Injured Louisville QB plans to play

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Teddy Bridgewater’s broken left wrist won’t keep him from starting at quarterback tonight when the Cardinals visit Rutgers to fight for a shot at the Big East Conference’s Bowl Championship Series bid, but it will force changes to the offense.

The most obvious one was seen when Bridgewater returned late in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Connecticut after getting his wrist placed in a cast and taped. Louisville stayed in the shotgun or pistol while Bridgewater was in the game because it’s too painful for him to take a regular snap under center.

In fact, Bridgewater made every handoff with his right hand — even on running plays to the left side, he backhanded it to Jeremy Wright or Corvin Lamb — because that awkward arrangement is the only way he can do it.

“We have to run the football,” Louisville coach Charlie Strong said. “That’s who we are. We have to get the run game going. You are going to have to move people, just come off and attack people and make sure that we have the right plays called.” Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN. If Rutgers wins, it heads to the Orange Bowl. If Louisville wins, it still needs Cincinnati to lose to UConn Saturday to clinch an Orange Bowl bid.

“We have a large task ahead of us,” Strong said. “This team is still a really good football team. We have to go on the road to win a championship.”