Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: No line.

—U of L has a game day checklist for everyone attending Thursday night’s Blackout game against Murray State.

—The Louisville volleyball team team swept host Missouri to claim the Tiger Invitational title over the weekend. The Cards jumped a spot from No. 3 to No. 2 in the latest coaches top 25 poll.

—Eric Crawford writes about the halftime adjustments that kept the Jeff Brohm era at Louisville unblemished.

And Louisville’s offense seemed more simple in the second in that it just relied on getting the ball to playmakers in space. Jamari Thrash, Jawhar Jordan, Kevin Coleman all got the chance to get loose and make things happen. Louisville had 47 yards after the catch in the first half. It had 80 in the second.

“I talk about it all the time to our football team,” Jeff Brohm said. “Nothing will ever be easy. We challenged our guys at halftime to play much harder, play much tougher, figure out a way to grind this thing out, and just try to win the half. Also, we said, ‘Look, we’re going to judge effort, and if you’re not giving more effort than the other guy, you won’t play the rest of the year.’ I think our guys stayed together. They gave way better effort. Fortunately for us, our coaches hung in there, too. We found a way to coach better in the second half and have a better plan and some adjustments, and it took everything to win. We have a long way to go, but like I told them, every college football game is going to be like that, and if you’re not ready for that, you might as well not show up for the game.”

On Friday night, in the first game of the Brohm era, Louisville showed up a bit late, but it showed up. That’s all fans ask for, generally. And it should be what they get more often than not moving forward.

—Louisville utilized some newfound toughness to escape from Atlanta with a victory.

—It didn’t get a ton of attention on Friday, but Jermayne Lole playing 39 snaps could be a huge development for the Cardinal defense.

—The 13th-ranked Louisville men’s soccer team moved to 3-0 with a 2-0 road win at UNC Greensboro. The Cards will face a top five Kentucky team on Tuesday.

—I did a double-take on Friday and I don’t think I’m the only one, but ...

—The 9th-ranked Louisville field hockey team took care of Penn to move to 4-0 on the season.

—The ACC adding SMU/Cal/Stanford probably makes it worse in football. It DEFINITELY makes it worse in basketball. What a weird place we’ve ended up at.

—Carlik Jones almost single-handedly got South Sudan basketball qualified for the Olympics for the very first time.

—Rick Bozich shares his thoughts on the first win of the Jeff Brohm era.

—There are no changes on Louisville’s depth chart for this week’s game against Murray State.

—Private equity has dipped into every segment of the sports industry except one: college athletics. That seems likely to change.

—Load up on the 9 horse in the 9th race tonight at Del Mar.

—The G-League job that Nolan Smith reportedly interviewed for is going to the other man who reportedly interviewed for the gig: LSU assistant Cody Toppert.

—The U of L women’s soccer team notched the first win of its 2023 campaign with a 3-0 triumph over Central Michigan on Sunday.

—Busting Brackets has three keys to a successful 2023-24 U of L men’s basketball season.

—Pat Forde’s read on Jeff Brohm’s road home is worth your time.

Aug. 28: It’s time to play

Some coaches are cocksure of victory heading into a game. Jeff Brohm is not that coach, at least internally.

“I’m always worried we’re going to get killed,” he says. “I wish I could sit here and lie and say I’m really confident going in—no, I’m not. I’m scared we’re going to get killed. I try to use that to help me, to watch a little more film and help us be better prepared.”

A final question, after nine months of them: Will there be a moment before kickoff in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Friday night when Jeff Brohm allows himself to zoom out from game focus to let it soak in that he is the head coach at the school that shaped him and his family?

“Probably, yeah,” he says. “But really that has soaked in for the last six or seven months, all the people saying welcome back and wishing us well. The honeymoon period is over, and now it’s time to back it up. It’s time to play. Either ‘blank’ or get off the pot.”

—Louisville Report has some final thoughts on the Georgia Tech win.

—The U of L women’s golf team will open its final season at the Boilermaker Invitational.

—Jamari Thrash was a star on Friday.

—I wore a “Got Pitino?” shirt in the middle of the UK student section. To be young.

—Saturday Blitz has three takeaways from the Cards’ triumph at “The Benz.”

—Louisville baseball picks up a commitment from JuCo transfer Jake Munroe.

—The CJ has some takeaways from Jeff Brohm’s debut.

—It was apparent.

—Louisville men’s soccer’s gage Guerra has been named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week.

—Jody Demling says that despite the short week of rest you should expect to see an improved Louisville team in week two.

—And finally, From the Rumble Seat has three thoughts on Friday night’s game from a Georgia Tech perspective.