With Louisville's loss to Syracuse, the battle to win the Big East title is a three-team race once again. The Cardinals, Rutgers and Cincinnati are in the mix to win the conference championship, with the Bearcats and Scarlet Knights matching up this Saturday. 

Rutgers, Cincinnati or Louisville: Which Team Wins the Big East Title?

As recently as Oct. 20, the Big East had three undefeated teams. Four Saturdays later, all three are sitting with at least one loss.

Despite Louisville’s loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, the Big East race likely comes down to the same teams as it appeared back in early October -- the Cardinals, Rutgers and Cincinnati. The Scarlet Knights, whose lone loss is to Kent State, remains the only undefeated team in Big East play. Their tests are upcoming, starting with Cincinnati this week and Louisville in the finale.

Louisville keeps rolling along as the Big East’s only undefeated team, but the rest of the conference has serious questions to answer in the final four Saturdays of the season.

Cincinnati and USF have new quarterback concerns due to ineffectiveness or injury. Pittsburgh and Syracuse must regroup after deflating losses. Rutgers is still looking for what went wrong in two-score loss at home to Kent State. And Temple and Connecticut are searching for anything to keep them competitive in the final weeks.

If Louisville is playing with a chip on its shoulder, Cardinals coach Charlie Strong has to be pleased with the results.

Louisville is the lowest ranked undefeated team at No. 11 in the Associated Press top 25, two spots behind a two-loss LSU. The other five undefeated teams -- Alabama, Oregon, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Ohio State -- are all in the top five.

Momentum for previously undefeated Cincinnati and Rutgers has been sapped the last two weeks, but the Big East has other teams starting to get hot in recent weeks.

Syracuse has won back-to-back games for the first time this season, but a game at Cincinnati will give the Orange a chance to win three consecutive Big East games for the first time since 2001. And Pittsburgh has scored a rare win streak against FBS opponents. Extending it to three will be a tough task against undefeated Notre Dame.

Just two weeks ago, the Big East was basking in the glow of three teams undefeated in October.

That number is down to one. Barely.

The three-game round robin between Cincinnati, Louisville and Rutgers may still determine the Big East championship, but some of the luster is gone after the MAC bit the Big East again this season as Toledo upset previously undefeated Cincinnati last week.

The Big East race may still be between three teams, but the race lost its luster less than a week before one of the marquee games of the season for the league.

Thank Cincinnati for that.

The skeptics are nowhere to be found in Manhattan, Kan., and Gainesville, Fla. Of course, Alabama and Oregon keep rolling in the national title hunt, but two potential usurpers continue to state their resounding cases week after week.