Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Bye week by 3.5.

—Sam Williamson talked with the media on Thursday and discussed the fact that the fans should be preparing themselves for a much faster pace.

—Streaking the Lawn has Louisville in a tie for ninth in its latest ACC football power rankings.

—Erik Haslam’s algorithm has the Louisville men’s basketball team at No. 22 heading into the 2021-22 season.

—David Hale and Andrea Adelson of ESPN examine why Clemson is struggling, and why Tiger fans shouldn’t panic.

—The U of L women’s soccer team will play host to Boston College this evening. Here’s a preview.

—It seems like Jeff Walz is always being tasked with replacing a superstar. This year, it’s Dana Evans.

—The U of L men are No. 7 and the women are No. 13 in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division I preseason poll.

—Louisville has offered Syracuse WR Taj Harris, who is currently in the transfer portal. Am I alone in thinking 75 percent of the wide receivers Syracuse has had over the last 20 years have been named Taj? Anyway, this one is pretty damn good.

—Signs around Louisville appear to be hinting at a Jack Harlow homecoming.

—Two spots too low.

—Tickets are now on sale for the Nov. 20 NWSL championship game at Lynn Family Stadium.

—The U of L men’s tennis team is set to host the Louisville Invitational this weekend.

—Mini-plan ticket packages are now available for the upcoming Louisville women’s basketball season.

—Friday Irrelevance, triple helping:

—The Arizona Diamondbacks have claimed former Louisville closer Zack Burdi off waivers.

—Shannon Russell has officially announced that today is her final day at the Courier Journal. The U of L men’s basketball beat is now open.

—Former Cards will once again be going head-to-head in the NLCS this year, with Adam Duvall and the Braves squaring off against Will Smith and the Dodgers.

—Jeff Walz feels like he has a squad capable of capturing Louisville’s fifth consecutive ACC women’s basketball title.

The University of Louisville women’s basketball team is set to begin life without Dana Evans, a two-time ACC Player of the Year, as it embarks on another run at the ACC and NCAA Championships. It is certainly a challenge to replace such an impactful player, but head coach Jeff Walz likes that experience is the strength of his 15th UofL squad.

“We returned everyone except for Dana (Evans), so we have a lot of experience,” Walz said at the ACC Tipoff media event this week. “It’s been fun to watch them grow and see who is going to step up. Everyone’s game has to evolve. And it’s just a matter of - we played well all last year, and even the times when Dana was on the bench, we had a sub her out, we had players step up. And then we’ve added several talented newcomers this year, so we’re going to continue to do what we do, and that is come out and compete. Try and play our best. Then just watch these (Kianna Smith and Hailey Van Lith) lead as we move forward. But it’s going to be a year again that I think our league, from top to bottom is as good as it’s been, and it’s going to be extremely exciting night in and night out.”

Winners of four straight ACC regular season titles, the Cardinals will face a challenge each night out in league play. It’s the type of consistent competition that attracts many of the nation’s best players and WNBA hopefuls.

—Five things to do in Louisville this weekend.

—”Boo at the Zoo” has been canceled for tonight because of the expected inclement weather.

—And finally, we’re wrapping up this week of The Mike Rutherford Show from 3-6 this afternoon on The Big X. Kent Spencer will join at 4:30 to talk about the are high school football games of note, and we’ll spend the rest of the show pretending to ignore that Louisville is on a bye while Kentucky is playing in perhaps the biggest game of the weekend.

You can stream the show here.