Here is a look at the 10 best American Athletic Conference games of the season.
10. Rutgers at Connecticut, Nov. 30, time/network TBD -- This will be the final meeting as conference foes (well, unless the Big Ten adds UConn). Will they meet in the future? It makes sense for the two northeast schools to play annually. Rutgers has won four of the past five in the series.
9. USF at UCF, Nov. 29, time/network TBD -- This should become the AAC's best rivalry. The campuses are about two hours apart (UCF's in Orlando, USF's in Tampa). This will be only the fifth meeting between the teams.
8. Louisville at Connecticut, Nov. 8, 8:30 p.m. ET/ESPN2 -- The Cardinals lost to the Huskies in three overtimes last season and will be looking for some payback in what should be the final meeting for a while. It would be a shock if Louisville isn't 8-0 heading into this game.
7. UCF at Louisville, Oct. 18, 8 p.m. ET/ESPN -- UCF can make some national noise if it can pull off a big upset against the Cardinals. This might be Louisville's toughest home game of the season; at worst, it's the second-toughest.
6. Louisville at USF, Oct. 26, time/network TBD -- This likely will be Louisville's toughest road test until the Dec. 5 regular-season finale at Cincinnati. The coaches are friends, and Louisville is loaded with players from Florida, which should lead to a somewhat-convivial evening. The teams have split the past four meetings.
5. Cincinnati at USF, Oct. 5, time/network TBD -- This will be the conference opener for both, and it's a chance for USF, especially, to show it can be a league contender. Cincy will be coming off a bye week, while USF will be coming off a game against Miami.
4. Rutgers at UCF, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN -- These teams have met once, in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl (now called the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl). This will be a homecoming of sorts for the 20-plus players at Rutgers that are Florida natives. This should be important for bowl positioning, too.
3. Cincinnati at Rutgers, Nov. 16, time/network TBD -- It seems likely the teams will be battling to finish second in the league, behind Louisville, so the winner obviously has a leg up in that aspect. Cincy scored 69 against Rutgers in 2011, but managed just six total points against the Scarlet Knights in the past two seasons.
2. Rutgers at Louisville, Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN -- This will be Louisville's fourth home game of the season, and it also could be the Cardinals' toughest home game of the season. If Rutgers wants to win the league, it needs to beat the Cardinals. Louisville rallied late to win 20-17 last season, which clinched a BCS bid for the Cardinals.
1. Louisville at Cincinnati, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN -- Louisville is the prohibitive favorite to win the league; indeed, on paper, Louisville seems likely to be 11-0 heading into this one. Cincinnati looks to be the second-best team in the league. Louisville won last season to snap Cincy's four-game winning streak in the battle for the "Keg of Nails" trophy.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
