Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 10.

—Louisville Report looks at the points of emphasis for U of L vs. Indiana.

—The 5th-ranked U of L men’s soccer team will host Virginia Tech tonight at 8. If you can’t make it out to Lynn Stadium, you can watch the match on the ACC Network.

—Here’s the official U of L preview of tomorrow afternoon’s game in Indy.

—Spugs was one of my first bosses and certainly one of my best bosses. Happy retirement to the legend.

—Louisville has made the cut for tight end Tayvion Galloway, one of the top uncommitted prospects left in the class of 2024. The Cards will fight it out with five other schools for Galloway’s services.

—Ever wondered how gambling scandals like the one involving Alabama baseball get uncovered? This is how.

—Bill Connelly says don’t sleep on college football’s third week, and includes Louisville-Indiana in his week 3 playlist.

Louisville vs. Indiana (noon, BTN). I was tempted to make “Louisville -10 in Indianapolis” a best bet, but the Cardinals’ first-half performance against Georgia Tech — they trailed 28-13 at half before charging back to win — gave me pause. Indiana’s defense might have a little bit of juice, too, though I’m not sure yet.

Current line: Louisville -10 | SP+ projection: Louisville by 16.0 | FPI projection: Louisville by 10.0

—Seth Davis writes that the NCAA needs to get rid of transfer waivers altogether.

—It’s top five field hockey showdown in Chapel Hill this afternoon where unbeaten and second-ranked North Carolina is hosting fourth-ranked and unbeaten Louisville. The clash starts at 3 p.m.

—The latest From the Pink Seats podcast episode looks ahead to this weekend’s game in Indy.

—Tom Allen hooked IU students up with free tickets to tomorrow’s game.

—Richard Johnson and Pat Forde make their picks for Week 3 in college football.

—Robbie Weintstein of 247 Sports ranks ACC football programs by recruiting potential, and has Louisville at No.

—A betting site simulated Louisville vs. Indiana 10,000 times and came out with an average final score of the Cards winning, 30-20. It did give IU a 52% chance of covering the 10-point spread though.

—U of L QB commit Deuce Adams looks like the real deal.

—The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed Dez Fitzpatrick from their practice squad to their active roster. He’ll be available for game action Monday night.

—State of Louisville’s Gameday Central post for Louisville vs. Indiana is up.

—The New York Times has a terrific read on Mario Agyen’s journey from Bishop Sycamore to Louisville.

Still, amid the daily reminders of where he stands in the team’s 114-player hierarchy, Agyen rarely forgets the distance he traveled to get there, leaving home in the Bronx five years ago with little more than a dufflebag stuffed with clothes, $1.98 in his bank account and an inexhaustible supply of determination to be a college football player.

Now, when he takes the elevator up to the football players’ commissary each morning, choosing what type of egg-white omelet a chef will prepare for him, and how much fresh fruit, turkey bacon, pearl sugar waffles, oatmeal or grits he’ll pile onto his plate, he often thinks about how he started.

Agyen often woke up famished, wondering if his breakfast would consist of one frozen waffle or two and where he’d be sleeping at night. Once, he was so hungry — and so broke — that he texted a former teacher asking to have a couple pizzas delivered to him.

He had traveled to Columbus, Ohio, after graduating from high school, sold on chasing his football dreams at what the rest of the country would later learn was a sham prep school operating under a name that became a nationwide punchline: Bishop Sycamore.

More than 135 players were lured by big promises, from as far as Texas, California, Georgia and New York, to play for Bishop Sycamore and its previous incarnation, Christians of Faith Academy, until it fell apart on national television.

Only one is believed to have played major college football: Agyen.

“Sometimes it blows my mind — damn, like I really came a long, long way,” Agyen (pronounced A-jin) said on a recent afternoon, walking around Louisville’s campus. “Taking the road I did and going through a traumatizing experience mentally, that could have messed me up and made me crash out.”

—When he takes the Lucas Oil Stadium field Saturday as IU’s starting quarterback, Tayven Jackson will do so as a product of his experiences, his family and his own drive.

—Friday Irrelevance, double helping:

—The Indianapolis Star is rolling with a 24-21 Indiana upset pick for tomorrow afternoon.

—Cardinal Authority is keeping up with where U of L’s football commitments are playing this weekend.

—The Indiana Daily Student previews Louisville vs. IU.

—Wednesday night was a special one inside the KFC Yum Center.

—Jon Rothstein has the Empire Classic — featuring the Cards, UConn, Indiana and Texas — as the third best early season college basketball tournament for the upcoming campaign.

—Around the 7:20 mark of this video, Joe Giglio goes on a great rant about the hypocrisy of the NCAA being fueled by the failure of the FBI’s probe into college basketball.

—The CJ staff makes some picks for tonight’s best local high school football games.

—DePaul is now the Vampires. It’s official.

—Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford break down Louisville’s recently released men’s basketball non-conference schedule.

—Cardinal Authority looks at Louisville vs. Indiana by the numbers.

—And finally, beat Indiana.