Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 2.5.

—Konata Mumpfield, Pitt’s leading receiver, will be a game-time decision Saturday night.

—U of L safety Nicario Harper, who transferred in from Jacksonville State this season, has entered the transfer portal.

—Some bad news for tomorrow night: Louisville is 3-6 in its first game after the release of a Taylor Swift album.

—Donovan Mitchell shares some wild details from “that night” in March, 2020.

—At least five 5-star prospects will be at Slugger Field tonight for what should be a five-star event in Louisville Live.

—On the women’s side, Jeff Walz will also be entertaining at least seven recruits this evening.

—JJ Traynor says Kenny Payne told him he was going to challenge him more than he’d ever been challenged before, and the head coach was not lying.

—Virginia topped Georgia Tech in a hard to watch 16-9 slugfest Thursday night. The game’s final play provided a fitting conclusion.

—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast is here.

—The Athletic’s Seth Davis counts down the 20 “most influential” college basketball games of the 2000s, a list topped by UMBC’s upset of Virginia.

—Winners and Whiners likes Pitt to cover the spread on the road tomorrow night.

—There’s a herd of cows loose in Cherokee Park.

—Congrats to U of L women’s soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, who notched her 200th win with the Cardinals in last night’s 1-0 road triumph over NC State.

—Mike DeCourcy writes that expanding the NCAA tournament past 68 teams could be college sports’ biggest mistake yet.

—ESPN’s Bill Connelly breaks down the weekend ahead in college football.

—Cardinal Authority keeps tabs on where Louisville commits are playing this Friday night.

—Dave Lackford shares some Louisville football recruiting knowledge in this chat.

—Louisville Report looks at the points of emphasis for Saturday night’s game against Pitt.

—Bryan Brown’s defense is looking to find some consistency in the second half of the season starting tomorrow against the Panthers.

—Matt McGavic shares his biggest takeaways from U of L basketball’s media day.

—The CJ also has three takeaways from Kenny Payne’s first media day.

—Great feature here on Nolan Smith:

—Lamar Jackson has been named a global flag football ambassador.

—The LEO has five things to do in Louisville this weekend.

—The U of L swim and dive teams split with Tennessee at a meet on Thursday.

—Cardinal volleyball star Aiko Jones gets some love from the Jamaican Gleaner.

—Here’s the official U of L preview of tomorrow night’s Homecoming game.

—And finally, beat Pitt.