[Quality88]

After last weekend's loss to the University of Kentucky, members of the University of Louisville football team said they would regroup and try to get back to a BCS game by winning the Big East Conference.
That will be easier said than done, however. This year's Big East is shaping up as the toughest league competition that the No. 18 Cardinals (2-1) have ever experienced, and they have one of the most demanding schedules of the leading contenders.

Half of the Big East's eight teams -- West Virginia, Rutgers, South Florida and U of L -- are ranked in both The Associated Press and USA Today Coaches' Top 25 polls. Cincinnati is on the verge of making it five, checking in at No. 29 in the AP and 33rd in the coaches' rankings.
"I call it the Big Beast," said Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, whose 3-0 team spanked Oregon State earlier this season. "Clearly, depth is the strength of this conference. It's going to be a battle each week."
The Big East has a combined non-conference record of 18-5, the third-best winning percentage among BCS conferences. Three of the league's losses belong to Syracuse (0-3), which comes to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium this Saturday.
In Conference USA, U of L rarely faced more than two or three serious challengers to the crown. When the Cards joined the Big East in 2005, the league was still rebuilding from the defections of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
Jeff Sagarin's computer rankings place Big East third among conferences, behind the Pacific-10 and Southeastern. ESPN "Gameday" analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit also picked the Big East as the third-best league on the air Saturday.
"Unfortunately, a lot of people want to compare conferences to each other," said Nick Caparelli Jr., the Big East's associate commissioner in charge of football. "That's kind of irrelevant to us. The important thing is that we've proved we can compete at the highest level. We feel like we've staked our place."
Fifth-ranked West Virginia is a national title contender. South Florida scored a big win at Auburn two weeks ago and looks to help the Big East go 3-0 against the Atlantic Coast Conference when it welcomes North Carolina to Tampa this weekend.
Rutgers has looked strong against mostly subpar competition, while Cincinnati has won its three games by an average of 41 points while leading the nation in turnover margin.
Pittsburgh (2-1) and Connecticut (3-0), who square off in this week's other league matchup, hope to make some noise in the conference race as well.
"I said from the beginning that this league is stronger than last year," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said. "The parity of the league is so strong, you just don't know how it will play out."
One thing seems clear: Louisville's road through the league is as hard as anybody's. Emphasis on the word "road."
The Cards will have to play at three of the other top four contenders -- Cincinnati, West Virginia and South Florida -- before getting Rutgers at Papa John's to close the year. Only West Virginia, which must travel to Rutgers, South Florida and Cincinnati, has to play that many of the league's top-ranked teams on the road.
South Florida gets three of the four at home, while Cincinnati has two at home and two away.
"There are so many quality teams that the difference in those games could be home-field advantage," Kelly said. "If a lot of games are decided late, then the crowd and the home field could be the deciding factor."
The Cards likely will have to shore up their defensive problems in order to have success against such players as West Virginia's Steve Slaton and Pat White and Rutgers' Ray Rice. U of L leads the league in scoring at 55 points per game, but four other conference teams are averaging at least 35 points.
First-year U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe hasn't been through the conference before, so he said it's hard for him to tell just how good the other Big East teams are until he breaks down their film in detail later on. But U of L players have been paying attention to some of the scores and performances their league mates have posted.
"Top to bottom, it's one of the toughest conferences out there," quarterback Brian Brohm said. "That just means you've got to be ready each week. We need to start the conference out right (against Syracuse)."

'Big Beast' looks extra tough for Cards

[EmpireWF]

They can only look at it one game at a time. And their next game is against an awful team.