The Big East Conference was a collegiate athletics conference that consisted of as many as 16 universities in the eastern half of the United States from 1979 to 2013. The conference's members participated in 24 NCAA sports. The conference had a history of success at the national level in basketball throughout its history, while its shorter football program, created by inviting one college and four other "associate members" into the conference, resulted in two national championships.
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff under its original four-team format.
The Louisville Cardinals are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Conference from 2005 through 2013, the Cardinals captured 17 regular season Big East titles and 33 Big East Tournament titles totaling 50 Big East Championships across all sports. On November 28, 2012, Louisville received and accepted an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and became a participating member in all sports in 2014. In 2016, Lamar Jackson won the school its first Heisman Trophy.
Sports in Louisville, Kentucky include amateur and professional sports in baseball, football, basketball, horse racing, horse shows, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse. The city of Louisville and the Louisville metropolitan area have a sporting history from the mid-19th century to the present day.
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four designated bowl games, and beginning in the 2006 season as a standalone event rotated among the host sites of the aforementioned bowls.
The power conferences are the most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate football in the nation, and are considered the most elite conferences within that tier. Power conferences have provided most of the participants in the College Football Playoff since its inception, and generally have larger revenue, budgets, and television viewership than other college athletic programs.
The 2006–07 NCAA football bowl games concluded the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season in college football.
The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in the sport of American football. The Cardinals compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The 2006 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team, led by Bobby Petrino in his fourth year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Playing in their second year in the Big East Conference, the team finished the regular season with eleven wins and one loss and were conference champions. They represented the Big East in the 2007 Orange Bowl and with the win ended the season with a 12–1 record. The team ended the season ranked sixth in the nation.
The Louisville Cardinals baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the University of Louisville, located in Louisville, Kentucky. The program was a member of the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference for the 2014 season and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in July 2014. The Cardinals have played at Jim Patterson Stadium since the venue opened during the 2005 season. Dan McDonnell has been the program's head coach since the start of the 2007 season. As of the end of the 2017 season, the program has appeared in 13 NCAA tournaments and five College World Series. In conference postseason play, it has won two Big East Conference baseball tournaments. In regular season play, it has won two Metro Conference titles, four Big East Conference titles, one American Athletic Conference title, and four Atlantic Coast Conference titles. Louisville also set the ACC record for most conference wins in a season with 25 during the 2015 season.
The 2010 West Virginia Mountaineer football team represented West Virginia University in the college football season of 2010. The Mountaineers were led by head coach Bill Stewart and played their home games on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. They were members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 5–2 in Big East play to share the conference title with Connecticut and Pittsburgh. They were invited to the Champ Sports Bowl where they were defeated by North Carolina State 7–23.
The Cincinnati Bearcats football program represents the University of Cincinnati in college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Big 12 Conference. They have played their home games in historic and renovated Nippert Stadium since 1924. The Bearcats have an all-time record of over .500, having reached their 600th program victory in 2017. The program has had a resurgence in recent years. After joining the Big East for the 2005 season, the Bearcats have gone 155–75, along with 14 bowl game appearances, 7 conference titles, 4 BCS/NY6 Bowl berths and 38 NFL Draft selections, as of the 2022 season.
The 2011 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season as members of the Big East Conference. The Mountaineers were led by Dana Holgorsen, who was in his first season as head coach. West Virginia played their home games on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season 10–3, 5–2 in Big East play to earn a share of the Big East Conference championship with Cincinnati and Louisville. The Mountaineers, in their final season in the Big East before moving to the Big 12 the following season, earned the league's automatic berth in the BCS due to being the highest ranked of the Big East champions in the final BCS rankings. They were invited to the Orange Bowl for the first time ever where they defeated Clemson 70–33. This was the third victory for West Virginia in three BCS games played in the BCS era, while the 70 points in the Orange Bowl set a record for most points scored in a bowl game.
The 2011 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented the University of Cincinnati as a member of the Big East Conference during the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bearcats were led by second-year head coach Butch Jones and played their home games at Nippert Stadium and two conference games at Paul Brown Stadium. They finished the season 10–3 overall and 5–2 in Big East play to share the conference championship with Louisville and West Virginia. Despite the conference title, which was their third in the last four years, they did not receive the conference's automatic bid into a BCS game. They were invited to the Liberty Bowl where they defeated Vanderbilt 31–24.
The 2011 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinals were led by second-year head coach Charlie Strong and played their home games at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. They were a member of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 5–2 in Big East play to share the conference championship with Cincinnati and West Virginia. Due to tie-break rules, the Cardinals did not receive the Big East's automatic bid into a BCS bowl; West Virginia received the bid. The Cardinals were instead invited to the Belk Bowl, where they were defeated by North Carolina State, 31–24.
The 2012 Big East football season was the 22nd NCAA Division I FBS football season of the conference that was known as the Big East Conference from its formation in 1979 until July 2013, and ultimately proved to be the last for the conference under the "Big East" name, as well as the last with a full round-robin schedule for conference play. The conference consisted of eight football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and Temple. In February 2012, the Big East settled a lawsuit with West Virginia University that allowed them to move to the Big 12 Conference effective July 1, 2012.
The 2012–13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 99th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Big East Conference and were coached by Rick Pitino in his 12th season as head coach at Louisville. The team played its home games on Denny Crum Court at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals finished the season 35–5, 14–4 in Big East play to earn a share of the Big East regular season championship.
The 2013 American Athletic Conference football season was the 23rd NCAA Division I FBS football season of the American Athletic Conference. The season was the first after the breakup of the former Big East Conference, which lasted in its original form from its creation in 1979 until July 2013. The charter of the former Big East was retained by The American, henceforth the legal status as the 23rd season overall.
The 2013 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinals were led by fourth-year head coach Charlie Strong. The Cardinals played their home games at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. They were in their last year as a member of the American Athletic Conference until they moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference starting on July 1, 2014. They finished the season 12–1, 7–1 in American Athletic play to finish in second place. They were invited to the Russell Athletic Bowl where they defeated Miami (FL).
The Cincinnati–Louisville rivalry is a college sports rivalry between the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and the University of Louisville Cardinals. The rivalry between these two schools, located about 100 miles (160 km) apart, dates to their first men's college basketball game in 1921, and has continued across all sports, with the football series gaining attention as well, having started in 1929. Both universities share common characteristics, both being over 200 year old institutions in urban settings. The schools have also shared conferences historically, with the rivalry stretching over the span of four conferences from the Missouri Valley Conference, to the Metro Conference to Conference USA, and more recently in the Big East Conference, which in 2013 was renamed to the American Athletic Conference. After the 2013–14 season, Louisville joined the Atlantic Coast Conference and since then the rivalry has been put on hiatus in football and basketball. Cincinnati will officially join the Big 12 conference in 2023. However, many other sports at the universities, such as baseball, continue to battle periodically.
