The Cardinal applauds the possibility of a Louisville-Notre Dame game in 2014. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Right on the heels of Thursday’s news that Notre Dame and NBC have extended their television partnership through the 2025 season, reports have surfaced surrounding a potential big-time opponent for the Fighting Irish in 2014.

According to Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, Notre Dame is set to face off against Louisville during the 2014 season.

And, talking down-the-line schedules, #NBC exec Jon Miller mentioned that #NotreDame will play #Louisville in yet-to-be-released 2014 slate.

— Brian Hamilton (@ChiTribHamilton) April 18, 2013

Louisville and Notre Dame are each coming off successful 2012 campaigns. The Irish reached the BCS national championship game for the first time since 1988, while the Cardinals upset heavily favored Florida in the Sugar Bowl. If both programs stay the course, their reported 2014 meeting could shape up as a Top 25 clash.

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Charlie Strong and Louisville tried to schedule a nonconference game with Texas A&M. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater were two of the nation’s top quarterbacks last year, and the two nearly squared off to start the 2013 season. Louisville coach Charlie Strong told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy that the Cardinals and Aggies were close to scheduling a season-opening clash at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, but the possibility fell through.

Louisville wanted to boost its soft nonconference slate with a matchup against Texas A&M, and the Cardinals also came close to locking in a meeting with defending national champion Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. However, Virginia Tech opted to keep its matchup with the Tide after briefly considering dropping the game if quarterback Logan Thomas declared for the NFL. Thomas opted to return to the Hokies in January.

Louisville is entering its final season in the Big East before moving to the ACC in 2014. It’s scheduled to face Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, FIU and Kentucky in nonconference games this fall. Meanwhile, Texas A&M is kicking off its second season in the SEC. It has nonconference matchups scheduled against Rice, Sam Houston State, SMU and UTEP.

The story of one college football postseason game, as told through social media.

The Superdome eight minutes before kickoff. twitter.com/Andy_Staples/s…

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) January 3, 2013

Sugar Bowl attendance has spoken and it appears a wildly popular New Year’s resolution is giving up carbs.

— The Solid Verbal (@SolidVerbal) January 3, 2013

1 play, 1 defensive TD. This could be fun.

— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) January 3, 2013

My math might be off, but at this pace it’s a lock for Louisville to put up 1,440 points on Florida.

— Mobutu Sese Seko (@Mobute) January 3, 2013

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Charlie Strong and Will Muschamp share a moment with the Sugar Bowl trophy. Swapping alligator tail recipes? (AP)

The Sugar Bowl is just hours away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an X’s and O’s breakdown, click through to Andy Staples’ game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? The Charlie Strong bowl, essentially. The former Florida assistant will once again share the field with the Gators, this time as an adversary.

• Where will this game be played? New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which also houses the New Orleans Saints, Tulane Green Wave and the New Orleans Bowl. Remember that time Tulane beat SMU in the Superdome and then SMU got to play in a bowl game anyway, which it also won? Do we ever!

• When is it on television? The Sugar Bowl is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, and will also be broadcast on ESPN Deportes, streamed on WatchESPN and shown in ESPN 3D. This will make Will Muschamp’s eyes jump out of the screen like Roger Rabbit’s when he’s mad, right? This is precisely why this technology was invented. Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Quint Kessenich will cover the game for ESPN.

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• Louisville 20, Rutgers 17. We’ll let SI.com’s Gabriel Baumgaertner tell y’all all about the antics of Teddy Bridgewater, but don’t go away without watching him let it all out postgame with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. Bridgewater led the Cardinals to a primetime win, on the road, against the country’s fourth-ranked scoring defense. And then this happened:

How Bridgewater is even remaining upright at this point is anybody’s guess, but up he his, and no matter your particular partisanship, you must applaud. Have you a pulse? You will be moved. But don’t take our word for it. Listen to his teammates. Here’s Louisville offensive lineman Alex Kupper, after the game: “His legacy at the University of Louisville keeps building and building, and he’s only halfway through. He’s just an unbelievable player, the way he fights. When you’re playing next to him, if you do anything less, it’s shame on you.”

Rutgers still gets a share of the Big East title, and Cincinnati could force a four-way tie atop the conference standings with a win over UConn, but take it from Louisville safety Calvin Pryor, as the Cardinals mull their postseason possibilities: ”Whatever it is is better than going to the Belk Bowl!” [BOX | RECAP]

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What has one good arm, one good leg and a date with one of the country’s top defenses? Teddy Bridgewater, show us your guts. (AP)

You have but one option for college football viewing this Thursday evening, and that is a battle for conference supremacy between Rutgers and Louisville, two teams that would like very much not to be in that conference anymore. We’re sure you have so many questions. 

• What information do I, the discerning sports fan, require in order to consume this game? The Cardinals and Scarlet Knights are scheduled to kick off at 7:31 p.m. ET at High Point Solutions Stadium. The sold-out game will be televised on ESPN and streamed on WatchESPN.

• What’s at stake here? Oh, lots. A Rutgers victory tonight pretty much solves everything as far as the conference championship is concerned: Win, and the Scarlet Knights will head to a BCS bowl as the Big East’s only team with fewer than two losses in conference play. A Louisville win here followed by a Cincinnati win over UConn on Saturday would create our favorite postseason thing: a multi-team tie for first place in the conference standings, between Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville and Syracuse.

• So if Rutgers hadn’t been pantsed by PITT, we wouldn’t be in this predicament at all, no? Correct. The Orange, Cardinals and Bearcats all have two conference losses already. The Panthers have had a funny way of throwing wrenches and near-wrenches like that this year. As fans of regimented chaos, we have never been fonder of them.

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• Everybody got all that? In the past 24 hours of college football realignment news, we have seen East Carolina and Tulane jump from Conference USA to the Big East, the ACC file a lawsuit against Maryland over money owed given the Terps’ move to the Big Ten, Louisville abandon the Big East for the ACC and UConn’s president say “I think we really just have to focus on students and then everything will be OK.” And in the time it took us to painstakingly piece together the elaborate artist’s rendition of the remaining future conference jumps, the Virginian-Pilot is reporting that Conference USA will add Middle Tennessee State. YEEHAW.

• Things that are not realignment news. Our one preseason prediction that held fast all year was that every team would look sort of terrible at least once … Virginia cans its running backs coach … Gene Chizik will be a Mr. December to remember … and here is the only hypothetical realignment move we’d be in favor of at this exasperating point.

• “I think it all starts with a commitment to the university … the ability to have a clear vision.” While we technically agree with Colorado AD Mike Bohn that these are good qualities to seek in a college football coach, we have a humble suggestion: Next time, maybe don’t use those words right after firing a head coach two years into his tenure and right before making it outlandishly obvious through further words and sour facial expressions that you have nooooo idea what to do next.

The sporting internet watched with alternating horror and bewilderment as Jon Embree, Bohn and Colorado’s president and chancellor made statements and fielded questions on Embree’s ousting. You can watch the whole thing here, a fact which may be an indictment of the Colorado leadership in and of itself, read a summary of events here or get the general idea from those of us who watched it unfold in real time:

An emotional Jon Embree at his press conference. You can tell how much the job meant to him.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 26, 2012

A player just said from the back of the room “Thank you coach. We love you.” Embree said, “I love you too.” — Kyle Ringo (@KyleRingo) November 26, 2012

“We don’t get second chances.” Jon Embree on black head coaches. — Jason Kirk (@JasonKirkSBN) November 26, 2012

Embree on short-term turnarounds. “Basically, you can get mercenaries.” [Bobby Petrino startles to life in his coffin] — edsbs (@edsbs) November 26, 2012

embree’s basically saying, “if you wanted me to win this year, it was gonna cost cash money. untraceable CASH.” — Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) November 26, 2012

And remember, Bohn hit this CU team with the same speech he used when he fired Hawkins. Players in that room heard it before — Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) November 26, 2012

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Bacarri Rambo had a fumble recovery and a pick in Georgia’s rout of Georgia Tech. (Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

Snap Judgments from the Week 13 early slate. For more, check out Friday Snaps, Saturday’s midday Snaps, Saturday’s late Snaps, our recaps of Michigan-Ohio State, Florida-Florida State and Notre Dame-USC and our complete Top 25 review.

• No. 3 Georgia 42, Georgia Tech 10. Looky here, it’s two teams headed to major conference championship games next week! Don’t be too hard on Tech; the Jackets and their coach have battled the flu all week, were operating without the services of leading rusher Orwin Smith and still managed to pile up 458 yards in Sanford Stadium. It was scoring that posed the problem; Tech didn’t even attempt a punt in the first half but had three drives snuffed out by a fumble, a failed fourth-down attempt and an interception, respectively. Its second-half drives fared little better, ending in two punts, one touchdown and three more unsuccessful fourth-down conversions. Georgia’s first seven drives, by contrast: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Mark Richt, in his postgame press conference: “Our goal was to win every phase of the game, for every unit to win. I think we may have done that.” Seems like a solid take, coach.

The result is the biggest margin of victory for the Dawgs in their year-end rivalry game since 2002. And speaking of records: With Saturday’s scoreboard assault, the 2012 Bulldogs are officially the highest-scoring squad in program history. That same 2002 team scored 450 points in 14 games; with 12 games down and two to go, this year’s squad is already at 456. Safety Bacarri Rambo tied Jake Scott’s school record for career interceptions at 16. And Aaron Murray is now the first SEC quarterback to put up three consecutive 3,000-yard seasons.

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Just imagine Oregon’s mascot tackling one of these things. (AP)

• BEE CEE ESS. The latest BCS standings are here, and your freshly hatched BCS No. 1 is Kansas State; the post-Week 11 AP Poll is here, too, and Oregon is the new No. 1. Dan Wetzel explores an upside-down universe in which Notre Dame needs to catch a break.

• Bowling season draws nigh. A second FBS team has locked in a postseason bid, as BYU has accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl. This season hasn’t gone as smoothly for the Cougars as they might have hoped, but there are certainly worse places to while away a few winter days than San Diego. Stewart Mandel updates SI.com’s bowl projections, this week featuring Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Missouri and SMU.

• The Marquess Wilson thing. Just so we’re all caught up, here’s what we know right now: Washington State suspended star receiver Marquess Wilson, who subsequently announced he was leaving the team and dropped accusations of abuse on his way out. Here’s a StoryStream from our friends at CougCenter, tracing the winding path of these developments. Here’s a Spokesman-Review interview with Dennis Simmons, Wilson’s position coach, on Wilson’s allegations. And here’s Washington State’s president asking for both an internal investigation and one from the Pac-12.

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