Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Notre Dame by 17.

—Chris Mack, Carlik Jones and Malik Williams will hold a virtual news conference Wednesday afternoon at 2. The Cards will start full practice sessions for the 2020-21 season on Thursday.

—Sam Vecenie’s latest NBA mock draft for The Athletic has Jordan Nwora going 44th overall and Jay Scrubb going at pick 50. LaMelo Ball is the No. 1 overall pick.

—Cool new program coming from the U of L Alumni Association and Cardinal athletics.

Louisville Alumni and Louisville Athletics are proud to partner for an exciting new series: Cardinal Game Changers. This quarterly series will feature a panel of former student-athletes sharing their life experiences and personal stories of triumph and success. Join us as we celebrate alumni successes, demonstrate the value of a UofL degree, and discuss important issues to the Cardinal Community.

Moderator:

Judge Derwin Webb (Men’s Basketball)

Panelists:

Jamon Brown (Football)

Gina Lower (Women’s Soccer)

David Padgett (Men’s Basketball)

Cortnee Walton (Women’s Basketball)

—Sports Illustrated has obtained a copy of the NCAA’s proposed NIL legislation.

—Russ Smith is headed back to China.

—For the record, this is one of the games Kentucky fans cite when they claim owning the advantage in the all-time football series: A game played 120 years ago that UK won without running an offensive play.

—Former Louisville football and soccer player Jon Brown has been signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

—Congrats to Keith Oddo (my God, that Senior Night shot feels like it was eight years ago) who has signed on as a graduate assistant at Akron.

—Cameron Teague Robinson says explaining the issue at the heart of the Louisville offense’s struggles is actually pretty straightforward.

What’s changed?

The answer is fairly simple. The offense hasn’t been the same efficient group it was last year.

It’s not because of a lack of talent or some large, schematic change, either. Louisville’s main culprit is a turnover uptick and the inability to hit on the big plays it was known for last year.

Because of that, Louisville is sitting on Scott Satterfield’s longest losing streak since 2014. And with a matchup against fourth-ranked Notre Dame on the schedule Saturday, Louisville is hoping to fix its problems before the season gets away from them.

“Again, last year we were able to connect on a lot of those plays. If you go back to Boston College, I mean we had many yards off big plays as well as in the Wake Forest and Syracuse games,” Satterfield said. “So, we got to be able to connect on those balls down the field because those type plays, they give you 7 points like right now, I mean there’s 7points and then you can run the football and collect the clock and keep our defense off the field, and that was kind of in the formula for us winning last year, and so we got to be able to continue to do that every week.”

Only two teams have a higher turnover margin than Louisville this year.

—Lindy’s has named Dana Evans a preseason First Team All-American.

—Doug Bibby, Rajon Rondo’s old coach at Eastern High, tries to explain why Rondo may not get the love his resume suggests he deserves.

—Rick Bozich tackles the issue of whether or not Rondo is a Hall of Famer.

—Louisville’s Aiko Jones has been named the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week.

—Hoop Vision Plus has a deep dive on David Johnson that alone is worth paying a subscription for.

—GoCards.com highlights the key takeaways from Scott Satterfield’s Monday press conference.

—Montrezl Harrrell, who was already named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, has now won the league’s Hustle Award.

—Just let us have our banner back.

—”Rudy” was released 27 years ago today. Never forget, his dad was a dick.

—Despite his team being a 17-point favorite, Brian Kelly is not taking Louisville lightly.

The offense led by Cunningham (73 of 124 for 986 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions), running back Javian Hawkins (1,525 yards rushing last year and 468 at 5.5. yards per carry in four games this season) and the receiving combination of Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick — Atwell averaged 18.2 yards on his 70 catches last season with 12 scores and has four touchdowns this year in four games, while Fitzpatrick is averaging 18.0 yards on his 13 catches — remains one of the most dangerous in the conference.

“Really good scheme, really well coached, dynamic playmakers, an offensive line that is really good technically at what they do,” summarized Irish head coach Brian Kelly. “…Atwell is probably as good as we’ve seen in space as a skilled player …Hawkins one of the best, if not the best, backs in the country. It’s a very talented offense.”

At quarterback, Cunningham provides the type of maneuverability that Florida State’s Jordan Taylordid last week while rushing for 96 yards against Notre Dame, especially because Louisville’s scheme includes option and quarterback runs in their outside zone-centered attack.

“Their boot game is very, very good, and getting the ball in space to the receivers,” Kelly said. “Defending [Cunningham] out of the pocket is going to be a big concern for us.”

I am beyond ready for the day a head coach does take an opponent lightly in this situation.

“We’re preparing for them, but honestly not nearly as much or as hard as we would have been had they gotten off to the start most were expecting them to.”

—One Foot Down gives some hot and cold takes on Notre Dame heading into the Louisville game.

—Louisville has been “very active” with class of 2022 running back Dylan Sampson out of Louisiana.

—It happens.

—A look at how Cards in the NFL fared in week five.

—Shakin’ the Southland (Clemson) has Louisville at No. 11 in its ACC power rankings.

—Luke Murray answers some Louisville basketball questions.

—And finally, Chris Mack talks about “the video” and the state of the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry on the latest episode of Jeff Goodman’s podcast.