Cardinals' schedule, given that Boise State would've provided an opponent that likely would have been nationally ranked, on the road.
U of L figures to begin next season ranked anywhere from No. 7 to No. 13 nationally after its impressive Sugar Bowl victory over No. 3-ranked Florida.
But climbing higher than that will be problematic against the schedule now in place.
In the non-conference, U of L's schedule looks like this:
August 31: Ohio (home).
Sept. 7: Eastern Kentucky (home)
Sept. 14: Kentucky (away)
Sept. 21: Florida International (home)
One school source said that there had been some rumblings that ESPN may be interested in the Cardinals in a season-opening kickoff game, which would replace one of the current non-conference opponents, but that was contingent on a space in one of those games being freed up.
At the moment, all of those games are set, including the Chick-fil-A Kikoff Classic between Alabama and Virginia Tech.
U of L athletic director Tom Jurich said after the Sugar Bowl victory that the school would continue to make scheduling a priority and always will work toward opportunities to enhance the schedule, but no changes to the current 2013 non-conference schedule have been announced.
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