Oct. 19 issue

VOLUME XVI • NUMBER 9OCTOBER 19, 2011

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT FEBRUARY 3, 2011

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OCTOBER 19, 2011 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 3

E D I T O R I A L S T A F F

GENERAL MANAGER - Jack Coffee

SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR - Russ Brown

OPERATIONS MANAGER - Howie Lindsey

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES - Mickey Clark, Betty Olsen and Blanche Kitchen

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS - Dave Klotz, Shelley Feller, Gail Kamenish,

Howie Lindsey and Chuck Feist

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS - Matt Willinger, Jeff Wafford,

Jason Puckett and Rick Cushing

GRAPHIC DESIGNER - Scott Stortz

COPY EDITOR - Rick Cushing

The Louisville SportsReport is printed in Kentucky and based in Louisville. It is published weekly in January, February and March, monthly in April, May, June and July and weekly mid-August through late December by Louisville Sports News, L.L.C., in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville Sports News, L.L.C.: Owner and General Manager - Jack Coffee. The SportsReport was founded in 1996. United States Postal Number: 015255

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VOLUME XVI, NUMBER 9 • OCTOBER 19, 2011

CSPACOLLEGESPORTS

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W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 CARDS NEED TO BRING THE JUICE AFTER HALFTIME By Russ Brown6 THREE THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED By Rick Cushing7 STRONG CONFIRMS SANFORD OFF THE STAFF By Howie Lindsey8 YOUTH, INEXPERIENCE CURRENTLY A PROBLEM By Jack Coffee10 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey11 REVITALIZED RUTGERS LEADS THE BIG EAST By Rick Cushing

12,14 LOUISVILLE-CINCY GAME DAY PHOTO GALLERY16,17 BIG EAST: THREE TEAMS PUSH TO THE FRONT By Rivals.com18 FALL/WINTER SPORTS SCHEDULES19 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE21 CARDINAL STARS OF THE WEEK By Howie Lindsey24 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT’S CARDINAL KIDS

5 HOME TURN-AROUND?Louisville coach Charlie Strong wants his team “to defend our home turf” against Rutgers Friday night. “Our fans are going to come out and support us, and we need to play well,” he said.

15 PITINO’S BIG RECRUITING WEEKENDLouisville men’s basketball hosted more than a half-dozen recruits in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 classes during the Red-White Scrimmage Friday night. Find out what they thought of the game and of UofL’s program.

9 PITINO LIKES 2011-12 TEAMRick Pitino was upbeat and excited when talking about his 2011-12 team after the Red-White Scrimmage Friday night. “I was really impressed with a lot of things, it was a very good night for us,” he said.

20 VOLLEY-CARDS WIN SEVENTH STRAIGHTFinding their feet under new coach Anne Kordes, Louisville volleyball is undefeated in Big East play and has won sevens straight games. The Cardinals’ star, Lola Arslanbekova, has been stellar this season.

DEFENSE PLAYED WELL, BUT WASN’T ENOUGHLouisville’s defense sacked and harassed Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros throughout Saturday’s 25-16 loss at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, but it wasn’t enough. Louisville’s offense never got untracked and didn’t score a point in the second half. - photo by Howie Lindsey

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7 CARDS NEED TO KEEP GRINDINGLouisville’s offense has just two second-half touchdowns in the Cardinals’ four losses and has just three total points in the third quarter through the fi rst half of the season. “... We just have to keep grinding,” new OC Shawn Watson said.

DID YOU MISS LAST WEEK’S ISSUE?YOU CAN ACCESS YOUR DIGITAL COPY OF THE MAGAZINE EACH WEEK AT WWW.LOUISVILLESPORTSNEWS.COM OR FACEBOOK.COM/LOUISVILLESPORTSREPORT

22 WOMEN’S SOCCER ON A ROLLLouisville women’s soccer learned from its losses and is now on a fi ve-game winning streak. “Things are starting to click for us, and I am pretty happy with where we are right now,” coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes said.

LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT OCTOBER 19, 2011

CARDINAL FOOTBALL

CARDS NEED TO BRING THE JUICE AFTER HALFTIME

GAME STATSLLOUISVILLE (2-4,0-1) vs. Cincinnati (5-1,1-0)Date: 10/15/11 Site: Cincinnati, Ohio Stadium: Paul Brown StadiumAttendance: 40,971

SCORE BY QUARTERS 1 2 3 4 SCORELOUISVILLE 6 10 0 0 16CINCINNATI 0 7 7 11 25

SCORING SUMMARY:1st 07:47 LOU - Philpott, Chris 42 yd fi eld goal 11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 5:13, LOU 3 - CIN 001:41 LOU - Philpott, Chris 51 yd fi eld goal 5 plays, 15 yards, TOP 2:46, LOU 6 - CIN 02nd 05:01 CIN - WOODS, DJ 26 yd pass from COLLAROS, Zach (MILIANO, Tony kick) 4 plays, 37 yards, TOP 1:19, LOU 6 - CIN 702:54 LOU - Philpott, Chris 18 yd fi eld goal 7 plays, 67 yards, TOP 2:00, LOU 9 - CIN 700:06 LOU - Evans, Mike 63 yd interception return (Philpott, Chris kick) LOU 16 - CIN 73rd 04:41 CIN - COLLAROS, Zach 1 yd run (MILIANO, Tony kick)7 plays, 54 yards, TOP 3:10, LOU 16 - CIN 144th 12:19 CIN - PEAD, Isaiah 50 yd run (ROBINSON, A. pass from COLLAROS, Zach) 2 plays, 50 yards, TOP 0:16, LOU 16 - CIN 2201:21 CIN - MILIANO, Tony 21 yd fi eld goal 6 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:44, LOU 16 - CIN 25

KICKOFF TIME: 12:09 PM END OF GAME: 3:21 TOTAL ELAPSED TIME: 3:12OFFICIALS: REFEREE: DENNIS HENNIGAN; UMPIRE: MICHAEL DELANEY; LINESMAN: CHUCK RICE; LINE JUDGE: KEVIN CODEY; BACK JUDGE: GARY DANCEWICZ; FIELD JUDGE: TONY TARAN-TINI; SIDE JUDGE: HOWARD CURRY; SCORER: SHAWN SELL;TEMPERATURE: 59 WIND: W 11 WEATHER: SUNNY

TEAM STATS LOU CINCY FIRST DOWNS................... 13 16 Rushing..................... 4 11 Passing..................... 9 5 Penalty..................... 0 0NET YARDS RUSHING............. 70 178 Rushing Attempts............ 33 36 Average Per Rush............ 2.1 4.9 Rushing Touchdowns.......... 0 2 Yards Gained Rushing........ 96 201 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 26 23NET YARDS PASSING............. 201 152 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 19-32-1 18-26-1 Average Per Attempt......... 6.3 5.8 Average Per Completion...... 10.6 8.4 Passing Touchdowns.......... 0 1TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 271 330 Total offense plays......... 65 62 Average Gain Per Play....... 4.2 5.3Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 0-0 4-0Penalties: Number-Yards....... 6-44 4-37PUNTS-YARDS................... 6-211 6-275 Average Yards Per Punt...... 35.2 45.8 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 35.2 42.2 Inside 20................... 1 2 50+ Yards................... 0 1 Touchbacks.................. 0 1 Fair catch.................. 2 1KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 5-340 5-319 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 68.0 63.8 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 50.0 42.8 Touchbacks.................. 2 1Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1-2-0 3-0-0 Average Per Return.......... 2.0 0.0Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 4-85-0 3-50-0 Average Per Return.......... 21.2 16.7Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-63-1 1-6-0Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0

Possession Time............... 33:33 26:27 1st Quarter................. 8:07 6:53 2nd Quarter................. 6:49 8:11 3rd Quarter................. 9:42 5:18 4th Quarter................. 8:55 6:05Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 16 4 of 14Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 1 of 1Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-1 2-2 Touchdowns.................. 0-1 1-2 Field goals................. 1-1 1-2Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-17 4-20PAT Kicks..................... 1-1 2-2Field Goals................... 3-3 1-1

INDIVIDUAL STATSRushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgBROWN, D. 17 47 6 41 0 7 2.4Wright, Jeremy 6 25 0 25 0 7 4.2BRIDGEWATER, T. 9 22 20 2 0 9 0.2Stein, Will 1 2 0 2 0 2 2.0Totals... 33 96 26 70 0 9 2.1

Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long SackBRIDGEWATER, T. 17-28-1 195 0 58 4Stein, Will 2-4-0 6 0 4 0Totals... 19-32-1 201 0 58 4

Receiving No. Yds TD Long Rogers, Eli 7 106 0 58HARRIS, M. 4 39 0 20CHICHESTER, J. 3 27 0 16Nord, Nate 2 22 0 16Davis, Jarrett 1 5 0 5MCGRIFF-CULVER 1 2 0 2BROWN, D. 1 0 0 0 Totals... 19 201 0 58

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TBPhilpott, Chris 5 183 36.6 41 1 0Bleser, Josh 1 28 28.0 28 0 0 Totals... 6 211 35.2 41 1 0

Punts Kickoffs InterceptAll Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.LgEvans, Mike 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 63 63Radcliff, Scott 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0Wright, Jeremy 0 0 0 4 85 26 0 0 0Totals... 1 2 2 4 85 26 1 63 63

FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS Philpott, Chris 1st 07:47 42 yds - GoodPhilpott, Chris 1st 01:41 51 yds - GoodPhilpott, Chris 2nd 02:54 18 yds - Good

Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg Philpott, Chris 5 340 2 0 68.0

DEFENSIVE STATSNo. Player Solo Ast Tot 2 Brown, Preston 5 5 10 46 Heyman, Dexter 6 1 7 90 Dubose, B.J. 4 2 6 29 Smith, Hakeem 2 4 6 33 Evans, Mike 2 4 6 25 Pryor, Calvin 2 3 5 17 Smith, Marcus 2 2 4 36 Holton, Shenard 2 2 4 93 Philon, Roy 1 3 4 92 Dunn, Brandon 1 2 3 6 Scruggs, Greg 1 1 2 19 Floyd, Terell 1 1 2 44 Butler, B.J. 1 1 2 12 Philpott, Chris 1 . 1 32 Perry, Senorise 1 . 1 6A Paschal, Jordon 1 . 1 88 Davis, Jarrett 1 . 1 15 Johnson, Andrew . 1 1 99 Brooks, Jamaine . 1 1 35 Conner, Anthony . 1 1 21 Bushell, Adrian . . .

By Russ BrownIf Louisville’s football team could somehow fi g-

ure out a way to skip halftime, its record might be 4-2 instead of 2-4 heading into Friday night’s Big East Conference home game against Rutgers.

That’s because in most of their games, after cool-ing their heels in the locker room for 20 minutes or so, the Cardinals have looked like a different team in the second half.

All that’s needed is a glance at the score by quar-ters to see that something is amiss, although no one is quite sure what.

UofL has outscored its opponents 74-48 in the fi rst half but has been outscored 58-24 in the sec-ond half. The Cards have yet to score a touchdown in the third quarter, and they have been ahead or tied at intermission in three of their four defeats.

The Cincinnati game is a case in point. The Cards led 16-7 at halftime and seemed to have momentum on their side after Mike Evans returned an intercep-tion 63 yards for a touchdown with just six seconds remaining in the fi rst half. But UofL’s defense couldn’t hold the lead and its offense stagnated even more, with the Bearcats rallying for a 25-16 victory.

“For a team to put it together in the fi rst half and then to go out in the second half and not fi nish the game ... right now, that’s our issue and that’s our problem,” UofL coach Charlie Strong said. “We’re just not fi nishing in the second half.”

So what’s going on? “I think we come in at halftime and lose our

juice,” defensive end Greg Scruggs said. “We have to play with the same juice, the same passion we had in the fi rst half. If the other team makes a big play, sometimes as a defense we get down, and we can’t do that. We have to do a better job of fi nish-ing.

“As long as we keep the juice, passion and en-thusiasm and keep executing technique the way we do in the fi rst half of most games, we could be a really good football team.”

Asked what goes on at halftime that could have such a signifi cant impact on the second half, Strong replied:

“I’d love to know that answer. We come out in the second half and probably in four of our games we’ve had the ball to start the second half. But there’s no answer for it; we just have to be able to take the ball and drive it. In the second half we just haven’t been able to do anything.”

An offense that is averaging a sickly 16.3 points per game and has done a poor job of taking advan-tage of opportunities in the red zone has come in for much of the blame for UofL’s losing record, but the defense isn’t getting a free pass from the head man. Far from it.

Although UofL ranks 17th in the nation among FBS teams in total defense, Strong was critical of the unit during Monday’s press conference, saying the Cards never should have relinquished the lead at Cincinnati and that they have surrendered too many big plays, have let opponents off the hook too often on third-down plays and haven’t created many turnovers. The Cards are in the middle of the pack in third-down percentage defense, ranking No. 62 at 40 percent (38 of 95).

“What’s frustrating is that we play hard, but we don’t play very smart,” Strong said. “In the Cincin-nati game we get a lead, up 16-7, then it’s almost like we’re waiting for something bad to happen. And when it does happen, we’re not good enough to re-spond. It’s all about confi dence and it’s all about a foundation where you have to lay a foundation for confi dence. So within our program we have to con-tinue to play hard and eliminate mistakes.

“If you look at us defensively, it’s all about get-ting stops, and big plays and third down are our is-sues. We’re up 16-7, just go play defense. There’s 30 minutes left and even if the offense doesn’t get a fi rst down or two, it doesn’t matter, just go play defense. Even when it got to 16-14, we’re still up. We’re going to win this game, just keep playing de-fense. Then we allow a guy (Isaiah Pead) to get a 50-yard run. We have to make those plays.”

Strong dismissed any suggestion that because of the offense’s ineffi ciency there is extreme pressure on the defense and no margin of error.

“I like to look at it like this: Our plan to win is play great defense No. 1, then we know we can win,” Strong said. “It’s not so much pressure, it’s what those guys understand. If we play great defense, we have a chance to win. Your job is to stop people and get the ball back for the offense. We have to create turnovers and not allow people to score in the red zone. We try to build this program on defense, be-cause if you play great defense you have a chance to win championships.”

If there’s a reason for optimism for the second half of the season it’s that UofL’s defense looks as if it can keep the Cards in every game. That being the case, a break or two, a big play offensively or a defensive touchdown via a turnover can provide a win.

Another factor in UofL’s favor is that there are so many poor offensive teams in the Big East this season. Five of the eight league teams -- UofL, Con-necticut, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pittsburgh -- rank 90th or below in total offense among the 120 FBS schools. Only two -- West Virginia (11th) and South Florida (18th) -- are in the top 40.

“It’s not necessarily even that the defense has to win the game,” linebacker Dexter Heyman said. “The mindset you have to have is to play good defense and protect leads, and that’s something we haven’t done this year. I’ve tried to convey that message, but we haven’t gotten it taken care of.

“We go into the locker room, come back out and don’t close things out. If you look at all our games, we’re always right in the thick of things, but what always gets us in the end is fi nishing the game. So that’s something we really need to focus on against Rutgers, something we as seniors really need to ad-dress with this defense.”

Even though Louisville’s defensive numbers look good on paper, Scruggs said the defense isn’t play-ing as well as it should.

“We had the lead (at UC) and gave it up,” he said. “As long as we keep doing that, the defense isn’t playing well. That’s our job, to give the ball back to the offense. So long as we’re on the fi eld, we’re supposed to do our job. We’ve got to trust the of-fense that they’ll be able to go downfi eld and do something. Go get the ball back for the offense, and we’re not doing that right now.”

Like UofL, Rutgers (5-1, 2-0) will start a true freshman at quarterback in Gary Nova, who re-placed returning starter Chas Dodd 2 1/2 games ago and has provided a spark for the Scarlet Knights’ of-fense. Against Navy last Saturday he completed 23 of 31 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions. His favorite target is junior wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who is fourth nation-ally in receptions per game at 9.2. He has caught 55 passes for 555 yards, 41 more catches than the next Rutgers receiver.

“So you know where the ball is going,” Strong said. “He’s a great receiver, and he’s making unbe-lievable catches for them. Nova is managing the of-fense, and he’s kind of like Teddy (Bridgewater), each game he gets better.”


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONCARDINAL FOOTBALL

S T R O N G E X P E C T S M O R E , H O P E S T O G E T I T A G A I N S T R U T G E R S

CARDS HOPE TO TURN THINGS AROUND AT HOMEBy Russ BrownLouisville’s football team is rapidly approaching the point

of no return if it hopes to land its second straight bowl bid, which is one reason why Friday night’s nationally televised Big East Conference game against surprising Rutgers in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium looms as crucial.

Upset losses to FIU and Marshall at home -- games that looked like good bets to go into the win column when the season started -- have put the Cardinals (2-4, 0-1) in a real bind where bowl eligibility is concerned.

To become bowl-eligible, UofL must win four of its last six games, a tall order considering that the Cards will be an underdog in at least two -- at West Virginia and South Florida -- and that the other four contests are tossups at best.

With Saturday’s 25-16 loss at Cincinnati in its league opener, Louisville has dropped three straight games and will be trying to avoid its fi rst four-game skid since 2008 and only its second 0-2 Big East start since joining the con-ference in 2005.

The Cards also will be trying to reverse their fortunes in PJCS, where they have turned in three poor to lackluster performances this season and are 2-6 against FBS competi-tion under coach Charlie Strong, including 1-3 in the Big East.

The last time the Cards appeared in PJCS, a 17-13 loss to Marshall on Oct. 1, Strong called their performance “a total embarrassment.”

“It’s very important,” Strong said of the Rutgers game. “We’re coming home, and we have to defend our home turf. We need to play well at home. We haven’t defended our stadium all year, and we didn’t defend it last year. We come home, and it’s like we don’t play. Our fans are going to come out and support us, and we need to play well. Everything is here for us. Now it’s all about us going to play. We need some confi dence, and we need to get it going.”

UofL will play back-to-back games at home, with Syra-cuse (4-2, 0-1) visiting on Oct. 29 before hitting the road again at No. 11/14 West Virginia (5-1, 1-0).

Last week before the Cincinnati game Strong said he met with about 25 players -- mostly veterans with some younger players sprinkled in -- and told them he expects more because they haven’t played well enough to win, and leadership has been lacking.

“I just told them how I felt,” Strong said. “Everybody has a job to do, and everybody should be accountable to one another. Well, you’re not doing your job. I’m not one who holds it back. We expect more, we have to expect more to get this program going.”

Monday at his weekly press conference Strong revisited that theme.

“In order for us to win guys have to play better, and we’re not playing smart, we’re not focused,” he said. “That has to happen. You come out at halftime (vs. UC), and your focus wasn’t there. That game was right there for us to win. Play to win the game, not to lose it. We’re just wait-ing on something bad to happen. Create opportunities for something good to happen for you.

“This is a young football team, but I’m not going to make excuses for them. We’ve played six games now, it’s time they grow up, and we have to go win these games.”

Strong said confi dence has been a problem and the play-ers have to have more belief in their ability.

“Our guys have to realize that they’re good football players,” he said. “It’s all about belief, just having the con-fi dence and believing in themselves. I don’t know if they really, really deep down think they’re good enough, and I tell them all the time, ‘Guys, you’re good enough, you’re a really good football team.’ But you have to believe it.”

Strong has bemoaned the lack of leadership all season, and apparently nothing has changed.

“There has to be that accountability and responsibility,” he said. “Somebody needs to step up and be a playmaker, somebody needs to step up and be a total leader of this

football team. When things do go bad, somebody has to rise up and say, ‘Hey guys, let’s continue to play.’”

Two of the seniors, linebacker Dexter Heyman and de-fensive end Greg Scruggs, say they realize it’s up to the older players to take charge and lead the way and that they intend to do so. But you have to wonder, if it hasn’t hap-pened yet, halfway through the season, how it is suddenly going to change.

“If you have the right kind of leadership and attitude anything is possible, and that’s something I take very per-sonally,” Heyman said. “I take responsibility for that, and I don’t expect it to happen too much anymore.”

Said Scruggs: “I take full responsibility. I’ve got to be a better leader to take control of the team.”

So far this season Rutgers (5-1, 2-0) has been the turn-around success story of the Big East, and with a victory over UofL the Scarlet Knights can become the fi rst conference team to become bowl-eligible. Last year Rutgers lost its last six games to fi nish 4-8 overall and 1-6 in the league, includ-ing a 40-13 drubbing by UofL in its regular-season fi nale.

“We had as tough a year last year as we’ve ever had around here,” said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, whose team will bring a four-game winning streak into PJCS. “There were a lot of questions that we needed to answer to ourselves. Very little of that had to do with winning and losing. They were questions about very fundamental things and about chemistry. I wanted to see us get back to who we were. We’re not there yet, but I like the direction we are headed.”

The Scarlet Knights have beaten Syracuse (16-14 in two overtimes) and Pittsburgh (34-10) in the conference and are coming off a 21-20 victory over Navy. Rutgers and Lou-isville have one common opponent, with each having lost at North Carolina -- the Knights by 24-22 and the Cards by 14-7.

Friday’s game fi gures to be a low-scoring affair because Rutgers and UofL are the two best defensive teams in the Big East and two of the worst offensive clubs in the coun-try. UofL is allowing opponents only 330.5 yards per game total offense, while Rutgers is giving up just 332.8.

It’s a different story on the other side of the ball, where both teams are offensively challenged. Rutgers ranks No. 97 in total offense in the FBS at 332.8 ypg, and UofL is 100th at 330.5.

However, Rutgers has scored nearly twice as many points as UofL, averaging 30.3 ppg to the Cards’ 16.3, mainly be-

cause its defense has gotten touchdowns on turnovers orgiven the offense the ball in good fi eld position.

Strong said the Knights are a pressure defensive teamthat is always in an attack mode, and the statistics bear himout. They lead the nation in turnover margin at plus-2.17,they are tied for second in sacks at four per game and arefourth in tackles for loss at 8.5 per game.

Those are sobering statistics for Louisville, which has ayoung offensive line that has struggled in every game andhas a freshman quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater, who isstill learning the ropes. Only three FBS teams have allowedmore sacks per game than UofL’s 3.67.

“They bring so much pressure,” Strong said. “They’regoing to bring pressure from (up) the fi eld, they’re going tobring it from the boundary, up the middle. They’re right inthe quarterback’s face, hitting him and the ball’s poppingout, or they’re hitting receivers or running backs and theball is popping up.

“We can’t allow a guy to just run through a gap and hitthe quarterback, and that’s what they do a lot of. You seeguys just running right through gaps clean and hitting thequarterback or running back and the ball comes out. Wehave to be able to get a hat on people and block them.

“Teddy has to get rid of the football, and we have to winoutside. Our wide receivers are going to have to be able towin outside; we’re going to have to either outrun their DBsor get open. We have to fi nd spacing outside, and our of-fensive line is going to have to protect, also. We know this:They’re going to bring the pressure, that’s who they are.They’ve created a lot of turnovers bringing pressure.”

PHILPOTT READY IF NEEDEDThis could be the football version of a soccer match --

play to a 0-0 tie in regulation, then line up for overtime atthe 25-yard line and see which team can kick a fi eld goalto win.

And that’s why it was encouraging for the Cardinals tosee placekicker Chris Philpott return to form against Cincin-nati. Given the strong defenses and struggling offenses ofboth teams, the Rutgers game easily could come down toa fi eld goal.

Philpott, a senior from Atlanta, had missed his last threefi eld-goal attempts, one against Marshall and two at NorthCarolina, before the UC game. But you never would haveknown it Saturday when he sandwiched a career-best51-yarder between two other successful kicks of 42 and18 yards.

Philpott said he put the misses out of his mind and sim-ply concentrated on mechanics during practices last week.

“The last few days it’s been all technique,” he said fol-lowing the UC game. “I never lost confi dence once. Thisweek I really focused on technique, and it got good results.Obviously, I was upset about it, but I knew this team wasgoing to need me down the stretch.”

Certainly, the conditions in PJCS Friday night can’t beany worse than they were in Paul Brown Stadium. The windwas gusting at nearly 20 miles per hour, and the stadiumhas a reputation among NFL kickers for being a diffi cultplace to kick because the wind swirls in the bowl insteadof blowing in one direction and can be different at variouslevels of the atmosphere.

“There was a really tough crosswind,” Philpott said. “ButI kicked really well during warmups and just went out thereand did what I needed to do. (On the 51-yarder) I madereally good contact with the ball, had good rotation on theball and it just carried.”

While Philpott is happy to kick fi eld goals, he also real-izes that the Cards need to put more points on the board ifthey expect to win.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We didn’t get one offensivetouchdown (vs. UC) and, honestly, you can’t win gameslike that.”

Senior Chris Philpott nailed kicks from 18, 42 and 51 yards against Cincinnati. - photo by Howie Lindsey


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

Three things you may have missed By Rick Cushing

ROGERS REPORT

Let it be noted that I was among the fi rst to label true freshman wideout Eli Rogers a future NFL player. I did so not because of his pass-catching ability, which is obvious, but because of his blocking ability, which is rare these days among wide receivers and is highly prized by knowledgeable football people. (Being from Pittsburgh -- the football capital of the world -- I am a knowledgeable football person. If you disagree that Pittsburgh is the football capital of the world, tell that to Mike Ditka.) Rogers also will catch the ball across the middle, another admirable trait.

Anyhow, the native of Miami had a career- and team-high seven receptions for 106 yards against Cincinnati, with a long of 58 yards on an out-and-up pattern down the left sideline. Expect to see more of those in coming weeks.

Being a freshman, however, Rogers makes his share of youthful mistakes. Earlier this season he fi elded a punt at the UofL 1-yard line, a defi nite no-no. Then twice in the fi rst half against Cincinnati he let punts hit the ground, one of which was downed inside the UofL 1-yard line and forced the Cards to punt from the 7. That led to a UC touchdown. (Bud Wilkinson, the late legendary football coach at Oklahoma, always said you should never let a punt hit the ground (except for those that land inside the 10-yard line, of course) because to do so will cost you, on average, 15 yards.) Rogers was replaced as punt returner by Scott Radcliff in the second half.

NICKEL D RESULTS IN CAREER GAME FOR EVANS

The Cardinals played a nickel defense (fi ve defensive backs) the entire game against Cincinnati’s spread offense, with senior Mike Evans playing the fi fth DB. He responded with the best game of his college career.

A junior college transfer from Bellfl ower, Calif., Evans appeared in 11 games last season, starting three (at safety). The rest of the time he saw action as the nickel back or on special teams. He had 25 tackles with three sacks. This year he had played in all fi ve games before Saturday, starting two. He had 17 tackles, tied for seventh on the team, and one interception, which he returned for zero yards. Against Cincinnati he had a career-high six tackles, including 1.5 for a loss, and he intercepted a pass and returned it 63 yards for the fi rst touchdown of his career just six seconds before halftime. He undercut a UC receiver about 15 yards downfi eld on the right side and outran everybody to the end zone to give UofL a 16-7 lead.

WHY NOT TRY CAMP’S MOVING POCKET?

When discussing UofL’s young offensive line and its ongoing inability to protect the quarterback following the Cincinnati game, I suggested that the Cards try Frank Camp’s rolling pocket. Camp, UofL’s football coach from 1946-68, was an early advocate of the forward pass who had to be innovative because he often was forced to use undersized offensive linemen. (My family doctor in New Albany, Eli Hallal, started on UofL’s O-line in the mid-60s and weighed about 185 pounds.) To offset that size differential and give his quarterbacks time to throw, Camp used a rolling pocket, which if he didn’t invent it he was among the fi rst to use it. (Camp’s expertise on the passing game was such that Bear Bryant would call and seek his opinion.) Camp would have his quarterbacks start to the right as if to roll out, then reverse course back to the left for several yards before setting up. This would give his linemen angle blocks on their opposing defenders, an easier block to make and negating their size differential. UofL’s current O-line isn’t undersized, but it does seem to be overmatched in terms of strength, so the rolling pocket would negate that. I don’t know whether Charlie Strong and his staff are familiar with Camp’s rolling pocket, but I’m sure there are game fi lms available for study.

DATE OPPONENT / EVENT TIMEDATE OPPONENT / EVENT TIME

Thu., Sept. 1 Murray State W, 21-9

Fri., Sept. 9 Florida International L, 24-17

Sat., Sept. 17 at Kentucky W, 24-17

Sat., Oct. 1 Marshall L, 17-13

Sat., Oct. 8 at North Carolina L, 14-7

Sat., Oct. 15 at Cincinnati L, 25-16

Fri., Oct. 21 Rutgers (ESPN) 8 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 29 Syracuse Noon

Sat., Nov. 5 at West Virginia TBA

Sat., Nov. 12 Pittsburgh TBA

Sat., Nov. 19 at Connecticut TBA

Fri., Nov. 25 at USF (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) TBA

2011 LOUISVILLE 2011 LOUISVILLE FOOTBALL SCHEDULEFOOTBALL SCHEDULE

V I S I T C A R D I N A L S P O R T S . C O M FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE CARDINAL INFORMATION

Teddy Bridgewater, UofL’s freshman quarterback, was sacked four times by Cincinnati and frequently was chased out of the pocket. Here he was harried by Bearcats DE Walter Stewart. - photo by Howie Lindsey


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

O F F E N S E C O N T I N U E S T O H A V E G R O W I N G P A I N S

AT MIDWAY POINT, REELING CARDS NEED TO KEEP ‘GRINDING’By Russ BrownFlashback: Unhappy with some trends

of the previous season, former University of Louisville coach Bobby Petrino had T-shirts printed in 2006 with the word “FINISH” em-blazoned across the front, and he made that the focus of what turned out to be an Or-ange Bowl championship season.

With the Cardinals (2-4, 0-1 Big East) hav-ing been outplayed in the second half in all but one of their games this year and having squandered a 16-7 halftime lead in Satur-day’s 25-16 loss at Cincinnati, coach Charlie Strong also is emphasizing fi nishing.

“We just have to fi nish,” he said after the UC game.

However, for UofL’s offensive unit, per-haps Strong should have T-shirts made that read “START,” because with the season hav-ing reached the halfway point the Cards’ of-fense still has failed to get untracked.

UofL’s record of futility is unmatched in the last 20 years. Not since Howard Schnel-lenberger’s 1991 team averaged a mere 12.3 points per game have the Cards scored fewer points than their current 16.3 ppg, although Ron Cooper’s 1996 club was close at 16.5. With an average of just 330.5 yards per game, UofL also is on track to post its lowest total offense number since ‘96 (315.3).

Louisville’s offensive woes are refl ected in its standing among the 120 FBS teams. The Cards are members of the century club, ranking 111th in scoring and 100th in to-tal offense. And they’re even worse in red-zone offense, having scored on just 12 of 19 trips inside the 20 for 64 percent, with 11 touchdowns and one fi eld goal. Only West-ern Kentucky and North Texas have fared worse.

The Cards have scored just one offensive touchdown in the last 10 quarters, and that came on a busted play in the fi nal minute of a 14-7 loss at North Carolina.

And it gets worse. In its last two games UofL has managed a meager average of just 272 yards total offense while scoring only 16 offensive points (they scored a defensive TD against Cincinnati). The Cards, who have lost three in a row, now face the task of taking on a Rutgers defense that has allowed only 15.2 points and 299 yards per game heading into Friday night’s game at Papa John’s Car-dinal Stadium. The Scarlet Knights are 5-1, 2-0 and lead the Big East.

So what’s the solution? There isn’t any in the short term, according to quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, who has called the plays the last two games after the mysterious disappearance of of-fensive coordinator Mike Stanford, who has reportedly resigned.

Watson pointed to the Cards’ youth and inexperience on offense, primarily on the offensive line -- along with a true freshman quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater -- as the main culprits in UofL’s struggles.

Going into the season, junior center Ma-rio Benavides was the only returning starter on the O-line. Three players who are starting or seeing considerable action on the O-line --

Jamon Brown, John Miller and Jake Smith -- are rookies, and even the two seniors, Ryan Kessling and Hector Hernadez, had seen little action before this season.

“We’ve just got to keep grinding,” Wat-son said following the loss to Cincinnati. “We’ve got young players up there, and it’s just harder to process. I’ve been in coaching long enough to know we’ve just got to keep grinding, and one day they’ll become play-ers. We just have to keep working.

“You know you’re always going to go through speed bumps, that’s always going to happen, especially when you have to play young guys. You can see them getting bet-ter, but you’ve got to remember: The fresh-men are seeing it all for the fi rst time. Last year as high school players they never saw any of this stuff, so it’s been a real process. I wish I could give you a fancier answer, but there’s no secret. It’s nothing really but hard work and maintaining belief in what you’re doing and serving the process. Keep work-ing.”

UofL’s problems against Cincinnati were a snapshot of its season so far. The Cards blew a 16-7 halftime lead and still are searching for their fi rst third-quarter touchdown of the season. They’ve been outscored 58-24 in the second half.

They missed several good opportunities in the fi rst half, settling instead for fi eld goals of 42, 51 and 18 yards by Chris Philpott. Their only touchdown came on senior safety Mike Evans’ 63-yard return of an interception with six seconds left in the second quarter.

The fi eld goals came after UofL couldn’t convert three promising drives into touch-downs -- a second-and-three from the UC 26-yard line, a fi rst down from the hosts’ 29 and a fi rst-and-goal from the UC 10.

Then in the second half the offense was virtually no factor, done in by the Bearcats’ aggressive defense and its own mistakes. At one point early in the fourth quarter the Cards faced a third-and-38 from their own 5-yard line after getting four penalties in fi ve plays -- three for illegal procedure and an-other for holding.

“It’s either the quarterback changing his cadence or guys just moving on their own,”

Strong said of the pro-cedure fl ags. “It’s our whole team; we’re not executing. We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. It very easily could have happened for us. We need to make those plays. Somebody needs to stand up and be a playmaker.”

Louisville gener-ated only 110 yards in the second half, mov-ing across midfi eld just twice, and then only just as far as UC’s 37. The Cards fi nished with 70 yards rushing, the third time this season they’ve

failed to reach the 90-yard mark and leaving them 102nd in the FBS at 108.8 ypg on the ground.

“In the second half we self-destructed,” Watson said. “We were our own worst en-emy. We didn’t execute the way we did in the fi rst half. It really comes down to that simple. We felt we had a real good game plan, and in the fi rst half we hit on some of those things and moved the ball fairly well. Yet at the same time we’d get in a critical situation and shoot ourselves in the foot. And that’s what we have to grow out of, we just have to.

“We could get a penalty or mis-execute an assignment. It’s just a lot of little things that make the big thing happen. It comes down to fundamentals, assignments, details, poise, all the things you have to learn in this process of college football.”

Bridgewater has started the last two games at quarterback and apparently will be the starter the rest of the way, even when previous regular Will Stein fully recovers from his shoulder injury. At Cincinnati, Stein made his fi rst appearance since the Kentucky game, going in for one series in each of the second and fourth quarters.

Strong earlier had said that a player couldn’t lose his starting position due to an injury, but that is evidently what happened to Stein. Asked about Bridgewater’s status, Strong replied, “Teddy’s been our starter, and he’ll stay our starter.”

Against Cincinnati Bridgewater complet-ed 17 of 28 passes for 195 yards with one interception and was sacked four times.

“Teddy made some plays out there ... he has to create sometimes, and he’s a very competitive kid,” Watson said. “He’s very poised, didn’t lose his demeanor in the midst of a fi restorm. He hung in there and com-peted. He’s going to be a special player, he really is. When all these kids grow up, we’re going to be a good football team.”

With a chance still remaining to make this season a successful one, that time can’t come soon enough for Strong and the rest of the Cardinal camp.

Freshman Teddy Bridgewater is hoping to get his fi rst win as a starter Friday night against Rutgers. - photo by Howie Lindsey

STRONG CONFIRMS STANFORD

OFF THE STAFF

By Howie LindseyUniversity of Louisville football coach Charlie

Strong met with the media after Monday night’s practice to confi rm news that seemed inevitable for most of the last week: Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford is no longer on the UofL coaching staff.

“Mike Sanford is no longer with our coaching staff, and both sides have mutually agreed,” Strong said. “Mike Sanford is an outstanding football coach and an outstanding person, but whenever I make a decision I have to make a decision in the best interest of our program.”

Sanford’s departure comes two weeks after he was relieved of his play-calling duties fi ve days prior to Louisville’s game against North Carolina. Quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson has called the plays from the booth the last two games instead of Sanford.

“I wish the best for Mike’s family, and I have no doubt that he will continue his coaching career and do an outstanding job,” Strong said of Sanford.

When asked whether anyone will be hired in the near future to replace Sanford or Watson as quarterbacks coach, Strong said no.

“Not right now, we are just going to continue on with Coach Watson calling the plays and after the end of the season we will re-evaluate and then we will hire someone,” Strong said.

Beyond saying he wanted a change in play-calling, Strong has never fully explained the reason for the change, noting more what it wasn’t than what it was. He said there never was an altercation or argument between him and Sanford and also explained that he liked the way Watson understood the quarterbacks and understood how to call plays for them.

“It was more than just philosophy, but every decision I make is for the best of the program,” Strong said. “The original plan was to have him stay on. I just wanted to see a change in our play-calling. With our agreement, it is really better for both sides.”

Sanford also was responsible for the tight ends, and Strong said that duty will now be shared by staff members.

Sanford was in his second season as offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Louisville. Last season Louisville scored 23 or more points in nine games, including 56 in a win over Memphis. This season the Cardinals have scored over 23 points just once, a 24-17 win over Kentucky.

Sanford came to the Cardinals after fi ve years as UNLV’s head coach. He also was offensive coordinator at Utah and Stanford.

Now that the University of Louisville’s football season is half over, it’s a good time to evaluate the progress and results of the fi rst six games.

No one is happy or satisfi ed with the results thus far, least of all the players and coaches, but to many the 2-4 record is close to preseason expectations. As expected, this team suf-fers from that terrible malady -- young-team syndrome. That’s a condition that plagues college teams that have too many fi rst- and second-year players who lack experience and make a plethora of mistakes. A description of this disease would be “a different player making a different mistake at critical times during the game.” Examples in last Satur-

day’s Cincinnati game were a personal foul penalty on the opening kickoff, seemingly unnecessary time outs, only nine players on the fi eld when receiving a punt, and failing to fi eld a punt with the ball downed inside the 1-yard line.

Statistics bear out the demoralizing effect of continued “small” er-rors that have contributed to UofL’s record. The Cards are last in the Big East in scoring offense (seven points below the seventh-ranked team), fi eld-goal percentage, PAT percentage, fi rst downs per game, penalties (seven more than No. 7), opponent’s penalties (35.8 yards per game to

64.4 for UofL), turnover margin (minus-4 , Friday’s opponent, Rutgers, is plus-14) and red-zone scoring conversions (63.6 percent, next lowest is 82.1).

The woes also extend to national rankings as UofL is near the bottom of the 120 teams that play in the FBS category. After six games the Cards are 115th in penalties per game, 100th in scoring, 112th in tackles for loss by the opposition, 117th in sacks allowed and 114th in red-zone scoring success. One statistic -- constant penalties -- is glaringly respon-sible for many of the problems that plague this team, and it is the result of youth and inexperience. Twenty of the Cards’ penalties are the result of the offensive line trying to get its act together and block the defense. Holding and moving before the snap are the result of trying to keep the defense out of the backfi eld and allow for some running room. It’s a defi nite problem because the Cards have scored only two rushing touchdowns in six games.

Why can’t the Cards block? In one word – youth. High school players enter college with a lot of experience at the skilled positions but very seldom know how to block. It’s just not taught at the high school level unless the player is from Trinity, St. X or one of the other powerhouses that have large and competent coaching staffs. Effi cient blocking techniques are almost unheard of in public schools because of the cost involved in adding coaches, and the schools also are restricted in time of practice. Alarm bells went off when it was announced that two fi rst-year players would start on the OL, unusual because it generally takes two years in the weight room before offensive linemen have the strength and agility to perform at the college level. Since the fi rst game injuries have decimated that group even more. Offensive line is one place the Cards could least afford injuries in this rebuilding season.

But Louisville’s blocking woes are not confi ned to the OL alone. Tight ends and backs also have blocking allergies. It’s impossible to tell whether the receivers can block because runners seldom get into the defensive backfi eld and need a block downfi eld. My guess is that one reason sophomore Dominique Brown has become the back of choice at this point in the season is his blocking ability because of his size. But because he was a quarterback his entire high school career it is something he is still learning, and he looks to be a year away from being an effective blocker.

Most of Louisville’s problems on offense could be corrected if the team could block. Sorry folks, it doesn’t matter what play you call if the opposing team is in your backfi eld two seconds after the snap.

Despite the above-mentioned issues, the positives on defense are most impressive. In two short years head coach Charlie Strong and defensive coordinator Vance Bedford have created a defense that is near the top nationally in many categories. Defense is more about hustle and exuberance and allows for youth to excel quicker than offense. After six games the Cards are 20th in rushing defense, 38th in passing defense, 17th in total defense, 16th in scoring defense, 6th in tackles for loss, tied for 15th in sacks and 18th in fi rst downs allowed. All of this has been accomplished with mostly freshmen and sophomores, many learning new positions.

Are many fans disappointed? Sure, but the future is so bright the key is to be patient. This is a program on the rise, and last season this same coaching staff won six games to get UofL to a bowl. That is still possible for the 2011 season. Don’t give up yet, the best is still to come. Strong and his staff are being deliberate in building for the future.

PAGE 8 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT OCTOBER 19, 2011

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Dexter Heyman (46), Roy Philon (93) and Preston Brown combined to stop Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros,

who was mostly held in check by the Cards. He came in averaging 207 yards and two TDs passing and 36.4

yards rushing a game but was limited to 152 and one TD passing and 22 rushing by UofL.. - photo by Howie Lindsey

By Russ BrownThe 2011-12 edition of the University of

Louisville’s basketball team began preseason practice last week with some injuries and un-certainties but with coach Rick Pitino in an upbeat mood about the Cardinals’ prospects, unlike last season when he preached caution and patience.

One of the main questions at this point is the status of swingman Wayne Blackshear, a McDonald’s All-American and a member of Pi-tino’s top-5, four-player recruiting class.

The 6-foot-5 Blackshear has a shoulder in-jury and also is dealing with another obstacle in that the NCAA Clearinghouse hasn’t de-clared him academically eligible to play yet.

But Pitino thinks Black-shear will eventually be cleared to play.

“They’re being a lot tougher this year than they have been in the past,” Pitino told CBSS-ports.com. “But Wayne’s situation is, I think, pretty good. We are optimistic.”

A fi fth member of the original class, Kevin Ware, a 6-4 guard from Georgia, was ruled in-eligible last month, but he could join the Car-dinals in December if his SAT score increases. Pitino said Ware is scheduled to retake the SAT next week.

On the injury front, Pitino said sophomore forward Rakeem Buckles, who is recovering from knee surgery, has an appointment with a doctor in New York Tuesday and could be cleared to practice. Another sophomore, Stephan Van Treese, will be out another week or so with a sprained ankle, freshman forward Chane Behanan suffered a sprained ankle in Friday night’s scrimmage, and sophomore guard Elisha Justice has been hampered by an injury.

One encouraging development is the re-turn of junior forward Jared Swopshire, who missed all of last season with a groin injury and has been granted an extra year of eligibil-ity. Swopshire hit his fi rst shot in last Friday’s Red-White scrimmage, a three-pointer from the corner, and wound up with seven points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes.

“I thought he did remarkably well,” Pitino said. “To be honest, he had not looked good. But tonight he looked much, much better. His injury is extremely painful. He’s a tough guy, though, and no one wants to get on the court more than him.”

UofL will conduct its second Red-White scrimmage Saturday night at 7 o’clock in the KFC Yum! Center after an opening salvo that Pitino declared a success.

“A good fi rst game,” Pitino said, even though it wasn’t really an opener. “I was re-ally impressed with a lot of things. It was a

very good night for us. We learned a lot from it, and we can get a lot out of watching the fi lm.”

In the lickety-split affair, the Peyton Siva-led White team thwarted an upset bid by the Reds by pulling out an 86-85 victory on Siva’s clutch layup (sound familiar?).

“When you play at the torrid pace we did and don’t have the substitutes, it’s really dif-fi cult,” Pitino said. “I haven’t seen a lot of teams that can do it, and our team couldn’t, except for Peyton and Kyle (Kuric).”

Borrowing a baseball analogy, Pitino char-acterized UofL as being strong up the middle, with Siva at point guard, Kurich at small for-ward and 6-11 Gorgui Dieng at center.

“We have a very strong point, Kyle Kuric is a very strong three-man and Gorgui Dieng is very strong -- if we can keep him in the game (out of foul trouble),” Pitino said.

Dieng led the Red team with 26 points and 17 rebounds, but he also had nine fouls, com-ing within one of a triple-double. Freshman power forward Chane Behanan got 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Reds. Kuric topped the White team with 24 points, while Siva had 19 points, nine steals, seven rebounds and seven assists. His driving basket down the lane with 2.4 seconds left on an acrobatic, falling-down layup provided the winning margin.

Pitino wore a live microphone and provided running commentary throughout the game for the crowd of 11,614. In most cases, he kept it light. A couple of examples:

“Russ Smith believes a pass is a virus.”“10:19 remaining in the fi rst half and Gor-

gei already has six fouls.” Later, “He now has 21 fouls, he’s the all-time leader.”

With the closing of the Sherman Minton bridge making traffi c a nightmare at times on both sides of the river, Pitino urged the fans to come early to UofL’s games and stay late.

“When we win I’ll stay here with you and celebrate,” he said.

The day before the scrimmage, Pitino helped get fans in the mood for hoops season by painting a bright picture of the Cards’ pros-pects for 2012 while alluding to the uncer-tainty about whether or not UofL will remain in the Big East Conference or be invited to join the Big 12.

“I’m a big believer in the precious present,” he said. “It’s a great gift to enjoy today. It re-ally doesn’t concern me with where we’re go-ing to be down the road. What really concerns me is where we are today. And where are we today? A very talented basketball team -- the deepest I’ve had in my 11 seasons here -- with a very diffi cult schedule. This year we’ll have a veteran team taking on what I am told will be the No. 2 schedule in the country, behind only St. John’s.”

Normally, UofL wouldn’t conduct a full-scale, public intrasquad scrimmage on the fi rst day of practice, but Pitino said the 10 work-outs the Cards got for their August exhibition trip to the Bahamas put them ahead of the normal preseason schedule.

“We already have some of the offense and some of the defense in,” he said. “We just feel with the type of schedule we have -- and you know I am not a fan of wasting

practice time -- we are going to need to getright at it. We need to see what we have andwhat we need to work on.”

On the conference realignment issue, Pi-tino said his loyalties lie with the Big East,which Louisville joined in 2005.

“My loyalties stay in the conference that took us away from Conference USA andbrought us into not only a BCS bowl, butalso a chance for us to be on television morethan we’ve ever been and to play the (con-ference) tournament in Madison SquareGarden. So we’ll see what shakes out. Butwe trust in (athletic director) Tom Jurich. Forright now, we’re just very happy to be in theBig East.”

PRICE, RUSS SMITH IMPRESSIVEAfter the scrimmage, Pitino singled out

sophomore guard Russ Smith and freshmancenter Zach Price for praise.

Pitino said Smith, who had 17 points, seven steals and fi ve rebounds with only twoturnovers in 39 minutes at shooting guardfor the Reds, “has been playing terrifi c.”Smith played in 17 games last season whilebattling numerous injuries, including a bro-ken foot, a concussion, a strained foot anda bad knee.

The 6-11 Price, who played at Jefferson-town High last season, got 14 points, sixrebounds and three blocked shots for theWhites and played the second half after re-ceiving stitches in a cut on his hand.

“Very, very impressed with Zach Price,” Pitino said. “He was stitched up and cameback in and tried to dunk it. He really playedaggressive and, honestly, I had not been see-ing that (before the scrimmage).”


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

B U T B L A C K S H E A R N O T E L I G I B L E Y E T ; I N J U R I E S A F A C T O R E A R L Y

PITINO UPBEAT AS HE UNVEILS HIS DEEP, TALENTED TEAM

For conference updates, log on to www.CardinalSports.com

Freshman Chane Behanan blocked out junior Jared Swopshire in going for a rebound in the Red-White Scrimmage. Behanan had 20 points and 10 rebounds before leaving late with a slightly sprained ankle. He has returned to practice. - photo by Howie Lindsey

Sophomore Gorgui Dieng had 26 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Red team, but he also committed nine fouls. “Gorgui is very strong -- if we can keep him in the game,” coach Rick Pitino said afterward. - photo by Howie Lindsey

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN


GAME THREE PREVIEW - KENTUCKY

For the third week week in a row things were looking GOOD at halftime for the University of Louisville football team. Three weeks ago against Marshall at home Louisville was up 13-7 and had

just scored a pair of touchdowns in the fi nal fi ve minutes of the second quarter. Two weeks ago at North Carolina the Cardinals and Tar Heels were tied 0-0 at the half, but the Cards had dominated and had missed a pair of fi eld-goal attempts. Last Saturday Louisville was ahead of Cincinnati 16-7 at the half and appeared to have the momentum on its side because of a pick-six interception return for a touchdown by Mike Evans just before halftime. Oh, if we just could have stopped at halftime. Where is some persistent lightning when you need it?

The second half has not been kind for Louisville the last three weeks. Against Marshall, Louisville gave up the lead and had no answers offensively as the Thundering Herd scored the game’s

fi nal 10 points in a 17-13 Louisville loss. Against UNC, Louisville gave up a pair of touchdowns and fell 14-7. A late touchdown on a broken play against the Tar Heels’ prevent defense was all UofL could muster. Saturday at Paul Brown Stadium Cincinnati roared back in the second half, scoring 18 unanswered points to win 25-16. Just in the last three games, Louisville has been outscored 42-7 in the second half.

Louisville’s four losses have the same theme in common: a nonexistent running game and an offense that just can’t score in the second half. In those four losses the Cardinals have

been shut out in 6 of 8 second-half quarters. Only a pair of late touchdowns against a softer, prevent defense after the game was decided against FIU and UNC have kept the Cards from being completely shut out in the second half of all four losses. And if you think back, Louisville didn’t score at all in the second half of the season-opening victory over Murray State.

Other than recruiting and time, how do you fi x Louisville’s offense? What can you do when you have so much trouble with basic blocking schemes? Some fans have suggested more bubble

screens or a moving pocket to help protect Teddy Bridgewater. Others have suggested Louisville permanently run the shotgun and split four wide receivers out. Still others have suggested the Cardinals go no-huddle, hurry-up to keep the defense guessing, and some have suggested that passing to the running backs would keep the defense from blitzing as much. And how much can you ask of a true freshman quarterback? These kinds of quandaries have already resulted in offensive coordinator Mike Sanford being replaced as the primary play-caller. And after Saturday’s scoreless second half against Cincinnati, it is clear that the search for answers continues.

Did anybody else feel that Friday night’s Red-White basketball scrimmage was a breath of fresh air? We sure did. It’s not that football is over, and we certainly knew that it’d be a rough,

roller-coaster season, but going from the constant struggle for this football team to score to a basketball program loaded with talented and experienced players was defi nitely welcome. Plus, it is always nice to get back into the KFC Yum! Center. Last season 621,355 fans attended UofL men’s and women’s basketball games: 458,463 attended 21 men’s games and 162,892 attended 15 women’s games.

How GOOD is freshman Chane Behanan going to be? Wow, he has tremendous potential. At the tipoff luncheon Thursday coach Rick Pitino noted Behanan’s physique (even having him

fl ex for the crowd) and said the freshman from Cincinnati is 6 feet 7, 258 pounds and has just under eight percent body fat. Pitino also said Behanan is an extremely hard worker. That was evident on the court. Behanan didn’t fi nish the Red-White scrimmage because of a mild ankle sprain but still scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was a difference maker on defense.

On Sunday, Pitino confirmed the persistent rumor that freshman Wayne Blackshear hasn’t been cleared to play. After saying Thursday that he was just waiting on Blackshear’s

shoulder to heal for him to be ready to play, Pitino told CBS’ Gary Parrish, “It’s just a matter of the Clearinghouse clearing him.” When asked whether he was optimistic about Blackshear being cleared, Pitino answered: “Yes. They’re being a lot tougher this year than they have been in the past. But Wayne’s situation is, I think, pretty good. We are optimistic.” Blackshear is expected to provide immediate depth at the small forward spot behind Kyle Kuric. Louisville lost combo guard recruit Kevin Ware to eligibility concerns earlier this fall. Ware is expected to begin working out on Dec. 15 and to enroll at UofL for the spring semester.

It likely was an UGLY scene for many patrons of Las Vegas sportsbooks at the end of the South Carolina-Mississippi State game last Saturday. South Carolina was a three-

point favorite and was up 14-10 after scoring a touchdown with 3:50 left. A South Carolina interception with 1:45 left appeared to seal the win for bettors who sided with the Gamecocks, but QB Connor Shaw ran out of the back of the end zone from the 9-yard line as time expired. Shaw’s run resulted in a safety and a final score of 14-12. Yes, the Gamecocks still won, but those who backed them at minus-3 lost money. I wonder what was said on South Carolina message boards Saturday night? You can bet it wan’t pretty, and you could collect on that wager.

Things aren’t GOOD among the University of Cincinnati fan base. While we don’t claim to hold the pulse of their fans, the writers who monitor their fan web sites were telling

us that UC fans feel confident they’ll be left out in the cold by whatever happens with future conference expansion. They have no hope for earning a bid to the ACC, Big 10 or SEC, and they understand they are at least third on the Big 12 pecking order, which likely means they won’t be getting a call because interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas has said the conference is not discussing going beyond 12 teams at this time. Another sign the fan base is unhappy? The school is advertising season basketball tickets for just $166. Fan angst regarding coach Mick Cronin’s performance has grown to the point where the Bearcats drew only 7,344 fans per home game last season. For comparison, more than 326,000 more fans attended Louisville home games last season than Cincinnati home games.

We are big fans of former Louisville women’s basketball star Angel McCoughtry. She helped coach Jeff Walz, Candyce Bingham and others revolutionize women’s basketball at UofL.

Then she became the first UofL player ever taken No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft. She was WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2009, and she became the first UofL women’s player to be named a WNBA All-Star. She then signed to play with Turkish power Fenerbahce and is literally an international star in women’s basketball. Now she’s venturing out into one of her other passions: music. Last Thursday McCoughtry released a new single on iTunes called “Baby, I’m a Star.” The tune is listed under Pop and is an auto-tuned R&B melody with an upbeat rhythm.

We couldn’t let the news pass without mentioning how GOOD it is for UofL athletics (and the University in general) that UofL president James Ramsey’s contract has

been extended from June 20, 2012 through June 30, 2020. On Thursday the UofL Board of Trustees voted for the contract extension. Board member Robert Hughes said the terms of the agreement, including compensation, would be addressed later. “We want to send a strong message of support for Jim Ramsey,” Hughes said. Frank Minnifield, the board chairman, said Ramsey is “the best college president in Kentucky and one of the best in the country.” We couldn’t agree more.

GOOD

GOOD

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BAD

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C O M M E N T A R Y B Y H O W I E L I N D S E Y A N D R U S S B R O W N

UGLY

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F O L L O W H O W I E L I N D S E Y O N T W I T T E R @ H O W I E L I N D S E Y F O R D A I L Y U P D A T E S O N L O U I S V I L L E A T H L E T I C S A N D C O N F E R E N C E R E A L I G N M E N T .


BOTTOM LINEAgain I foresee a close game, but it’s hard to predict a victory for the Cards given their offensive ineptitude. When you factor in Rutgers’ ballhawking defense, it makes predicting a UofL victory doubly hard. But I’ll pick the Cards to win, anyway. A breakout game for the offense, and the defense again will score a TD.

REVITALIZED RUTGERS LEADS THE BIG EAST AT 2-0

BY RICK CUSHINGThe Scarlet Knights approached

this season in a sour mood, the result of the sour taste that was left as a result of an abysmal 2010 season. The Knights lost their fi nal six games last year and fi nished 4-8. They were 1-6 in the Big East and fi nished last. Furthermore, not only did they lose their fi nal six games, four of those

losses weren’t even close: 41-21, 69-38, 40-13 (to UofL) and 35-14.

Still, no one expected the start Rutgers is off to this year. The Knights were tabbed to fi nish last in the league in a preseason coaches’ poll. But going into Friday night’s game at UofL they are 5-1, 2-0 in the Big East. It’s their best start since 2006.

After opening with a 48-0 victory over North Carolina Central, the Knights dropped a 24-22 decision at North Carolina. They then beat Ohio 38-26, edged Syracuse 19-16 in double overtime, knocked off Pittsburgh 34-10 and beat Navy 21-20 last Saturday. In that game they rallied from a 17-7 third-quarter defi cit and blocked a 34-yard fi eld-goal attempt with 4:34 left that would have given Navy the lead.

Defense has fueled Rutgers’ success. The Knights lead the nation in turnover margin at plus-2.17, are second in sacks at 4.0 a game, tied for fourth in tackles for a loss at 8.5 per game, 12th in scoring defense at 16.0 ppg and 19th in total defense at 305.83 ypg.

So UofL’s offense, which has sputtered all season, will have a mountain to climb Friday night. The Knights are su-per aggressive on D. Against Pitt they sometimes put nine defenders on the line of scrimmage, and the Panthers could not know where the blitz was coming from. As a former Lou-isville Male H.S. football player pointed out to me the other day, that’s the same defensive alignment that Male coach Bob Redman utilized. Rutgers sacked Pitt six times and in-tercepted four passes. Teddy Bridgewater, beware!

OFFENSERutgers’ offense has been nothing to brag about, but the

Knights have come alive the last 2½ games behind true freshman quarterback Gary Nova (6-2, 210). A highly rated prep prospect (he led Don Bosco Prep to New Jersey state titles in 2009 and 2010) who originally committed to Pitt but changed his mind after the coaching upheaval there, Nova took over in the second half against Syracuse and led the Knights to victory. He then showed the Panthers what they missed out on, and he threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns against Navy.

Still, Rutgers ranks 97th in the country in total offense (332.83 ypg). The Knights are 111th in the country in rush-ing offense (91.83 ypg) but 47th in passing offense (241 ypg) and 48th in scoring (30.33 ppg).

Nova has a premier target to throw to – junior Mohamed Sanu (6-2, 215). He is tied for fourth in the country at 9.17 receptions per game and is 32nd in receiving yards per game at 92.5. He’s caught fi ve TD passes. Against Navy he caught 10 passes for 100 yards. He’s run the ball three times for 14 yards this season, and he’s thrown two passes, completing one for 9 yards. Oh, he also returns punts, av-eraging 6.2 yards per return. UofL fans should remember Sanu. As a freshman in 2009 running the Wildcat formation Sanu ran for 148 yards and two TDs in a 34-14 Rutgers vic-tory at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Rutgers scrapped the Wildcat this year, however.

Rutgers’ second-leading receiver is senior fullback Joe Martinek (6-0, 215), who averages 2.33 receptions for 29.17 yards per game. Third is junior wideout Mark Harrison (6-3, 230), who averages two catches for 17.58 yards a game.

The team’s leading rusher is redshirt freshman Jawan Ja-mison (5-8, 198), who averages 60.8 ypg but only 2.7 yards per carry. He did run for 101 yards on 22 carries against Navy. Rutgers’ leading rusher per attempt is Martinek, who aver-ages 5.3 yards per carry. But he’s used mostly for blocking and pass catching and has run just six times all season.

The O-line, which returns three starters, was much ma-ligned last season, when it led the nation by allowing 61 sacks. It has improved, but not a whole lot. It is not open-

ing holes, as evidenced by Rutgers’ 111th-place standing in rushing offense, and it is tied for 59th in the country in sacks allowed at 2.0 per game.

Placekicker San San Te, a senior, is a potent weapon. He is tied for second in the country with two fi eld goals a game, and he is tied for 21st in scoring at 9.33 ppg. He’s 12 for 16 on FG tries with a long of 50 yards.

Rutgers has a new offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti, who has installed a pro-style attack. He previously was the OC at Pitt.

DEFENSE As noted above, defense drives the Knights. They are 28th

in rushing defense, allowing 110.33 ypg, and 29th in pass defense, allowing 195.50 ypg. They specialize in creating havoc, as evidenced by their turnover margin (fi rst in the country) and sacks (second in the country).

The leaders are junior safety Duron Harmon (6-1, 198), who is tied for sixth in the country with four interceptions, one of which he returned for a TD, and senior DE Justin Fran-cis (6-4, 262), who is tied for 20th in the country with 4.5 sacks.

The team’s leading tackler is junior linebacker Khaseem Greene (6-1, 215) at 9.83 per game, with junior LB Steve Beauharnais (6-2, 230) second at 5.33 per game. Beauhar-nais also leads the team and is 29th in the country at 1.33 tackles for a loss per game, is tied for 54th in the country with 3.5 sacks, and is tied for 47th in the country with two interceptions. He also has recovered a fumble. Also with two interceptions each are sophomore cornerback Logan Ryan (6-0, 186) and senior safety David Rowe (6-0, 196), each of whom also has recovered two fumbles. Junior LB Ka’Lial Glaud (6-2, 223) also has recovered two fumbles. Four other players each have an interception, and three others each have recovered a fumble.

Anchoring the D-line is junior nose tackle Scott Vallone (6-3, 275), who has started every game since arriving on campus in Piscataway and jams up the middle.

Head coach Greg Schiano also is the defensive coordinator. He revamped the D this season, opting for speed and athleti-cism. For example, he moved Greene from safety to weakside linebacker. Schiano’s defense will get after you. UofL fans re-member the Cardinals’ game at Rutgers in 2006 when Brian Brohm was constantly harassed and Rutgers handed the Cards their only loss (28-25) in an Orange Bowl season.

PLAYERS TO WATCHUofL fans know full well that Sanu is the one to watch.

He’ll be the target on at least a dozen passes, he may run the ball or throw a pass, and he’ll return punts. TEAM STRENGTHSIt’s defi nitely the defense, which is just the way Schiano

likes it. Rutgers also is noted for blocking kicks, so the Cards had best beware.

TEAM WEAKNESSESThe O-line, which means that the Cards should be able

to shut down Rutgers’ running game and harass Rutgers’ freshman QB into making mistakes. If the Cards can pres-sure Nova without blitzing, they could be in position to pick off a couple of passes.

COACHING RESUMESchiano is in his 11th year at Rutgers and is 64-64, a

record that’s deceiving because RU was the laughing stock of the Big East when he took over. He guided the Knights to fi ve straight bowls from 2005-09, winning four, and he turned down offers from Miami and Michigan to remain in his home state at the school that played the fi rst college football game (Rutgers 6, Princeton 4 on Nov. 6, 1869). He was National Coach of the Year in 2006, when Rutgers won 11 games and fi nished the season ranked No. 12. Prior to taking over at Rutgers Schiano was the defensive coordina-tor at Miami for two years, a defensive assistant with the Chicago Bears for three years, and a defensive assistant at Penn State for six years. He played linebacker at Bucknell.

ALL-TIME SERIESUofL and Rutgers have met 10 times, with the Knights

holding a 7-3 advantage. RU won the fi rst four meetings, but it is 3-3 since UofL joined the Big East. UofL is 2-1 at home against RU in Big East play.

HEAD COACHHEAD COACHGREG SCHIANOGREG SCHIANO

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2011 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULTSept. 1, 2011 NC CENTRAL W, 48-0

Sept. 10, 2011 at North Carolina L, 24-22

Sept. 24, 2011 Ohio W, 38-26

Oct. 1, 2011 at Syracuse (2OT) W, 19-16

Oct. 8, 2011 Pittsburgh W, 34-10

Oct. 15, 2011 Navy W, 21-20

Oct. 21, 2011 at Louisville (ESPN) 8:00 pm ETOct. 29, 2011 West Virginia TBA

Nov. 5, 2011 South Florida TBA

Nov. 12, 2011 at Army 3:30 pm ET

Nov. 19, 2011 Cincinnati TBA

Nov. 26, 2011 at Connecticut TBA

2010 RESULTSDATE OPPONENT RESULT RECORD Sept. 2, 2010 Norfolk St. W 31-0 1-0 Sept. 11, 2010 at Florida Int’l W 19-14 2-0 Sept. 25, 2010 North Carolina L 17-13 2-1 Oct. 2, 2010 Tulane L 17-14 2-2 Oct. 8, 2010 Connecticut W 27-24 3-2 (1-0) Oct. 16, 2010 Army W 23-20 4-2 Oct. 23, 2010 at Pittsburgh L 41-21 4-3 (1-1) Nov. 3, 2010 at South Florida L 28-27 4-4 (1-2) Nov. 13, 2010 Syracuse L 13-10 4-5 (1-3) Nov. 20, 2010 at Cincinnati L 69-38 4-6 (1-4) Nov. 26, 2010 Louisville L 40-13 4-7 (1-5) Dec. 4, 2010 at West Virginia L 35-14 4-8 (1-6)

FAST FACTSRutgers string of fi ve straight bowl games

was snapped with last season’s 4-8 disaster. The Knights ended the season with back-to-

back-to-back 20-plus-point losses.

Rutgers trademarked the phrase “Keep Choppin’” after the 2006 season.

It is their rallying cry.

FRIDAYOCTOBER 21, 2011

LOUISVILLEVS.

RUTGERS

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY8 PM, ESPN

WR MARK HARRISONWR MARK HARRISON


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCARDINAL FOOTBALL PHOTO GALLERY VS. CINCINNATI

UofL coach Charlie Strong had some choice words for his offensive unit, which struggled mightily against Cincinnati and did not score a touchdown. - photo by Darrell Russell

Cincinnati’s mascot, a real live Bearcat (another name for a Binturong, a West Asian nocturnal carnivor), seemed docile enough as he stood astride the shoulders of his Cincinnati zoo handler at Saturday’s game.- photo by Darrell Russell

UofL kickers Josh Bleser, left, and Chris Philpott were in a good mood on the sideline after one of Philpott’s three fi eld goals in the fi rst half. Bleser, a

punter, is the holder on Philpott’s fi eld goals. - photo by Howie Lindsey

Marcus Smith (17) and teammates held the fort as Philpott kicked a fi eld goal against Cincinnati.. - photo by Howie Lindsey

Strong had a look of disbelief on his face as a referee explained a call to him. The Cards were whistled for six penalties for 44 yards. - photo by Howie Lindsey

The refl ection of Paul Brown Stadium could be seen in the silver of Louisville’s marching band’s sousaphones. - photo by Howie Lindsey


COFFEE BREAK2007 CARDINAL CARAVANRECRUITING NOTEBOOK


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCARDINAL FOOTBALL PHOTO GALLERY VS. CINCINNATI

UofL defensive back Adrian Bushell partially blocked this punt by Cincinnati’s Pat O’Donnell in the fi rst quarter. The punt traveled 30 yards as a result of a good bounce, and UofL took over at the UC 49 but had to settle for a fi eld goal. - photo by Darrell Russell

Nickel back Mike Evans tackled UC wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins as linebacker Preston Brown closed in. Evans had a career-high six tackles and returned an interception 63 yards for his fi rst career touchdown. - photo by Howie Lindsey

Freshman defensive end B.J. Dubose got a hand up as a pass by Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros sailed over him. - photo by Greg Coffee

Quarterback Will Stein shouted out the play call as the Cards mounted a 2nd-and-8 play from UC’s 3-yard line in the second quarter. Stein, who was the starting QB before being injured against Kentucky, saw his fi rst action since then after UofL took possession inside the 1-yard line.- photo by Darrell Russell


COFFEE BREAK2007 CARDINAL CARAVANRECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeff WaffordUniversity of Louisville basketball coach

Rick Pitino and his coaching staff used the events surrounding the opening of basket-ball practice last Friday to host several tal-ented recruits over the weekend.

The biggest visitor in the group was Rob-ert Upshaw (7-0, 275), a center from San Joaquin Memorial (Calif.). The No. 8 center in the nation, Upshaw is a top-50 recruit overall with offers from Arizona, George-town, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Oklahoma State, USC and many others.

“It went great,” Upshaw said of his visit to UofL. “I enjoyed my experience,

spending time with the players, meeting with the coaches and look-ing around the school. Everything about it was more than what I ex-pected it to be.”

When asked what was the highlight of his visit, Upshaw replied:

“Everything, from the people to the envi-ronment of the school, to chilling with the players, to them going over the school with me. And then Coach Pitino, I got to watch practice and see how he does things.... It was good overall.”

Upshaw was seen taking in the KFC Yum! Center during the Red-White Scrim-mage on Friday night. “It was really, really nice,” Upshaw said of the arena. “It’s great that only basketball and volleyball can hap-pen in there. It was a real nice center. The practice facilities are in there and the locker rooms and everything. It’s really nice.”

Another thing Upshaw accomplished on the visit was a sit-down meeting with Pi-tino, who told the big man where he could fi t into his program.

“Basically, we sat down and talked about everything,” Upshaw said. “He said I have to come in and be a hard worker and a player. When I come in, I have to get after it and can’t be lazy. He was giving me things and tools I can work on. I saw them run practice, so I got a feel for what they do, and I like it. He explained how I have to be dedicated and humble. I saw everything on the court I needed to see from him and then off the court from him, too.”

Upshaw, who is planning to make a de-cision sometime in the next few weeks and then sign a National Letter of Intent dur-ing the early signing period in November, recently narrowed his list to Georgetown, Fresno State, Kansas State and UofL. He’ll visit the other three schools on his list over the next three weeks.

Pitino is expected to sign two players in November, and it will be interesting to see how the scholarship situation plays out over the next three weeks. The Cards currently have a verbal commitment from Akron, Ohio, point guard Terry Dozier (6-0, 165), and it looks like the fi nal spot will

come down to either Upshaw or Andrew White (6-6, 185), a four-star small forward who visited two weekends ago.

White, who also is considering Kansas, West Virginia and Texas, called Louisville “an interesting situation” in a recent in-terview, pointing out that the Cardinals have only one scholarship available at this point.

Another player to consider who may eventually end up as a Cardinal is Ryan Taylor (6-6, 190). A graduate of Louisville

Western H.S., Taylor verbally committed to UofL his senior year but was not able to get himself eligible coming out of high school. He is now playing for Hargrave Military Academy (Va.) and could still sign with UofL if a scholarship is available.

Upshaw was the lone visitor spotted from the 2012 class, but there was plenty of talent on hand representing the junior class.

Malik Price-Martin (6-8, 190), a power forward from Monsignor Pace H.S. (Mi-

ami), also was in town to see the Red-White Scrimmage. A member of the Flori-da Rams, the AAU program that producedcurrent UofL player Rakeem Buckles, Price-Martin is the No. 4 power forward in thenation and is rated No. 20 nationally.

Price-Martin, who also is considering Mi-ami, Florida State and Ohio State, doesn’tseem to be in any hurry to make his deci-sion. “I’m going to take my time and gothrough all of my visits,” he said. “It willprobably be next year before the season.

“I’ll probably talk to my coach and my parents. I’ll be looking at education, play-ing time and location.”

Other visitors from the 2013 class in-cluded Anton Gill, Greg McClinton andDerek Willis.

Gill (6-3, 165), a shooting guard from Ravenscroft School (N.C.), is the No. 12shooting guard in the class of 2013 andthe No. 43 player nationally. He has offersfrom Charlotte, East Carolina, Louisville,North Carolina State and Wake Forest.

Gill has stated in past interviews that he is well aware of Louisville’s recent success,particularly of former swingman TerrenceWilliams.

McClinton (6-6, 180), a small forward from Winston Salem Prep School (N.C.), israted as the No. 24 small forward in hisclass and the No. 58 player overall. Beforehis visit to UofL, McClinton took a visit toGeorgia Tech, and he revealed the schoolshe is considering shortly after that trip.

“Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Louisville, N.C. State, VCU and Xavier are theother schools recruiting me,” he said. “All ofthem have offered. I’ll be making my deci-sion sometime next spring or summer. I justwant a good relationship with the coaches,my style of play, to win, and a good schoolfrom an educational standpoint.”

Willis (6-9, 190), a power forward from Bullitt East H.S. (Ky.), is a versatile threatfrom inside or outside who is rated No. 23in the nation overall and is one of the top-10 power forwards, according to Rivals.com.

He previously committed to Purdue but has opened up his recruitment and pickedup offers from Louisville and Kentuckywithin the past few weeks. Early in Octo-ber Willis said his top three were Louisville,Purdue and Indiana.

A couple of sophomores also were spotted in attendance at the Red-WhiteScrimmage. Quentin Snider (6-1, 160), apoint guard from Ballard H.S. (Ky.), gave averbal commitment to the Cardinals overthe summer. He’s expected to be at least afour-star prospect in the class of 2014.

Jackson Davis (6-8, 190) is another sophomore who visited for the Red-WhiteScrimmage. The son of former Universityof Kentucky player Johnathon Davis madevisits to Indiana and Louisville over theweekend to take in both teams’ openingpractices.

PITINO, CARDS HAVE BUSY WEEKEND HOSTING NUMEROUS RECRUITS

JEFF WAFFORDJEFF WAFFORD

2012 FOOTBALL COMMITSPROSPECT POS HOMETOWN HIGH SCHOOL HT. WT.Sid Anvoots OL Indianapolis, IN Bishop Chatard 6-4 285Big, tough offensive lineman from a strong program in Indianapolis.

Joshua Appleby K Harvest, AL East Limestone 6-3 230Rated one of the top kickers in the Southeast. Appleby fi gures to replace senior Chris Philpott.

Hunter Bowles TE Glasgow, Ky. Glasgow 6-6 245Strong tight end with a big frame could easily develop into an offensive lineman. Bowles’ Dad played baseball for Kentucky.

Demetrius Frazier ATH Brunswick, GA Brunswick 5-10 174Extremely quick athlete could play any number of positions at the collegiate level.

Will Gardner QB Douglas, GA Coffee County 6-5 190Louisville’s top choice at quarterback in the 2011 class. Also had offers from Alabama and Mississippi State.

DeAndre Herron OL Avon, IN Avon 6-5 325Big, heavy and mean offensive lineman just set a school record with seven pancakes in one game.

Gerod Holliman DB Miami, Fla. Milford Academy 6-0 185Four-star defensive back is ranked the No. 2 overall prep school athlete in the class of 2011. Elite safety prospect.

Kevin Houchins DB South Euclid, OH Brush 5-11 175Fast with speed to burn. Likely a cornerback, but could also return kicks.

Patrick Jean LB Port St. Lucie, FL Treasure Coast 6-3 200Three-star linebacker with great size and speed from a program that produced UofL players Deon Rogers and Mike Romano.

Larry Jefferson DE College Park, GA Banneker 6-5 218Reminds fans of BJ Dubose or Aaron Epps. Tall, athletic lineman who will gain weight, strength.

T.C. Klusman OL Cincinnati, OH Elder 6-4 270Clone of Eric Wood? Maybe. Same height, same weight and same high school.

Joe Manley OL Bowling Green, KY Bowling Green 6-7 307Has a long way to go to live up to his massive potential. Raw but huge frame.

Devontre Parnell DB Winnsboro, SC Fairfi eld Central 5-11 163Four-star defensive back is among the best cover men in the nation for 2011.

Daqual Randall LB Palmetto, FL Palmetto 6-0 225Short but strong linebacker with speed to play outside at Louisville.

Brandon Snell WR Miami Gardens, FL Carol City 5-11 160Could he be the fastest wide receiver in Florida for 2011? Maybe. Scouts really like him.

Robert Upshaw (second from left) is one of Louisville’s top recruits in the 2012 class. He’s a 7-foot, 275-pound center from Fresno, Calig. - photo by Rivals.com

By Rivals.comA trio of 5-1 teams lead the Big East

through the fi rst half of the season. No. 13 West Virginia (5-1, 1-0), the

league’s only ranked team, still appears to be the class of the league, but the Moun-taineers were joined by a pair of other 5-1 teams Saturday. Rutgers (5-1, 2-0) narrowly escaped defeat in a 21-20 victory over Navy for its fourth straight win. Cincinnati came from behind to beat Louisville, scoring 18 unanswered points in the second half to im-prove to 5-1, 1-0.

Rutgers, the only team in the league with two conference wins under its belt, is off to the most surprising start. The Scarlet Knights were picked last in the league by 15 of the 24 media voters in the Big East media preseason poll. With just 33 points, the Knights weren’t just last, they were 27 points behind seventh-place pick Louisville.

Even more surprising, the Knights are do-ing it all with a true freshman quarterback, Gary Nova, at the helm. Nova had a hiccup early on last Saturday when he threw his fi rst interception in the second quarter that was returned 16 yards for Navy’s fi rst touch-down, but Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is still pleased with Nova’s play.

“He made some mistakes that were cost-ly, but he also made some plays that were incredible,” Schiano said. “We have to eliminate the mistakes and just keep mak-ing those great plays.”

Nova replaced sophomore starter Chas Dodd during a double-overtime 19-16 win at Syracuse three games ago.

“You just have to tell him to fl ush it and shake it off; you can’t say that much to him because certain guys you don’t know what they’re thinking and you have to just let them be,” said wideout Mohamed Sanu, who caught 10 passes for 100 yards against Navy.

Nova rallied the troops and showed a lot of poise on two second-half touchdown drives on which he completed 10 of 11 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. The second of those TD passes was a 20-yard, picture-perfect strike to Trim Wright that enabled Rutgers to reclaim the lead.

“That was an NFL throw,” Schiano said of the pass to Wright.

According to Wright, it felt just like prac-tice.

“It was just like the things that we do all through the week,” he said. “So it just felt like practice really. I was excited though.”

Nova’s hot streak would grow cold later in the fourth quarter when he threw anoth-er interception that set up Navy with a 1st and 10 on the RU 23-yard line.

“I just have to stay with my progres-sions,” said Nova. “The linebacker bumped over and got in front of the ball. I just have to stick to my reads, and I’ll learn from it.”

Nova was bailed out by the special teams when Brandon Jones blocked a 34-yard fi eld-goal attempt with 4:34 left that thwarted an opportunity for Navy to take back the lead.

But had Jones not got his hand on the ball, Nova was confi dent that he would have been able to engineer another scoring drive with the game’s four-plus remaining

minutes.“I had all the confi dence, even if Juice

didn’t block that, that we would have gone down there and scored,” he said. “But the defense made a great play, like they always do.”

Nova fi nished with impressive numbers, going 23 of 31 for 271 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“The win is all that matters in the end,” Nova said. “We did it for each other, we played hard and got the win. I just have to learn from this experience. I played all right. I just have to go on this tape and get ready for Louisville.”

WEST VIRGINIA’S OFFENSEThe Mountaineers will take on Syracuse

Friday night at 8 p.m. at Syracuse. They had last weekend off after blasting Connecticut 43-16 on Oct. 8. Quarterback Geno Smith has already passed for 2,159 yards (third in the nation) and has 16 touchdowns to just three interceptions at the midpoint of the season.

“I couldn’t be happier with where we’re at right now,” coach Dana Holgorsen said last week. “We’re getting better every week. I’ve said it for a while -- the only way we’re going to win the championship is if all three sides of the ball are improving every week. Coaches, players, everybody’s bought in.”

A lack of offensive production was one reason Holgorsen was hired as offensive co-ordinator (lured away from Oklahoma State with a “head coach-in-waiting” deal) last December. He was elevated to head coach after Bill Stewart was forced out in June. Holgorsen’s Mountaineers have scored 43 points or more three times this season. WVU scored 40 only twice in Stewart’s three seasons.

BIG EAST RAISES EXIT FEESBig East leaders voted Monday night to

double the league’s exit fee to $10 million contingent on Air Force and Navy joining the league according to CBS Sports.

The Big East is hoping Monday night’s move by the presidents will lead to adding six new teams to the conference, including Boise State as a football-only member. The move’s contingency clause could stalemate expansion, however, as Air Force and Navy wanted the fee raised as a show of stabil-ity prior to their accepting entry, but the league’s leaders agreed to it only if the two service academies join.

The conference’s plan to have 12 football members involves adding Navy, Air Force and Boise State for football-only and Cen-tral Florida, SMU and Houston in all sports.

The league has given no timetable for ex-tending invitations and no guarantee all the targeted schools will join, but commissioner John Marinatto met with media via confer-ence call Tuesday after this week’s Louisville SportsReport went to press.

PITT OFFENSE STRUGGLESAnother game, another regression, and

the Pitt offense has a lot of questions to an-swer in its upcoming off-week.

After stumbling through a trip to New

Jersey last week in a 34-10 blowout defeat at Rutgers, the Panthers came back to Hei-nz Field and looked no better on offense in their 26-14 loss to Utah on Saturday.

Actually, the offense looked even worse. Bad enough that head coach Todd Graham repeatedly used words like “disappointing,” “embarrassing,” “unacceptable” and “ter-rible” in his post-game press conference.

“They whipped us up front, dominated us up front, dominated the line of scrim-mage, took Ray (Graham) away, and we absolutely just (had) a dismal performance and embarrassing the way we performed offensively,” he said after the game.

The question of Ray Graham’s contribu-tions to Saturday’s game will be debated, because the junior tailback, who entered the game as the leading rusher in the nation and Pitt’s leading receiver, totaled just 15 touches (12 carries and three receptions).

But Pitt’s woes on Saturday and in the Rutgers game were bigger than Graham’s lack of touches. After seemingly turning a corner in the 44-17 pasting of South Florida a little more than two weeks ago, the Pan-thers’ offense has regressed, scoring just one touchdown (both of Pitt’s TDs on Satur-day came from special teams) and punting 18 times in eight quarters.

Pitt gained 523 yards of total offense and average nearly six yards per play in the win over South Florida; against Utah the Pan-thers netted a total of 120 yards of offense and averaged less than two yards per play.

“We do have potential, and we showed what potential we have,” Todd Graham said. “We have to come out every week and do that. But to go from one end of the spectrum, with 500 yards of offense, to 120 yards of offense, I didn’t know that was possible.”

Not surprisingly, the key element in the offensive regression has been at quarter-

back. In the last two games redshirt juniorTino Sunseri and freshman Trey Andersonhave combined to complete just 25 of 63passes (39.7 percent) for 181 yards, notouchdowns and six interceptions (threeeach).

Pitt’s quarterbacks have been so bad in the last two games that they have eachthrown an interception that was returnedfor a touchdown. In other words, Pitt’s quar-terbacks have thrown more touchdownsin the last two games for their opponents(two) than their own team (zero).

Anderson replaced Sunseri to start the second half at Rutgers and played two se-ries before throwing a pick-six and headingback to the bench. Against Utah on Satur-day, Anderson entered the game for the fi -nal drive of the fi rst half and played on thefi rst three possessions in the third quarter.Then Sunseri returned for three drives, butAnderson took over for the fi nal three drivesof the game.

“Neither quarterback played very good at all,” Todd Graham said. “It was a very,very bad offensive performance, and there’snot anything you can say about that.

“As I’ve said all year long, the one that gives us the best chance to win is Tino.We’ve just got to get some things correctedand get him executing. We’ve gone fromour best performance against South Floridato two weeks of the complete other end ofthe spectrum. And the ownership for thatgoes to our coaches.”

Pitt (3-4, 1-1) is off until next Wednesday, when the Panthers will host Connecticut atHeinz Field.

UCONN DOESN’T WIN PRETTYSure, Johnny McEntee almost threw four,

maybe fi ve, interceptions. Yes, the Huskiesoffensive line struggled to protect McEntee,allowing seven sacks and countless hits on

PAGE 16 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT OCTOBER 19, 2011

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

THREE TEAMS PUSH TO THE FRONT IN EARLY BIG EAST RACEL E A G U E V O T E S T O R A I S E E X I T F E E S , S O R T O F

Louisville defensive back Mike Evans returned a Zach Collaros pass for a touchdown just before halftime Saturday. Cincinnati came back in the second half to score 18 unanswered points for a 25-16 win. - photo by Howie Lindsey


LOUISVILLE FOOTBALLBIG EAST

NO NAME HT Wt EXP HT/WT HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS SCHOOL) 1 Josh Bellamy 6-0 206 WR SR St. Petersburg, Fla. (Butte CC)2 Michaelee Harris 6-2 198 WR RS FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)2 Preston Brown 6-0 258 LB SO Cincinnati, Ohio (Northwest)3 Charles Gaines 5-11 176 CB FR Miami, Fla. (Central)4 Will Stein 5-10 185 QB JR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)5 Teddy Bridgewater 6-3 205 QB FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)6 Greg Scruggs 6-4 285 DT SR Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)7 Damian Copeland 6-1 186 WR SO Bradenton, Fla. (Palmetto)8 Darius Ashley 5-8 186 CB JR Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)9 DeVante Parker 6-3 196 WR FR Louisville, Ky. (Ballard)10 Dominique Brown 6-2 221 QB SO Cincinnati, Ohio (Winton Woods)11 Josh Chichester 6-8 240 TE SR West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West)12 Chris Philpott 6-0 198 K SR Atlanta, Ga. (St. Pius X Catholic)13 Preston Pace 6-1 199 CB SR St. Petersburg, Fla. (Butte)14 Andrell Smith 6-3 210 WR JR Miami, Fla. (Palmetto)15 Andrew Johnson 5-9 174 CB FR Miami, Fla. (Southridge)17 Marcus Smith 6-3 251 DE SO Columbus, Ga. (Hardaway)18 Matthew Nakatani 5-8 160 K RS FR Shelbyville, Ky. (Shelby County)18 Titus Teague 5-11 170 CB SO Pomona, Calif. (Pomona)19 Terell Floyd 5-10 170 CB FR Port Pierce, Fla. (Port St. Lucie)19 Joe Castaneda 5-10 186 DB FR Covington, Ky. (Covington Catholic)19 Jerry Arlinghaus 6-4 197 QB FR Louisville, Ky. (Holy Cross)20 Victor Anderson 5-9 188 RB SR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)21 Adrian Bushell 5-11 190 CB JR DeSoto, Texas (Cedar Valley CC) 22 Jordon Paschal 5-8 180 CB RS FR Trotwood, Ohio (Trotwood-Madison)22 Corvin Lamb 5-9 203 RB FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)23 Terence Simien 6-3 218 S SR Sacramento, Calif. (San Mateo)24 Daniel Brown 6-1 221 LB JR Atlanta, Ga. (Douglass)25 Calvin Pryor 6-2 200 S FR Port St. Joe, Fla. (Port St. Joe)26 Zed Evans 5-11 173 CB SO Seagoville, Texas (Seagoville)27 Mike Addesa 5-11 200 LB FR Bradenburg, Ky. (Meade County)27 Jermaine Reve 6-0 180 S FR Miami, Fla. (Northwest)28 Jeremy Wright 5-11 199 RB SO Clermont, Fla. (East Ridge)29 Stephen Goodwin 6-0 190 WR SO Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)29 Hakeem Smith 6-1 183 S SO Jonesboro, Ga. (Riverdale)30 Kamal Hogan 6-0 209 RB RS FR Montvale, N.J. (St. Joseph’s Regional)31 DeMarcus Topp 5-10 180 WR JR Paducah, Ky. (Paducah-Tilghman)32 Senorise Perry 6-0 192 RB SO Summerville, Ga. (Chattooga)33 Grant Donovan 6-1 213 LS RS FR Louisville, Ky. (Male)33 Mike Evans 5-10 187 S SR Los Angeles, Calif. (Nevada)34 George Durant 6-0 231 LB SO St. Petersburg, Fla. (Boca Ciega)35 Andrew Fletcher 5-8 162 K RS FR Nashville, Tenn. (Montgomery Bell)35 Anthony Conner 5-11 190 CB SR Houston, Texas (Butte CC)36 Shenard Holton 6-1 190 S JR Bowling Green, Ky. (Warren East)37 Lincoln Carr 5-9 158 WR JR Crestwood, Ky. (Oldham County)37 Tyon Dixon 5-11 208 LB SO Cincinnati, Ohio (Colerain)38 Rashad Stewart 6-0 183 DB SO Marietta, Ga. (Drake)38 Ryan Johnson 5-11 175 P RS FR Louisville, Ky. (DeSales)39 Kenneth Jaboin 6-1 203 DB SR Miami, Fla. (NIACC)39 Chris Zelli 5-11 201 LB FR Jeffersonville, Ind. (Jeffersonville)40 Agyei Williams 5-11 184 S JR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)40 Josh Bleser 6-1 213 P SR Park Hills, Ky. (Covington Catholic)41 Stephan Robinson 5-10 170 CB RS FR Louisville, Ky. (Central)42 Champ Lee 6-0 204 LB SO Lakeland, Fla. (Lake Gibson)42 Jalen Harrington 6-2 205 LB FR Fern Creek, Ky. (Fern Creek)43 Deon Rogers 6-2 200 LB SO Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Treasure Coast)44 B.J. Butler 6-2 276 DE SO Kissimmee, Fla. (Osceola)45 John Wallace 6-0 180 P/K FR Cecilia, Ky. (Central Hardin)46 Dexter Heyman 6-3 238 LB SR Louisville, Ky. (Male)47 Malcolm Mitchell 6-2 230 DE SO Stone Mountain, Ga. (Dunwoody)48 Deiontrez Mount 6-5 219 DE FR Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (Fort Walton Beach)49 Patrick Grant 6-4 236 DL JR Sunrise, Fla. (Boyd Anderson)49 Jarel McGriff-Culver 5-11 190 RB RS FR Downers Grove, Ill. (Downers Grove North)51 Mike Privott 6-0 224 LB SO Norfolk, Va. (Lake Taylor)53 Jake Smith 6-4 315 OL RS FR Jacksonville, Ala. (Jacksonville)54 Mike Romano 6-4 275 C FR Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Treasure Coast)55 Mario Benavides 6-4 300 C JR Los Fresnos, Texas (Los Fresnos)56 Tarik Rollins 6-2 223 LB SO Hollywood, Fla. (Clemson)57 Nick Heuser 6-0 229 LB JR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)59 Zach Perkins 6-4 290 OL SO Shepherdsville, Ky. (North Bullitt)62 John Clark 6-2 305 OL SR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)65 Dylan Kupper 6-5 265 OL FR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)66 Alex Kupper 6-3 285 OL JR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)68 Kamran Joyer 6-3 292 OL SO Tampa, Fla. (Wesley Chapel)69 Chris Walker 6-3 306 OL SO Louisville, Ky. (Ballard)70 John Miller 6-2 304 OL FR Miami, Fla. (Central)71 Chris Acosta 6-3 279 OL RS FR Miami, Fla. (Hileah)72 Hunter Stout 6-4 291 OL SO Tampa, Fla. (Wharton)73 Hector Hernandez 6-5 294 OL SR Naples, Fla. (Naples)74 Ryan Mack 6-5 316 OL FR Memphis, Tenn. (Wooddale)75 Ryan Kessling 6-5 314 OT SR Tallahassee, Fla. (Chiles)76 Chase Petersen 6-4 291 OL FR Bentonville, Ark. (Bentonville)78 Aaron Epps 6-7 250 OT FR Tucker, Ga. (Tucker)79 Jamon Brown 6-6 325 DT FR Fern Creek, Ky. (Fern Creek) 80 Stephon Ball 6-4 228 TE JR Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)81 Chris White 6-4 243 TE SO Elizabethtown, Ky. (John Hardin)82 Eli Rogers 5-10 185 WR FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)83 Jerrell Moore 5-10 169 WR FR Fern Creek, Ky. (Fern Creek)84 Aaron Nance 6-3 197 WR SO Louisville, Ky. (Seneca)85 Nate Nord 6-5 230 TE JR Boca Raton, Fla. (West Boca Raton)87 Kai Dominguez 6-0 172 WR SO Montvale, N.J. (St. Joseph’s Regional)88 Jarrett Davis 5-9 171 WR SO Tyrone, Ga. (Sandy Creek)89 Scott Radcliff 5-10 183 WR JR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)90 B.J. Dubose 6-5 238 DE FR Oakland Park, Fla. (Northeast)91 William Savoy 6-1 246 DE SR Elizabethtown, Ky. (John Hardin)92 Brandon Dunn 6-3 308 DT SO Louisville, Ky. (Pleasure Ridge Park)93 Roy Philon 6-3 272 DT SO Lexington, Ky. (Bryan Station)94 Lorenzo Mauldin 6-4 225 DE FR Atlanta, Ga. (Maynard Jackson)95 Randy Salmon 6-3 291 DT JR Atlanta, Ga. (Hutchinson CC)99 Jamaine Brooks 6-4 329 DL RS FR Miami, Fla. (Palmetto)

FULL 2011 ROSTERthe quarterback. No, UConn didn’t score an offensive touchdown for the second con-secutive week.

Nevertheless, UConn beat USF 16-10 to improve to 3-4, 1-1. USF fell to 4-2, 0-2.

“That’s just UConn football there,” said kicker Dave Teggart, who made all three of his fi eld-goal attempts. “We play defense, keep it close and try to pull it out at the end.”

In three of UConn’s four losses that for-mula has failed the Huskies, with the de-fense surrendering a fourth-quarter lead. Saturday, leading 16-10 with fi ve minutes left, USF quarterback B.J. Daniels ran 32 yards down to the UConn 30-yard line and another loss seemed imminent.

This time, however, UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni saw something different.

“I liked the look in the eyes of our guys,” he said. “They were determined that they weren’t going to let this get away from us.”

Four plays later USF came up short on fourth down and UConn was on the verge of its fi rst conference win. On the Jumbo-tron, Teddy Jennings could be seen head-butting teammates and coaches alike -- without his helmet on.

Lyle McCombs then sealed the win with a fi rst-down run on third-and-fi ve. McCombs ran for 130 yards on 32 carries, marking the fourth time he has broken the century mark this season. He ran for 31 yards in the fourth quarter and appeared much fresher than he has in the past toward the end of the game.

“Everybody is tired of losing,” Dwayne Gratz said. “Coming back to the locker room after a loss is tough to overcome.”

The defense sure played as if they were tired of losing. It held USF, which was aver-aging more than 500 yards of total offense, to 339 yards. The Huskies forced four turn-overs, including an interception by redshirt freshman Ty-Meer Brown and a 10-yard fumble return for a TD by redshirt freshman Byron Jones that gave UConn its fi rst and only lead of the game.

“I felt great for (Jones and Brown) to-night,” Pasqualoni said. “They had it rough last week, so it was great to see them go out and make some plays.”

“Byron Jones is an athletic freak,” Sio Moore added.

Moore also had eight tackles and an interception on USF’s second-to-last pos-session after Yawin Smallwood batted the ball high into the air. When asked wheth-er UConn scaled back its defense this week, Moore responded, “No. Why would you?”

The offense was another story.At times UConn moved the ball well on

the ground, but the Huskies could not bust through the invisible brick wall they’ve built on the goal line. Even a fi rst-quarter, fi rst-and-goal at the 1-yard line turned into just three points by Teggart.

The kickoff team then gave up a 79-yard return following the fi eld goal. The Huskies also fumbled twice in the second quarter. Somehow, they won the game.

“They doubted us last year, but when we get towards October and November there’s something about playing in the colder weather and having games that mean more,” Teggart said.

2011 BIG EAST FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

CINCINNATIThu., Sept. 1 Austin Peay W, 72-10Sat., Sept. 10 at Tennessee L, 45-23Sat., Sept. 17 Akron W, 59-14Thu., Sept. 22 North Carolina State W, 44-14Sat., Oct. 1 at Miami (Ohio) W, 27-0Sat., Oct. 15 LOUISVILLE W, 25-16Sat., Oct. 22 at USFSat., Nov. 5 at PITTSBURGHSat., Nov. 12 WEST VIRGINIASat., Nov. 19 at RUTGERSSat., Nov. 26 at SYRACUSESat., Dec. 3 CONNECTICUT

CONNECTICUTThu., Sept. 1 Fordham W, 35-3Sat., Sept. 10 at Vanderbilt L, 24-21Fri., Sept. 16 Iowa State L, 24-20Sat., Sept. 24 at Buffalo W, 17-3Sat., Oct. 1 Western Michigan L, 38-31Sat., Oct. 8 at WEST VIRGINIA L, 43-16Sat., Oct. 15 USF W, 16-10Wed., Oct. 26 at PITTSBURGHSat., Nov. 5 SYRACUSESat., Nov. 19 LOUISVILLESat., Nov. 26 RUTGERSSat., Dec. 3 at CINCINNATI

LOUISVILLEThu., Sept. 1 Murray State W, 21-9Fri., Sept. 9 Florida International L, 24-17Sat., Sept. 17 at Kentucky W, 24-17Sat., Oct. 1 Marshall L, 17-13Sat., Oct. 8 at North Carolina L, 14-7Sat., Oct. 15 at CINCINNATI L, 25-16Fri., Oct. 21 RUTGERS Sat., Oct. 29 SYRACUSESat., Nov. 5 at WEST VIRGINIASat., Nov. 12 PITTSBURGHSat., Nov. 19 at CONNECTICUTFri., Nov. 25 at USF

PITTSBURGHSat., Sept. 3 Buffalo W, 35-16Sat., Sept. 10 Maine W, 35-29Sat., Sept. 17 at Iowa L, 31-27Sat., Sept. 24 Notre Dame L, 15-12Thu., Sept. 29 USF W, 44-17 Sat., Oct. 8 at RUTGERS L, 34-10Sat., Oct. 15 Utah L, 26-14Wed., Oct. 26 CONNECTICUTSat., Nov. 5 CINCINNATISat., Nov. 12 at LOUISVILLEFri., Nov. 25 at WEST VIRGINIASat., Dec. 3 SYRACUSE

RUTGERSThu., Sept. 1 North Carolina Central W, 48-0Sat., Sept. 10 at North Carolina L, 24-22Sat., Sept. 24 Ohio W, 38-26 Sat., Oct. 1 at SYRACUSE W, 19-16 2OTSat., Oct. 8 PITTSBURGH W, 34-10Sat., Oct. 15 Navy W, 21-20Fri., Oct. 21 at LOUISVILLESat., Oct. 29 WEST VIRGINIASat., Nov. 5 USFSat., Nov. 12 at ArmySat., Nov. 19 CINCINNATISat., Nov. 26 at CONNECTICUT

USFSat., Sept. 3 at Notre Dame W, 23-20Sat., Sept. 10 Ball State W, 37-7Sat., Sept. 17 Florida A&M W, 70-17Sat., Sept. 24 UTEP W, 52-24Thu., Sept. 29 at PITTSBURGH L, 44-17Sat., Oct. 15 at CONNECTICUT L, 16-10Sat., Oct. 22 CINCINNATISat., Nov. 5 at RUTGERSFri., Nov. 11 at SYRACUSESat., Nov. 19 Miami (Fla.)Fri., Nov. 25 LOUISVILLEThu., Dec. 1 WEST VIRGINIA

SYRACUSESat., Sept. 3 Wake Forest W, 36-29 OTSat., Sept. 10 Rhode Island W, 21-14Sat., Sept. 17 at Southern California L, 38-17Sat., Sept. 24 Toledo W, 33-30 OTSat., Oct. 1 RUTGERS L, 19-16 2OTSat., Oct. 8 at Tulane W, 37-34Fri., Oct. 21 WEST VIRGINIASat., Oct. 29 at LOUISVILLESat., Nov. 5 at CONNECTICUTFri., Nov. 11 USF Sat., Nov. 26 CINCINNATISat., Dec. 3 at PITTSBURGH

WEST VIRGINIASat., Sept. 3 Marshall W, 34-13Sat., Sept. 10 Norfolk State W, 55-12Sat., Sept. 17 at Maryland W, 37-31Sat., Sept. 24 LSU L, 47-21Sat., Oct. 1 Bowling Green W, 55-10Sat., Oct. 8 CONNECTICUT W, 43-16Fri., Oct. 21 at SYRACUSESat., Oct. 29 at RUTGERSSat., Nov. 5 LOUISVILLESat., Nov. 12 at CINCINNATIFri., Nov. 25 PITTSBURGHThu., Dec. 1 at USF


FALL/WINTER SPORTS SCHEDULES

MEN’S SOCCERDATE OPPONENT / EVENT LOCATION TIME / RESULT 08/14/11 at Saint Louis (Exhibition) * St. Louis, Mo. W, 2-008/20/11 vs. Michigan (Exhibition) * Fort Wayne, Ind. W, 2-008/27/11 vs. UCLA CARDINAL PARK W, 2-009/02/11 at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, N.C. W, 2-009/04/11 at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. L, 2-109/09/11 vs. IUPUI CARDINAL PARK W, 2-009/11/11 vs. CENTRAL ARKANSAS CARDINAL PARK W, 3-209/17/11 vs. BUTLER CARDINAL PARK W, 4-009/21/11 at Ohio State Columbus, Ohio W, 1-009/24/11 at Notre Dame # TV Notre Dame, Ind. L, 1-010/01/11 vs. CONNECTICUT # CARDINAL PARK L, 1-0 (2OT)10/05/11 at Indiana Bloomington, Ind. W, 3-2 (OT)10/08/11 vs. SYRACUSE # CARDINAL PARK T, 0-0 (2OT)10/12/11 vs. CINCINNATI # CARDINAL PARK W, 4-010/15/11 at St. John’s # Queens, N.Y. L, 1-010/18/11 vs. USF TV CARDINAL PARK 7:00 p.m. ET10/22/11 vs. RUTGERS # CARDINAL PARK 7:00 p.m. ET10/26/11 at DePaul # Chicago, Ill. 1:00 p.m. ET10/29/11 at Villanova # Philadelphia, Pa. 1:00 p.m. ETBIG EAST Tournament First Round11/02/11 TBD TBA TBABIG EAST Tournament Quarterfi nals11/05/11 TBD TBA TBABIG EAST Tournament11/11/11-11/13/11NCAA Tournament11/17/11 -12/3/11NCAA College Cup12/09/11-12/11/11

FIELD HOCKEYDATE OPPONENT / EVENT LOCATION TIME / RESULT

08/19/11 at Iowa (Scrimmage) * Iowa City, Iowa 1:00 p.m. ET

08/26/11 vs. CALIFORNIA TRAGER STADIUM L, 3-1

08/27/11 California vs. Michigan State TRAGER STADIUM 6:00 p.m. ET

08/28/11 vs. MICHIGAN STATE TRAGER STADIUM W, 2-1

09/03/11 at Davidson Davidson, N.C. W, 5-3

09/04/11 at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, N.C. L, 3-2 (OT)

09/09/11 vs. MISSOURI STATE TRAGER STADIUM W, 4-0

09/10/11 Missouri State vs. Appalachian State TRAGER STADIUM 2:00 p.m. ET

09/11/11 vs. APPALACHIAN STATE TRAGER STADIUM W, 6-0

09/17/11 vs. Georgetown # Washington, D.C. W, 5-0

09/18/11 at American Washington, D.C. W, 1-0

09/23/11 vs. SYRACUSE # TRAGER STADIUM L, 2-1 (OT)

09/24/11 Northwestern vs. New Hampshire TRAGER STADIUM 2:00 p.m. ET

09/25/11 vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE TRAGER STADIUM W, 3-1

10/01/11 at Connecticut # Storrs, Conn. L, 4-2

10/04/11 at Ohio State Columbus, Ohio L, 2-1

10/08/11 vs. RUTGERS # TRAGER STADIUM W, 4-2

10/15/11 at Villanova # Villanova, Pa. L, 2-1

10/16/11 at Drexel Philadelphia, Pa. L, 2-1

10/21/11 vs. PROVIDENCE # TRAGER STADIUM 2:00 p.m. ET

10/23/11 vs. INDIANA TRAGER STADIUM 2:00 p.m. ET

10/30/11 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. 1:00 p.m. ET

BIG EAST Tournament

11/04/11 TBD Syracuse, N.Y. TBA



WOMEN’S SOCCERDATE OPPONENT / EVENT LOCATION TIME / RESULT 08/13/11 vs. VANDERBILT * CARDINAL PARK T, 0-008/19/11 at Eastern Kentucky Richmond, Ky. W, 5-008/26/11 at Toledo Toledo, Ohio T, 1-1 (2OT)08/28/11 vs. No. 19 ILLINOIS CARDINAL PARK L, 2-1 (OT)Courtyard by Marriott Airport Cardinal Classic09/02/11 vs. BAYLOR CARDINAL PARK L, 3-009/04/11 vs. CENTRAL MICHIGAN CARDINAL PARK L, 1-0 (OT)09/09/11 at Kentucky Lexington, Ky. L, 2-009/11/11 vs. Butler Lexington, Ky. W, 1-0 (2OT)09/16/11 at No. 12 Notre Dame # South Bend, Ind. W, 1-009/18/11 vs. DEPAUL # CARDINAL PARK T, 1-1 (2OT)09/23/11 at Connecticut # Storrs, Conn. T, 2-2 (2OT)09/25/11 at Providence # Providence, R.I. W, 1-009/30/11 vs. No. 10 MARQUETTE # CARDINAL PARK L, 1-010/02/11 vs. USF # TV CARDINAL PARK W, 2-1 (OT)10/07/11 at Villanova # Philadelphia, Pa. W, 3-2 (2OT)10/09/11 at Georgetown Washington, D.C. W, 2-1 (2OT)10/14/11 vs. RUTGERS # CARDINAL PARK W, 2-110/16/11 vs. SETON HALL # CARDINAL PARK W, 3-010/22/11 at Cincinnati # Cincinnati, Ohio 7:00 p.m. ET10/30/11 BIG EAST Championship CARDINAL PARK TBA11/04/11 BIG EAST Championship Morgantown, W.Va. TBA11/06/11 BIG EAST Championship Morgantown, W.Va. TBA

VOLLEYBALLDATE OPPONENT / EVENT LOCATION TIME / RESULT Georgia Tech Tournament08/26/11 vs. Tennessee Tech Atlanta, Ga. W, 3-008/27/11 vs. Kansas State Atlanta, Ga. W, 3-0 at Georgia Tech Atlanta, Ga. L, 3-2Crowne Plaza Cardinal Classic09/02/11 vs. OLE MISS CARDINAL ARENA W, 3-009/03/11 vs. EASTERN ILLINOIS CARDINAL ARENA W, 3-0 vs. WICHITA STATE CARDINAL ARENA W, 3-109/07/11 at Kentucky Lexington, Ky. L, 3-0Ohio Bobcat Classic09/09/11 at Ohio Athens, Ohio W, 3-109/10/11 vs. Virginia Athens, Ohio W, 3-1 vs. Marshall Athens, Ohio W, 3-0BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge09/16/11 vs. Purdue Champaign, Ill. L, 3-209/17/11 at Illinois Champaign, Ill. L, 3-209/23/11 vs. ST. JOHN’S # KFC YUM! CENTER W, 3-009/25/11 vs. CONNECTICUT # KFC YUM! CENTER W, 3-009/30/11 at DePaul # Chicago, Ill. W, 3-010/02/11 at Notre Dame # South Bend, Ind. W, 3-110/07/11 at Seton Hall # South Orange, NJ W, 3-010/09/11 at Rutgers # Piscataway, NJ W, 3-010/14/11 vs. CINCINNATI # CARDINAL ARENA W, 3-010/18/11 at Lipscomb Nashville, Tenn. 7:30 p.m. ET10/22/11 vs. WEST VIRGINIA # CARDINAL ARENA 2:00 p.m. ET10/23/11 vs. PITTSBURGH # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET10/28/11 at USF Tampa, Fla. 7:00 p.m. ET11/02/11 vs. TENNESSEE (W) KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET11/05/11 vs. SYRACUSE KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET11/06/11 vs. MARQUETTE # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET11/11/11 at Villanova # Philadelphia, Pa. 7:00 p.m. ET11/13/11 at Georgetown # Washington, DC 2:00 p.m. ETBIG EAST Championship11/18/11 TBD # Milwaukee, Wisc. TBA11/26/11 vs. OVC CHAMPION CARDINAL ARENA 2:00 p.m. ET


LOUISVILLE BASEBALL

2011-12 MEN’S SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME OCTOBER10/14/11 Red-White Scrimmage KFC YUM! CENTER White, 86-8510/22/11 Red-White Scrimmage KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.10/26/11 vs. PIKEVILLE * KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.NOVEMBER 11/03/11 vs. BELLARMINE * KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.GLOBAL SPORTS INVITATIONAL11/11/11 vs. TENNESSEE-MARTIN KFC YUM! CENTER TBA11/13/11 vs. LAMAR KFC YUM! CENTER TBA11/22/11 vs. ARKANSAS STATE KFC YUM! CENTER TBA11/25/11 vs. OHIO KFC YUM! CENTER TBA11/28/11 vs. LONG BEACH STATE KFC YUM! CENTER TBA11/19/11 at Butler Indianapolis, Ind. TBADECEMBERBIG EAST / SEC CHALLENGE12/02/11 vs. VANDERBILT TV KFC YUM! CENTER 8:30 p.m.12/07/11 vs. IUPUI KFC YUM! CENTER TBA12/10/11 vs. FAIR. DICKINSON KFC YUM! CENTER TBABASKETBALL HALL OF FAME SHOOTOUT12/17/11 vs. MEMPHIS TV KFC YUM! CENTER 4:00 p.m.12/20/11 vs. C. OF CHARLESTON KFC YUM! CENTER TBABILLY MINARDI CLASSIC12/23/11 vs. WESTERN KENTUCKY KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.12/28/11 vs. GEORGETOWN # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.12/31/11 at Kentucky TV Lexington, Ky. 12:00 p.m.JANUARY01/03/12 at St. John’s # TV New York, N.Y. 7:00 p.m.01/07/12 vs. NOTRE DAME # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 4:00 p.m.01/10/12 at Providence # TV Providence, R.I. 7:00 p.m.01/14/12 vs. DE PAUL # KFC YUM! CENTER TBA01/16/12 at Marquette # TV Milwaukee, Wis. TBA01/21/12 at Pittsburgh # TV Pittsburgh, Pa. 9:00 p.m.01/25/12 vs. VILLANOVA # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.01/28/12 at Seton Hall # Newark, N.J. TBAFEBRUARY02/04/12 vs. RUTGERS # KFC YUM! CENTER TBA02/06/12 vs. CONNECTICUT # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.02/11/12 at West Virginia # TV Morgantown, W.Va. 12:00 p.m.02/13/12 vs. SYRACUSE # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.02/18/12 at DePaul # Chicago, Ill. TBA02/23/12 at Cincinnati # TV Cincinnati, Ohio 9:00 p.m.02/26/12 vs. PITTSBURGH # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m.02/29/12 vs. USF # KFC YUM! CENTER TBAMARCH03/03/12 at Syracuse # TV Syracuse, N.Y. 4:00 p.m.BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) 03/06-10/12 TBD TBA * - Exhibition game, # - Big East Conference game

2011-12 WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME

OCTOBER

10/30/11 VS. LINDSEY WILSON * KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 P.M. ET

NOVEMBER

11/13/11 at Missouri State Springfi eld, Mo. 3:05 p.m. ET

11/15/11 at Texas A&M TV College Station, Texas 4:00 p.m. ET

11/17/11 at Eastern Kentucky Richmond, Ky. 7:00 p.m. ET

11/20/11 vs. XAVIER KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET

11/22/11 vs. AUSTIN PEAY KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m. ET

11/25/11 at Florida State Tallahassee, Fla. 7:00 p.m. ET

11/26/11 at Florida A&M Tallahassee, Fla. 4:00 p.m. ET

11/29/11 vs. MURRAY STATE KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET

DECEMBER

12/04/11 at Kentucky Lexington, Ky. TBA

12/10/11 vs. GARDNER-WEBB KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m. ET

12/14/11 at Cincinnati # Cincinnati, Ohio 7:00 p.m. ET

12/17/11 at Portland Portland, Ore. 5:00 p.m. ET

12/19/11 at Washington State Pullman, Wash. 10:00 p.m. ET

12/28/11 vs. UT-MARTIN KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m. ET

JANUARY

01/03/12 vs. MARQUETTE # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET

01/08/12 at St. John’s # TV Queens, N.Y. 1:30 p.m. ET

01/11/12 vs. SOUTH FLORIDA # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET

01/14/12 at Rutgers # Piscataway, N.J. 2:00 p.m. ET

01/18/12 vs. PROVIDENCE # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET

01/22/12 at Georgetown # TV Washington D.C. 5:00 p.m. ET

01/28/12 vs. VILLANOVA # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET

01/31/12 at DePaul # TV Chicago, Ill. 9:00 p.m. ET

FEBRUARY

02/04/12 at West Virginia # Morgantown, W.Va. 4:00 p.m. ET

02/07/12 vs. CONNECTICUT # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m. ET

02/11/12 vs. SYRACUSE # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET

02/14/12 at Pittsburgh # Pittsburgh, Pa. 7:00 p.m. ET

02/20/12 vs. NOTRE DAME # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m. ET

02/25/12 vs. DEPAUL # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m. ET

02/27/12 at Seton Hall # South Orange, N.J. 7:00 p.m. ET

MARCH

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: Hartford, Conn.

03/02-8/12 TBD TBA


LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

By Howie LindseyFinding its stride under new volleyball

coach Anne Kordes, the University of Louis-ville hasn’t lost a game in more than a month. Its last loss, a 3-2 heartbreaker at regional power Illinois on Sept. 17, has been followed by seven straight wins in Big East play.

The Cards (15-4, 7-0) started their run with 3-0 pastings of St. John’s and Connecticut in the fi rst two volleyball games ever played at the KFC Yum! Center. They then went on the road and whipped DePaul 3-0 at the end of September. A 3-1 victory at Notre Dame on Oct. 2 marked the fi rst time Louisville had lost a single game in more than 14 days.

The Cards then beat Seton Hall and Rut-gers on their home courts 3-0 each over the span of 48 hours on Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, then blew Cincinnati out of Cardinal Arena 3-0 last Friday night. (Editor’s note: The Cardinals played Lipscomb in Nashville Tuesday night after press time.)

“Huge win for us,” Kordes said after her team swept Cincinnati 26-24, 25-19, 25-11. “Cincinnati is a great program, a great rival, and they have a great coach in Reed Sunahara. We had great defense, good blocking and ran a well-balanced attack. You know you throw the records out when it is a rivalry game like this, and I was proud that we stayed intense and even got better as the match went on.”

With eight matches left in the league

schedule, Louisville is the only league team with seven wins and is a half-game ahead of Marquette (6-0). Cincinnati and Villanova are tied for third at 5-2.

“Cincinnati has battled injuries, but they are one of the best teams in the region,” Kordes said. “They beat UK two days before we lost to them in three, they beat Oklaho-ma, and their RPI was just four notches be-low where ours was. Beating them helps our NCAA chances. Come the end of the season, I think they’ll be one of the teams fi ghting for the title.”

The showdown with Marquette comes

Nov. 6 at the Yum! Center at 2 p.m.

SETTER A STAR?Certainly, junior Lola Arslanbekova is Lou-

isville’s star, having garnered Big East Player of the Week honors the last three weeks in a row, but sophomore setter Taylor Brauneis also has been performing well.

Brauneis has 728 assists (10.87 per set) and has a respectable .225 hitting percent-age with an impressive 46 kills. Kordes likes the aggressive side of Brauneis’ game re-cently.

“She has been doing a great job,” Kordes

said. “She hit .500 on the weekend (against Seton Hall and Rutgers), and she can throw down and she can throw deep. She likes to hit the ball to Zone 1 with her left hand. She’s up there two rotations with Lola, and we’ve been encouraging her to hit down there. Ev-erybody double-blocks Lola because if you don’t double-block Lola she is going to get a kill, so I am looking forward to seeing Taylor becoming more aggressive and really having fun with it. If I were in her shoes? It is kind of like a point guard with nobody guarding you, you don’t have to throw the ball around, you can just throw it down all day long.”

LOLA FANTASTICAArslanbekova is hitting .308 for the sea-

son, has an unbelievable 342 kills (5.1 per set) and has 15 service aces and 32 total blocks. She’s been Big East Player of the Week four times this season, including the last three weeks.

“She’s won the award three straight weeks,” Kordes said. “She had 12 kills in a set the other day because her teammates were just edging her on, setting her up. She’s really earned it though.”

As of press time Arslanbekova had 60 more kills than any other player in the Big East while playing as many as eight fewer sets. She is a big reason Louisville is leading the league in hitting percentage at .267 and is second in kills at 13.48 per set.

SEVEN STRAIGHT WINS FOR VOLLEY-CARDS

Lola Arslanbekova (facing camera) and the Cardinals lead the Big East in hitting percentage. - fi le photo by Howie Lindsey


CARDINAL STARSJONATHAN KUHN - MEN’S TENNISThe redshirt sophomore from Guatemala City, Guatemala, captured the ‘B’ singles title at the Louisville Invitational Sunday. Kuhn secured his fi rst tournament singles title with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Belmont’s Rafael Matos. “Jonathan had another exciting match today as he won his fi rst tournament division,” coach Rex Ecarma said. “My fi nal thought is that I am happy that these returning players are performing on this stage. They have been in the shadows of the ‘Fab 4,’ and it was a pleasure to see them have their well-deserved moment in the sun.”

SUMIT GUPTA - MEN’S TENNISVAN DAMRONGSRI - MEN’S TENNISGupta and Damrongsri won the ‘A’ doubles division of the Louisville Invitational Sunday. Flight ‘A’ doubles featured an all-Louisville fi nal after Gupta and Damrongsri teamed to beat Xavier’s Phil Diaz and Brandon MacDonald 8-5 in the semifi nals. UofL’s Adam Donaldson and Amaury Derognat defeated Belmont’s Renato Antun and Matos 8-2 in the other semifi nal. Gupta and Damrongsri prevailed 8-5 in the fi nal match to take the title.“Louisville had a great day today,” Ecarma said. “This is the fi rst time in this tournament that we have made it to the fi nals in every division.”

MATT HUGHES - CROSS COUNTRYIn his season debut, the Oshawa, Ontario, native covered 8K in just 24:53 (3:06.7 per K) to fi nish 34th in the highly competitive, 35-team Pre-Nationals race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind., on Sunday. Hughes helped UofL fi nish seventh, the Cardinals’ best mark at the prestigious meet since the 2006 season, when they also fi nished seventh. Unranked Louisville fi nished ahead of a pair of top-10 teams (No. 8 Indiana and No. 9 Virginia Tech fi nished eighth and ninth, respectively). “It’s probably not quite where he anticipated being, but it’s his fi rst race back, and he was fi ghting through that initial shock,” assistant track coach Joe Walker said of Hughes’ return from injury. “Cross country just doesn’t feel good. You’re never comfortable. We had strong winds today and really thick grass. The course didn’t run fast, but I think that’ll pay off for him when he’s really fi t and ready in the next 2-4 weeks.”

TYLER BYRNE - CROSS COUNTRYThe sophomore from Georgetown, Ind., who had been UofL’s top fi nisher in the team’s fi rst three races, fi nished just four seconds behind Hughes in 24:57 Sunday to take 37th overall. “I felt like the guys really responded to the mandate that we have to run as a group more effectively,” Walker said. “They did a great job. I probably credit Matt Bruce on getting guys fl owing through the middle. Hughes and Byrne were anticipating working together up front, and they did a good job working as a group but weren’t quite where they needed to be – about 15 spots up from where they were.” Louisville will return to action on Oct. 29 at its home course – E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park – for the Big East Cross Country Championships.

JENNIFER JONES - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe senior from Louisville Assumption H.S. had a goal and an assist to lead the Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over Seton Hall Sunday on Senior Day at Cardinal Park. UofL won for the fi fth straight time and improved to 9-5-3 overall and 7-1-2 in the Big East. The Cards now are in sole possession of fi rst place in the National Division. Jones has two goals and three assists this season.

CHRISTINE EXETER - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe sophomore from Pickerington, Ontario, scored both Louisville goals as the Cards beat Rutgers 2-1 Friday at Cardinal Park. It was her third game in a row with two goals. She had an assist on one of Louisville’s three goals against Seton Hall Sunday. Exeter has 11 goals and three assists this season for 25 total points. She has taken 60 shots and 32 shots on goal this season, and she has four game-winning goals. Exeter was named Big East Rookie of the Year last year, becoming the fi rst Cardinal to earn the honor. She led the Cardinals with seven goals last year, including three game-winners.

CHRIS BIUSO - MEN’S GOLFThe junior from Tampa, Fla., shot 1-over-par 73 on the fi nal day (Sunday) to lead Louisville to a 12th-place team fi nish at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at Blackthorn Club in Jonesborough, Tenn. Fifteen teams participated. Louisville shot 303 on Friday, 309 on Saturday and 300 on Sunday. Biuso fi nished tied for 15th with a score of 4-over 220. He was six shots back of the medalist.

KUHNKUHN

GUPTAGUPTA

HUGHESHUGHES

BYRNEBYRNE

EXETEREXETER

HOWIE LINDSEY’SHOWIE LINDSEY’S

OF THE WEEKOF THE WEEK

JONESJONES

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LOUISVILLE SOCCER

By Howie LindseyThe University of Louisville women’s soccer

team, which has lost only one game since early September, is on a roll, having beaten Rutgers 2-1 last Friday and Seton Hall 3-0 Sunday to stretch its winning streak to fi ve games.

“A lot is going right, right now, to be hon-est,” coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes said. “We are rock solid on defense, and we are in great condition in terms of clearing. In the middle third of the fi eld the shape that we switched to has really helped us in regards to keeping possession of the ball and being tough to break down defensively. And then the key for us has been Christine Exeter. She’s a special player, and she has been having a special year for us. She is such a handful, and teams are going to have to make an adjustment to de-fend her. I was very happy on Sunday because teams are making an adjustment to defend her, but then we have three different kids score goals. Things are really starting to click for us, and I am pretty happy with where we are right now.”

Where they are right now is the top team in the Big East’s National Division at 9-5-3 over-all, 7-1-2 Big East, and they have only one league loss, a 1-0 heartbreaker against No. 10 Marquette on Sept. 30. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a team that fi nished the non-conference portion of its schedule 2-4-1.

“Every single lesson that we learned in each of our losses has made us a better team,” Fer-guson-Dayes said. “We lost to Central Michi-gan early in the year in overtime, and we really don’t lose in overtime anymore. We lost on the road to Kentucky, and they were just tougher than we were. Now we have that toughness and that mentality. We lost to Illinois, and that game told us that we weren’t fi t enough, we withered at the end of the game. Now we are so fi t that we make other teams wither.”

Louisville fi gures to start receiving votes in the top 25 any day now.

“Every lesson we have learned and every game that we have played up to this point has put us in the position we are in right now,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “I feel great for this group. We are playing our best soccer right now.”

Louisville’s defense has allowed just six goals in the last seven games. Exeter, the Car-dinals’ phenomenal sophomore goal-scorer, has 11 goals this season, but her string of three straight games with two goals in each was broken during Louisville’s 3-0 victory over Seton Hall on Sunday. Exeter did have an as-sist in that game, though.

“She did get one assist, but she missed a couple of goals, and they were easier ones,” Ferguson-Dayes said with a laugh. “I told my assistant, Kyle (Singer), that Christine does bet-ter when she has two or three players hanging off of her. She missed some easy ones Sunday, so maybe she is saving them up for Saturday night against Cincinnati.”

Ferguson-Dayes kept faith in her team de-spite tough losses early in the season. She said where they are now in the league is exactly where she hoped they would be.

“It is defi nitely what I hoped for for this team because I think when you have leaders like Jennifer Jones and Katie McDonald you are in great hands,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “Did I think this would happen? I did. I really did. Early on when we weren’t winning I still believed we were a good team, we were just catching some tough breaks.”

Part of the Cardinals’ renaissance has been

a change to a different playing shape after the fi rst several games of the season. With-out getting overly technical, Ferguson-Dayes shifted another defender back toward the goal and moved Exeter farther forward, creat-ing another line of attack.

“We are now playing the 4-2-3-1, so it provides us a little more coverage defensively and then, offensively, it provides for Christine (Exeter) to be our one player up high and we have three players underneath her,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “It is a really good system from all different angles of support, both defensively and offensively. That has been a real big key for us because it allows us to use other players off the bench because it better fi ts some of our player’s styles and characteristics; It makes us diffi cult to play against.”

The Cardinals are in an enviable position with only a Saturday night clash at Cincinnati remaining on the regular-season schedule.

“Right now we are the fi rst seed, but we need to win Saturday to be crowned the regu-lar-season champion and earn that fi rst seed,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “We can’t be less than

second right now.”Ferguson-Dayes is pushing her team not to

take the struggling Bearcats (8-10-1, 2-9-0) lightly.

“I think they are better than their record will show you, but they are now not in the hunt to go to the Big East Tournament,” Fer-guson-Dayes said. “That could be a bad situ-ation for us because we are playing for the regular-season Big East championship, and they aren’t playing for anything. They are, in essence, playing to not allow us to win the Big East championship. And then, of course, it’s their Senior Night.... Cincinnati and Louisville is always a battle, and I expect this one will be, too.”

After the game against Cincinnati, Louis-ville will enter the Big East Tournament as ei-ther a 1 or 2 seed. The tournament includes 10 teams and is best explained by Ferguson-Dayes.

“There are 16 Big East teams, eight per division,” she said. “Each division gets fi ve teams into the tournament, and the 1, 2 and 3 seeds each get byes in the fi rst round. Then in the next round, the 1 and 2 seeds get to host games. Although the 3 seed gets a bye (in the fi rst round), they have to play at the 2 seed’s home fi eld in the next round, and the 1 seed hosts the winner of the other game. We’re in a good position.

“If we were the 2 seed we’d play Syracuse because they have already locked up the 3 seed, but if we are the 1 we’d have to wait to see who we would play in that case. We’ll host a game regardless on Oct. 30, and we believe that will be at 1 p.m. on a Sunday af-ternoon.”

If the Cards win that quarterfi nal game on Oct. 30, they’ll travel to Morgantown, W.Va., for the semifi nals and fi nals on Nov. 4 and 6 respectively.

No. 9 MEN GO 1-1 LAST WEEKAfter beating visiting Cincinnati 4-0

Wednesday night at Cardinal Park, Louisville

men’s soccer fell 1-0 at St. John’s Saturdaynight.

St. John’s (9-3-2, 3-2-0), which was ex-pected to be Louisville’s top league competi-tion this season, snapped the Cardinals’ three-game unbeaten streak and dropped them to8-4-1, 1-3-1.

Neither team scored in the fi rst half, and Louisville ended the half without a shot, a fi rstfor the Cardinals this season. The second halfwas much different for the Cardinals attack.Senior Kenney Walker had a shot on goalthree minutes after halftime, but it was saved.Colin Rolfe had another shot a minute laterthat also was saved.

In the 50th minute, St. John’s’ Barruro Punyed hit the game-winning shot from 15yards out. Louisville fi nished the game with a4-2 advantage in shots on goal, but St. John’skeeper Rafael Diaz saved all four shots.

BEARCATS FALLThe Cards dominated Cincinnati (4-8-1,

0-4-0) last Wednesday night, keeping pos-session for the majority of the game andoutshooting the Bearcats 17-7 with an 8-0corner-kick advantage.

Still, UofL didn’t score until the 55th min-ute. Nick DeLeon chased a ball down near theright end line and crossed it to Colin Rolfe inthe box, where he fl icked it to Walker, whothen powered the shot past the keeper and adefender for the goal.

Then in the 60th minute DeLeon rocketed a shot past the keeper from 30 yards out toput the Cards up 2-0. Seven minutes laterMichael Roman’s shot was saved by the Cin-cinnati keeper. Buck Tufty took the rebound,but it was saved again. Tufty gathered himselfand snuck it past the keeper for a goal on hissecond try, putting Louisville up 3-0. In the79th minute Roman crossed the ball to MarkKnight, who scored the fourth goal for theCardinals.

The Cardinals were back in action Tuesday night as they hosted USF at 7 p.m., 10 hoursafter press time.

LEARNING FROM LOSSES HAS UOFL WOMEN ROLLING

Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN


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Gabriel (left) and Grant Schneider are just one year old, but they are already Cardinal fans according to their mother, Shelly. The boys are identical twins.

David Norris, a former Cardinals player from the

1970 Pasadena Bowl Team, with his grandson, Luke

Norris, and coach Charlie

Louisville fan Anna Bischof-Bryant had a pompon on her head at a recent UofL game.

Nine-month-old Braylee Dowell is the

granddaughter of Wesley Johnson Sr. and Donna

and Louie Warren.

D.J. Bramer is wearing his jersey to support his uncle, Brandon Bramer, a lineman for the Cardinals.

Colin Geoghegan and his friend, Alex, met

the Cardinal Bird at a recent football game.

Oct. 19 issue

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