Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

My guy James here was diagnosed with Bilateral Retinoblastoma, a very rare form of eye cancer, at just six months old. After 4 rounds of intra-arterial chemo at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, he thankfully now has no sign of any active disease.

In honor of James’ first birthday (8/31/22) and childhood cancer awareness month, his family is hosting a lemonade stand fundraiser. The lemonade stand will be at the St. Matthews Farmers Market this Saturday, September 17th.

You can find more information here.

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—Spread Check: Florida State by 3.

—Tomahawn Nation’s game day central post is here.

—State of Louisville notes that there are 22 predictions for tonight’s game from writers of sites who cover Florida State. All 22 are picking the ‘Noles to win, and most are picking the ‘Noles to win by a lot.

—Just in case you had forgotten ...

No excuse to be that guy/girl caught in black, white or garnet this evening.

—The CJ has three things to consider before betting on tonight’s Louisville-FSU game ... in a state that borders Kentucky, of course.

—ChopChat says that ultimately, Florida State’s talent will win the evening.

Louisville and their fans should have excitement for their first home game. As they have that excitement and motivation, an FSU early lead can take the fans right out of the game. The crowd didn’t do Clemson a bit of good in 2013. I’m not saying this 2022 team is 2013, but good teams take care of business at home and on the road. If FSU is who we think they are, it doesn’t matter where the game gets played.

Malik Cunningham is a very good player and has played well against the Noles for the past two seasons. He could have the game of his life, but he could also continue to look like the guy we’ve seen in the first two games against arguably worse defenses. This defense isn’t the same one we saw in 2020 or the first few games in the 2021 season.

Parting Thoughts

FSU football is the more talented team across the board. Most of this team has played in hostile environments bigger than what Louisville will present Friday night (Clemson and Florida last year). As I’ve been saying all week, this game is more about FSU than Louisville.

If FSU players execute each play, they’ll win the game aside from beating themselves with multiple turnovers. I like the Noles to win this one 31-20.

—U of L hoops commit Kaleb Glenn is on an official visit to Louisville this weekend. The former Male High School star is spending his senior season at La Lumiere.

—A nice reminder for those heading out to Cardinal Stadium this afternoon/evening:

—GoCards.com previews tomorrow night’s volleyball showdown between No. 3 Louisville and No. 9 Stanford.

—Louisville is set to host around 30 visitors for tonight’s home opener against Florida State, including one class of 2023 commit.

—ESPN’s Andrea Adelson has a good story on the 12-year run Louisville has had at quarterback from Teddy Bridgewater to Lamar Jackson to Malik Cunningham.

As de facto Louisville ambassadors, Bridgewater and Jackson took part in this year’s Derby City Reunion Weekend — an event held before the Kentucky Derby — and it was important for them to have Cunningham there with them.

“We know there’s a lot of fans out there who look up to us and they appreciate what we did for their community, for the city of Louisville, so it was a no-brainer to go out there and give back because me and Teddy love kids,” Jackson said. “Even though we play for NFL teams, they still show love like we’re still playing for Louisville. It means a lot to us.”

Now in his fourth year as the full-time starter, Cunningham knows he has work ahead of him. Last season, he joined Jackson as the second quarterback in school history to rush for more than 1,000 yards. He also led the ACC in rushing touchdowns (20), a mark that was good enough to rank fourth nationally. His ability on the ground has drawn comparisons to Jackson, though neither one necessarily wants those comparisons to be made.

“He’s his own player,” Jackson said. “He’s building his own legacy, so let him do his thing. It’s not about me, it’s about Malik when he’s out there performing, just like when I played it wasn’t about Teddy. He has to focus on being him, and being the best player he can be.”

While Bridgewater and Jackson both left school early to enter the NFL draft, Cunningham returned to Louisville for his final season. He said other schools tried to lure him with NIL deals, but he wanted to finish his career in Louisville.

Follow-up stat:

Unfortunately those numbers don’t always go hand-in-hand with an elite winning percentage ... or at least they don’t only for us, apparently.

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit dives into the heritage of Louisville co-offensive coordinator Lance Taylor, who is believed to be the Cardinals’ first Native American football coach.

—The crew over at Cardinal Sports Zone makes their predictions for tonight’s game.

—Florida State is looking to exorcise several demons tonight against the Cards.

Since that matchup, FSU is 2-6 vs. Louisville, having only won twice ever vs. the Seminoles (14-2!) previously.

FSU’s struggles against Louisville have been indicative of the middle-of-the-pack status that the Seminoles’ program has been fighting to escape from — FSU hasn’t won more than 4 conference games since 2016 and only holds winning records vs. Boston College (4-1), Syracuse (4-1), UNC (2-0) and Wake Forest (3-2) in that time span.

In recent history, Norvell is 0-2 vs. Cardinals head man Scott Satterfield. FSU has been outclassed in both matchups, blown out 48-16 in 2020 and falling behind 31-7 at halftime in 2021 ahead of a 31-23 final score.

While Florida State has started off the season with a level of success not seen in years, there still needs to be evidence added to the body of work before true declarations of progress can be proclaimed.

“If you want to show you’re back, go win every game and get better every week and with every practice,” Norvell said following FSU’s win over LSU. “I’m glad our guys are excited about the steps we’ve taken. But if we don’t continue to take steps, then none of that is going to matter.”

—The Brian Ferentz Cameo troll that Iowa fans have been pulling is brutal but also kind of brilliant.

—Wednesday night’s Louisville-Kentucky volleyball match (Cards won, by the way) drew some impressive numbers on ESPN.

—The LHL writes that the match absolutely delivered for the national TV audience.

—The Athletic has a fascinating look at the $280,000 recruiting weekend that helped Texas land Arch Manning.

—Brett Favre is a trash person and anyone still hero worshipping him needs to look in the mirror. U of L fans knew this after the Cardinal Stadium Hail Mary.

—A former Cardinal QB posted one of the 20 fastest 40-yard dash times by a QB in the history of the Combine, but it’s probably not the one (or one of the ones) you’re thinking of.

—Tennessee is retiring the number of former Mason County star Chris Lofton.

I’m still blown away that both the Cats and the Cards let him get out of the state.

—Former Card Kianna Smith was the No. 1 pick in yesterday’s Women’s Korean Basketball League draft.

—Noles247 looks at how FSU matches up with Louisville on film.

—Jason Frakes and company make their picks for the biggest high school football games in the area tonight.

—Game days are the best days.

—The U of L women’s soccer team begins ACC play tonight with a home match against Miami at 7 p.m. Here’s a preview.

—Before we have Louisville vs. Florida State at Cardinal Stadium we’ll have No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Louisville at Trager Stadium. The top five field hockey showdown starts at 3 p.m.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team will look to steal a road win at Boston College tonight.

—Clearly, this needs to improve.

—Jody Demling looks at the series history between U of L and FSU.

—WLKY looks at six things happening around Louisville this weekend.

—After its big win over LSU, avoiding a letdown tonight at Cardinal Stadium is the key from the Florida State point of view.

—The Mike Rutherford Show is live from 3-6 this afternoon on 1450AM/96.1 FM and you’ll be able to catch the last hour as the pre-pre-game show for the official broadcast on 970 WGTK. You can stream the show here.

—And finally, beat Florida State.