Louisville To Face Miami In Russell Athletic Bowl

The Louisville Cardinals will face the Miami Hurricanes in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando. The matchup will officially be announced later Sunday evening, but the news has already been reported by both The Courier-Journal and the Sun-Sentinel.

This will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2006, when the Cardinals smashed the visiting 'Canes, 31-7. The teams also met in 2004, with Miami winning a 41-38 Thursday night thriller. UM leads the all-time series, 9-1-1.

Adding to the plot is the fact that Louisville is scheduled to host Miami in the 2014 season-opener for both teams.

Reports swirled early Sunday afternoon that U of L would be taking on ACC Coastal Division champion Duke on Dec. 28, but it was the Chick-fil-A Bowl that opted to scoop the Blue Devils up first. The news was met with a smile by the majority of Cardinal fans, who were already clamoring for a matchup with either the higher-profile Hurricanes or Virginia Tech.

Miami will enter the bowl game with a 9-3 record and a No. 25 ranking in the coaches' poll. The 'Canes began the season 7-0 before dropping three straight games to Florida State, Virginia Tech and Duke. They bounced back to end the regular season with wins over Virginia (45-26) and Pittsburgh (41-31).

The other story you're going to hear about approximately 8,000 times over the next three weeks is the fact that Teddy Bridgewater was once committed to play for Miami. You'll also hear about the talk of him potentially playing wide receiver, and the ties that numerous other Cardinal players and coaches have to The U.

Should be an interesting 19 days leading up to Cardmageddon on the 28th. For now, we leave you with this: