Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread Check (football): Pick ‘Em.

—The stakes are clear for Louisville tomorrow: A win and the team locks up both a trip to the ACC championship game and the program’s first 10-win season in a decade.

—The latest CC Podcast episode is here.

—Our guy Cardinal Strong answers some questions for the folks over at State of the U.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team is moving on in the NCAA tournament after a thrilling 4-3 win over Dayton last night at Lynn Stadium. Here are the highlights:

The Cards will now hit the road to face West Virginia — the tournament’s No. 5 overall seed — Sunday at 2 p.m. in Morgantown.

—The fourth-ranked Louisville volleyball team is on the road to face No. 7 Pitt for a top 10 showdown on Saturday afternoon. Here’s a preview.

—Michael McCammon of Cardinal Authority previews Louisville vs. Miami.

—Highlights from the U of L women’s basketball team’s destruction of Bellarmine last night are here.

—I love it, Nyla.

—Louisville Report previews U of L-Miami.

—Springfield stand up! Louisville has offered 6’7 forward Gabe Weis of the Washington County Commanders.

—The LSU women’s basketball “super team” has had a rough first couple of weeks. First, there was a blowout loss to Colorado, then there was Angel Reese getting benched, now we’ve got players’ moms feuding on Instagram. Hate to see it.

—Homefield Apparel’s Black Friday sales start today and run through Nov. 26. Just use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY to get 20% off everything on the site.

—The NCAA has presented Michigan evidence that points to a UM booster - “Uncle T” - as having partially funded the scouting scheme and an assistant coach, now-fired Chris Partridge, as attempting to destroy computer evidence.

I’ll give anything if Uncle T is Tom Crean. ANYTHING.

—Jack Harlow is still a Rick Pitino guy.

He also desperately wants pro basketball back in Louisville.

—Howard Schnellenberger’s influence will be all over Saturday’s Louisville-Miami game.

—Lamar Jackson balled out in a 34-20 win over the Bengals, but the story of the night was Joe Burrow’s injury and what it could mean for the AFC title race.

—Cardinal Authority is keeping up with where U of L football commitments are playing tonight.

—The Inside the U staff is split on its game predictions, but everyone is expecting a one score contest.

Here are the game predictions from the staff at InsideTheU...

Christopher Stock: Miami 24, Louisville 20

The Hurricanes have won their last two home games and should benefit from a noon start in their home finale while Louisville, which has had a great season, is averaging 17 points in their last two road games, dropping their last one. A key area to watch is Louisville’s third downs as they rank 10th in league play with Miami’s defense fifth.

David Lake: Miami 27, Louisville 24

Louisville comes into this game as a top ten team that is playing with plenty of confidence. With that said, however, the Hurricanes match up pretty well against the Cardinals and this game figures to be a close one. I am banking on Miami doing a solid job of containing the Louisville rushing attack, the defense doing a good enough job of making Jack Plummer uncomfortable, and UM quarterback Tyler Van Dyke having a bounce back performance in the final home game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Gaby Urrutia: Louisville 28, Miami 23

This is a winnable game for Miami against a top ten opponent. The difference may be in the turnover department. Tyler Van Dyke has struggled and it’s tough to envision things changing against a defense that’s been very good at generating turnovers. If it’s a clean game from Van Dyke and the supporting cast in that category, I absolutely see a path to victory. It’s just hard for me to bank on that at this point. I’m taking Louisville in a tight one.

Luke Chaney: Louisville 24, Miami 17

Louisville has been one of college football’s biggest surprises this season on the shoulders of its highly ranked defense and a strong run game led by junior Jawar Jordan. The Cardinals’ defense has especially been on a tear as of late, allowing just nine points per game over its last three contests. I expect Miami’s offense, which has been poor as of late with Tyler Van Dyke at the helm, to struggle against this vaunted unit.

—Here are three Hurricanes who could come up big against the Cards tomorrow afternoon.

—Pat Forde and Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated both pick Louisville to get the job done on the road.

—Hoosiers Now previews the Empire Classic and foresees IU being able to handle the Cards in the 3rd Place Game.

—Former New Albany High star Sean East capped a furious comeback for Missouri last night at Minnesota.

—What’s at stake for Louisville against Miami? A ton.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report highlights some points of emphasis for the Cards versus the Canes.

—Four of the five staff members at All Hurricanes think Louisville leaves South Beach with a win.

—Limiting Louisville’s explosive plays will be the biggest key for the Miami defense on Saturday.

—Clutch points is calling for the Canes upset.

—Reece Davis of College GameDay is also putting Louisville on upset alert.

And Davis thinks Miami knocks off the No. 10 ranked team in America this weekend when the two teams meet at noon ET on ABC in Miami.

“I think Louisville’s going to go the ACC Championship Game,” Davis started. “I like this team a lot. But they have flirted with disaster a couple of times. They were very fortunate to escape the Virginia game the other night.”

The Cardinals are 9-1 and survived a big scare against UVA last week. And while Davis does not think Louisville will win this game, he does still think they’ll make it to the ACC title game.

“I think Louisville’s good. I’m not anti-Louisville at all. I’m really looking forward to having Jeff Brohm on the show Saturday. I’m gonna go Miami. I think Miami wins the game but Louisville will still wind up in the ACC Championship Game and will give the Seminoles a challenge once they get there.”

—The crazy start to this year’s women’s basketball season continued on Thursday night with No. 2 Iowa being stunned by unranked Kansas State.

—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast recaps the win over Virginia and previews the weekend ahead against Miami.

—And finally, beat Miami.