Red is the light through which Carter Donaldson examines his existence. He ponders life outside his playpen, sustenance outside of milk from a bottle, and why Louisville is so much better than Kentucky football. Red and black football pressed against his stomach, he retires from thought. He dreams. Thirty-two to fourteen.
Pat Forde was at PJCS on Sunday and walked away more than slightly impressed by The Ted.
Bridgewater threw with velocity. He threw with touch. He threw on the run. He altered his release point when pressure dictated it. He checked down to second and third receivers. He was unfailingly accurate. He plundered a Kentucky defense that couldn't stop much of anything until Strong stopped the Cardinals by taking Bridgewater out.
"Teddy was seeing the right looks and making great passes," Stein said. "Those are great numbers."
A year ago at this time, Bridgewater was backing up Stein. It wasn't until Stein got hurt against Kentucky in Lexington in the third game of the year that Bridgewater moved into the starting lineup, and he was an excitable guy in the pocket. Tough, talented, charismatic - but excitable.
"Last year I tended to play fast, rush things," Bridgewater said. "[The game] has slowed down a lot. Last year I felt I was just playing football. Now I'm playing with a purpose."
It just feels good to say "The Ted." I'm 95% sure Tolkien would agree. Try it the next time it's like 3:15 and you don't think you can make it through the rest of the day.
CBS Sports' college football rankings, which are based off a formula from stats guru Jerry Palm, rank Louisville as the No. 10 team in the country.
Can we now say that Louisville is a top ten program again? Didn't stop me earlier today when I was yelling it at strangers inside Pier 1. If you haven't yet, you need to read Andrea Adelson's piece on Lorenzo Mauldin. It's a story that will definitely make you think twice before complaining about some trivial problem going on in your life.
His mother would come back into the picture every once in a while, before her drug addiction eventually landed her back in jail. His siblings? Well, he was mostly split up from them, having only his younger brother with him for most of his life.
Mauldin was given no real incentive to care, because nobody cared about him. His brother gave up on himself and landed in jail a few times. Mauldin got into plenty of trouble, too, before he had what he calls "a life check" in high school. He could either follow the path of his troubled parents or he could use football as a way out.
That is what makes his story among the more awe inspiring in the Big East. The Louisville defensive end had only one person who could save him from following his mother and father.
He had himself.
And somehow, at the age of 16, he had the maturity, instincts and capability to think like a grown up, and act like a grown up. As he goes into his sophomore season at Louisville, Mauldin is expected to take on a larger role at defensive end. But it is a wonder he is even on the field at all given everything he had to overcome.
It's remarkable to me that a guy with this background has developed a reputation for being one of the most personable players on the team. I remember dozens of people who attended Charlie Strong's Women's Camp singling Mauldin out for being both kind and hilarious.
I also meant to mention earlier that Mauldin's hit on UK punt returner DeMarco Robinson was probably the biggest blow a Cardinal delivered all Sunday. His slow walk afterwards was also extremely cool.
Teddy Bridgewater and Calvin Pryor became the first two Cardinals to pick up Big East honors this season, as each was named to the Big East Honor Roll on Monday.
The two footballers weren't the only Cardinals to pick up Big East honors for their performances last week.
Though Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib beat him out for the honor from the league, ESPN named The Ted its Big East Player of the Week.
There was simply no stopping Bridgewater and the Cardinal offense Sunday, as it racked up 466 total yards.
Bridgewater set a school record for a single-game completion percentage. He certainly benefited from a strong performance up front, as the offensive line allowed two different Cardinal running backs to eclipse 100 yards on the day.
It's only one week into the season, but Bridgewater looks like he has picked up right where he left off in 2011, and that could mean big things for the preseason conference favorites.
So on Monday, the official UK Athletics YouTube channel posted and promoted a video of the Kentucky football players dancing in the locker room before the Louisville game and singing Chief Keef's "I Don't Like." The lyrics of that song are...not family friendly. I noted the video's existence on Twitter, and after a couple of folks did the same it was quickly removed.
It's not that the behavior was particularly obscene as far as locker room antics from a college football team go, it just seems a little odd that UK would be promoting a video of its players chanting "a b---h ni--a, that's that s--t I don't like" repeatedly. I swear, if I didn't know better I would think there were some folks within the Kentucky athletic department who would prefer it if Joker Phillips were not the head coach of the football team next fall.
On a related note...
Ball security...that's that s--t I don't like.
Wrapping up a tackle...that's that s--t I don't like.
Makable field goals...that's that s--t I don't like.
Pressuring quarterbacks...that's that s--t I don't like.
Check out the first feature piece on Kyle Kuric from the Spanish press.
El Ultimo Romantico stay El Ultimo Romantico.
Leaning towards "Mike EnjoysTheOccasionalBath Rutherford" for my hip new Facebook name. Just like the kids are doing.
Recent birthday is really starting to hit me hard. Gotta keep it fresh.
Five-star 2014 point guard Jaquan Lyle was an unofficial visitor at U of L over the weekend, which he called a "cool experience" (sub).
Here's a video of this year's intro that I discussed earlier.
No idea how I failed to mention the Undertaker theme remix.
The men's soccer team opened up its home schedule by throttling Belmont 3-1 on Saturday. The Cards are back in action tonight at St. Louis. That match is set to kickoff at 7 p.m.
Congratulations to the U of L volleyball team, which swept its three Cardinal Classic matches over the weekend and found itself ranked No. 24 in the coaches' poll this morning. The national ranking is Louisville's first since 2007.
The No. 12 ranked women's soccer team stayed perfect by blowing out visiting UNC Greensboro 4-0 on Sunday. The 4-0 Cards are back in action on Friday night, when they host arch-rival Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. inside Cardinal Park.
Additional congrats to sophomore midfielder Erin Yenney on being named Big East Offensive Player of the Week.
"Discernment" is about to become Dictionary.com's word of the day.
Louisville was a unanimous choice for No. 1 in the new SB Nation Big East power rankings.
Despite a lopsided victory over an arch-rival, Louisville's defense could have played much better.
Louisville gave up 373 yards, including 280 passing - numbers that ultimately didn't affect the outcome with the Cardinals' offense rolling up 466 total yards and scoring seemingly when it wanted to.
But the Wildcats' no-huddle sets forced the Cardinals to react and contain rather than consistently pressure Kentucky quarterback Maxwell Smith.
Two sacks, two fumble recoveries and allowing just 93 rushing yards offset things some, though not enough to satisfy a unit used to having its way. The Cardinals feel like they have several things to improve on Saturday at home against Missouri State.
"We just could've played better," Strong said during Monday's news conference. "I just expect more, maybe because I'm a defensive coach and I'm around the defense a lot. But I expect us to get off the field more and I expect more from the defense."
Louisville assistant basketball coach Wyking Jones will be spending this weekend visiting with class of 2013 big man Moses Kingsley from Huntington Prep. Kingsley's head coach, Rob Fulford, says there's no question that his player is one of Louisville's "top targets" in the 2013 class.
Washington Monthly's new national university rankings have U of L all the way up at No. 61. The university of Kentucky, for those interested in that sort of thing, checks in at No. 206.
Cardinal freshmen Montrezl Harrell and Mangok Mathiang enjoyed their first Cardinal football game, as did Chronicloid Spencer Holmes (center).
When Athlon's college basketball preview issue hits stores in a few weeks, its preseason top three will be: 1. Indiana, 2. Louisville and 3. Kentucky.
Keith Brown, James Burgess, Sheldon Rankins and punter/kicker Josh Appleby were the only true freshmen to see the field for Louisville on Sunday. Ryan Hubbell, Jermaine Reve, Jalen Harrington, John Wallace, Ryan Johnson and Ryan Mack also played for the first time as Cardinals.
And finally, Missouri State heads into this weekend's game against the Cards feeling somewhat optimistic after playing right with No. 21 Kansas State for three quarters last weekend.