Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 3.5.

—Louisville will announce its interim athletic director at a 3:45 press conference. All signs continue to point to Vince Tyra. We will carry the presser live on Ramsey & Rutherford on 790-KRD.

—Attorney Keith Poynter has a great read over at The Crunch Zone about the brewing legal case between Rick Pitino and Louisville. According to Poynter, the school might have cost themselves millions of dollars by putting Pitino on leave too quickly.

—NC State is nationally ranked for the first time in seven years, but with Louisville coming to town on Thursday, there’s been no time for the Wolfpack to celebrate.

The Wolfpack find themselves ranked for the first time since the final poll of the 2010 season — after their bowl win over No. 22 West Virginia in Orlando, Florida — and in possession of their highest ranking since they reached No. 21 earlier that year.

That sets up the first matchup of ranked teams at Carter-Finley Stadium since 2000 — Philip Rivers' freshman year, when the 21st-ranked Wolfpack were routed by No. 6 Florida State.

Historically, it's been tough for N.C. State to crack the Top 25 — and even tougher to stay there.

The Wolfpack haven't won as a ranked team since the 2003 opener against Western Carolina, and haven't beaten a FBS opponent as a Top 25 team since Rivers led them past Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl that followed the 2002 season.

"It's good recognition for our program, and it's well deserved, but it's still early in the season and there's a lot of football left," Doeren said. "After week 12, if we're in the Top 25, then I'll be really excited. ... We're going to focus more on what we need to do to stay there."

—The Raleigh News & Observer addresses the people who want Louisville booted from the ACC and says that if you want to do that, you’ve gotta boot North Carolina first.

—Love this guy.

—Marquette is looking to land the recruits that Louisville lost because of the FBI probe.

—Notre Dame hoops coach Mike Brey, who has long been described by his fellow coaches as one of the cleanest in the game, opens up to the Indianapolis Star about shady recruiting and the current state of things.

“You never know completely,” Brey said. “There’s no question about it. I pride myself in really being plugged into everything that goes on. But I’ve always been very confident, our philosophy, how we run it, the kinds of kids that are attracted to us. The clientele that’s attracted to this place and the mission of this school and overall package makes for a young man that’s getting the big picture of room, books, board and tuition.”

...

“I don’t know if we can get any lower than the situation we’re in now,” Brey said. “We’ve had this underworld as part of the fabric (of college basketball) for a long, long time. A long, long time.”

Notre Dame ended its 17-year relationship with Adidas in 2014 when it agreed to a 10-year deal with Under Armour. Two schools included in the investigation — fellow ACC programs Miami and Louisville — are sponsored by Adidas.

“Now that it’s a criminal investigation, this is all new territory,” Brey said. “What I’ve tried to do starting yesterday, and I told my staff this, is try not to be distracted by this so I can coach my team. Every day people want to talk about that and I don’t have much to comment on it other than what I just said. It’s a criminal investigation and you don’t know what’s up and what’s down. There will be a lot of drama throughout the season with that.”

—Ohio State and Cincinnati will open the next two college basketball seasons facing one another.

—BucketHatism is back and recapping the Murray State win.

—For those who missed it yesterday, here’s the strong letter that Tom Jurich’s attorney released in response to Dr. Postel’s letter explaining the reasons behind Jurich being placed on administrative lead. This will be a fight.

—U of L’s Melanie McHenry has been named the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week.

—My non-compete running out means I get to start appearing on podcasts and other radio shows again. I talked last night on the Fundamentally Sound podcast about the current mess at U of L, the season ahead for the ACC, and how great AIM instant messenger was. I also went on The Sports Bosses today to talk about the situation at Louisville and the state of college hoops.

—The 8th-ranked U of L men’s soccer team took down No. 12 Duke over the weekend. The Cards are back in action Friday at Virginia Tech. That match begins at 5 p.m. and will televised locally on Fox Sports South.

—The best ACC football plays of September features Lamar Jackson at No. 3.

—The Cards are No. 3 in the latest ACC power rankings from Tomahawk Nation.

—Could Louisville bounce back more quickly than people think from its “era of scandal?” Kentucky, UCLA, Indiana and Kansas all did.

—And finally, R&R is back for day two from 3-6 at the Sports & Social Club on 4th Street. Walk by and give me the middle finger. We’ll have the press conference announcing the interim AD live at 3:45. Listen here.