—Spread check: Louisville by 1.5.
—It’s match night for the third-ranked Louisville volleyball team, which faces in-state rival Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. Also, follow Dan Meske on Instagram. His content is fantastic.
—Five of the Courier Journal’s seven sportswriters are picking Louisville to take down SMU on Saturday. See their full picks for the weekend ahead, here.
—The Athletic spent months trying to figure out the cost of every major conference roster in college football. They estimate
that Louisville is in the $22-25 million range, which puts them about middle of the pack.
—Good Louisville-SMU discussion from the Cover 3 Podcast crew:
—The Louisville men’s basketball team checks in at No. 9 in Basket Under Review’s preseason top 50 countdown.
—Jeff Walz has extended a scholarship offer to 8th grader Karter Scott. Scott averaged just under 18 ppg last season as a 7th-grader playing on the Sayre High School varsity team.
—Louisville linebacker Kalib Perryis now eligibleto play for the Cardinals and could see the field on Saturday against SMU.
—The incessant LSU-Ole Miss shit talking has us catching strays.
—If Louisville is going to snap its losing streak against SMU, the Cards must do something they haven’t done the last two seasons: Slow down Mustang QB Kevin Jennings.
—Notre Dame and Nebraska have announced a home and home deal for 2032 and 2033, which aren’t even real years.
—Nayelis Cabello is the ACC Setter of the Week for a second straight time.
—This is a really good, in-depth look at the looming quarterback battle between Kevin Jennings and Lincoln Kienholz on Saturday.
—Louisville is featured twice on this year’s Big Monday lineup.
—Steven Ruiz of Fox Sports writes that Lamar Jackson is primed for another MVP run.
—Louisville is looking to conquer its “mirror image” in SMU on Saturday.
Containing Jennings has its own challenges, but the Cards can’t say they’ve never faced anyone like him.
“His experience and his ability to extend the play with his legs has crushed us the last couple years,” Brohm said. “So we have to do (the) best job we can this year to contain him as well as we can.”
Few coaches have been able to contain Jeff Brohm in three consecutive games. When he was at Purdue, both Jim Harbaugh and James Franklin were 2-0 against him, but Michigan and Penn State, respectively, have dominated the Boilermakers historically.
SMU and Lashlee represent a reasonable challenge — one that Brohm must look in the mirror and conquer for the Cards to take the next step as a program.
—Lincoln Keinholz is No. 9 on CFB Kings’ Heisman Watch.
—LouCity kicks off at 7 p.m. vs. Loudoun United FC this Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium. It’s Noche Latina, a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month that will feature live music, authentic food and exclusive merch.
CC readers can get their discounted tickets to the match by going here.
—And now we get Lamar vs. Tyler this Sunday.
—Pat Forde has Louisville as No. 8 seed in his current CFP bracket.
—Despite its first loss of the season last week, the Trinity football team is No. 25 in USA Today’s national high school football rankings.
—Brad Crawford of CBS writes that the winner of Louisville-SMU has the inside track to face Miami in the ACC Championship Game.
No disrespect to ACC teams not named Miami, SMU or Louisville, but those are the three who have looked the part through the first two weeks of the regular season. The Hurricanes will be favored in every ACC game from here out, perhaps by double digits, while SMU and Louisville each paid handsomely this offseason for portal-infused rosters to fill holes coming off successful campaigns.
We’ve had SMU in our CFP projections since the spring and that hasn’t changed early on the season. The Mustangs won with a C effort despite several mistakes in the opener at Florida State and found an offensive rhythm in last week’s first home. Get past SMU and Rhett Lashlee could be playing for his second trip in three years to the CFP if the Mustangs are able to run the table in conference play.
SMU does play Notre Dame on the road later this fall, but a loss to the Irish will not be fatal in the CFP conversation. If the Mustangs get to the ACC title game and say, lose to Miami, and 11-2 finish should be good enough to get one of those final at-large bids regardless of what happens in the Big Ten and SEC.
Louisville’s margin for error is a bit more thin. The only way the Cardinals can guarantee themselves a spot in the CPF conversation in late November is by winning out, beginning Saturday as a 2.5-point favorite at home.
As it stands, Miami and SMU are in the best position to make the ACC a two-bid league in the CFP later on this fall, based on current ranking, overall talent and remaining schedule. The conference did the Hurricanes a solid with three home games to end November following Miami’s biggest game of the year — at Notre Dame — in Week 10.
—The CJ’s Brooks Holton takes a closer look at U of L men’s basketball freshman Bo Zhang.
—Matt McGavic of WHAS is predicting a 35-31 Louisville win over SMU.
—Jay Williams confirms what everyone already knew: Duke was cheating their balls off just as much as anyone back in the day.
—Racing Louisville’s Savannah DeMelo has suedU of L doctors alleging a failure to diagnose a heart condition that led to her going into cardiac arrest on the field a year ago. DeMelo is expected to return to the field for Racing soon.
—Class of 2028 baseball standout Spencer Schiffhas committed to Louisville.
—The U of L men’s golf team finished sixth at the Bearcat Invitational.
—“Slim to none, but I like our chances.”
—U of L women’s basketball has promoted Selim Aldag to assistant coach and director of video analytics.
—Taylor County offensive lineman Hudson Close will be among the visitors hosted by U of L this weekend.
—Louisville defenders say SMU’s Kevin Jennings reminds them a bit of week one QB foe Trinidad Chambliss.
—The Athletic’s Austin Mock thinks Louisville should be more than a 1.5-point favorite for Saturday’s game.
Louisville -1.5 (-109) vs. SMU
This is a sneaky big game for College Football Playoff implications, and I think both teams can make a run to the ACC Championship Game, but this is a bit short on Louisville. I rate these two teams pretty similarly from a power rating standpoint, and when you factor in home-field advantage for the Cardinals, it gives them the edge. Ultimately, my model likes the defense for the Cardinals slightly better in this matchup, and I think this should be a field goal spread.
Worst price to bet: Louisville -2.5 (-110)
—SMU is still an “enigma” whose playoff chances seem to hinge on winning at Louisville on Saturday.
—Louisville is No. 3 in SI’s latest ACC power rankings.
—The much-discussed LSU-Ole Miss game week took another dramatic turn Tuesday when Tigers star defensive end Princewill Umanmielen was served with court papersrelated to the Rebels’ lawsuit against him.
—This is incredible:
—Some Louisville-SMU advanced stats are here.
—On3 looks at where Louisville ranks nationally in a handful of statistical categories.
—The Dallas Morning News has a standard overview preview of Louisville-SMU here.
—Jaleel Skinner needs you at The Fed on Saturday.
—Field Level Media is expecting a high-scoring affairSaturday.
—Here’s the official SMU preview for the game.
—And finally, The Mike Rutherford Show is back this afternoon from 2:30-5:30 on 1450/96.1 The Big X. Dan Furman of Floyd Street Media will join us at 3:30. You can watch the Thornton’s YouTube stream, here.
