Charlie Strong: It's about how we play

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- While Louisville is getting ready for its conference opener, the Cardinals' biggest obstacle in winning a national championship could be their schedule.

Louisville's opponents are a combined 20-28, which isn't likely to help the Cardinals (4-0) when the first BCS standings are released in October. A win in Saturday's American Athletic Conference opener at Temple (0-4, 0-1) certainly isn't going to give them any sort of BCS boost.

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AP Photo/Timothy D. EasleyCoach Charlie Strong knows Louisville must rely on style points as they play a schedule that isn't perceived as strong: "I tell our team all the time, it's all about how we play and we can't worry about what anyone else says."

Still, the Cardinals say they are focused on beating who's on their schedule and not the strength of it. An undefeated season would land them another BCS bowl berth.

"People look at where we are and look at the team we have and they say 'OK, you guys have a good football team, but you're not playing anybody," Louisville coach Charlie Strong said Monday. "I tell our team all the time, it's all about how we play and we can't worry about what anyone else says."

Louisville entered the season prepared for life in a reorganized league without Syracuse and Pittsburgh, who left what was known as the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Cardinals due to follow next year. The league's Catholic, non-football schools then formed a new league with the Big East name, while the six remaining schools added Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and SMU to form the AAC, which retains the automatic BCS bid.

The Cardinals host Rutgers (3-1) and UCF (3-1) in consecutive prime-time home games after Temple (0-4).

"We kind of got it in our minds that we're not the best team," junior left tackle Jamon Brown said. "We've got to keep working. There are things we've got to continue to get better at. We're going to play a good football team and we have to make sure we're on top of our game."

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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