Thursday afternoon Cardinals news and notes

—Spread check: Florida State by 7.

—Asia Durr underwent hip surgery on Wednesday and is expected to make a full recovery.

—Florida State has announced that wide receiver D.J. Matthews will be available against Louisville. Left tackle Jauan Williams will not be.

—The ACC Digital Network previews Louisville v. Florida State.

—Xavier is the latest to offer JJ Traynor, the Bardstown star who is the son of former Cardinal Jason Osborne.

—Alex Kirshner of Banner Society has seven wild things college football fans should mentally prepare for.

1. Wake Forest or Virginia in the Orange Bowl

Clemson is going to the Playoff unless something outlandish happens. The Orange Bowl is not a Playoff bowl this year, which means the Playoff committee is going to have no choice but to direct some other ACC team to this prestigious game. Your leading candidates have combined for two New Year’s Six-level bowl appearances in their history and have lost both — the 1990 season’s Sugar Bowl for UVA and 2006 season’s Orange Bowl for Wake.

Currently 3-0, Wake has about an 18% chance of getting to 7-0, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, the creator of SP+, with its next four games against FCS Elon, on the road against a Boston College that just gave up 48 to Kansas on its own field, at home against a rebuilding Louisville, and at home against a <motions animatedly with both hands in their general direction> Florida State. It could happen! UVA has games coming up at Notre Dame and Miami, but other than that, its path looks friendly too.

The key thing here is that all the other possible teams are terrible. Talk to your children now about the strong likelihood that one of these teams makes it to the Orange Bowl.

—The U of L men’s soccer team is back in action Friday night at Lynn Stadium. Here’s a match preview.

—Former Trinity High running back Dalyn Dawkins keeps sticking with the Tennessee Titans.

—This new angle would appear to confirm that Kentucky’s Kash Daniel is not a particularly honest young man.

Equally shameful is the fact that WYMT removed the money shot video (and all references to it) from its website. Must be Tom Jurich back and controlling the media again.

—My guy Harry Lyles spent some time with Gus Johnson to find out how he became America’s most exciting sports broadcaster.

—The U of L women’s golf team is gearing up for the Mason Rudolph Championship in Nashville this weekend.

—You knew high school basketball was a big deal in Indiana, but this graphic is nuts.

—Feel good story here on the 47 dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation and the lives they led over the succeeding 12 years.

—Heather Dinich of ESPN looks at the week four games that will impact the College Football Playoff.

—FSU beat writer Wayne McGahee gives a scouting report on the Seminoles.

—ESPN looks at how Dabo Swinney is influencing a new generation of college football coaches, including Scott Satterfield.

Louisville coach Scott Satterfield saw the same things during his time with Swinney. Plenty of programs are run by a leader at the top who inspires fear and uses it to get results.

”We try to lead with love and not fear,” Satterfield said. “That’s probably a big difference. Some programs are going to make you do things. I want these guys to want to do these things, and to me that’s Clemson’s model.”

There’s no certainty that approach will be replicated with more success than Meyer’s or Saban’s, of course. The way Healy sees it, though, if he’s going to fail, better to do it this way, having a few laughs and building lasting relationships along the way.

”My philosophy is, I’m going to enjoy what I’m doing and who I’m doing it with,” Healy said. “If you don’t enjoy that time, the profession’s lost its value.”

—This in-depth story on the woman who served as a financial advisor to some of the richest and most famous athletes in America and then promptly robbed them blind is fascinating and awful at the same time.

—Former Manual High standout Emina Ekic is now the driving force behind the unbeaten U of L women’s soccer team. She also has her sights set on the international stage.

—U of L football’s Dayna Kinnaird talks about what it’s like playing for this team and what he likes to do outside of football.

—This was awesome.

—Former South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt has joined Willie Taggart’s staff at Florida State.

—Noted Cardinal fans Chris Hatfield and Gabe Duverge have a new Louisville podcast appropriately titled “What High School Did You Go To?” You can check out the latest episode here.

—247 Sports previews the Cards vs. the Noles.

—Louisville is the latest subject in The Athletic’s “State of the Program” college hoops series.

The ceiling

Louisville’s formula to contend for the ACC and national titles is straightforward: an ACC player of the year-type season from Nwora; an ACC rookie of the year campaign from Williamson; a steady, consistent backcourt that handles pressure; and a reliable group of centers who balance the offense. In that scenario, the Cardinals need to see an uptick in turnover creationwhile maintaining a high level in other defensive categories, and the offense must rely less on 3-point shooting.

The floor

As valuable as the returning experience is, this was also a 20-14 team that seemingly ran out of gas in February. In a worst-case scenario, Louisville runs into the same problems from 2018-19, struggling to finish out games and occasionally failing to show up for others. Imagining a complete flop is difficult unless there are injuries. A scenario in which Louisville racks up losses and makes the NCAA Tournament as a flawed but potentially dangerous team isn’t so far-fetched, though still hard to see.

—Saturday’s game in Tallahassee is a “ring game” for the Cards.

—Another feel good story here on a Louiville crossing guard retiring after 51 years on the job.

—And finally, R&R is live this afternoon from the Roosters off Shelbyville Rd. I can’t guarantee Chris Mack is going to be there, but I can’t guarantee that he won’t be. I can guarantee that Scott Satterfield will be on the show. You can listen here.