Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (football): Miami by 1.

—It’s NCAA tournament first round match night for the Louisville men’s soccer team, which will host Dayton at 7 p.m. If you can’t make it out to Lynn Stadium, the match will be carried live on ESPN+.

—The Louisville women’s basketball team is back in action tonight at 7 p.m. against Bellarmine. Here’s a preview.

—Class of 2024 EDGE Cole McConathy flipped his commitment from Louisville to Miami on Wednesday night. Hopefully we can make him feel bad about that in about 48 hours.

—Not overly shocked to see 2006 running away with this.

—Jawhar Jordan has accepted an invitation to play in the 2024 East-West Shrine Bowl.

—Louisville QB commit Deuce Adams saw his high school career come to an end with a 13-10 loss to Lake Travis in the Texas High School state playoffs.

—Matt McGavic goes behind enemy lines with a Miami reporter.

4. How has new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry impacted that side of the ball? Miami has been leaps and bounds more efficient defensively than last season.

He’s elite. Guidry’s scheme is complex yet the Miami defensive players picked it up and executed it quickly. Three-man line and then four-man line on the next play but with the same personnel; Miami gives opposing offenses fits.

Plus, the Transfer Portal and recruiting changed the lineup. Reuben Bain, Jr. is a three-and-out defensive lineman who’s a sure-fire freshman All-American up front. Francisco Mauigoa is one of the nation’s best middle linebackers and an absolutely tremendous blitzer.

The Canes did lose 300-plus-pound defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III during the FSU game. No clue if he’ll be back for Louisville as Cristobal doesn’t give much injury information. That injury would limit Miami’s defensive efforts more because they don’t have many guys that size.

—Louisville has not been an overly efficient team away from home so far this season. That’s going to have to change on Saturday if the Cards want to top Miami.

—Gravely Brewing’s Cardinale is coming to stores soon.

—The depth charts for both the Cards and the ‘Canes are here.

—If you are a Louisville fan headed to Miami this weekend, here’s a tailgate option for Saturday morning:

—On3’s Andy Staples has Louisville covering against Miami as one of his locks of the week.

—U of L women’s basketball standout Olivia Cochran has been named to the Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top 50 Watch List.

—The Louisville volleyball team is up one spot to No. 4 in this week’s top 25 poll.

—Well, Darrell Griffith was technically right about the days of 6,000 fans in attendance being no more.

—Dick Vitale is in remission following a battle with vocal cord cancer, but his return to the airwaves to call college basketball this season will be delayed.

—Louisville defensive coordinator Ron English is one of 57 nominees for the 2023 Broyles Award, which goes to the top assistant in college football.

—It has been a very strange three months for Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program.

—It would appear as though El Ellis made the right decision.

—The Louisville swim and dive teams are headed to Ohio State this weekend.

—Undefeated James Madison won’t be going to a bowl game after its waiver request was denied last night. Dumb. So dumb. The most dumb.

—Louisville WR commit JoJo Stone has announced that he’ll be playing in the Under Armour All-American Game.

—Eli was always open.

—FanDuel Sportsbook has Louisville as an early 4.5-point favorite over Kentucky for next weekend’s rivalry game.

—When it comes to punching their ticket to the ACC Championship Game, the Louisville football team is only worried about one of the scenarios.

—Unlike most offensive-minded college football head coaches, Jeff Brohm makes it a point to be very involved with his defense. It has paid dividends this season.

—Wonderful story here on Paul Rogers’ father.

With Paul out this weekend, Jody Demling and John L. Smith will be on the radio call of Louisville/Miami.

—After 26 years, Bearno’s by the Bridge is moving to a different downtown location.

—Good answer, Mekhi.

—A new study shows just how much declining attendance at Louisville men’s basketball games is affecting the KFC Yum Center’s financial impact on the city.

—C.L. Brown writes that Louisville’s upcoming trip to New York will have a sweet or sour effect on the team’s season.

—Not great.

—Bet Kentucky gives Louisville a 66.7 percent chance of playing in the Orange Bowl at the moment.

—Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow will duel tonight on Thursday night football.

—247 Sports looks at Louisville vs. Miami by the numbers.

—The star of last night’s game:

—Saturday’s game will mark the first time Miami has played consecutive games against top 10 opponents since 2017. The Hurricanes lost to undefeated and fourth-ranked Florida State, 27-20, last week.

—The CJ sports staff picks this weekend’s local college football games.

—Here’s the AP preview for Saturday’s game.

—This is the best answer he’s given to a question so far.

KP needs to strike this chord more consistently.

And, you know, win.

—Playing a “stress-free game” is of paramount importance for the Cards on Saturday.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report is predicting a 24-20 win for the Cards over Miami.

—State of the U takes a film forecast look at Louisville.

ESPN’s win percentage has Miami as a slight favorite- 53.7% to be exact, while Las Vegas gives the slight edge to the Cards as road favorites.

The Canyonero keys to victory from the summer were:

1- Pressure Jack Plummer. Miami has one of the best pass rushers in the game in freshman Rueben Bain Jr. Plummer isn’t mobile like Jordan Travis, and Miami got to him on key 3rd downs. Getting pressure on Plummer and forcing him into some bad choices will be the key to beating Louisville.

2- Establish the run. UVA was unable to run on the Cards, Notre Dame’s Audric Estime was held to two yards per carry, but Georgia Tech did average 4.6 yards per carry as a team (including sacks). Mario wants to win bully ball, well this is the time to prove it against Ashton Gillotte and the Cards.

3- Win the kicking game. Even the parts of the kicking game that have been strong at times have had issues in clutch situations. Borregales suffered a miss on a bad hold vs. FSU, there was a muffed kick return this season, enough punt return issues from the entire team, Keon Coleman’s punt return to set up the FSU win... if how you do kicking is how you do everything- it explains a lot about Miami football right now. But a blocked punt hasn’t happened, yet.

My summer prediction was Miami by 3, but I’m shifting that to Louisville by 3 with Williams out at QB. Brown and Van Dyke haven’t provided with with a ton of confidence in their ability to win close games.

—Miami enters Saturday with nothing to lose, and also the opportunity to spoil Louisville’s slim Playoff chances and (potentially) a trip to the ACC title game.

—Jeff Brohm talks about what he took away from playing for Howard Schnellenberger.

—Athlon’s model is predicting a 29-22 Louisville win over Miami.

—And finally, beat Dayton and beat Bellarmine.