Fast-rising Louisville sees boon in '05 move to Big East

As excited as Louisville is about this season and tonight's game at No. 3 Miami (Fla.), the Cardinals are positively thrilled about the future.

Next year Louisville moves to the Big East Conference, giving the Cardinals the prestige of playing in a league with an automatic spot in the Bowl Championship Series and a shot at the kind of major bowl that has eluded them in Conference USA.

Though the Cards have won 54 games since the start of the 1998 season and gone to bowls six years in a row, they haven't participated in a major postseason game since the 1990 season, when coach Howard Schnellenberger's team, quarterbacked by Browning Nagle, beat Alabama 34-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Coach Bobby Petrino says the move to the Big East will open new recruiting avenues for the fast-rising program, which has heavily mined Kentucky, Florida and other ...