I'm only going to say it once (maybe three times): Tom Jurich is not going to Texas.
Here's your full recap of Dabo Swinney's pre-Louisville comments on Tuesday.
I think the issue this month has been us getting away from our roots and not making fun of DePaul enough.
@CardChronicle @ULFlyingCard I miss "DePaul Day" but I'm glad we're in the ACC. pic.twitter.com/qYL9ZpGjO1
— Aaron Vowels (@Guinness74) August 31, 2015
That's better. Beat Clemson.
We talked earlier about Clemson being without its starting center on Thursday night, but as the Tiger fans pointed out in the comments section, it's probably not as big a deal as you'd think, as many folks have preferred Jay Guillermo to starter Ryan Norton already.
Speaking of Guillermo, here's a cool profile of his ability to overcome depression and some physical setbacks to get to this point.
This quote from Jayron Kearse (the dude who chased down James Quick last year) is pretty hilarious.
Louisville coach Bobby Petrino told reporters Monday he knows who among his four quarterbacks will start Thursday. He's just not identifying who that is.
Clemson is responding by watching game tape of the three passers who have played this season - freshman Lamar Jackson and sophomores Reggie Bonnafon and Kyle Bolin - in addition to junior Will Gardner, who started last year's game at Clemson.
Collectively, Louisville (0-2) has the lowest passer rating in the ACC.
"Quarterbacks just not making good decisions, that's all I can really say," Tigers junior safety Jayron Kearse said. "I don't know too much about the position. If they're playing bad, I like it. Whatever they're doing wrong, keep doing it wrong."
Honest sports quotes are the best. I mean, what do you want him to say?
The folks over at Streaking the Lawn say Todd Grantham's stock is falling.
Deshaun Watson says he came to Clemson for games like the one on Thursday.
But his biggest test to date this season will come Thursday night, when the Tigers put their newly minted Top 10 ranking on the line in a nationally televised game against the Cardinals at Papa John's Stadium.
It's the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for Clemson (2-0), which moved up three spots to No. 9 in Sunday's USA Today/Amway coaches poll.
"I enjoy it," Watson said. "This is what I came to Clemson for - games like this, a chance to play on national television. I've dreamt of this since middle school. When I was committing here and signing the papers, I knew games like this were going to come up each year."
On a personal level, Watson certainly is hoping that Thursday's game is an improvement over his first game against the Cardinals last season. He played just 11 snaps - completing 3-of-6 passes and throwing an interception - before breaking a bone in his hand and missing the remainder of the game as well as the Tigers' next three games.
"I wouldn't say this game matters more - each game is the biggest game for me," Watson said.
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but Louisville is now off the board when it comes to 2015 college football national championship odds.
Odds to win the 2015-2016 College Football FBS Championship (Teams in red have longer odds, teams in blue have shorter odds, and teams in black stayed the same)
Team Odds on 9/8/15 Current Odds
Ohio State 7/4 7/4
TCU 8/1 15/2
Alabama 8/1 8/1
Michigan State 18/1 10/1
Baylor 14/1 14/1
USC 20/1 14/1
Georgia 20/1 20/1
LSU 20/1 20/1
Texas A&M 33/1 22/1
UCLA 33/1 22/1
Auburn 14/1 25/1
Clemson 25/1 25/1
Mississippi 40/1 25/1
Florida State 28/1 28/1
Notre Dame 14/1 33/1
Oklahoma 33/1 33/1
Oregon 25/1 40/1
Georgia Tech 66/1 50/1
Oklahoma State 100/1 66/1
Arkansas 50/1 100/1
Florida 100/1 100/1
Stanford 100/1 100/1
Tennessee 66/1 100/1
Utah 200/1 100/1
Arizona 200/1 200/1
Arizona State 150/1 200/1
Boise State 66/1 200/1
Miami 200/1 200/1
Michigan 150/1 200/1
Northwestern 200/1 200/1
West Virginia 300/1 200/1
California 500/1 300/1
Iowa 500/1 300/1
Kansas State 200/1 300/1
Missouri 200/1 300/1
Wisconsin 200/1 300/1
Mississippi State 100/1 500/1
South Carolina 200/1 500/1
Boston College 500/1 500/1
BYU 500/1 500/1
Cincinnati 500/1 500/1
Duke 500/1 500/1
Nebraska 500/1 500/1
Penn State 500/1 500/1
Texas 500/1 500/1
Virginia Tech 500/1 500/1
Minnesota 1000/1 1000/1
Louisville 500/1 Off the Board
Marshall 500/1 Off the Board
Maryland 500/1 Off the Board
Oregon State 500/1 Off the Board
Pittsburgh 500/1 Off the Board
Rutgers 500/1 Off the Board
South Florida 500/1 Off the Board
Texas Tech 500/1 Off the Board
UCF 1000/1 Off the Board
North Carolina 1000/1 Off the Board
Washington 1000/1 Off the Board
Your preview of tonight's men's soccer match between No. 10 Louisville and No. 16 Saint Louis at Lynn Stadium.
To the surprise of few, Steve Fisher and the San Diego State basketball program are under NCAA investigation.
The mystery of the 2015-16 Louisville Cardinals is one of the 64 biggest reasons to be excited about the upcoming season.
42. Figuring out exactly what Louisville will look like this season
By March of this year, Louisville had become a three-man show: guard TerryRozier, wing Wayne Blackshear and big man Montrezl Harrell were the only consistent threats for the Cardinals. And after guiding them to a surprising Elite Eight run, those three are gone. In all, Louisville lost its top four scorers and 82.5% of its points. Eleven players this season are freshmen or sophomores. Grad transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis will be tasked with assuming leadership and scoring responsibilities. Pitino never allows inexperience to be an excuse, so it'll be exciting to see how all the pieces come together for the Cardinals this season.
Mark Ennis previews Thursday night for our friends over at Shakin' the Southland.
Rick Pitino made an executive decision today. Bompy is in. Rutherford is out. pic.twitter.com/EFz9dONpsi
— Paul Rogers (@paulnrogers1) September 14, 2015
Sometimes I like to imagine how a conversation with my 10-years-ago self would go.
"Yeah man, you're married and you're actually working in sports. It's pretty cool."
"Wow, that's awesome. So what's going on with me right now?"
"Well, you're actually in the middle of a feud pitting yourself against Rick Pitino and a Puerto Rican mascot named Bompy."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
If you're in need of two tickets for Thursday night's game, the latest Year of the Fan contest may be your inside track.
The college basketball folks at CBS say Louisville is No. 7 when it comes to the programs that are best positioned for success over the next five years.
Outlook: Rick Pitino's contract runs through 2026. And though that obviously guarantees nothing, we believe it's more likely than not that the Hall of Fame coach will coach Louisville for at least five more seasons, meaning one of the nation's best programs should have one of the nation's best coaches for at least the next five seasons. And that's always a good combination.
Muhammad and Lonnie Ali have made a donation to University of Louisville Athletics to endow the Muhammad Ali Leadership Baseball Scholarship, providing a lasting legacy with the Cardinals for the hometown legend. The $100,000 commitment for the scholarship includes a $50,000 honorarium Ali will receive when he is awarded the inaugural Grawemeyer Spirit Award on Sept. 17, and the additional $50,000 is from an anonymous donor who matched the amount.
Probably my favorite tweet of the week so far.
Imagine the surreality of being in a life/death situation plus: "OHMYGOD I'm on fire I'm going to die OHMYGOD is this Montrezl Harrell?!?".
— Cardinal Laws (@CardinalLaws) September 15, 2015
Clemson site Rubbing the Rock lays out five players to watch Thursday night.
Despite the disappointing start to the 2015 season, U of L continues to get it done on the recruiting trail.
The weekend that was in the ACC had a number of interesting developments. A five-star was back on campus for a second-straight week at NC State, rival North Carolina makes an offer at a very difficult position to identify talent and Louisville has reason to worry about its top ranked commitment.
Biggest commitment: While Louisville has endured a tough 0-2 start to the 2015 season, the Cardinals got good news on the recruiting trail, picking up a commitment from safety Lamarques Thomas. While Thomas is not ranked in the ESPN 300, the win for the Cardinals is a key one with Thomas hailing from Mississippi. Both Mississippi and Alabama are targeted states by the staff, and Terrell Buckley beating Missouri for the three-star Thomas.
NC State's student newspaper has Louisville at 12th in its ACC power rankings, to which we can only respond: Sweet 16.
Deshaun Watson is well aware of what happened to him in last year's game against Louisville, but he's not thinking about that heading into the rematch.
And finally, we're turning our attention to Clemson and answering your questions on Twitter today on Ramsey & Rutherford from 3-6 on 93.9 The Ville. Will I compare Louisville's quarterback situation to a Phoenix song? You'll have to listen and find out .... the answer is probably.