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Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Yuna Anne Lyons could not be happier that football is finally here. She's been tailgating for Syracuse since last Thursday night.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Don't blow Sept. 17 for us, Florida State. Please beat Ole Miss.

I_medium Due to the short week, Bobby Petrino's weekly press conference will take place after practice today at 4:15 and not at the typical time of 1:15 p.m.

I_medium Syracuse coach Dino Babers has already addressed the media today, and Syracuse.com has three notable things that he said.

Syracuse football coach Dino Babers gave a call to arms of sorts during his weekly news conference Monday morning.

After having coached his team to a 33-7 victory against Colgate in his Carrier Dome debut, Babers finally got a taste of the gameday atmosphere in Central New York.

So, what did he think of a crowd size just north of 30,000?

And, what does he imagine when Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals visit Friday night for a nationally televised contest?

"I thought it was kind of loud, and we've got room for another 18-19,000 people to get in there," Babers said. "I think it can get really loud.

"We need all the fans to show up in orange, and we need to see a sea of orange out there. Loud when Lamar and Louisville have the ball and quiet when we have the football.

"If we can get that, it'll be a heck of a home-field advantage, and we're going to need all the help we can."

Syracuse University has planned an 'Orange Out' for the Louisville game, encouraging all fans to wear orange to the game.

I_medium Despite entering this season with unusually tempered expectations, the U of L men's soccer team scored a huge 2-0 road upset of 14th-ranked Connecticut on Friday night to move to 2-0-1 on the young season. Next up is the annual Battle of the Bluegrass game against Kentucky Tuesday night at 7:30 in Lexington. The Cards have won two straight five of their last six meetings with their arch-rivals.

If you're interested in taking a bus with fellow U of L fans to Lexington on Tuesday, information on how to do that is here (also note that the match time has been changed from 7 to 7:30 since the original story was posted).

I_medium Stephen Bailey of Syracuse.com has a thorough film review of Lamar Jackson's performance against Charlotte and a discussion of how the Orange should try and slow him down based off that review.

Final numbers

Total pressures: 10
Yards gained: 157 (48 rushing on four carries, 64 passing on 2-of-5 completions, 15 via penalty)
Touchdowns: 0
Negative-yardage plays: 0

3 things we learned

If you lose contain as a defensive lineman, Lamar Jackson will burn you: Jackson showed an acute awareness of where blitzers were coming from and was ready to capitalize on mistakes. One play that didn't make the film review involved a defensive end attempting to get inside leverage on the third drive; Jackson bolted upfield for a 22-yard gain (plus 15 for a personal foul).

The rushes that proved most successful involved linemen bull rushing and keeping Jackson between the tackles. The 49ers were unable to take advantage of those few advantageous situations, but showed SU a few looks that worked — including one with a spy linebacker.

Jackson's become a better passer, but he's not perfect: Jackson found a few holes in Charlotte's secondary and nailed back-to-back timing routes on drive seven, but he also made a couple mistakes throwing from the pocket. Most notably, he overthrew Bonnafon on a seam route on the second drive. Charlotte defensive back Ed Rolle may have snared an interception if he wasn't lining up for a big hit.

Jackson's passing numbers (17-of-23/286/6) were heavily bolstered by Charlotte's inability to cover running backs out of the backfield. The eye-test showed that Jackson was much more impressive with his legs. And that makes sense because this is only his first year with a strong grasp of the offense.

Play through the whistle: Like SU quarterback Eric Dungey, Jackson is adept at extending plays. He's learning to keep his eyes downfield more in those situations, but Jackson is a wizard at making something of nothing.

The Orange defense will need to make the most of its opportunities in the backfield and not let Jackson use his feet to open up dynamic plays.

I_medium Former Cardinal Chad Green, who is nearing the end of his rookie season with the New York Yankees, has a sprained ligament in his right elbow. The good news is that the injury isn't expected to require surgery.

I_medium Travis Rudolph continues to get cooler.

I_medium Charlie Strong's "a year ago we would have lost" postgame mantra sounded awfully familiar last night.

I_medium It takes a few seconds to figure out what exactly is going on, but this picture is phenomenal.

I_medium The Louisville women's soccer team bounced back from a 3-1 loss to Kentucky on Friday with a 3-1 win over Harvard Sunday. Then they let them know that Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth.

I_medium Dave Lackford over at The Crunch Zone says that Lamar Jackson is a mutant (in a good way).

I_medium Oregon will be wearing "Electric Lightning Yellow" uniforms this weekend against Virginia.

I_medium Keith Towbridge is ready to get back on the field.

I_medium Spencer Hall's annual college football season-opening post is always worth your time. Especially if you have an interest in bison.

I_medium The 12th-ranked U of L field hockey team improved to 4-0 on the young season with a 5-1 win over Richmond Sunday.

I_medium He's already got the program pegged.

More Kentucky schadenfreude below.

I_medium Dino Babers might not lead Syracuse to a bowl game in year one, but he's already proven that Orange football is going to be more entertaining with him at the helm.

I_medium Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett and Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson (a couple of players Louisville had decent success again last year) are No. 1 and No. 2 in the latest NFL Draft big board from Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke. No Cardinals make the top 40.

I_medium Whether intentionally or unintentionally, I'm not sure there's ever been a photo of a player more accurately mirroring the Heisman Trophy pose than this one.

I_medium Syracuse released its new depth chart for week two, and there were only a couple of minor changes.

I_medium Campus Insiders is already going on record with a 48-30 Louisville win Friday night.

Louisville vs. Syracuse Prediction

Dino Babers is going to make Syracuse football fun again. But the Orange just don't have the talent to make this competitive for a full four quarters. Jackson and Co. score—and score some more—and the Cardinals' defense will make things a bit more difficult for Dungey than Colgate did in the opener. The Cardinals have won seven of their last eight games dating to last season, and they'll ultimately make it eight of their last nine.

Louisville vs. Syracuse Score Prediction: Louisville 48, Syracuse 30

I_medium It was a bit lost in the shuffle of the weekend, but according to CBS' Jon Rothstein, the much-discussed Louisville-Memphis non-conference game at Madison Square Garden is going to take place in 2017-18.

I_medium Louisville remains the favorite for three-star running back Andrew Cunningham.

I_medium Keith Kelsey's post-Charlotte reaction was A-1.

I_medium Lamar Jackson gets a shoutout on the NCAA's "Heisman Watch."

I_medium The U of L volleyball team lost a dramatic 5-set match to Auburn over the weekend.

I_medium And finally, because we're all best friends here, I thought I'd share the news that this weekend brought with it the first official Card Chronicle puppy.

Her name is Penny. She hates Syracuse and she's excited to see what Lamar Jackson does against an ACC defense in 2016. She rules.

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