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Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Lucas Steele had no reservations about diving right in to his first rivalry week.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check (Kentucky): Louisville by 4.

I_medium Spread check (St. Francis): No line.

I_medium Louisville makes an appearance in Gary Parrish's top 25 (and one). They are the one.

I_medium Everyone knows that Saturday is a huge game for Mark Stoops, but it's a pretty big one for Bobby Petrino as well.

I_medium A year ago the ACC dominated its SEC rivals on the final weekend of the regular season. Will the league get more respect if recent history repeats itself?

Florida State won a national championship in 2013 (over an SEC team), made it into the College Football Playoff in 2014, and Clemson is sitting with the No. 1 ranking in America. So if the ACC is really only defined by what those two have done on a national level, shouldn't the ACC be getting way more credit? Couple that with wins this weekend, and people need to start re-imagining how they view the ACC. As for credibility ... the ACC already struggles to get anybody to pay attention. As we already stated, nobody's opinion of the ACC has changed even after big wins in big games against big opponents.

We both agree the marquee game between them is Saturday in the Swamp, but that is not a slam dunk for the Seminoles. Even Florida State fans would tell you that. Isn't Florida ranked higher than Florida State? The Gators are at home, too, with a defense that should absolutely dominate a struggling Florida State offensive line. Florida might have a below average offense, but Florida State lost to 3-8 Georgia Tech already this year. A loss to Florida wouldn't be worse than that. Nor would it make the ACC lose more credibility.

I_medium Louisville has a booger problem. I suspect the weird kid who sat next to me in second grade and legitimately made me almost throw up every single day is the culprit. Think his name was Jerry.

Side note: Eight-year-olds shouldn't have to go by Jerry. They wind up doing gross shit with boogers.

I_medium Chane Behanan has signed a professional contract to play in Mexico.

I_medium The Louisville volleyball team is now No. 15 in the country after running its ACC record to 17-1 with a pair of victories over the weekend. The Cards will wrap up their regular season this week with two road matches.

I_medium If you aren't watching The Leftovers, it's time to start. I just watched the most recent episode last night and I feel like a previously jailed portion of my mind has been freed. Don't freak out if you finish the first season and aren't all that into it.

I_medium Probably the best Matt Elam tweet since he said Kentucky was going 12-0 before the season.

I_medium Louisville sits at No. 6 in the latest set of ACC football power rankings from ESPN.

I_medium Syracuse has decided to part ways with head football coach Scott Shafer, who will be coaching the Orange in their final game this weekend. I said it on the show yesterday, but if I'm coaching a game for a program that has already fired me, I'm faking punts on 4th and 35, chugging champagne on the sideline and then punting the bottle into the crowd.

I_medium This isn't great. I mean, for us it's fine.

I_medium Indiana got stunned by Wake Forest in the first round of the Maui Invitational, and then a few hours later Memphis lost at home to UT-Arlington. It's like Crean and Pastner are playing this really elaborate practical joke that only they are in on.

I_medium There are tickets still out there for Saturday's game. If you want to buy them through UK, you can do so here.

I_medium Gary Barnidge continues to defy time in Cleveland this season.

I_medium This is terrifying but effective.

Well done, Richmond PR team.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

I_medium At least 17 high school football coaches in the state of Georgia earn six figure salaries. That's insane.

I_medium Saturday Down South lays out five things that Kentucky is going to have to do to beat Louisville.

I_medium These fake Black Friday flyers are entertaining.

I_medium Card Chronicle Bird .... Hands?

Terrifying. Awesome.

I_medium If you're looking for a free download of an album dedicated solely to Louisville basketball, your ship has arrived.

I_medium Charlie Strong once again denied rumors that he's interested in the Miami job, telling reporters on Monday: "I don't run from anything."

I_medium The AP has its first Louisville-Kentucky story of the week.

The Cardinals are now headed for their sixth straight bowl, with the destination depending on whether they beat the Wildcats. That scenario adds more fuel to a rivalry that got physical before last year's kickoff in Louisville, with players and even some coaches mixing it up on the field during warmups. The Cardinals went on to win a 44-40 slugfest.

Emotions figure to be just as high with postseason prospects at stake, but Stoops will stress focusing on the task at hand ahead of statewide bragging rights.

"Motivation, that goes away very quickly," he said. "It's about execution. Our team will be motivated to play, and so will theirs. It's about controlling those emotions and executing at a higher level."

I_medium Did you know Bobby Petrino has never lost to Kentucky as Louisville's head coach? Because Bobby Petrino has never lost to Kentucky as Louisville's head coach.

I_medium The Louisville Cardinal says Damion Lee is emerging as both the top scoring threat and the team leader of the 2015-16 Cardinals.

I_medium The LIU Brooklyn Terriers are not a team, Vavel.

I_medium Here's my yearly request for one you to record a new bomb ass Thanksgiving song. "Over the River and Through the Woods" is a chump track. Feel free to work the Lions and Battle for the Governor's Cup in.

I_medium We've heard a lot about Drew Barker off the field the last couple of years, but on the field, he's still mostly a mystery.

So going into a major rivalry game against Louisville on Saturday, Barker is still a bit of an unknown commodity.

He has thrown just one pass longer than 25 yards. The redshirt freshman quarterback, who earned his first start versus the 49ers last week, has now completed 29 of 48 pass attempts (60.4 percent) for 236 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

"He's more and more comfortable," Coach Mark Stoops said of Barker. "He needs more reps. With his first start I was pleased with what I saw."

Even with the less than ideal conditions, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said he tried to challenge Barker when possible.

"There were times we forced the pass just to work on it," Dawson said after the 58-10 victory over Charlotte. "There was one series for sure where we threw it three times in a row and we got the turnover down there. So really I just wanted to throw it.

"I wanted to throw it three times in a row and just work on it. Didn't work out too well for us, but we got a field goal."

In the second half, Barker threw just three passes, completing none. For the game, he connected on 16 of 29 pass attempts for 129 yards.

I_medium There is a website dedicated solely to Tom Crean's buyout, which includes a countdown until the day it drops to $3.5 million. Incredible.

I_medium Our man Gavin Howard is selling t-shirts again this year to raise money for St. Jude. In the three years that years Gavin has been doing the shirt orders, he has been able to raise close to $20,000.

Here's this year's shirt, which says "Together we can strike out childhood cancer":

You might remember that last year Montrezl Harrell wore gold laces in support of pediatric cancer awareness after meeting Gavin and being given one of his shirts.

For anyone interested in purchasing a shirt can email jen80howard@hotmail.com.

I_medium And finally, Rick Pitino will be calling into today's Ramsey & Rutherford Show at 5:05 to talk about tonight's game against St. Francis. You can listen to the show live from 3-6 on 93.9 The Ville or streaming online right here.

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