Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Florida State by 6.5.

—Florida State has updated its depth chart ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Cards.

—Eric Crawford and Rick Bozich both like Florida State over Louisville in a close one.

—U of L LB commit Kameron Wilson looks like the real deal.

—The CJ’s Cameron Teague takes a look at Javian Hawkins’ hot start.

—Choose your fighter: Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson.

—Chane Behanan recently signed a deal to spend this season in the Israeli National League.

—USA Today’s Joe Williams likes the Cards over the ‘Noles straight up.

—Every now and then Mark Stoops reminds you what he’s all about.

Kentucky might be winning more games these days, but Stoops is still the dude who brought a bunch of guys in sweatpants onto the field before his first Louisville game to “make an impact.”

—Our own Cardinal Strong answers some questions for the folks over at Tomahawk Nation.

—An updated look at U of L basketball’s 2020 recruiting big board.

—Top U of L recruit Devin Askew continues to say that he will not reclassify to the 2020 class.

—Former St. X star and Louisville RB Tendai Charasika and his family will be appearing on Family Feud.

—A break from the extreme heat is finally coming to the city of Louisville.

—Great reporting here from Bailey Loosemore of the CJ on the nightmare conditions at local nursing home Landmark of Louisville.

—Headlined by Male-Trinity, Jason Frakes outlines five local high school football games to keep an eye on tonight.

—Love being a Lions fan.

—The four regional sites for 2020 College Basketball Academies have been selected.

—Shockingly, LaVar Ball’s short-lived JBA was a total disaster.

—This spiel in Josh McCown’s effort to remember all 37 players he’s thrown NFL touchdown passes to is beautiful.

McCown: Threw him some balls. Trying to think. Um, Troy Hambrick (36)!

Wulf: Yes!

McCown: Troy Hambrick.

Wulf: Yes. Who is that?

McCown: He played running back for the Cowboys and then we (the Cardinals) got him late and he was selling drugs while he was in the NFL.

Wulf: (Laughs) OK.

McCown: Yeah, he’s a legend.

Wulf: That’s a good name for a guy who’s selling drugs.

McCown: Troy Hambrick. Oh, I know. That was there.

—The U of L men’s soccer team resumes ACC play tonight at 7:30 when its hosts Virginia Tech.

—Cardinal basketball open pickup is back this weekend.

—Chris Mack spent his morning visiting Bardstown High star JJ Traynor. The son of Jason Osborne picked up a scholarship offer from Xavier earlier this week.

—The dudes who run the Three-Man Weave podcast have an absolutely absurd amount of college hoops knowledge. You can check out their new ACC preview episode here.

—An interesting development out of Tallahassee, where James Blackman is still the starting QB, but Wisconsin transfer Alex Hornibrook is now also expected to see the field against Louisville.

Florida State reserve quarterback Alex Hornibrook is expected to see some action in this weekend’s game against Louisville.

James Blackman is still the starter, but two sources told Noles247 that Hornibrook is integrated into this week’s game plan. One of those sources said that Hornibrook is expected to be given a series early in the contest on Saturday.

That is subject to change based on the flow of the game, but it’s currently the plan as of Thursday.

Coach Willie Taggart was asked about how Blackman performed this week and if Hornibrook was pushing Blackman in practice during his media session on Thursday morning. His comments, below, can be interpreted in different ways although it sounded like he was interested in seeing how Hornibrook performed in a game setting.

“James, again, James has some throws that he wishes he could’ve had back, could’ve helped our football team. Looking to see him improve from there,” Taggart said. “And Alex has been doing a good job for us. We have some plays and things where we want to be able to get Alex in, let him run some of those plays. Hopefully we get a chance to do that.”

FSU’s third string QB is U of L transfer Jordan Travis.

—After Bobby Petrino’s recent public appearance in Arkansas, there are a number of Razorback fans who have begun clamoring for Petrino’s return. Arkansas Fight (and every Louisville fan) believes that would be a poor move.

—The three staff members over at FSU’s 247 Sports site all like Florida State over U of L in a one score game.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—The U of L men’s basketball staff will spend some time today visiting with five-star class of 2021 prospect Kennedy Chandler.

—Louisville’s own Jack Harlow dropped his new mixtape “Confetti” at midnight. It’s full of references to The Ville and might represent his “making it moment.”

—Tulane’s angry wave might be the best logo in college athletics, and its tiny appearance on the football here made a fantastic shot that much better.

—Class of 2020 center Gethro Muscadin of Aspire Academy here in Louisville will be taking an unofficial visit to U of L for Louisville Live next Friday.

—The 7th-ranked Louisville field hockey team is in action tonight in Chapel Hill where they’ll take on the top-ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina.

—Louisville volleyball takes on Kentucky tonight at 8 in Lexington. You can watch the match live on the SEC Network.

—All but one member of the staff over at Tomahawk Nation is expecting Florida State to take care of Louisville tomorrow.

—TN is also tossing around the dreaded “must-win” term for this tilt.

—Athlon is also rolling with the ‘Noles.

Final Analysis

After missing a bowl game for the first time since the early 1980s last season, Florida State absolutely cannot afford to start 1-3. The Cardinals have played well against lackluster competition the last couple weeks and should arrive in Tallahassee with a ton of confidence. They’ll be facing an FSU defense that hasn’t been able to come up with a big stop. Still, the Seminoles played probably their best game of the season last week and should emerge victorious with a similar effort.

Prediction: Florida State 31, Louisville 26

—Louisville checks in at No. 11 in Streaking the Lawn’s latest ACC power rankings.

—Lindy’s has Louisville all the way up at No. 2 in its 2019-20 college hoops preview.

—Through the season’s first three weeks, TuTu Atwell’s dynamic speed has been Louisville’s greatest weapon.

—And finally, beat FSU.