First Place At Stake Saturday When Rutgers Visits Temple
All eight BIG EAST teams are in action this week, including a Saturday matchup at noon between Rutgers and Temple in Philadelphia that could have significant implications on the conference championship picture. Rutgers comes in at 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the BIG EAST and is ranked No. 17 in the USA Today coaches’ poll and No. 19 by the Associated Press. Temple, which was picked eighth in the BIG EAST preseason media poll, is off to a 2-0 start in BIG EAST play after the Owls opened conference play with wins against USF and Connecticut. Rutgers is 3-0 in BIG EAST play for the second time since 2006, while Temple is off to its first 2-0 start in league history.

Louisville Packs The House For Next BIG EAST Games
Louisville returns to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Saturday to face USF (3:30 p.m., ABC) as the Cardinals look to remain unbeaten. Louisville played its last three games on the road and will play in front of its home crowd for the first time in 35 days. Saturday’s game will start a three-game homestand for Louisville, which has only a small number of individual seats available for its next two at home – Saturday’s game against USF and an Oct. 26 matchup against Cincinnati.

First BCS Standings List Three BIG EAST Teams
The first edition of the Bowl Championship Series standings were released Sunday, with three BIG EAST teams listed among the top 25. Rutgers was ranked No. 15, Louisville was No. 16 and Cincinnati is No. 21. Those three teams are among the 12 FBS teams that are undefeated in the 2012 season. The BIG EAST last had three teams in the BCS standings in the final ranking of the 2009 season.

Find Us On Fridays
This week’s schedule kicks off Friday, when Connecticut visits Syracuse for an 8 p.m. matchup on ESPN. That game will be the first of three BIG EAST games in a four-week span that will be played on a Friday and televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. Cincinnati visits Louisville Oct. 26, and Pittsburgh is at Connecticut Nov. 9.