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Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Bensinger are already letting Boston College know what's up.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check: Louisville by 14.5.

I_medium CBS moves Louisville all the way up from No. 20 to No. 8 in its own college football rankings. Clemson is 3, Florida State is 4 and Houston is 6.

I_medium A reminder that the Louisville men's soccer team takes on Kentucky at 7:30 tonight in Lexington. You can catch the game on ACC Network Extra/Watch ESPN. The Cards have taken five of the last six from the Cats.

I_medium Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois, and not Lamar Jackson, has been named the ACC Offensive Back of the Week. He also earned the not for the league's Rookie of the Week honor.

I_medium Bill Connelly's fantastic weekly feature "The Numerical" is back, and it gives a little bit of attention to Lamar Jackson.

Eight touchdowns

We expect pretty big things from Louisville's Lamar Jackson in 2016, and that might not be totally fair. He is just a true sophomore, and the grand expectations are based on a small handful of games. As good as he looked in last year's Music City Bowl -- he was absurd: 227 passing yards, 226 rushing yards -- it was only one game. There could be "too much, too soon" danger.

That's what I would have said if you asked me about him last Thursday morning. And it's technically still true.

But even against a lacking Charlotte defense, Jackson only amplified hype with his ridiculous performance. He completed 17 of 23 for 286 yards and six touchdowns, and he rushed 11 times for 119 yards and two more scores. That's eight combined touchdowns, and all of it came in the first half.

The Cardinals led 56-0 at halftime, but Bobby Petrino showed a little bit of mercy. Jackson ceded the floor to Kyle Bolin for the entire second half in a 70-14 win. The Cards could have threatened triple digits if they wanted to.

I_medium David Hale's post-week 1 bowl projections for ESPN have Louisville playing in the Pinstripe Bowl.

I_medium Bobby Petrino's passing comment about Syracuse potentially running plays before the down and distance markers have been put in place has already ruffled the feathers of Orange fans.

I_medium I'm not writing a single word about this, I am simply posting a tweet.

Because if I did write a single word about it, it would 100% guarantee a loss to Syracuse Friday night.

I_medium After Virginia's stomping at the hands of Richmond, 19 ACC teams have lost to FCS opponents since the inception of the league. Only one (Virginia Tech in 2010) has gone on to make a bowl game.

Yes, I feel silly about the pick. Yes, you're well within your rights to shame me for it.

I_medium It's almost so bad it's impressive.

I_medium After their 4-0 start, the Louisville field hockey team is up to No. 8 in the latest national poll. The bad news? ACC brethren Syracuse, Duke and North Carolina occupy the poll's top three spots.

I_medium Pete Thamel spent the past week with the Houston football team, and came away with a great story.

At 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Herman struts into his office belting out Ace Hood lyrics: "I woke up in a new Bugatti." Safeties coach Craig Naivar wears an AC/DC T-shirt to a staff meeting because "my Guns N' Roses shirt is dirty." And after an offensive staff meeting ends one night when Texans receiver Braxton Miller shows up wearing a T-shirt adorned with action shots of himself, offensive coordinator Major Applewhite can only laugh and say, "There's not a tent big enough for this circus."

When Herman came to Houston from Ohio State, where he was the co-€”offensive coordinator, he told his football operations director, Fernando Lovo, he wanted to conduct an experiment: "We're going to win a lot of games, and we're going to have a lot of fun doing it."

Fun reflects Herman's personality: He named his two-year-old son Maverick after the character from Top Gun, and he dubbed his nine-year-old Maddock Thomas Danger Herman so he could channel Austin Powers and tell girls, "Danger is my middle name." Before one practice this week Herman dances like an overserved wedding guest, an air doggy paddle to Icona Pop's teenage anthem, "I Love It."

An appropriate tune, since love is the other aspect of Herman's philosophy, which emerges from what he calls the "why." Houston's why is love, and players are encouraged to work hard and play for one another more than for themselves. All week Herman pounds home the message: "We genuinely love the guy next to us. When you line up against Oklahoma, you know your 'why' is better, your purpose is greater." All this frivolity and fondness is laid over a foundation Herman picked up at his previous stop. Herman and his staff are relentlessly organized and plan out every conceivable detail. "It's as if [Ohio State coach Urban] Meyer's program and Plan to Win is being executed by Tom Cruise's character in Risky Business," says graduate assistant Dan Carrel, a former Buckeyes aide. With all eyes on them this week, the Cougars plan to produce plenty of PDA and to dance as if no one is watching.

I_medium TNIAAM is telling Syracuse fans to pump the brakes a bit on the unbridled enthusiasm after last week's season-opening win over Colgate.

I_medium Spencer Hall's top five after week one of the college football season features three Louisville opponents.

I_medium Syracuse is really hyping this Orange Out on Friday ... even if it's in the most awkward, dorky way possible.

I_medium The battle between the University of Kentucky and its own student newspaper over an alleged cover-up of sexual misconduct by a UK professor continues to get ugly.

I_medium David Hale's ACC numbers of the week for week one include a not-so-great look for the U of L offensive line.

* Despite the blowout win, Louisville QBs faced the fifth-highest rate of dropbacks under pressure in the Power 5 — not an ideal number given the concerns about the offensive line. The caveat to that, however, is nearly half of all dropbacks were against a blitz.

The other side of this is that it's hard for five or six guys to block seven or eight blitzing opponents. It's also hard for two or three defensive backs to cover four or five potential ball catchers, which is why Louisville was able to run three swing passes that went for untouched scores.

I_medium Brandon Radcliff's mouthpiece is vicious.

I_medium The Forde-Yard Dash doesn't have any Louisville mentions, but it's still cool.

I_medium If you love time-lapse videos of historic Louisville locations shown over explicit lyrics, this is your Tuesday.

I_medium Former Louisville/Seattle Seahawk defensive end Greg Scruggs made the Chicago Bears 53-man roster ... as a tight end.

I_medium Former Louisville pitcher Justin Marks is getting his shot in the majors after being called up by the Rays.

I_medium Please beat Syracuse.

I_medium Seedy K plays Monday Morning Quarterback.

I_medium Houston is already getting the expected "playoff crasher" buzz that should come with an upset of Houston.

I_medium State of the U's first ACC power rankings go Clemson, Florida State, Louisville ................ NC State.

I_medium Even with Virginia losing to Richmond, no conference won more in week one than the ACC (Edit: math is an inexact science).

I_medium The Kentucky students are bringing back the "Abe Out" theme for tonight's soccer match against Louisville.

I_medium TheSpread.com likes Louisville to cover Friday night.

I_medium Syracuse is the first of at least three hurry-up offenses that Louisville will see this season, and in all of those games, Josh Harvey-Clemons is going to be a huge factor.

I_medium And finally, R&R is reacting to all the madness of college football's opening weekend today from 3-6 on 93.9 The Ville. Listen here.

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