Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 14.5.

—Cardinal Authority has five major takeaways from Scott Satterfield’s Tuesday press conference.

—Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson has a great story on Walt Wells, who will be back on the sidelines as the head coach of Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, less than a month after almost dying of a heart attack in his office.

—Will there be an opposing coach who doesn’t compare Malik Cunningham to Lamar Jackson at some point during his pre-Louisville press conference? My money is on no.

—Pat Forde’s latest Forde-Yard Dash column is here.

—The annual clash between Trinity and St. X tops the CJ’s list of best high school football games in the area this week.

—If the high school playoffs started today, Ballard would be the top team in 6A according to the new RPI formula.

—Alexis Cubit has a betting pick and three things to know about Saturday’s game between the Cards and the Bulls.

—More Curtis Williams highlights:

—The Cards slip to No. 10 in the latest ACC power rankings from Louisville Report.

—As has been the case for the previous two seasons, self-inflicted wounds are once again killing Louisville football.

—Please take care of business, fellas.

—A proposed new calendar for college football would begin the season even earlier.

—Tickets for this year’s Louisville Live event at Slugger Field will go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m.

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

—Happy Ron Cooper Takes Down Nick Saban Day to all who observe.

—ESPN does not have Louisville going bowling in its latest bowl projections.

—The same goes for CBS.

—Traditional college hoops powers Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Duke are all 3-0 in football at the same time for the first time. Sigh.

—Racing Louisville is at Portland for a 10 p.m. match this evening. Here’s a preview.

—A double-digit ranking across the board.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report looks at how the loss of Dee Wiggins will impact the Cardinal passing attack.

—Former Kentucky baseball commit Lucas Moore has officially flipped his allegiance to Louisville.

—Louisville is once again in search of a turnaround formula, writes Rick Bozich.

—Pitt’s next road game is at Louisville next month.

—Here’s what the FSU crew had to say about the Louisville win during Tuesday’s media availability.

—Danny Manning spent part of his Tuesday night visiting with 4-star power forward Aiden Sherrell (2024) from Phoenix.

—Bouncing back is the theme of the week for both Louisville and South Florida.

—The HVL hype is only going to mount between now and the start of the season.

—Congrats to U of L’s Claire Chaussee on being named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Week.

—Cardinal Authority’s Michael McCammon talks about (video) the importance of Saturday’s game against USF.

—On the heels of the viewership success of their match against Kentucky, two more Louisville volleyball matches this season have been moved to ESPN.

The No. 2 University of Louisville volleyball program will now be featured on ESPN during their games on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2. The match at Florida State will now be played on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 3:00 p.m. ET and the match at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena against Georgia Tech will now be played on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1:00 p.m. ET.

No. 2 University of Louisville volleyball head south to Florida to play Miami on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET and Florida State on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Sunday’s game will be televised on ESPN.

—Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney shares his thoughts on how the NBA likely getting rid of the one and done rule will impact college hoops moving forward.

—Opportunity squandered.

—It’ll be a battle for Eastern Conference supremacy Friday night when Memphis 901 FC travels to face Louisville City FC.

—The Athletic looks at the panic level for a handful of college football teams, including Louisville.

Panic level: How will the hot seat impact our class?

Louisville

Nothing is wrong with Louisville’s class. The Cardinals have commitments from blue-chip players at nearly every position group, headlined by five-star running back Rueben Owens, top-100 receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. and four-star quarterback Pierce Clarkson.

Louisville’s class ranks 17th nationally — significantly higher than Scott Satterfield’s best class to date (No. 40 in 2021). The Cardinals have had success in California, Georgia and Florida, and pulled Owens out of Texas.

The question is whether Sattefrield, who’s already had a tenuous relationship with the fan base and the school, will see this cycle through. He’s posted back-to-back losing seasons and is off to a 1-2 start in 2022 with an embarrassing loss to Syracuse and a home loss to Florida State. There are still games remaining against Pitt, Wake Forest, Clemson, NC State and Kentucky, all of which are currently ranked.

None of the recruits appear to be wavering publicly, but if the on-field results continue to be underwhelming and Louisville makes a move on Satterfield, then it brings legitimate questions about which prospects will actually see their commitments through.

We told you not to make this awkward. We told you all summer.

—It’s the final homestand of the season for the Louisville Bats, who pounded the Nashville Sounds, 10-5, Tuesday night. The two teams will go at it again tonight at 6:35.

—Because of said Bats game, the Mike Rutherford Show will roll from 3-5 this afternoon on 1450/96.1 The Big X. You can stream it here.