Stumbling and limping isn’t the best way to enter a season-defining game.

At least for Louisville and Rutgers, though, both teams will look across the sideline at a team in a similar spot.

Say this for the Big East: The title chase won’t be without intrigue.

Losses by Louisville and Rutgers last week gave Syracuse and Cincinnati a chance to claim shares of the Big East title. Meanwhile, the two teams that scored the upsets -- Connecticut and Pittsburgh -- still have hopes of becoming bowl eligible.

Rutgers and Pittsburgh will play this week in what’s an important Big East game ... for now. The Scarlet Knights are seeking their first Big East title, and Pittsburgh is looking for a bowl game.

After that, it’s off to the ACC for Pittsburgh next season, and then Rutgers to the Big Ten in two years. Elsewhere, UConn and Louisville will face each other this week in a game between teams hoping to get called up to the ACC.

College football has been on a wave of non-stop realignment over the last two years, and the dominoes continued to fall with the Big Ten’s addition of Rutgers. Maryland was announced as the Big Ten’s 13^th team on Monday, while the Scarlet Knights will join as team No. 14 in 2014.

Week 12 of the 2012 college football season is in the books and plenty of coaches saw the temperature on their seat increase by a few degrees. And it was a busy week in the coaching carousel, as Tennessee's Derek Dooley and Western Michigan's Bill Cubit were fired after Saturday's games. UTEP's Mike Price also announced his retirement, which means there are five FBS open jobs going into Week 13.

Expansion never stops in college football and another domino fell on Monday: Maryland will be leaving the ACC to become the 13^th member of the Big Ten.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh are set to join the ACC in 2013, which would have given the conference 14 teams. However, with the Terrapins set to depart, the ACC is back to 13 teams and unbalanced divisions for its long-term outlook.

The de facto Big East championship game between Louisville and Rutgers has been established with the Scarlet Knights’ 10-3 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.

But that’s not going to be the big topic around the Big East in the two weeks before the game in Piscataway. The Big East may yet again be the subject of conference realignment talk as reports surfaced Saturday that Maryland is in negotiations to leave the ACC for the Big Ten, a possibility that could cause Rutgers to leave the Big East to be the Big Ten’s 14th member.

Week 11 of the 2012 college football season is in the books and plenty of coaches saw the temperature on their seat increase by a few degrees. Boston College's Frank Spaziani remains the top spot in the hot seat watch, followed closely by Auburn's Gene Chizik, Tennessee's Derek Dooley and California's Jeff Tedford in the top five.

College Football's Top 20 Coaches on the Hot Seat: Post-Week 11 Rankings

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.