Monday Evening Cardinal News And Notes

Spread check: Louisville opened as a 3-point favorite over Syracuse, but that line has since moved to 2.5.

Two fairly high-profile folks at U of L who know their football told me three weeks ago that while Rutgers and Cincinnati were the best teams remaining on Louisville's schedule, the game at Syracuse was their biggest obstacle to a perfect season. Plenty of people are expecting a dogfight, and I'm definitely one of them.

Apologies for the light posting today, I was attending a funeral and handling a few other things. Rest assured I would have much rather been writing about college basketball or Louisville sports.

Yahoo's Eric Ivie makes Teddy Bridgewater's Heisman Trophy case.

Over in Louisville, Ky., there is a college football team--the Louisville Cardinals--that's undefeated and hovering just outside the coveted top 8 in the BCS rankings at No. 9.

Under center for Louisville is a sophomore quarterback named Teddy Bridgewater, who is hovering just outside the Heisman Trophy conversation.

Maybe it's time we let him in.

In four straight games, Bridgewater has put up some eye-opening numbers that should at least get his name kicked around a little bit when talking about the most prestigious award in college football.

The Louisville football players are fully aware of the lack of respect being paid to them by the national media, and they aren't thrilled about it.

The latest big rumor from the creepy and demented world of the BCS is that if both teams finish the regular season undefeated and out of the national championship game, the Fiesta Bowl is interested in pairing Louisville against Big 12 champion Kansas State.

The Courier-Journal staying at the top of its game on Sunday morning.

CBS' Gary Parrish and Jeff Goodman debate Louisville vs. Kentucky (video).

The full Peyton Siva story from ESPN the Magazine is out and demands your attention.

Siva continued to talk for several minutes, trying not to look at the gun in his father's lap. He was becoming one of the best young athletes in the city, just beginning to sense that his life held possibilities beyond this place, but first he had to navigate through the dysfunction that surrounded him. His teenage half sister had an infant son and had become a habitual shoplifter. His mom was working two menial jobs, sometimes three. His older brother had joined a local gang and started dealing drugs.

He had watched so many lives in his sprawling Samoan family be defined by a cycle of addiction and crime, drinking and fighting, and now he feared that the same cycle would define him too. How could he succeed if almost everyone in his family was flailing? He decided he would either change them or become them.

He sat in the driver's seat of the car and spoke to his father more candidly than he ever had before. He said he had a different plan for his life -- a vision for the family's future. He wanted to improve on his lackluster grades, get serious about going to church, win a state basketball title, make a new reputation for the Sivas and maybe even earn a living playing hoops. He said he could do that only with a family that remained intact and with a father who supported him.

"I want to do something big, and I want you to be a part of all that," he said. "Stop just wasting your life. Are you in?"

I now have about 55 more Cardinal Bird Mask photos than I know what to do with. It's pretty much the best problem ever.

The Philly Enquirer hands out best and worst awards in the wake of Temple's loss to Louisville last Saturday.

ESPN somehow managed to find the least flattering picture of Peyton and Gorgui to put on their college basketball front page
.

Examiner.com has Kentucky at No. 1 and Louisville at No. 3 in its preseason college hoops top 25.

Yahoo looks at the 15 most intriguing non-conference college basketball games featuring Big East teams. Louisville appears at No. 1 (vs. Kentucky), No. 3 (Battle 4 Atlantis) and No. 6 (at Memphis).

They are already loving Jared Swopshire at Northwestern, which should come as no surprise to Louisville fans.

The fact Northwestern has yet to taste the NCAA tournament is old news.

But this year's team isn't short on tourney experience. Just ask Jared Swopshire, whom the Wildcats hope will help get them over that hump come March.

Part of four tournament teams at Louisville, including last year's Final Four squad, Swopshire brings his big-game chops to Northwestern as a fifth-year transfer. Affectionately known as "Swop," the 6-foot-8 forward has been a major asset to the program since his arrival in Evanston.

"First and foremost, he's had winning experiences and that translates right away," said associate head coach Tavaras Hardy. "We have a pretty veteran team-we're expecting some of these new guys to help us, but when you look at the core of our group, Drew and those guys have played a lot of minutes. To have that winning edge with Swop coming right in, that fits us perfectly."

NU coach Bill Carmody also said today that Swop was such a nice kid that he made world class citizen Drew Crawford "look like a thug."

Oh yeah, definitely.

SaturdayBlitz.com of the SI network looks at whether a potentially undefeated Louisville or Ohio State team could be worthy of at least a split national championship.

I don't think I have to tell anybody that I'm upset about this. You know I'm upset about this.

Terrence Williams arrived in China repping the Cards.

His new Chinese uniform is sensational.

Jay Bilas has Louisville behind only Kentucky in his rankings of the top frontcourts in the county (subscr.).

U of L's point guard of the future, Chris Jones, has opened his season is style, scoring 22 and 25 points in the first two games of his final JuCo season. His Northwest Florida team is 2-0.

NBC has The Gorgs at No. 3 in its best center rankings. Indiana's Cody Zeller and Kansas' Jeff Withey are the only players ranked higher.

The Syracuse Post Standard keeps up with how all the Big East teams are doing in exhibition play.

With a 2.5-point spread, even Jim Boeheim's having a tough time picking a winner.

The U of L men's soccer team suffered a tough 2-1 loss to Marquette in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday. The Cards will now turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on Nov. 15. The field for the 48-team tournament will be announced a week from today.

At his weekly press conference this afternoon, Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said Teddy Bridgewater will be the best quarterback that his team has faced this season. The Orange played USC and potential overall No. 1 draft pick Matt Barkley back in September.

The 12th-ranked Louisville volleyball team improved to 12-1 in the Big East by destroying Georgetown over the weekend.

Russdiculous will be back on the track running in another maiden race at Santa Anita. Here's hoping his sophomore race goes a lot like his sophomore season.

With basketball season officially just six days away, if anyone has a Baby Teddy picture to share, now is probably the time to do it. For the sake potential national title No. 3, we need this to happen.

A belated happy birthday to our man Chicken Knowles, who celebrated another year on Friday.

Bring Chicken to the Bucket...forever.

And finally, I'm back on the radio tonight with Mark Ennis from 6-8 on ESPN 680. Listen live or anytime on ESPNLouisville.com.