Monday Evening Cardinal News And Notes

Spread check: Louisville by 11.5

The first of 15,000 reminders/answers: Friday night's game is a Red Out.

I feel like this is the week where we're all reminded why Central Florida was once a Least Cool Person Tournament participant. Here's a pretty solid start.

The Louisville women's basketball team has been picked to finish second in the AAC, behind only defending national champion Connecticut.

Mike Marra is the best:

I realize that there's no distinctive physical feature in that picture which can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this is, in fact, Mike Marra, so you're just going to have to trust me.

Louisville is one of just two teams in the country that hasn't given up an offensive touchdown of 20 yards or more. Remember five years ago when we couldn't go a quarter without giving up an offensive touchdown of 60 yards or more? This is better.

The Cards also remain the only FBS team that has not trailed for a single second this season.

The AAC's version of Gary Sinise is coming to town on Friday. That's who the younger girls are fawning over these days, right? Gary Sinise?

Who is Blake Bortles?

Ask a teenage girl. The readers of Seventeen magazine voted Bortles the ninth hottest player in college football, a list headlined by A.J. McCarron of Alabama, with his teammate C.J. Mosley and Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller right behind. Bortles is one spot ahead of Johnny Manziel.

Get this: Bortles' girlfriend, Lindsey Duke, is a magazine cover girl. They're pushing McCarron and Katherine Webb for the top spot as The Glamour Couple of college football.

No players from Louisville or any other local school made the Seventeen beefcake list.

No worries. The Cardinals have already handled another pretty boy. Ohio University quarterback Tyler Tettleton ranked 25th.

Clearly the readers of Seventeen haven't seen Jake Smith in a two-piece.

We'll have more on it later in the week, but Papa John's Cardinal Stadium will be turning 100 games old on Friday. I hear the secret is a daily dose of bananas.

The 11th-ranked men's soccer team will take its winning streak into a Tuesday night road showdown at rival Indiana.

Nice to see Chris Jones embracing his new

Welcome to the wonderful world of Card Chronicle, my man.

SB Nation's Bill Connelly examines what the new playoff committee would have done in each season from 1998-2012, including in 2006 when Louisville would have had a legitimate beef to be in the four-team playoff.

The greatest wall sticker of all-time.

Russ Smith is one of 22 member of the 2013-14 Lute Olson Preseason All-American Team.

Your look at the week that was in U of L sports:

Really digging the Rutgers soccer unis.

A New Jersey man was tasered and arrested at the game last Thursday. Remarkably, it wasn't Ronnie from Jersey Shore. I don't even think he's actually from Jersey, but whatever, it's a joke. Not a good joke, but one that'll suffice on a Monday evening.

Spencer Hall takes a quick look at the top 25 and thinks the over-the-top criticism of Louisville is silly.

7. Louisville. Whatever, they still have Teddy Bridgewater and only gave up a touchdown to Rutgers thanks to one of the cooler fake field goals you'll ever see. They're still top five in total defense, something most people miss while admiring the curlicued rainbows Teddy Bridgewater's passes make through the air. A terrifying matchup in a one-game situation, something some poor team is going to discover (again) the hard way in bowl season.

According to Dan Graziano of ESPN, former Louisville RB Jeremy Wright, who was in minicamp briefly with the Giants, has a workout with the Giants this week.

Kevin Harned was the auctioneer at an event attended by one of my older brothers on Saturday night, which is how I scored the greatest gift in the history of great gifts.

My biggest fan. Kevin Harned said that. Biggest fan.

Louisville checks in at No. 7 in this week's UPS Team Performance Index. Although it's probably worth noting that Stanford was atop the Index last week.

The folks in Minnesota are learning to love Gorgui as we have loved Gorgui.

During rookie karaoke night at training camp in Mankato last week, he stood on a chair and sang Happy Birthday to head athletic trainer Gregg Farnam in English, French and his native Wolof without ever demonstrating his knowledge of either Italian or Spanish.

During preseason games against Toronto and Milwaukee this week, he showed, even given his rookie status and late start in the game, he's fluent in basketball.

"He's a smart player," Adelman said. "It doesn't take long watching him to see that he knows how to play."

Dieng is just 23 and didn't seriously start playing the game until he was a teenager, but maybe there's a reason his given name means "old man" in his native language.

On Thursday in Sioux Falls, Dieng blocked four shots and altered others in 24-plus minutes off the bench for a team that has invested more than $120 million in bruising big men Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love but didn't have a natural, forceful rim protector until they drafted Dieng out of national champion Louisville with the 21st pick in last summer's draft.

"He can do that, he'll block shots," Adelman said. "He gives us a presence, we have nobody else who does that. He alters shots. He's very long. He's very smart defensively, too. He's just got a good sense of how to play, and he's not going to be intimidated by anybody. His length is going to bother people."

I swear, news and notes never made me tear up before Gorgs left.

The latest installment of the U of L baseball fall notebook.

U of L has agreed to cap its share of annual sponsorship revenue at the KFC Yum Center, a move that is expected to produce more than $1 million for arena officials to help pay off the building's debt. WDRB's Marcus Green has the details.

Anthony Hopkins' letter to Bryan Cranston is without doubt the ever.

Yes, yes he is.

Jurich turned down Texas? Man, he's really committed to Louisville...

— KilroyFSU (@KilroyFSU) October 14, 2013

Mitch Athey asks if Louisville is on upset alert this Friday night, and then never really answers his own question.

Detroit Bad Boys previews Peyton Siva, who scored eight points for the Pistons over the weekend in his preseason debut.

The Orlando Sentinel says Louisville has the same shot on Friday that they had last Thursday against Rutgers, while UCF is quietly looking to control its destiny in the AAC and sneak into the BCS.

UCF (4-1, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) is traveling to Louisville (6-0, 2-0 AAC) with the hope of earning a marquee win, adding to the momentum it built with a win at Penn State and a narrow loss to South Carolina. With a win over the Cardinals, the Knights would gain a big edge in the AAC standings and race to earn the league's BCS bid.

Louisville will be looking to make a statement to the voters who help control their national championship fate.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPN.

"It's these national televised audiences on primetime," ESPN analyst Jesse Palmer said Thursday night. "Tonight and . . . Friday against the two best teams [Louisville will] see all year. . . . They have to prove to voters they are worthy of being a top-two team."

But what will it take to prove their ability?

Even after a two-touchdown victory over Rutgers - one in which the Cardinals boasted a 300-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and defense that produced eight sacks and four interceptions - Louisville didn't pick up favorable reviews. Critics said the scoreline was just not convincing enough, in part, because Rutgers was considered Louisville's first true test against a worthy opponent this season.

USA Today continues to be all USA Today and says Louisville may have hit its ceiling in the polls. The publication also announced that it's going to blow everyone's minds by dressing as Miley Cyrus for Halloween.

Presale tickets for the 2014 NCAA Tournament are officially available.

For a limited time over at the Strait Pinkie store, you can buy a Teddy 5 shirt and receive a Teddy 5 koozie for free. Just use the promo code "CC" and you'll also get 10% off your entire order.

Jump on it. 

Rick Pitino will be signing copies of The One Day Contract from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Friday in Street Fest before the 8 p.m. football game against Central Florida.

Jeff Goodman says that Chris Jones holds the key to a successful 2013-14 season for Louisville (insider).

If you're going to bike to a football game, bike to a football game while wearing a CCBM.

Jeff Walz has landed his fifth commitment from the class of 2014.

The Chicago Tribune says that Louisville is becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of college football.

Fox says that Louisville is angling down despite its 14-point win over Rutgers.

DOWN: Louisville

Teddy Bridgewater went for more than 300 yards passing for the fourth time this season, and the Cardinals are now 6-0 by beating Rutgers. But he threw an interception and fumbled on the last of two sacks. Plus, Louisville - which came in averaging 44.4 points - scored just 24 on a Scarlet Knights D that's given up plenty of points. Needing all the style points they can get with that much-maligned schedule, the Cardinals did themselves no favors.

Whatever.

Teddy Bridgewater versus Blake Bortles on friday night is "Must-See-QB-TV."

DeVante Parker is still nursing an injured right shoulder and will again be a game-time decision this week.

Central Florida feels like it got its bad game of the season out of the way just before its biggest one.

And finally, I'll be a guest panelist again tonight for the "Meat & Potatoes" forum at U of L. The program gets underway at 7:30 at The Avenue in Cardinal Towne. There will be free food. I'll probably say bad words. And wear a hat.