PROVIDENCE, R.I. – On the heels of a 2007 football season that proved to be one of the most exciting in BIG EAST history, speculation can now begin about 2008 as the conference releases its 68-game schedule for the coming season.

The schedule begins Thursday, Aug. 28 with two schools in action and wraps up Saturday, Dec. 6 with a pair of key conference games and an interesting nonleague matchup. All told, the 28-game conference slate will be augmented by 41 nonconference games, including 16 against Bowl Championship Series-affiliated opponents.

Highlights of the 2008 schedule include an intriguing series of Thursday-night games that will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. The Dec. 4 matchup has Louisville facing Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., in a final-week game that figures to have implications on the BIG EAST race. The last game between the schools at Rutgers Stadium in 2006 was one of the most-viewed regular-season college football games in ESPN’s history.

Other Thursday intraconference matchups include USF at Cincinnati Oct. 30 and Pittsburgh at USF Oct. 2. Some key nonleague games also dot the Thursday schedule as West Virginia heads to Colorado for a Sept. 18 game, the Mountaineers host Auburn Oct. 23, and Rutgers hosts North Carolina Sept. 11.

West Virginia and Connecticut, the schools that shared the 2007 BIG EAST title, meet at Rentschler Field Saturday, Nov. 1. Syracuse and Pittsburgh, two schools expected to make dramatic improvements in 2008, begin the BIG EAST portion of the schedule Saturday, Sept. 27, when they meet at the Carrier Dome.

The nonleague calendar has Cincinnati facing an early test as the Bearcats head to Norman, Okla., to face Big 12 champion Oklahoma. Another matchup against a top Big 12 team takes place the following week as USF hosts Kansas at Raymond James Stadium.

2008 BIG EAST Football Schedule Notes

• The 2008 schedule will include 69 games, with 28 BIG EAST dates and 41 nonleague games.
  
• Cincinnati will play 13 regular-season games this season. The Bearcats wrap up the regular season Dec. 6 at Hawaii. The NCAA deems that games at Hawaii are not counted against the 12-game Bowl Subdivision limit.
  
•  The nonleague dates include 33 games against Bowl Subdivision (I-A) programs and seven against Championship Subdivision (I-AA) opponents. Sixteen of the 33 I-A games are against Bowl Championship Series-affiliated teams.
  
• After not having an opponent from the Big 12 Conference on their 2007 regular-season schedules, BIG EAST schools have a combined five games against Big 12 teams in 2008 (Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Baylor).
  
• There are six games against Mid-American Conference schools, five each against the Big 12 and Conference USA, four against the Atlantic Coast Conference, three against the Big 10, two against the SEC and Sun Belt and one against the WAC. There are five games against I-A independents, including two each against Notre Dame and Navy and one against Army. 

2008 BIG EAST Conference Composite Football Schedule

CONNECTICUT

Thu., Aug. 28       Hofstra

Sat., Sept. 6        at Temple

Sat., Sept. 13       Virginia

Fri., Sept. 19        Baylor (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Sat., Sept. 27       at LOUISVILLE

Sat., Oct. 4          at North Carolina

Sat., Oct. 18        at RUTGERS

Sat., Oct. 25        CINCINNATI

Sat., Nov. 1          WEST VIRGINIA

Sat., Nov. 15        at SYRACUSE

Sat., Nov. 22        at USF

Sat., Dec. 6          PITTSBURGH (ESPN/ESPN2)

LOUISVILLE

Sat., Aug. 30        Kentucky

Sat., Sept. 6        Tennessee Tech

Wed., Sept. 17     Kansas State (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Sat., Sept. 27       CONNECTICUT

Fri., Oct. 10          at Memphis (8 p.m., ESPN)

Sat., Oct. 18        Middle Tennessee State

Sat., Oct. 25        USF

Sat., Nov. 1          at SYRACUSE

Sat., Nov. 8          at PITTSBURGH

Fri., Nov. 14         CINCINNATI (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Sat., Nov. 22        WEST VIRGINIA

Thu., Dec. 4         at RUTGERS (ESPN)

PITTSBURGH

Sat., Aug. 30        Bowling Green

Sat., Sept. 6        Buffalo

Sat., Sept. 20       Iowa

Sat., Sept. 27       at SYRACUSE

Thu., Oct. 2         at USF (ESPN)

Sat., Oct. 18        at Navy

Sat., Oct. 25        RUTGERS

Sat., Nov. 1          at Notre Dame

Sat., Nov. 8          LOUISVILLE

Sat., Nov. 22        at CINCINNATI

Fri., Nov. 28         WEST VIRGINIA (ABC)

Sat., Dec. 6          at CONNECTICUT (ESPN/ESPN2)

RUTGERS

Sat., Aug. 30        Howard

Thu., Sept. 11      North Carolina (ESPN)

Sat., Sept. 20       at Navy

Sat., Sept. 27       Morgan State

Sat., Oct. 4          at WEST VIRGINIA

Sat., Oct. 11        at CINCINNATI

Sat., Oct. 18        CONNECTICUT

Sat., Oct. 25        at PITTSBURGH

Sat., Nov. 8          SYRACUSE

Sat., Nov. 15        at USF

Sat., Nov. 22        Army

Thu., Dec. 4         LOUISVILLE (ESPN)

USF

Sat., Aug. 30        Tennessee-Martin

Fri., Sept. 5          at Central Florida (7 p.m., ESPN)

Sat., Sept. 13       Kansas

Sat., Sept. 20       at Florida International

Sat., Sept. 27       at North Carolina State

Thu., Oct. 2         PITTSBURGH (ESPN)

Sat., Oct. 18        SYRACUSE

Sat., Oct. 25        at LOUISVILLE

Thu., Oct. 30       at CINCINNATI (ESPN)

Sat., Nov. 15        RUTGERS

Sat., Nov. 22        CONNECTICUT

Sat., Dec. 6          at WEST VIRGINIA (ESPN/ESPN2)

SYRACUSE

Sat., Aug. 30        at Northwestern

Sat., Sept. 6        Akron

Sat., Sept. 13       Penn State

Sat., Sept. 20       Northeastern

Sat., Sept. 27       PITTSBURGH

Sat., Oct. 11        at WEST VIRGINIA

Sat., Oct. 18        at USF

Sat., Nov. 1          LOUISVILLE

Sat., Nov. 8          at RUTGERS

Sat., Nov. 15        CONNECTICUT

Sat., Nov. 22        at Notre Dame

Sat., Nov. 29        at Cincinnati

WEST VIRGINIA

Sat., Aug. 30        Villanova

Sat., Sept. 6        at East Carolina

Thu., Sept. 18      at Colorado (8:30 p.m., ESPN)

Sat., Sept. 27       Marshall

Sat., Oct. 4          RUTGERS

Sat., Oct. 11        SYRACUSE

Thu., Oct. 23       Auburn (ESPN)

Sat., Nov. 1          at CONNECTICUT

Sat., Nov. 8          CINCINNATI

Sat., Nov. 22        at LOUISVILLE

Fri., Nov. 28         at PITTSBURGH (ABC)

Sat., Dec. 6          USF (ESPN/ESPN2)