PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The race for the 2009 BIG EAST football championship begins in earnest in the first week of the season, with a key conference game between Cincinnati and Rutgers getting the 2009 season underway Labor Day weekend.

The 68-game BIG EAST schedule released Friday includes 28 conference games and a compelling nonleague slate of 40 games. Sixteen of the nonleague games are against conferences with automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series.

The season opener between Cincinnati – last year’s BIG EAST champion – and Rutgers, which will enter 2009 with a seven-game winning streak, marks the first time since 2005 that a BIG EAST game will be played in the first week of the season.

Highlights of the 2009 schedule include another intriguing series of Thursday games that will be televised on ESPN. The Thursday schedule begins Oct. 1, when West Virginia hosts Colorado in a rematch of last year’s overtime thriller. Two BIG EAST games are also slated for Thursday as Cincinnati and USF meet Oct. 15 in Tampa, Fla., and the Bulls visit Rutgers Nov. 12.

The schedule also includes three games that will be part of Championship Saturday Dec. 5 on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. Cincinnati will be at Pittsburgh, USF will visit Connecticut and West Virginia will head to Rutgers.

The nonleague schedule features a number of high-profile matchups with the continuation of existing rivalries and the introductions of some new series. USF takes on a pair of prominent in-state opponents, Florida State and Miami (Fla.), while West Virginia will meet both Colorado and Auburn for the second straight year. Connecticut and Pittsburgh find Notre Dame on their schedules, while Syracuse sees its season begin with three straight games against Big Ten opponents, including a Sept. 12 visit to Penn State.

2009 BIG EAST Football Schedule Notes
The 2009 schedule will include 68 games, with 28 BIG EAST dates and 40 nonleague games.

The nonleague dates include 30 games against Bowl Subdivision (I-A) programs and nine against Championship Subdivision (I-AA) opponents, with one game to be determined. Sixteen of the 30 I-A games are against conferences with automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series.

The most-represented opposing conference on the composite schedule is the Atlantic Coast Conference, with five matchups. There are four games each against the Big 10 and Mid-American Conferences, three each against Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference, two each against the Big 12 and SEC and one each against the Pac-10, WAC and Mountain West. There are four games against I-A independents, including two against Notre Dame, one against Navy and one against Army. 

2009 BIG EAST Conference Composite Football Schedule

Saturday, September 5
CINCINNATI at RUTGERS (date subject to change)
Connecticut at Ohio
Indiana State at Louisville
Youngstown State at Pittsburgh
Wofford at USF
Minnesota at Syracuse
Liberty at West Virginia

Saturday, September 12
Southeast Missouri State at Cincinnati
North Carolina at Connecticut
Pittsburgh at Buffalo
Howard at Rutgers
USF at Western Kentucky
Syracuse at Penn State
East Carolina at West Virginia

Saturday, September 19
Cincinnati at Oregon State
Connecticut at Baylor
Louisville at Kentucky
Navy at Pittsburgh
Florida International at Rutgers
Charleston Southern at USF
Northwestern at Syracuse
West Virginia at Auburn

Saturday, September 26
Fresno State at Cincinnati
Rhode Island at Connecticut
Louisville at Utah
Pittsburgh at North Carolina State
Rutgers at Maryland
USF at Florida State
Maine at Syracuse

Thursday, October 1
Colorado at West Virginia (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Friday, October 2
PITTSBURGH at LOUISVILLE (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Saturday, October 3
Cincinnati at Miami (Ohio)
USF at SYRACUSE

Saturday, October 10
CONNECTICUT at PITTSBURGH
WEST VIRGINIA at SYRACUSE
Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Thursday, October 15
CINCINNATI at USF (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Friday, October 16
PITTSBURGH at RUTGERS (8 p.m., ESPN)

Saturday, October 17
LOUISVILLE at CONNECTICUT
Marshall at West Virginia 

Friday, October 23
Rutgers at Army (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Saturday, October 24
LOUISVILLE at CINCINNATI
CONNECTICUT at WEST VIRGINIA
USF at PITTSBURGH
Akron at Syracuse

Friday, October 30
WEST VIRGINIA at USF (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Saturday, October 31
CINCINNATI at SYRACUSE
RUTGERS at CONNECTICUT
Arkansas State at Louisville

Saturday, November 7
CONNECTICUT at CINCINNATI
LOUISVILLE at WEST VIRGINIA
SYRACUSE at PITTSBURGH

Thursday, November 12
USF at RUTGERS (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Friday, November 13
WEST VIRGINIA at CINCINNATI (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Saturday, November 14
SYRACUSE at LOUISVILLE
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

Saturday, November 21
LOUISIVLLE at USF
RUTGERS at SYRACUSE
Connecticut at Notre Dame (2:30 p.m., NBC)

Friday, November 27
PITTSBURGH at WEST VIRGINIA (ABC/ESPN)

Saturday, November 28
SYRACUSE at CONNECTICUT
RUTGERS at LOUISVILLE
Illinois at Cincinnati
Miami (Fla.) at USF

Saturday, December 5
CINCINNATI at PITTSBURGH (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
USF at CONNECTICUT (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
WEST VIRGINIA at RUTGERS (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

All times Eastern
All dates and times subject to change
Additional television arrangements will be announced as they become available

2009 BIG EAST Conference Team-By-Team Football Schedules

CINCINNATI
Sat., Sept. 5 at RUTGERS
Sat., Sept. 12 Southeast Missouri State
Sat., Sept. 19 at Oregon State
Sat., Sept. 26 Fresno State
Sat., Oct. 3 at Miami (Ohio)
Thu., Oct. 15 at USF (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Oct. 24 LOUISVILLE
Sat., Oct. 31 at SYRACUSE
Sat., Nov. 7 CONNECTICUT
Fri., Nov. 13 WEST VIRGINIA (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Sat., Nov. 28 Illinois
Sat., Dec. 5 at PITTSBURGH (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

CONNECTICUT
Sat., Sept. 5 at Ohio
Sat., Sept. 12 North Carolina
Sat., Sept. 19 at Baylor
Sat., Sept. 26 Rhode Island
Sat., Oct. 10 at PITTSBURGH
Sat., Oct. 17 LOUISVILLE
Sat., Oct. 24 at WEST VIRGINIA
Sat., Oct. 31 RUTGERS
Sat., Nov. 7 at CINCINNATI
Sat., Nov. 21 at Notre Dame (2:30 p.m., NBC)
Sat., Nov. 28 SYRACUSE
Sat., Dec. 5 USF (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

LOUISVILLE
Sat., Sept. 5 Indiana State
Sat., Sept. 19 at Kentucky
Sat., Sept. 26 at Utah
Fri., Oct. 2 PITTSBURGH (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Sat., Oct. 10 Southern Mississippi
Sat., Oct. 17 at CONNECTICUT
Sat., Oct. 24 at CINCINNATI
Sat., Oct. 31 Arkansas State
Sat., Nov. 7 at WEST VIRGINIA
Sat., Nov. 14 SYRACUSE
Sat., Nov. 21 at USF
Sat., Nov. 28 RUTGERS

PITTSBURGH
Sat., Sept. 5 Youngstown State
Sat., Sept. 12 at Buffalo
Sat., Sept. 19 Navy
Sat., Sept. 26 at North Carolina State
Fri., Oct. 2 at LOUISVILLE (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Sat., Oct. 10 CONNECTICUT
Fri., Oct. 16 at RUTGERS (8 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Oct. 24 USF
Sat., Nov. 7 SYRACUSE
Sat., Nov. 14 Notre Dame (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
Fri., Nov. 27 at WEST VIRGINIA (ABC/ESPN)
Sat., Dec. 5 CINCINNATI (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
 

RUTGERS
Sat., Sept. 5 CINCINNATI
Sat., Sept. 12 Howard
Sat., Sept. 19 Florida International
Sat., Sept. 26 at Maryland
Sat., Oct. 10 TBA
Fri., Oct. 16 PITTSBURGH (8 p.m., ESPN)
Fri., Oct. 23 at Army (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Sat., Oct. 31 at Connecticut
Thu., Nov. 12 USF (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Nov. 21 at SYRACUSE
Sat., Nov. 28 at LOUISVILLE
Sat., Dec. 5 WEST VIRGINIA (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

USF
Sat., Sept. 5 Wofford
Sat., Sept. 12 at Western Kentucky
Sat., Sept. 19 Charleston Southern
Sat., Sept. 26 at Florida State
Sat., Oct. 3 at SYRACUSE
Thu., Oct. 15 CINCINNATI (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Oct. 24 at PITTSBURGH
Fri., Oct. 30 WEST VIRGINIA (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Thu., Nov. 12 at RUTGERS (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Nov. 21 LOUISVILLE
Sat., Nov. 28 Miami (Fla.)
Sat., Dec. 5 at CONNECTICUT (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

SYRACUSE
Sat., Sept. 5 Minnesota
Sat., Sept. 12 at Penn State
Sat., Sept. 19 Northwestern
Sat., Sept. 26 Maine
Sat., Oct. 3 USF
Sat., Oct. 10 WEST VIRGINIA
Sat., Oct. 24 Akron
Sat., Oct. 31 CINCINNATI
Sat., Nov. 7 at PITTSBURGH
Sat., Nov. 14 at LOUISVILLE
Sat., Nov. 21 RUTGERS
Sat., Nov. 28 at CONNECTICUT

WEST VIRGINIA
Sat., Sept. 5 Liberty
Sat., Sept. 12 East Carolina
Sat., Sept. 19 at Auburn
Thu., Oct. 1 Colorado (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Sat., Oct. 10 at SYRACUSE
Sat., Oct. 17 Marshall
Sat., Oct. 24 CONNECTICUT
Fri., Oct. 30 at USF (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Sat., Nov. 7 LOUISVILLE
Fri., Nov. 13 at CINICNNATI (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Fri., Nov. 27 PITTSBURGH (ABC/ESPN)
Sat., Dec. 5 at RUTGERS (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)