PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Just a few weeks after he was booed in his home stadium, Mike Teel walked off the field last night to a standing ovation.

Teel threw for 447 yards and matched a Big East record with seven touchdown passes, helping Rutgers dismantle Louisville, 63-14, for its sixth straight win.

"It's kind of come full-circle," Teel said. "Bottom line is, it's extremely satisfying that this team stuck together and my teammates stayed and rallied behind me — and coaches stayed behind me — and we were able to turn things around. That's something that's pretty special."

One of seven fifth-year seniors who helped resurrect a once-downtrodden program, Teel capped an up-and-down season with a flourish. He threw touchdown passes to five different receivers and shattered the school record for yards passing in a game.

Then, once it ended, Teel led the entire team to the corner of the end zone, waving a giant sword carried by the Scarlet Knights' mascot and pretending to direct the marching band in what most certainly will be one of the most memorable moments of his career.

"It was a great atmosphere, and for that to be our last game at Rutgers, that was great," said Tiquan Underwood, another senior. "I couldn't write a better script, especially for Mike, man. He deserves it."

Underwood and Tim Brown each caught a pair of touchdown passes and the Scarlet Knights (7-5, 5-2) set a school-record for points in a Big East game, rolling up 671 yards of total offense and sending Louisville (5-7, 1-6) to its worst finish since 1997.

Jourdan Brooks added 124 yards and a touchdown rushing for Rutgers, which scored TDs on seven of its eight first-half possessions.

Rutgers will become just the seventh team in NCAA history to start 1-5 and reach a bowl game. A good bet is the Papajohns.com Bowl, but the Meineke Bowl, International Bowl and Motor City Bowl are also in the mix.

COACHING CHANGES

Toledo: Hired Tim Beckman as head coach yesterday, selecting the Oklahoma State defensive coordinator to take over its football program. Beckman, a native of Ohio, has spent the past two seasons at Oklahoma State.

Utah State: Defensive coordinator Gary Andersen is leaving Utah to become the football coach at Utah State. Utah State introduced Andersen yesterday, bringing in the longtime Utah assistant to take over a program that hasn't had winning record since 1996.

BOWL UPDATES

Gator Bowl: Dabo Swinney, who as interim coach led Clemson (7-5) to a 31-14 victory over South Carolina last Friday, and two days later was named permanent coach, accepted an invitation to the New Year's Day Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., with a likely matchup with Nebraska (8-4).

Humanitarian Bowl: Ball State (12-0) declined an offer to play Boise State (12-0) on the Broncos' home field in Idaho on Dec. 30. The Cardinals did not want to play a bowl game so far from their Muncie, Ind., campus on their opponents' home field.

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State (7-5) has accepted a bid to play in the New Mexico Bowl at Albuquerque, N.M. The Bulldogs, who tied Hawai'i, Louisiana Tech and Nevada for second place in the WAC, will meet a Mountain West team Dec. 20.

New Orleans Bowl: Southern Miss, which finished 6-6 under first-year coach Larry Fedora, will play in the New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 21 in the Louisiana Superdome against the Sun Belt Conference champion, either Troy or Arkansas State.

Texas Bowl: Rice (9-3) will be making its second bowl appearance in three years when the Owls take on a team from either the Conference USA or Big 12 on Dec. 30 in Houston.