Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Jan 9, 2023 - 7:49 PM

—Louisville is No. 20 in Brett McMurphy’s way too early top 25 rankings for the 2023 college football season. Florida State (4), Clemson (9), Notre Dame (12), Pitt (22) and North Carolina (23) also appear in the rankings.

—Richard Owens has officially been named as the new offensive line coach at U of L.

—Highlights from Sunday’s U of L women’s basketball win over Pitt are here.

—This team would’ve won the Super Bowl.

I’ll never forgive Baker Mayfield. Please get out of my life forever.

—It was a scary Sunday for former Cardinal Russ Yeast, who left in the middle of the Rams-Seahawks game and was hospitalized with a pulmonary contusion. At last update, he was in stable condition, but did stay in the hospital overnight.

—Louisville student-athletes excelled in the classroom once again during the fall semester, with 493 achieving Athletic Director’s Honor Roll status.

—It’s a season on the brink for Indiana, Kentucky and Louisville at this point.

—Zoom action is taking over college basketball.

—The family home of former U of L football player Rashawn Smith was recently destroyed by a fire and Rashawn is raising money to help repair the damage through a GoFundMe, which you can find here.

—Eleven NFL Draft prospects to keep an eye on during tonight’s national championship game.

—This picture is the single greatest thing that has happened to Cardinal basketball in at least two years.

—Indiana is trying to get out of the three-game football series with Louisville that is scheduled to begin this fall.

I guess when you’ve had your fill of Jeff Brohm ass kickings, you’ve had your fill of Jeff Brohm ass kickings.

—Skyy Clark, a former Kentucky commit that U of L had been recruiting under Kenny Payne, has left the Illinois program in the middle of the season.

—The John Calipari to Texas talk is heating up (it’s not going to happen).

—Kamari Lands checks in at No. 4 on the top five ACC plays of the week.

—Here’s a regular season roundup of how former Cards in the NFL fared this season.

—Three former Cards will participate in the NFL playoffs.

—It was a monster weekend for Jeff Brohm and the Louisville football program, but the Cards did lose Arkansas safety transfer Myles Slushser to Deion Sanders and Colorado.

—Kenny Payne did some calling out following Louisville’s loss to Wake Forest on Saturday.

“Moral victories? I don’t want them. I want us to play better the whole game. I just told the guys, ‘Don’t find new ways to lose’ – fight.’ I don’t care if they may have more talent than us. Fight. Fight every second you are out on the floor. I don’t want to play games, guys.”

Payne said part of Louisville’s problem was that the Cardinals lacked consistent performers.

“I am just going to be honest with you, I have different guys missing from the game,” Payne said. “I want every player to hit that floor and fight. I don’t want to look at a game and see Brandon Hatfield-Huntley with two points, not acceptable. That is not why I brought him here. That is not what he wanted. He’s got to give it to me.

“I should have not have to go through what I am going through with Jae’Lyn (Withers). He’s got to fight,” Payne said. “I am not throwing Jae’Lyn under the bus but I am saying that to say this: I need those two to understand that there is an obligation to this program that started long before they got here. Their job is to keep it going forward. No matter what happened in the past, that is over. We are starting over. Now, I see it in stages but I just don’t see it consistently.”

—Rick Bozich says the 1982-83 Cards, who were honored at the KFC Yum Center on Saturday, stack up with any team in history of Louisville basketball.

—Lou City’s full schedule for the 2023 season is out.

—Crimson Quarry says Indiana canceling its football series with Louisville would be a bad look.

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show returns this afternoon from 3-6 on The Big X. You can stream it here.