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Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Ruby Miller is exhausted from all the College Football Playoff rankings talk. Her dad, Brent, is cool with it.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check (football, I don't think there's a line on the basketball exhibition): Louisville by 33.5.

I_medium The latest S&P rankings from Football Outsiders again have Louisville at No. 3 behind only Michigan and Alabama.

I_medium Louisville is still No. 2 in the latest ACC power rankings from ESPN.

I_medium CBS' Dennis Dodd says that even with a month left, Lamar Jackson has taken all the drama out of the Heisman Trophy race.

There's the Heisman race and there's Lamar Jackson.

They're two different things at this point after Louisville's quarterback all but clinched the Stiff Arm with four weeks left in the season.

Too soon? Yeah, yeah, I know. You want the Heisman Trophy race to play out. You want suspense. You want something else besides Alabama-vs.-the field arguments at the corner bar.

You probably want me to calm down. Sorry. Ship the Heisman to Louisville and put it under armed guard until Dec. 9 if that's what it takes. Judging by Saturday and another systematic destruction by Jackson -- this time of Boston College -- it's over.

There are few things decided this season. One of them is the highest honor in college football. At this point, Jackson would have to go on a Tibetan retreat not to win it.

He accounted for seven touchdowns against Boston College in a 52-7 win, and it wasn't even Jackson's best game this season. That would be four passing and three rushing scores in the middle of a season that feels like Cam Newton at Auburn in 2010 and looks like Michael Vick flicking the pigskin as if it was a Nerf ball for Virginia Tech.

I_medium They may have won a conference road game by 45 points, but Louisville is still trending down in ESPN's latest college football power rankings.

I_medium Bobby Petrino has a point when he talks about the CFP selection committee sending mixed messages.

That leads us to mixed message No. 2: strength of schedule. Louisville has one win against a Top 25 team. That also happens to be the only win on the schedule against a team with a winning record. The committee talked at length about strength of schedule last week, dinging Louisville for the teams it has played. Let's use Texas A&M as an example.

The reason the Aggies were ranked No. 4 in those initial rankings was based on its superior strength of schedule. Yet they lost to the No. 1 team in the country by a wider margin than Louisville lost to the No. 2 team in the country (both on the road). Louisville looked better based on the 'eye test,' but strength of schedule prevailed. Then Texas A&M went ahead and lost to a team with a losing record.

If strength of schedule was so important, then, why the uneven application? "You look at Clemson and the schedule they beat, the guys in the Top 10 that they beat, and what Alabama has done, why isn't Clemson rated No. 1?" Petrino asked.

Clemson has more wins than Alabama against Top 25 teams, but has not won as decisively (here again, margin of victory seems to play a role). The Tigers are No. 2 and should stay in that spot when the new rankings are released Tuesday, but there is no denying the two points Petrino made.

The committee has a difficult job to do when weighing all these teams against each other. It does take into account team performance, strength of schedule, victories and so many other factors.

What frustrates coaches like Petrino is the perception that the standards the committee uses are applied differently to different teams. Petrino believes he has a top-4 team. Other coaches do, too.

"I've been around long enough to know that it's one of the top three most talented teams in America right now," Boston College coach Steve Addazio said afterward.

I_medium Louisville has released its complete 2017 baseball schedule. Of the 56 games that the Cards will play this season, 27 will come against teams that played in last year's NCAA Tournament.

I_medium Enjoy those lofty rankings while you can, Deacs.

I_medium U of L QB commit Malik Cunningham will visit Florida this weekend.

I_medium The latest SB Nation bowl projections have the Cards facing Penn State in the Orange Bowl.

I_medium You guys lost to Michigan by 40.

I_medium The Ringer gives us 32 names to know for the second half of the NFL season, and three of them -- DeVante Parker, Elvis Dumervil and Eli Rogers -- are Louisvlle products.

I_medium Tomahawk Nation goes Clemson, Louisville, Virginia Tech for the first three in its ACC power rankings.

I_medium Mutual respect from Alabama QB Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson.

I_medium Does two-loss Oklahoma still have a shot at making the CFP? Of course, because somehow the Sooners were born with college football's ultimate hall pass.

I_medium Lamar Jackson is going to win the Heisman Trophy.

*Lamar Jackson's grip on the Heisman keeps getting tighter. He just scorched what was the nation's No. 9 defense for seven TDs (four passing and three rushing). He now has 45 total TDs in nine games. BC coach Steve Addazio has seen his share of elite players in his days, especially when he coached at Florida in the SEC. I thought his comments about Jackson after Louisville blasted his team were interesting.

"There were a few times we had him completely boxed, and he came out of there and hit a crease and he's gone. He's electric. I think I've been around some of the best quarterbacks in the country in my day, and this guy is really something now. He's got a great arm. He's got a great release. He's got a real knack of knowing what's around him and coming out of trouble. He can throw it, and he's as elite of a runner as I've ever seen. He reminds me running like Percy Harvin reminded me when we had him at Florida. He's that kind of runner, but yet he can throw the rock, and when he's on, he's on. He was on tonight."

I_medium Wake Forest became bowl eligible on Saturday by beating Virginia, and they were quite fired up about it.

I_medium Put some respect on BU's name.

I_medium Kentucky Wesleyan, the team Louisville throttled in its first exhibition game, took Western Kentucky to double overtime on Saturday.

I_medium The Cards make two appearances on Athlon's list of the 20 best alternate uniforms in college football so far this season.

I_medium Stick to sports, Tom. Also, beating Kentucky in the tournament looks like it's taken 25-30 years right off you.

I_medium U of L is giving Western Kentucky $1 million for the two football games at PJCS, while the programs will split the profits from the 2019 game played in Nashville.

I_medium Spencer Hall has Louisville at No. 5 in his weekly top whatever rankings.

I_medium Lamar Jackson has been named the Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week once again. This marks the first time since 2004 that one player has won the award three times in the same season.

I_medium I love Keith Kelsey so much.

I_medium Our guy Bill Everett from the Crestview News Bulletin is back again with his weekly predictions, and he likes the Cards over Wake Forest by 20 plus.

I_medium Every year, this is my favorite slam attempt from BBN. You know what would help that "weak" non-conference schedule out a lot?

I_medium The U of L volleyball team continued a rough 2016 season with a loss via sweep at Duke over the weekend.

I_medium Asia Durr is playing without pain for the first time as a Louisville Cardinal, and she's ready to dominate.

I_medium That's good.

I_medium The Sporting News' bowl projections have the Cards facing Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl.

I_medium The Veep loves Lamar Jackson. Huge Blanton Creque guy, too.

I_medium The eighth-ranked Louisville field hockey team will open NCAA Tournament play on Saturday against No. 9 Delaware. The winner gets the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, Duke, in the tournament quarterfinals. Here's the full tournament bracket.

I_medium BC Interruption reviews Saturday's game in Chestnut Hill.

I_medium And finally, R&R is back from 3-6 today talking about the trip to Boston College, the weekend that was in college football, and Rick Pitino will join us at 4:30 to preview tonight's 7 p.m. exhibition against Bellarmine. You can listen here.

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