Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Clemson by 39.

—Cards are back.

—The U of L men’s soccer team is the No. 4 seed for the upcoming ACC tournament. The Cards will host the winner of Notre Dame-Clemson on Nov. 4 at Lynn Stadium.

—Chris Mack was mostly pleased with what he saw from his team in its exhibition win over Bellarmine.

Defensive energy: Redshirt junior Ryan McMahon summed up his team’s conversion from Pitino’s helter-skelter, pressure defense to Mack’s stay-home scheme this way: “From how we looked today, especially in the first half, compared to how we looked at the beginning of October is like night and day.” Mack agreed. The process undoubtedly has been tough for the players. Mack and his assistants have spent plenty of time on reteaching defensive principles to facilitate the switch. But after some frustrating workouts, Mack saw his players keeping drivers in front of them and quickly closing out shooters.

There were blips, as any coach would expect in a preseason exhibition. Bellarmine particularly frustrated Louisville’s defense in the first eight minutes of the second half. Yet the Cardinals generated 19 turnovers and allowed 34.6 percent shooting. Darius Perry made sound decisions on when to gamble into gaps, helping him snag two steals and deflect a bunch of passes. Dwayne Sutton was active on that end, too.

“I thought our defensive effort was terrific, especially in the first half,” Mack said. “Our ability to withstand our offensive struggles and still defend, by and large, was where it needed to be.”

—Vince Tyra says the poor attendance at Louisville football home games is hurting the program in recruiting.

—The CJ’s Danielle Lerner serves up her key takeaways from Louisville’s exhibition win over Bellarmine.

—Jaire Alexander set a new NFL rookie record with five passes defended on Sunday.

Guy is already a star.

—It was a big weekend for a number of former Cards in the NFL, including Alexander, DeVante Parker and Sheldon Rankins.

—Despite the game, Moore defensive end JJ Weaver says he had a “great time” on his official visit to U of L last weekend.

—Lamar Jackson, who tossed his first career NFL TD on Sunday, says he’s relishing the opportunity to get his feet wet this season.

—Hey, it’s a good couples costume.

—Also good:

—Yahoo’s Henry Bushnell covered an NBA game for the first time last night, and in that game Klay Thompson did something that no one in the sport had ever done before.

—It almost happened last year, but Florida State’s national-record bowl streak really might be coming to an end this season.

—Awesome picture from this morning at Churchill Downs.

—The post positions for Saturday’s Breeders Cup Classic are set, with morning line favorite Accelerate starting from the outside.

—Reminder that if you’re headed to the track Saturday and looking for something to do after, why not keep drinking and listen to me make shitty jokes about college basketball?

—The 22nd-ranked Cardinal volleyball team was handed a tough five-set loss to Syracuse over the weekend.

—Alabama is still a massive favorite to win the 2018 CFP.

Odds to Win the 2019 CFP National Championship

Team 10/22/18 Current Odds (10/29/18)

Alabama 1/2 1/2

Clemson 5/1 5/1

Notre Dame 13/2 13/2

Michigan 12/1 12/1

Ohio State 12/1 12/1

Georgia 14/1 16/1

Oklahoma 30/1 22/1

LSU 25/1 25/1

West Virginia 100/1 50/1

Central Florida 66/1 66/1

Texas 50/1 100/1

Washington State Off the Board 100/1

Kentucky 500/1 200/1

Mississippi State 275/1 200/1

Florida 100/1 500/1

Iowa 200/1 500/1

Penn State 500/1 500/1

Northwestern Off the Board 1000/1

Virginia Off the Board 1000/1

Auburn 275/1 Off the Board

Miami (FL) 500/1 Off the Board

NC State 275/1 Off the Board

Washington 300/1 Off the Board

Wisconsin 125/1 Off the Board

—Mike Leach has been calling for a 64-team playoff (for college football) forever.

—Montrezl Harrell dropped a career-high 30 points on his old team over the weekend. Here are the highlights:

—The U of L women’s soccer team took a tough 2-1 loss to No. 11 Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. The Cards must now hope that their body of work is enough for a bid to the NCAA tournament. The bracket for that event will be revealed on Nov. 5.

—Louisville field hockey goalie Ayeisha McFerran has been named ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week. It’s the third time this season she’s received the honor.

—Speaking of field hockey, the Cards will face Wake Forest in the ACC tournament quarters on Thursday.

—Presale tickets for the NCAA tournament games at the KFC Yum Center this March are now available. Use the promo code: VILLENCAA.

—Slam Magazine ranks the U of L women’s basketball team preseason No. 5. Reigning national champ Notre Dame is No. 1.

—Mr. Feeny for emperor of everything forever.

—Bobby Petrino says his overall record (not, like, this year’s record) should earn him more time at Louisville.

—I talked with the Armchair All-Americans podcast about the Petrino situation at Louisville.

—London is the man.

—Mark Schlabach is back with more accusations against Arizona and Sean Miller.

—Basically if you lived through a college football game in the 19th century, you weren’t hurt badly in the eyes of the press.

—Louisville Public Media is doing a broadcast of “War of the Worlds” tonight, which always, always ends poorly.

—For Wake Forest, salvaging its season had to start with a win over Louisville.

—Clemson by 10.

—Louisville City FC will play in the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight year.

—A good ACC basketball preview podcast here.

—And finally, R&R is back from 3-6 this afternoon where hopefully we’ll be able to talk about something other than football and why everything is so awful. Probably not though.