Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Virginia by 3.

—The Louisville basketball team lost its secret scrimmage against Ohio State on Sunday by a final score of 80-69.

Here’s what I know about what went down:

*The Cards had no answer for versatile OSU big man Kaleb Wesson, who finished with 20 points and five rebounds.

*It was not the best afternoon for the Cardinal guards.

*OSU freshman point guard DJ Carton sprained an ankle early in the scrimmage and did not return.

*The teams played a short segment after the scrimmage where the Cards got the better of OSU, but make no mistake, the afternoon belonged to the Buckeyes.

If this freaks you out, calm down. Every coach handles these things differently. Virginia lost its secret scrimmage last year to a Villanova team that wound up being — relative to its own standards — fairly average. Wesson is a unique matchup for everyone, and it’s hard to see the Cards not having more success defending him with a healthy Malik Williams.

We’re fine.

—The Lamar/Teddy mashup from Sunday you didn’t know you needed.

—Ken Pomeroy’s updated rankings for the 2019-20 season were unleashed upon an unsuspecting world on Sunday. Louisville will begin the year at No. 3, behind only Michigan State and Kentucky.

—Banner Society’s latest bowl projections have Louisville back in the Quick Lane Bowl taking on Nebraska.

—Louisville men’s soccer won a double OT thriller over Boston College on Friday.

—I love this man.

—High praise from one of the better linebackers in the NFL:

—A record performance lifted the Louisville women’s golf team to a championship at the Cardinal Cup this weekend.

—ACC Basketball Report ends its countdown of the best returning players in the conference with Jordan Nwora at No. 1.

—Teddy Bridgewater is 5-0 as a starter, and the Saints social media team is having some fun with it.

—In the most shocking news story of 2019, Dan Dakich has been suspended from his own radio show for “not adhering to journalistic principles.”

—The U of L rowing team finished seventh at the prestigious Charles Regatta.

—Steven Enoch is on the preseason watch list for the Abdul-Jabbar Award, which is given each year to the best center in college basketball.

—Jay Scrubb is really, really good.

Now the hope becomes that he isn’t too good for at least one season of D-I ball.

—Louisville football is off on Nov. 2, but here are the ACC kickoff times and TV assignments for that weekend:

Saturday, Nov. 2
NC State at Wake Forest, noon, ESPN
Boston College at Syracuse, noon, ACCN
Virginia Tech at Notre Dame, 2:30 p.m., NBC – previously announced
Wofford at Clemson, 4 p.m., ACCN
Pitt at Georgia Tech, 4 p.m., RSN
Virginia at North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ACCN

Six-day selection: ESPN has exercised a six-day option on Miami at Florida State. The game will kick off at either 3:30 p.m. on ABC or ESPN, or 7:30 p.m. on ABC. A decision will be made after the games of Oct. 26.

Open Dates: Duke, Louisville

—Andy Katz has Louisville at No. 8 in his final preseason Power 36 rankings.

8. Louisville (9): The Cardinals were my preseason ACC favorite but didn’t get the nod from the ACC media. Still, Jordan Nwora did get tabbed as the ACC player of the year. The Cards are top 10 good.

It’s a bit odd that Katz identifies the Cards as his preseason pick to win the ACC, but has them four spots lower than No. 4 Duke in his national rankings.

—Jeff Goodman has Louisville at No. 3 in his preseason college hoops top 25 for Stadium.

—Dez Fitzpatrick seems pretty excited about his little brother being a Cardinal.

If his presence keeps Dez here one last year, signing Christian Fitzpatrick will have been worth it before the young man ever plays his first game.

The younger Fitzpatrick has also announced that he plans on enrolling at U of L in January.

—Shakin’ the Southland reviews its key takeaways from Clemson’s win over Louisville.

—If you enjoy video games and the Cards, this Thursday night at Recbar is for you.

—Bill Connelly’s updated S&P rankings have Louisville at No. 63.

—The Louisville offense is one of the biggest surprises in college football this season.

Louisville offense

Projected SP+ ranking: 89th in offensive SP+

Current SP+ ranking: 31st

Key personnel lost: Head coach Bobby Petrino and pretty much the entire offensive coaching staff, plus wide receiver Jaylen Smith and a couple of starting linemen.

Key personnel additions: New head coach Scott Satterfield brought in a bran-new staff, which includes offensive coordinator Dwayne Ledford. Freshman QB Evan Conley has contributed, as has redshirt freshman RB Javian Hawkins. So, quite a bit of new blood.

Biggest changes: The Cardinals are dramatically ahead of their 2018 pace in most categories, even after Saturday’s 45-10 loss to Clemson. But the most impressive improvement comes with the forward pass. Despite shuffling through three QBs and leaning heavily on Micale Cunningham, a sophomore who was excellent on the ground but dreadful through the air in 2018, the Cardinals have gone from 118th to 15th in Passing SP+ and from 115th to 14th in Passing Downs SP+. They have improved equally in terms of both efficiency and explosiveness.

How sustainable is this? In the short term, there probably remain some ups and downs. Long term, though, Cunningham and Hawkins are scheduled to be around a while, and three of the top five receiving targets are freshmen or sophomores.

—A Louisville version of Donovan Mitchell’s new Spida t-shirts is available for purchase.

—The U of L volleyball team tasted defeat in the ACC for the first time with a road loss to Virginia Tech over the weekend.

—Kirk gets it.

—NBC Sports attempts to find the key flaw for every team in the preseason hoops top 25. For Louisville, it’s all about the point guard position.

—The No. 14 Louisville women’s soccer team played No. 9 Duke to a 1-1 draw on Friday.

—Props to the CCBM on its SportsCenter Not Top 10 appearance.

—The 5th-ranked Louisville field hockey team took down No. 6 Iowa in an overtime thriller.

—Matt Norlander of CBS identifies the 16 teams he believes are capable of winning the national title in 2019-20.

Louisville

Current odds: 14-1

Breakdown: I trust Louisville fans have taken the time to stop, smell the air and recognize just how fortunate they are to be in this position for 2019-20. This is only Chris Mack’s second season in Louisville and he’s managed to dodge what would have been a reasonable downturn in a tough situation. Instead of having the Cardinals positioned and predicted to be a middle-of-the-road ACC team, Mack has the Redbirds in the top 10 of almost every major preseason poll. Jordan Nwora was voted CBS Sports ACC Preseason Player of the Year, but he won’t be asked to be an all-on-me guy. Lamarr Kimble, a transfer from Saint Joe’s, will probably be a top-three transfer this season in the league and I love Malik Williams’ potential to pop as a junior in the frontcourt.

Another positive sign: Louisville’s free-throw shooting. The Cards ranked eighth nationally last season with a 77.7% clip. Even if that dips down to 74 or 75, it’ll still be good enough to be a contributing factor in U of L’s push to an ACC title.

—Dabo Swinney made the kid who punched Trenell Troutman ride the bus home with the managers. Whatever.

—D’Andre Davis’ little brother, a class of 2022 recruit, seems excited that big bro is headed to Louisville.

—Louisville is No. 7 in USA Today’s ACC football power rankings.

—Big Red Louie has three takeaways from the Clemson loss.

—Rubbing the Rock gives defensive grades for Clemson’s performance against U of L.

—Brotherhood.

—The Louisville Cardinal breaks down U of L’s road to a bowl game.

—My man Allen Norton crushed it at halftime on Saturday.

—This might be the best video of 2019.

—Louisville’s own Teddy Abrams and Jim James will be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight.

—And finally, R&R is rolling from 3-6 this afternoon recapping all the U of L happenings of the weekend.