Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 4.5.

—247 Sports previews Louisville vs. Georgia Tech.

—The Louisville defense is hoping to carry some of the positive momentum it created against Pitt into Friday night’s game versus Georgia Tech.

—John Calipari posted this video yesterday:

If you slow it down, one of the phrases Cal repeats is “Scheduling? The guy down west? He’s nuts! He’s out of his mind!”

The fall rivalry renaissance continues.

—For the first time, the Louisville baseball Pizza Bowl will air on 93.9 The Ville. Sean Moth will be on the call for all five games, the first of which is set for Friday at 6 p.m.

—Louisville men’s golfers Matthias Schmid and John Murphy are ranked as two of the top 25 golfers nationally in the recently released PGA Tour University rankings.

—The 2016 Louisville-Clemson headlines this list of the biggest “top 10” ACC matchups since 2000.

—Dorian Etheridge has been arguably the biggest bright spot for the Louisville football team through three games.

—Five-star shooting guard Bryce McGowens (2021) has decommitted from Florida State.

—Banner Society has a Music City Bowl rematch between Louisville and Texas A&M in its latest bowl projections.

—I remember Eric Gregg being awful. I had no idea it was this bad.

—Sports Illustrated looks at the points of emphasis for Louisville vs. Georgia Tech.

—Teddy Bridgewater’s patience and accuracy are both paying off in Carolina.

—Athlon’s Antwan Staley is going with Louisville over Georgia Tech, big.

Final Analysis

Both teams enter Friday’s game 1-2, but the Cardinals have played two of the better teams in the ACC in Miami and Pitt. Georgia Tech lost to a Syracuse team that figures to be one of the conference cellar teams.

Despite their issues, Louisville can score against anyone with its offensive weapons. And Georgia Tech’s defense has proven to be one of the worst teams in the FBS as they’re allowing 441.3 yards per game.

It is hard to see the Yellow Jackets slowing down a Cardinals offensive attack that can score in a variety of ways.

Prediction: Louisville 48, Georgia Tech 24

—Matt McGavic of SI likes Louisville over GT by 13.

—Big Red Louie lays out the road map to beating Georgia Tech.

—Gettin’ there.

—Blogging the Bracket is keeping up with the ever-changing statuses of college basketball’s early season tournaments.

—College Football News takes Louisville over Georgia Tech, 30-23.

—Malik Cunningham versus Jeff Sims is an intriguing QB battle.

The Yellow Jackets and their quarterback, Jeff Sims, will get to see where they stack up when they host the Cardinals and Malik Cunningham on Friday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

“When you’re playing with a young guy, you’re going to have to go through some of these rough patches,” Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said before referring to the Yellow Jackets’ focus during their bye week. “Just an overall commitment to protecting the ball. Statistically, when you don’t turn the ball over, you’re going to have a much higher opportunity to win games.”

He’s right. Yes, the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over twice in their season opener against Florida State, but they won that game because the turnovers came early, and they were able to overcome the mistakes. The turnovers have climbed to 10 the past two weeks in losses to Central Florida and Syracuse, and Sims has nine of the 12 turnovers to slow the offense’s progress in its second season under Patenaude.

Georgia Tech (1-2, 1-1 ACC) is fourth in the ACC in total offense at 454.0 yards per game, and it is third in total rushing yards with 663 (the top two teams, Miami and Florida State, have played four games).

But … those turnovers.

“We’ve done a good job of moving the ball, and we’ve been very difficult to defend,” Patenaude said. “The team that’s defended us the best has been us. We can’t turn the ball over. He’s gotta be a little bit more patient; he’s gotta be able to check the ball down a little bit.”

—The latest episode of the CC Podcast is here. The Georgia Tech preview episode will be out tomorrow morning.

—From the Rumble Seat has an advanced stats preview of Louisville-Georgia Tech.

—And finally, it’s Louisville vs. Nebraska in the Pinstripe Bowl in the latest bowl projections from The Sporting News.