Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 9.5.

—Second-place in the ACC is the primary storyline heading into Saturday afternoon. It’s been an awfully long time since Louisville had a November home game where the (non-rivalry) stakes were this high.

—U of L’s official preview of tomorrow’s football game against Virginia Tech is here.

—A new CC Podcast episode is out.

—U of L will be holding a Kroger food drive during Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech.

University of Louisville Football fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items and hygiene products to this weekend’s home game Saturday versus Virginia Tech. As part of the Kroger Food Drive collection bins will be placed outside of all entry gates. Additionally, volunteers will be collecting contributions at the Kroger Ultimate Tailgate in the Planet Fitness Purple Lot.

Collected items will benefit all UofL students, faculty and staff in need.

Saturday’s collection event marks the first of a series of drives that will be co-hosted by the Cards and Kroger. Additional drives will be held at other sporting events during the course of the winter season.

—ESPN’s Jeff Borzello ranks the 100 most impactful newcomers for the upcoming college basketball season. He has Tre White in the “also considered” section.

—Jeff Walz is heavily involved with three of the best unsigned recruits from the class of 2024.

—Bryan Hudson is the man.

—Miami will retire Gino Toretta’s No. 13 jersey during its home game against Louisville later this month.

—Every member of the TNIAAM staff likes Louisville to top Virginia Tech.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report looks at the biggest storylines for tomorrow’s Louisville-Virginia Tech game.

Ground Game to Serve as Focal Point on Both Sidelines

As many know by now, Louisville’s Jawhar Jordan has established himself as one of the top running backs in all of college football. His 824 rushing yards comes in at 14th nationally, his ten rushing touchdowns are tied for 10th, while his 998 yards from scrimmage is 10th as well.

“He’s a really talented football player,” Brohm said of Jordan. “He works really hard. He’s agile, he’s athletic, he’s very elusive. He can start and stop on a dime very naturally, which can create confusion and put defenders on their heels. But when he has to lower his pads, he’ll lower his pads. Even though he doesn’t weigh a lot, he’ll get low to the ground and do the best job we can.”

While Virginia Tech might not have an explosive weapon like Jordan, their efforts on their ground as of late has also played a role in their hot month of October. Over their last five games, the Hokies have averaged 210.2 rushing yards per game and scored seven rushing touchdowns.

Starting RB and North Carolina A&T transfer Bhaysul Tuten has averaged 71.5 rushing yards over the last four games with a pair of 100-yard outings, while backup Malachi Thomas has averaged 54.5 rushing per game in the same span.

Virginia Tech’s run-focused approach has even had an impact on how many opportunities the opposing offense has, as they rank No. 13 in average time possession at 32:31. In their last game against Syracuse, not only did they run for a whopping 318 yards, they held the ball for 41:42 and limited Syracuse to just 43 total plays.

—Homefield Apparel has a new line of retro-inspired snapback hats for seven basketball schools, including Louisville. The U of L bomber jacket also drops tomorrow.

—Josh Heird’s game day run is going to leave from the cabooses at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

—Brian Rauf makes some bold predictions about the upcoming college hoops season.

—Denny Crum posters will be available at the game on Monday.

—Michael McCammon of Cardinal Authority previews Louisville-Virginia Tech.

—Tre White makes Jon Rothstein’s list of 25 under the radar transfers for the upcoming college hoops season.

Tre White, Louisville (USC): Skyy Clark may have been the known commodity in the Cardinals’ transfer class, but it would be foolish to forget about White. The 6-7 wing can play multiple positions and excels as a small ball power forward. He averaged nine points and 5.1 rebounds last season at USC.

—Virginia Tech covering 9.5 is one of Chris Fallica’s best bets of the weekend.

—The AP has an early preview of Louisville-UMBC.

—Ashton Gillotte has lived up to all the hype this year.

Exhibit B:

—Fighting Gobbler previews Louisville-Virginia Tech.

—The U of L men’s tennis team is wrapping up its fall season at Notre Dame.

—Only one member of the VT Scoop staff is predicting a Hokie upset.

Kolby Crawford

I predict that this game will mark head coach Brent Pry’s first signature win at Virginia Tech. Jeff Brohm’s Louisville Cardinals are an elite and deserving top-15 ball club in the nation, well-versed in all three phases. However, the Hokies are rolling with momentum, and I believe they will get their first road win and stir up some chaos within the conference. There is already no doubt, but after this weekend, Pry and Virginia Tech will resoundingly show why ‘Enter Sandman’ belongs in Lane Stadium.

Prediction: Virginia Tech 31, No. 13/15 Louisville 27

—The three writers over at Tech Lunch Pail are predicting a narrow U of L victory.

—Every College Football News writer is taking the Cards over the Hokies.

—The U of L basketball managers started their season off on the right foot.

—This from Eamonn Brennan, is the best thing I’ve read on Bob Knight this week.

—Reggie Bonnafon is the guest on the latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast.

—I am begging for this to happen.

—Louisville’s open practice for students on Thursday was ... not well attended.

—Gobbler Country’s readers vote on what’s going to happen in tomorrow afternoon’s game.

—Louisville’s biggest asset at the moment? Balance.

—Awesome memory.

—Louisville Report’s Matt McGavic is predicting a 31-17 Cardinal victory tomorrow.

—Never forget or forgive the Marcus Vick stomp and the “out of control” Virginia Tech team during the ‘06 Gator Bowl.

—And finally, beat Virginia Tech.