I'm not really sure what to make of this picture. Obviously, if you're willing to wear this get-up in public then you're a pretty diehard fan. So how are you going to let yourself get captured on camera flashing your arch-rival's signature sign?
Kudos to Justin Phelps and Kevin Judd on their mastery of The Force, I suppose.
Spread check: Louisville opened as an 11.5-point favorite over FIU, but that spread has quickly moved to 13.
With the Big East currently being able to claim as many undefeated teams as the Big Ten, Andrea Adelson wonders if it's possible for Louisville to make an unblemished run through the league.
A tall task awaits. But having a player like Bridgewater certainly helps the cause. Bridgewater has thrown for 855 yards and five touchdowns this season, and ranks second nationally in completion percentage at 81.8 percent. Just as significant: Bridgewater has yet to throw an interception. In 10 starts last season, he only accomplished that feat twice.
Should Louisville do the improbable and go undefeated, the Big East would obviously be incredibly well served. The Big East needs a remaining league team to run the table, especially with the re-branding effort underway. Would the Cardinals be in the national championship hunt? That all depends largely on everybody else. There are only a handful of ranked teams that have looked impressive, so Louisville would at least be in the conversation.
At this point, the down-on-its luck Big East will take that.
College Football News predicts that Louisville will face Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. I think that's a scenario that would please just about every Cardinal fan on the planet.
CBS is sticking with U of L/Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
The only "major" prognosticator who continues to place Louisville in the Russell Athletic Bowl is ESPN's Mark Schlabach. Schlabach had South Florida in the Orange Bowl last week, and has Rutgers owning the honor after their victory over the Bulls last Thursday. He also shoots kittens with bee bee guns.
Athlon has Louisville at No. 1 in its week three Big East power rankings.
1. Louisville (3-0, 0-0 Big East)
Last week's rank: 1
Week 3 result: Beat North Carolina 39-34Louisville rolled over North Carolina for three quarters before having to sweat out the final moments. It was the most vulnerable Louisville looked all season. The Cardinals led 36-7 at halftime, but North Carolina in the second half had scoring drives of 79, 65 and 93 yards plus a blocked punt that led to a five-yard touchdown. The Cardinals defense eventually clamped down with a deflected pass in the end zone, but it was a scare nonetheless.
This week: at FIU
The publication also has Teddy Bridgewater leading the way in the league's Player of the Year race, and Charlie Strong as the Big East's current Coach of the Year.
We didn't get a chance to mention it yesterday, but Louisville slipped a spot to No. 20 in the new AP poll and rose just one spot in the coaches' poll to No. 18.
That's kind of crazy to think about considering the Cards covered the spread against an opponent many thought they'd lose to. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure U of L would have fared much better in the national polls had they come from behind to win the game by five points and not held on for dear life. That second half just really stuck in the minds of a lot of people who were tuned in on Saturday, and that's a shame.
Kentucky completed its sweep of Louisville in soccer as the Cardinal men's team fell to the visiting Wildcats 1-0 on Friday. The Cards are back in action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. when Ohio State comes to Cardinal Park.
Congratulations to the Louisville volleyball team, which continues to roll over opponents and now has a top ten national ranking to its credit. It's the first time the Cardinals have been ranked in the top ten since 2005.
Pretty elite company on Twitter's current "Popular People in Louisville" list.
Although I must admit that dolla does, in fact, make me holla as well.
Gary Parrish of CBS had an interesting series of tweets earlier today which noted how new Louisville signee Chris Jones and current Memphis point guard Joe Jackson had quite the rivalry during their high school years. Should be interesting to watch in a year when the Tigers join the Big East and Jones becomes a Cardinal.
Mark Ennis takes a look at Louisville's second half woes this season. This chart speaks pretty loudly:
| Louisville Offensive Production | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | 1st Half | 2nd Half |
| Kentucky | 36 plays, 319 yards | 36 plays, 147 yards |
| Missouri St. | 47 plays, 327 yards | 30 plays, 148 yards |
| North Carolina | 39 plays, 362 yards | 32 plays, 100 yards |
| Total | 122 plays, 1008 yards | 98 plays, 395 yards |
Speaking of Ennis, he and I are back on the radio tonight from 6-8. Listen live on ESPN 680 or anytime on ESPNLouisville.com.
Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel has Teddy Bridgewater at No. 3 in his current Heisman rankings.
3. Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville: The sophomore has completed a ridiculous 81.8 percent of his passes for 855 yards, five touchdowns and no picks.
Conversation starter for the rest of your week: Uncle Phil from "The Fresh Prince of BelAir" was the voice of Shredder in the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon series.
Use only on people you're interested in sleeping with.
Lindy's, which earlier this month unveiled that it has Louisville as its No. 1 men's basketball team heading into the 2012-13 season, will have the Cardinal women ranked No. 6 when their basketball preview issue hits shelves next month.
Rick Bozich asks whether or not Louisville will be the home team in Miami on Saturday. The answer is no. Florida International will be the home team on Saturday.
Should I die, God forbid, my guess is that all of my past sins will be accounted for when this picture somehow shows up prominently during my wake.
But seriously, adopt a duck, it's for a really good cause.
Shifting away from Quacky (thank God), the talk amongst---
Ok.
So Blogging Quacky just magically grows a human torso and arms? We're all just supposed to accept this? It's not like he's wearing a shirt or something when he's not blogging. Should I just assume the tagline is going to be "Charlie Strong's 8th Favorite Blog?" This is ridiculous.
You know what would really raise some money? A Rutherford/Quacky Hell in a Cell match.
We both know that's where this is heading.
Kentucky running back Raymond Sanders, cornerback Marcus Caffey and wide receiver Bookie Cobbins were all cited for possession of marijuana Thursday night.
Couple that with the news of defensive end Collins Ukwu saying "we're trying to rally around each other" when asked if the team was rallying around Joker Phillips, and it certainly appears as if things are going to get worse in Lexington before they get better.
More news on U of L's ever-blossoming relationship with the Fox hit "Glee."
North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora apparently gave quite the halftime speech to his team on Saturday.
"It was just a challenge to them," Fedora says. "Go out there and compete; play hard every snap. Do whatever you've got to do to play as hard as you can and get your assignment done on each and every play, which is what you should do every play of the game. But, the first half was gone; there was nothing we could do about it. So, I'm proud of the way those guys fought."
The game came down to a play on Louisville's nine-yard line in which Carolina saw fourth and goal and the fourth-quarter clock winding down with just less than two minutes. Junior quarterback Bryn Renner got the play call and dropped back to pass.
"He threw a good ball there at the end to (Highsmith) and (he) did everything he could to hold onto the ball," Fedora says. "The guy was all over him. We had an opportunity and we didn't get it. We've got to learn from this and get better from it hopefully."
Not sure if he's implying pass interference there, but if he is, I'm not sure he has a great case.
The women's soccer started its Big East season off the way all Cardinal sports with they could: with a 2-0 DePaul Day victory.
And finally, your Monday press conference notebook from the U of L football blog.