Cards Topple Rutgers 20-17; Projected for Major Bowl Game

The University of Louisville football team is headed to its first top-tier bowl game in six years after defeating Rutgers 20-17 tonight in New Jersey.

Teddy Bridgewater and Will Stein shared duties at quarterback, and it was Bridgewater’s two touchdown passes in the third quarter that gave the Cards their first lead of the game.

Rutgers tied the game at 17 midway through the fourth quarter, but a 29 yard field goal by John Wallace with less than two minutes remaining put U of L ahead for good.

The Cards finish the regular season with a 10-2 overall record and a 5-2 mark in the Big East Conference. That gives them a share of the conference title and, based on overall standings, the Big East’s automatic bid to a BCS bowl game, probably the Orange Bowl or the Sugar Bowl.

It’s their first BCS berth since earning a bid to the Orange Bowl in 2006.