Lost in all the hype about Teddy Bridgewater's national TV appearance Thursday night against Rutgers -- where the Louisville quarterback passed for over 300 yards and two touchdowns in front of scouts from nearly every NFL team, including the general managers for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars -- is this question:
Will the junior quarterback enter the NFL Draft after this season?
The fact that so many NFL teams sent representatives to watch Bridgewater play Thursday night against Louisville's stiffest competition this season (the Cardinals won, 24-10) speaks volumes about their anticipation that he will declare for the draft. Yet Bridgewater has never as much as hinted one way or the other. Not publicly anyway.
Asked by ESPN on Wednesday about his intentions after this season, Bridgewater remained steadfast in keeping everybody guessing.
"I can't predict the future right now," said Bridgewater, who could predict his NFL Draft future if he really wanted to. "I'm just living in the moment. I'm just taking it one day at a time and enjoying all my time here at the University of Louisville. Whatever happens down the road, that just happens."
Sports Illustrated this week ran a feature on "Teddy Football," and in it writer Pete Thamel discusses what Bridgewater's mother, Rose Murphy, believes is inevitable, that her son will enter the 2014 draft despite having another year of eligibility left at Louisville.
"The reality is that we're hoping and believing that he has a great season," Murphy tells Thamel, "and after that he'll do what he needs to do to prepare to go to the draft."
Bridgewater can avoid the question as long as he wants, but mothers -- and NFL teams -- usually know best when it comes to draft-entry intentions.
Follow Andy Fenelon on Twitter @Andy_Fenelon.