Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 10.

—Saturday won’t be the first rodeo for Jeff Brohm against Tom Allen.

—Jerry “Roughhouse” May spent his time working as a trainer on the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team for over three decades, starting with his arrival as a freshman in 1971 through coach Denny Crum’s final season. He died at age 72 Sunday, but left behind a legacy within the athletic department.

—Eric Crawford writes about Louisville volleyball’s sweep of Kentucky in front of a crowd of nearly 13,000 inside the KFC Yum Center last night.

The victory (25-19, 25-23, 25-18) was Louisville’s third this season over a nationally ranked opponent and ninth overall without a loss. And, in its rivalry against Kentucky, which won the NCAA championship in the Covid-altered season of 2020, when a reporter said, “I think that’s three straight,” Cardinals coach Dani Busboom Kelly was quick to respond.

“It is,” she said. “I am keeping track.”

“Four years ago,” she went on, “we got in this 4-year deal with Kentucky, Stanford and Nebraska. And at the time, I would’ve been happy maybe winning one of those. And now I think we’re 5-0, with another huge match (against Stanford) on Sunday. I’m just really proud of the growth of our program and the confidence of our athletes to go out there against those teams and feel like we’re going to win and have a chance to win.”

The first of 3 games in the KFC Yum! Center for the Cardinals this season began with flames shooting and smoke billowing during starting lineups. Most of Louisville’s players had seen it in the arena before. A few, like UCLA transfer Charitie Luper, hadn’t.

“It was so amazing,” said Luper, who led the Cardinals with 13 kills, and hit a service ace for the game-winner. “It was jumping. It was super good. I can’t even describe my emotions. It was just so surreal. It was amazing seeing everything, the smoke, the fans, the red lights. It was everything I could have ever dreamed. . . . The fans were super into it. I could hear them behind me the whole game. They were into every point. So it wasn’t just a win for us, but a win for them.”

—The CJ has a story on how Louisville running back Mario Agyen was shaped by his experience at the infamous Bishop Sycamore.

—Cardinal Strong’s Q&A session with our friends over at Crimson Quarry is here.

—Racing is returning to Churchill Downs for the September meet tonight, and all eyes are on the safety of the horses.

—The 5th-ranked U of L men’s soccer team will host Virginia Tech Friday night at 8. You can catch the match on the ACC Network. Here’s a preview,

—ACC! ACC! ACC!

—It’s good to hear that Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen is in good spirits and planning on being on the sidelines on Saturday after suffering what UK is calling a medical episode at the team facility on Sunday.

—Colorado State might not beat Colorado on Saturday, but the Rams are still somehow the more interesting team from the state.

—Peyton Siva has opened a new immersive training facility.

—U of L men’s basketball has been utilizing an AI-backed weight training platform this offseason.

The next time Louisville men’s basketball takes the court, how they fare will, in large part, depend on the play of their revamped roster. But their success also hinges on a new AI-backed weight training platform that they’ve become one of the latest to leverage across collegiate and professional sports.

Called Perch, the game-changing technology uses a combination of 3D cameras and machine learning to quantify weight room performance and enhance an athlete’s motivation, safety, and on-field performance. It has three components: a 3D camera that fastens or “perches” to any weight rack with Velcro straps, a battery pack, and a tablet. The latter two adhere via a magnet. An athlete walks up, logs in on the tablet and starts lifting. While they lift, the 3D camera captures and outputs the sets, reps, velocity, and power, culminating in about a dozen different metrics on the table that inform performance. Players and coaches can then access the workout data via a web application to derive insights to performance and monitor how to best approach future workouts.

“Perch is used by the world’s most elite athletic organizations to optimize performance, manage fatigue, profile athletes, and quantify daily readiness. For all levels of athletics, from professional to high school, Perch helps you be ready for game day,” said Perch co-founder Jacob Rothman.

—ADs, commissioners, NCAA lawyers, old coaches and establishment media claimed NIL and the transfer portal would ruin college football and push fans away. Instead, so far this season we’ve seen record TV ratings, packed stands and sky-high national interest.

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit looks at how Jeff Brohm’s success against Indiana during his time at Purdue could help him and U of L against the Hoosiers on Saturday.

—It appears Adhel Tac enjoyed her visit to U of L.

—On3’s latest bowl projections have Louisville facing Maryland in the Pinstripe Bowl.

—Matt McGavic’s latest ACC power rankings have Louisville at No. 6 this week.

—It was cool to see Jeff Brohm putting out a video encouraging fans to attend last night’s volleyball game.

—Matt Hayes says UNC should play Tez Walker, regardless of what the NCAA does. If that happens, we should hang the 2013 banner back up five minutes later.

—The lower bowl should look like this any time any Louisville team is playing a game inside the KFC Yum Center.

Also, allow me to say for the millionth time that in every meeting between Louisville and Kentucky in every sport, the Cards should wear red and the Cats should wear blue. Props to volleyball for getting it right.

—The latest episode of the College Football Enquirer podcast starts a conversation about Louisville-Indiana around the 42-minute mark.

—Learfield, the largest multi-media rights holder in college athletics, has announced that it closed a landmark transaction that reduces the company’s outstanding debt by over $600 million and secured $150 million in new equity investment.

—It’s been an incredibly successful year for Big X Radio.

—The ACC is set to release its conference schedule for the 2023-24 college basketball season on Sept. 26.

—Crimson Quarry focuses on Tom Allen’s 4-2-5 defense and how it has struggled against Jeff Brohm’s offense.

—RIP to legendary EKU football coach Roy Kidd, who passed away at 91 earlier this week.

—Check out the most-watched college football games of week 2 here.

—I don’t hate these odds.

—Jawhar Jordan was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded offensive player in the ACC for week two.

—The Maui Invitational is expected to stay in Hawaii but move to the University of Hawaii for this year.

—The Athletic’s college hoops staff debates the one rule change that would help the sport the most.

—A majority of college football coaches hate the new clock rules.

—Congrats to Edgar, that’s a hell of a professional career.

—For the second time in 16 months, another blue blood swooped in to steal one of John Calipari’s top young staffers from Kentucky.

—Four-star small forward Jalen Shelley, one of Louisville’s top recruiting targets, has committed to Eric Musselman and Arkansas.

—Willie Tyler has been a beast for the Cards through two weeks.

—The Louisville baseball program will return to the diamond later this month for a pair of fall scrimmages at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals will host Purdue on Sunday, Sept. 24 and Xavier on Saturday, Sept. 30 with both games set to begin at noon ET.

Both fall scrimmages are open to the public with free admission. Concession stands will not be open, so fans are invited to bring their own food and drink to the stadium.

—The Indiana 247 site previews Saturday’s game at Lucas Oil.

2. A familiar face in Jeff Brohm’s offensive system

It’s almost poetic at this point that Indiana’s first time playing Louisville in nearly 50 years is against a Jeff Brohm-led team. As if game-planning for Brohm’s offense at Purdue since 2017 wasn’t enough, he jumped ship to his alma mater this past offseason and brought with him a collection of former Purdue assistants.

Doubling down on the familiar faces, Brohm also brought old personnel with him to Louisville, including former Purdue and California starting quarterback Jack Plummer. This season, the sixth-year Plummer has passed for 494 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions through two games.

Brohm, an offensive guru at heart, has already helped to elevate Louisville’s entire offensive attack. In two games, the Cardinals are averaging 47.5 points, 296.5 passing yards, 285.5 rushing yards and 582 yards of total offense per game. While one of those contests was a blowout win over Murray State, which makes some of the numbers look bloated, there’s no denying that Indiana’s defense will have to play well if the Hoosiers want to emerge victorious.

On the flipside, IU’s defense appears to be as strong as it’s been in several seasons. The Hoosiers have conceded only two offensive touchdowns this year, and with dozens of newcomers across the defense, they’ve done nothing to suggest they can’t keep up this level of play.

New Indiana defensive coordinator Matt Guerrieri has impressed in his short time in Bloomington, but he’ll have to push all the right buttons against Louisville’s explosive offense. If there’s one thing Hoosier fans have learned about Brohm over the years, it’s to never take his offenses lightly.

—The Hoosier Network looks at the keys to victory for IU on Saturday.

—The fourth-ranked U of L field hockey team opens ACC play with a showdown at No. 2 North Carolina on Friday afternoon. Here’s a preview.

—Every member of the CJ sports staff likes Louisville to come back from Indy with a win on Saturday.

—I’m sorry, this is just weird.

—Peyton Siva is the guest on the latest episode of C.L. Brown’s podcast.

—Louisville’s own Emina Ekic is joining Bosnia and Herzegovina for UEFA Nations League action against Belarus (Sept. 22) and Slovenia (Sept. 26).

—The U of L women’s soccer team will host No. 20 Virginia on Saturday.

—Kenny Payne spent some time at U of L football practice on Wednesday.

—You can catch some of the highlights from Tom Allen’s weekly radio show here.

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

—College Football News is predicting a much closer Cardinal victory.

—And finally, Indiana’s much-improved defensive front is expecting a large challenge from the Cardinals.