november 10, 2011 issue: louisville sportsreport

VOLUME XVI • NUMBER 13NOVEMBER 10, 2011

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NOVEMBER 10, 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 13 • NOVEMBER 10, 2011

CSPACOLLEGESPORTS

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W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 WVU GAME STATS, LOUISVILLE DEPTH CHART6 UOFL ROSTER, PITT DEPTH CHART, SCHEDULE8 CARDS VICTORY IN MORGANTOWN WAS HUGE By Jack Coffee10 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey11 RUSS SMITH HOPES NEW NUMBER CALLED MORE OFTEN By Russ Brown12 PANTHERS TRYING TO RIGHT THE SHIP By Rick Cushing

15 RECRUITING: BIG EAST RELOADS WITH HOOPS RECRUITS By Jeff Wafford 16 CINCY HAS FIRM GRIP ON BIG EAST TITLE By Rivals.com17 BIG EAST MOVING QUICKLY TOWARD ADDING MEMBERS By Howie Lindsey18 LOUISVILLE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULES20 WOMEN’S SOCCER NABS NCAA BID By Howie Lindsey21 CARDINAL STARS OF THE WEEK By Howie Lindsey

14 LOUISVILLE’S G.A. QB COACHJustin Burke has taken over much of the on-fi eld coaching for the QBs since Shawn Watson moved up to the booth. “They’re long days... but it is very rewarding on Saturday if you come out with the win,” Burke said.

5 HISTORY LESSON HELPSLouisville coach Charlie Strong is relying on history to be a teacher for his young Cardinals as they prep to take on Pitt Saturday. Strong doesn’t want to see a repeat performance of the Marshall game.

19 WOMEN ON THE ROADLouisville women’s basketball will open the season Friday night on the road against Missouri State. Their second game is Sunday in College Station, Texas, against defending national champion Texas A&M at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

9 NO MORE DOUGHNUTS!Freshman Wayne Blackshear will be off the court for six to eight weeks, but coach Rick Pitino said his rehab won’t take as long with this surgery as it did the last time he had surgery. Why? It’s all about conditioning.

22 VOLLEYCARDS SEIZE CONTROLIn a battle of the top two teams in the Big East, Louisville dominated Marquette 3-0 Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center. “This is huge,” coach Anne Kordes said. The Cards have two games left in the regular season.

CHARLIE STRONG CELEBRATES, THEN CROWD-SURFS IN THE LOCKER ROOMAfter shaking his fi st triumphantly toward the UofL fans cheering in the corner of the end zone at Mountaineer Field, Louisville coach Charlie Strong went into the locker room and leaped from the top of a Gatorade bucket into the arms of his players. Strong body-surfed on top of his wildly celebrating players for 10-15 seconds. - photo by Steve Ludden

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7 CARDS JUST GETTING STARTED?Senior defensive lineman Greg Scruggs believes the future is bright for the Louisville football program. “These freshmen are unbelievable, that’s why I speak (highly) about the future of the program,” he said.

LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 10, 2011

CARDINAL FOOTBALL

GAME STATSLOUISVILLE (5-4,3-1) vs. WEST VIRGINIA (6-3,2-2)Date: Nov 05, 2011 Site: Morgantown, W.Va. Stadium: Milan Puskar StadiumAttendance: 57,287

SCORE BY QUARTERS 1 2 3 4 SCORELOUISVILLE 14 7 3 14 38WEST VIRGINIA 7 14 0 14 35

SCORING SUMMARY:1st 14:11 WVU - AUSTIN, Tavon 25 yd pass from SMITH, Geno (BI-TANCURT, Tyle kick) 3 plays, 30 yards, TOP 0:49, LOU 0 - WVU 711:26 LOU - Wright, Jeremy 8 yd run (Philpott, Chris kick) 5 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:38, LOU 7 - WVU 705:47 LOU - Perry, Senorise 13 yd run (Philpott, Chris kick) 7 plays, 78 yards, TOP 3:32, LOU 14 - WVU 72nd 12:18 WVU - BAILEY, Stedman 5 yd pass from SMITH, Geno (BI-TANCURT, Tyle kick) 7 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:42, LOU 14 - WVU 1405:44 WVU - ALSTON, Shawne 2 yd run (BITANCURT, Tyle kick) 13 plays, 65 yards, TOP 4:47, LOU 14 - WVU 2100:09 LOU - Rogers, Eli 4 yd pass from BRIDGEWATER, T. (Philpott, Chris kick) 6 plays, 56 yards, TOP 1:33, LOU 21 - WVU 213rd 06:24 LOU - Philpott, Chris 39 yd fi eld goal 4 plays, -7 yards, TOP 2:08, LOU 24 - WVU 214th 14:48 LOU - Johnson, Andrew 82 yd blocked FG return (Phil-pott, Chris kick) LOU 31 - WVU 2109:01 WVU - ALSTON, Shawne 7 yd run (BITANCURT, Tyle kick) 8 plays, 96 yards, TOP 2:57, LOU 31 - WVU 2801:50 LOU - BROWN, D. 3 yd run (Philpott, Chris kick) 13 plays, 66 yards, TOP 7:03, LOU 38 - WVU 2800:43 WVU - BAILEY, Stedman 1 yd pass from SMITH, Geno (BI-TANCURT, Tyle kick) 7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 0:59, LOU 38 - WVU 35

KICKOFF TIME: 12:08PM END OF GAME: 3:33 TOTAL ELAPSED TIME: 3:25OFFICIALS: REFEREE: JEFF MACONAGHY; UMPIRE: JIM ECKL; LINESMAN: STEVE MATARANTE; LINE JUDGE: TODD LAPENTA; BACK JUDGE: BRYAN PLATT; FIELD JUDGE: RICK SANTILLI;SIDE JUDGE: GEORGE LIOTUS; SCORER: MARK DEVAULT;TEMPERATURE: 45 WIND: ESE 6MPH WEATHER: SUNNY

TEAM STATS LOU WVU FIRST DOWNS................... 15 28 Rushing..................... 7 10 Passing..................... 8 18 Penalty..................... 0 0NET YARDS RUSHING............. 105 123 Rushing Attempts............ 33 34 Average Per Rush............ 3.2 3.6 Rushing Touchdowns.......... 3 2 Yards Gained Rushing........ 140 160 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 35 37NET YARDS PASSING............. 246 410 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 21-27-1 31-44-0 Average Per Attempt......... 9.1 9.3 Average Per Completion...... 11.7 13.2 Passing Touchdowns.......... 1 3TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 351 533 Total offense plays......... 60 78 Average Gain Per Play....... 5.8 6.8Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 0-0 3-2Penalties: Number-Yards....... 3-25 5-30PUNTS-YARDS................... 6-203 3-62 Average Yards Per Punt...... 33.8 20.7 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 33.8 20.7 Inside 20................... 2 0 50+ Yards................... 0 0 Touchbacks.................. 0 0 Fair catch.................. 3 0KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 7-453 6-341 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 64.7 56.8 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 31.3 35.7 Touchbacks.................. 0 0Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1-0-0 0-0-0 Average Per Return.......... 0.0 0.0Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 6-127-0 7-234-0 Average Per Return.......... 21.2 33.4Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 1-15-0

Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-1 0-0-0Miscellaneous Yards........... 94 0Possession Time............... 30:46 29:14 1st Quarter................. 8:59 6:01 2nd Quarter................. 5:48 9:12 3rd Quarter................. 6:44 8:16 4th Quarter................. 9:15 5:45Third-Down Conversions........ 5 of 13 8 of 14Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 0 of 1Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 5-5 4-6 Touchdowns.................. 4-5 4-6 Field goals................. 1-5 0-6Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-34 4-22PAT Kicks..................... 5-5 5-5Field Goals................... 1-1 0-2

INDIVIDUAL STATSRushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgBROWN, D. 14 76 7 69 1 55 4.9ANDERSON, Vic 8 41 2 39 0 16 4.9Perry, Senorise 1 13 0 13 1 13 13.0Wright, Jeremy 3 10 0 10 1 8 3.3TEAM 2 0 4 -4 0 0 -2.0BRIDGEWATER, T. 5 0 22 -22 0 0 -4.4Totals... 33 140 35 105 3 55 3.2

Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long SackBRIDGEWATER, T. 21-27-1 246 1 37 4 Totals... 21-27-1 246 1 37 4

Receiving No. Yds TD Long Rogers, Eli 5 63 1 37BROWN, D. 3 32 0 21ANDERSON, Vic 3 22 0 11Parker, DeVante 2 37 0 26CHICHESTER, J. 2 36 0 29White, Chris 2 25 0 18HARRIS, M. 2 16 0 9Smith, Andrell 1 8 0 8Bellamy, Josh 1 7 0 7 Totals... 21 246 1 37

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TBPhilpott, Chris 5 161 32.2 43 1 0Bleser, Josh 1 42 42.0 42 1 0Totals... 6 203 33.8 43 2 0

Punts Kickoffs InterceptAll Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.LgRogers, Eli 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0BROWN, D. 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0ANDERSON, Vic 0 0 0 3 78 31 0 0 0Bushell, Adrian 0 0 0 1 21 21 0 0 0Wright, Jeremy 0 0 0 1 27 27 0 0 0 Totals... 1 0 0 6 127 31 0 0 0

Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB AvgPhilpott, Chris 7 453 0 0 64.7

DEFENSIVE STATSNo. Player Solo Ast Tot 29 Smith, Hakeem 7 3 10 33 Evans, Mike 6 3 9 21 Bushell, Adrian 5 2 7 2 Brown, Preston 6 . 6 25 Pryor, Calvin 6 . 6 15 Johnson, Andrew 5 1 6 46 Heyman, Dexter 3 3 6 93 Philon, Roy 2 3 5 6 Scruggs, Greg 1 3 4 32 Perry, Senorise 3 . 3 95 Salmon, Randy 2 1 3 44 Butler, B.J. 2 1 3 91 Savoy, William 1 2 3 2A HARRIS, M. 1 . 1 23 Simien, Terence 1 . 1 81 White, Chris 1 . 1 43 Rogers, Deon . 1 1 48 MOUNT, D. . 1 1 86 MAULDIN, L. . 1 1 24 Brown, Daniel . 1 1

OFFENSEQUARTERBACK 5 Teddy Bridgewater 6-3 205 Fr. 4 Will Stein 5-10 176 Jr.10 Dominique Brown 6-2 221 So. RUNNING BACK 10 Dominique Brown (or) 6-2 221 So.20 Victor Anderson 5-10 189 Sr. 28 Jeremy Wright INJ. 5-11 199 So. 32 Senorise Perry (or) 6-0 201 So. 30 Kamal Hogan (or) 5-11 209 r-Fr. 22 Corvin Lamb 5-9 206 Fr. X-WIDE RECEIVER 14 Andrell Smith 6-3 209 Jr. 9 DeVante Parker 6-3 180 Fr. H-WIDE RECEIVER82 Eli Rogers 5-10 184 Fr. 1 Josh Bellamy 6-0 206 Sr. Z-WIDE RECEIVER 2 Michaelee Harris 6-2 198 r-Fr. 89 Scott Radcliff 5-10 182 Jr. 88 Jarrett Davis 5-10 172 So. TIGHT END 11 Josh Chichester 6-8 240 Sr. 81 Chris White 6-4 243 r-Fr. 85 Nate Nord 6-5 248 Jr.80 Stephon Ball INJ. 6-4 231 Jr. LEFT TACKLE 66 Alex Kupper 6-3 295 Jr. 73 Hector Hernandez INJ. 6-5 294 Sr. 78 Aaron Epps 6-5 265 Fr. LEFT GUARD 70 John Miller 6-2 308 Fr. . 68 Kamran Joyer INJ. 6-3 299 So. CENTER 55 Mario Benavides 6-4 300 Jr. 62 John Clark 6-2 305 Sr. RIGHT GUARD 53 Jake Smith 6-3 315 r-Fr. 72 Hunter Stout (or) 6-4 291 So. 76 Chase Petersen 6-4 294 Fr. RIGHT TACKLE 75 Ryan Kessling 6-5 314 Sr. 79 Jamon Brown 6-5 320 Fr 71 Chris Acosta 6-3 275 r-Fr.

DEFENSEFOX END 44 B.J. Butler 6-2 276 So. 91 William Savoy 6-1 248 Sr. 47 Malcolm Mitchell 6-2 236 So. DEFENSIVE TACKLE 93 Roy Philon 6-3 272 So.

95 Randy Salmon 6-3 291 Jr. NOSE TACKLE 92 Brandon Dunn 6-3 308 So. 99 Jamaine Brooks 6-4 318 r-Fr. DEFENSIVE END 6 Greg Scruggs 6-4 280 Sr. 17 Marcus Smith 6-4 255 So. 90 B.J. Dubose 6-4 257 Fr. SAM LINEBACKER 2 Preston Brown 6-0 258 So. 31 Champ Lee 6-0 204 So. MIKE LINEBACKER 46 Dexter Heyman 6-3 239 Sr. 51 Mike Privott 6-0 224 So. 37 Tyon Dixon 6-0 208 So. WEAKSIDE LINEBACKER 48 Deiontrez Mount 6-5 215 Fr.24 Daniel Brown 6-1 219 Jr. 43 Deon Rogers 6-2 200 So. CORNERBACK 41 Stephan Robinson 5-8 175 r-Fr. 3 Charles Gaines INJ 5-10 176 Fr. STRONG SAFETY 29 Hakeem Smith 6-1 183 So. 27 Jermaine Reve 6-2 175 Fr. FREE SAFETY 25 Calvin Pryor 6-1 190 Fr. 36 Shenard Holton 6-1 187 Jr. 33 Mike Evans 5-11 188 Sr. CORNERBACK 21 Adrian Bushell 5-11 190 Jr.5 Andrew Johnson 5-10 178 Fr.

SPECIAL TEAMSPUNTER

12 Chris Philpott (or) 6-0 198 Sr.

40 Josh Bleser 6-2 213 Sr.

PLACEKICKER

12 Chris Philpott (or) 6-0 198 Sr.

35 Andrew Fletcher 5-8 170 r-Fr.

LONG SNAPPER

33 Grant Donovan 6-1 213 r-Fr.

85 Nate Nord 6-5 248 Jr.

HOLDER

40 Josh Bleser 6-2 213 Sr.

4 Will Stein 5-10 176 Jr.

PUNT RETURN

89 Scott Radcliff (or) 5-10 182 Jr.

82 Eli Rogers 5-10 184 Fr.

KICKOFF RETURNS

20 Victor Anderson 5-10 189 Sr. 21 Adrian Bushell 5-11 190 Jr.

CURRENT DEPTH CHART


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

CARDS RELY ON A HISTORY LESSON AS PITT INVADES By Russ BrownThe University of Louisville football team

under coach Charlie Strong has been here be-fore. Twice, in fact. The question is, will this time be different?

We’re referring to the fact that the surpris-ing Cardinals are once again on the cusp of a major upgrade in status. Just as they were two months ago. Just as they were last year about this time.

They stumbled both times, a fact that Strong reminded his players about during their regular weekly post-game meeting Sun-day, less than 24 hours after UofL had stunned then-No. 24/21 West Virginia -- the preseason Big East Conference title favorite -- 38-35 in Morgantown.

Last season the Cards had an identical 5-4 overall record after upsetting Syracuse 28-20 in the Carrier Dome to snap an 11-game conference road losing streak. But then came back-to-back losses to South Florida and West Virginia at home, putting UofL in the position of having to beat Rutgers on the road to gain bowl eligibility and avoid fi nishing in a tie for last place in the league. UofL came through easily, 40-13.

This season, UofL ended a four-game skid against Kentucky with a 24-17 victory in Lex-ington, only to fail to take advantage of that momentum and lose three in a row, including to heavy underdog Marshall at home.

Now UofL is riding its fi rst three-game conference winning streak since 2006, is in second place in the Big East at 3-1 and has another chance to grab the brass ring when it hosts Pittsburgh (4-5, 2-2) at noon Saturday in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium with bowl eligi-bility and a potential league title on the line.

The win over West Virginia was truly a rare, unexpected and impressive accomplishment. The Cards, two-touchdown underdogs, beat a ranked team on the road for the fi rst time since 2008 at Cincinnati, snapped a four-game losing streak against the Mountaineers and won in Morgantown for the fi rst time since 1990.

But Strong is trying to temper the enthusi-asm to a degree, lest history repeat itself.

“Don’t want our fans to get too excited,” he said. “We beat Kentucky, then the next week we lose to Marshall. And if you look at last year, we were sitting in the same posi-tion. So our players understand that. We need to get stronger as we go down the stretch. We’re still growing up, and we need to get better each week.

“The challenge comes from outside infl u-ences. You’re on campus and everyone is tell-ing them how good it was and how great it feels. I said to them, ‘Think about how you felt after the Kentucky game, and then you’re not prepared to go into practice the next week.”

Senior defensive end Greg Scruggs said he and his teammates have learned their lesson and this time things will be different.

“We know we rode that emotional win at Kentucky, as much as we tried not to, and let it get to our heads too much,” he said. “I think you can already see the demeanor on our team. We’re focused and able to put that win behind us. It was a great win for the team and for the program, but the season goes on. I think everybody is coming out ready to work this week.”

This will be the fi nal home game for Louis-

ville’s 16 seniors, including eight starters. UofL will fi nish its regular season at Connecticut (4-5, 2-2) on Nov. 19 and at USF (4-4, 0-4) on Nov. 25.

In truth, Louisville’s chances for the auto-matic BCS bowl berth that goes with the Big East championship are slim. Cincinnati (7-1, 3-0) leads the league and owns the tie-break-er over UofL due to its 25-16 victory, so the Bearcats would have to lose two of their last four games to open the door for the Cards.

A key game comes Saturday when No. 23 UC hosts West Virginia (6-3, 2-2) in Paul Brown Stadium. The Bearcats also have road games remaining against Rutgers (6-3, 3-2) and Syracuse (5-4, 1-3) and at home against UConn (3-5, 1-2).

“There’s so much parity in this league, you never know from week to week,” Strong said. “Look at us, nobody thought we would go to West Virginia and win, so you just don’t know in this league.”

In any case, Strong is continuing his strat-egy of not mentioning a bowl or possible con-ference title to his players.

“I haven’t said anything about it,” he said. “I just want to make sure our focus stays on Pitt. Let’s make sure we handle our business at home. I say, ‘Guys, let’s worry about Pitt and everything else will take care of itself. It’s the last home game for our seniors, so let’s make sure we send them out the right way.’”

However, Strong did make it a point to tell his players about an instance when he was an assistant coach at Florida. The Gators went into the last two weeks of the 2006 season No. 6 in the BCS standings but fi nished No. 2 and played for, and won, the national cham-pionship after three teams ahead of them -- UofL, Michigan and USC -- all lost.

“I said, ‘You control your own destiny, don’t worry about what’s out there. There’s a lot left and a lot of things could happen,’” he said. “’Let’s make sure we don’t stub our own toe looking ahead to something else.’”

Scruggs said the players don’t talk about bowls or championships among themselves, either.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and get kicked in the face these last three games,” he said. “I think we’re doing a great job of letting the season unfold as it may as opposed to starting to think about things in the future.”

At this stage of the season, Pittsburgh is one of the most disappointing teams in the Big East, although that is due in part to cir-cumstances beyond its control -- namely, a season-ending knee injury to star running back Ray Graham.

The Panthers have been up and down un-der new coach Todd Graham and are coming off a come-from-ahead 26-23 loss to Cincin-nati at Heinz Field. Pitt’s defense has been solid, but its offense has struggled under the erratic play of quarterback Tino Sunseri and the lack of a running attack since Graham’s departure on Oct. 26 against UConn.

Zach Brown has carried 23 times for 84 yards (3.6 yards per carry) in two games since Graham went down, but take away his 36-yard gain against Cincinnati when the line opened a huge hole and his average drops to 2.2 yards.

Against UC, Pitt couldn’t hold onto a 23-13 lead in the third quarter. The Panthers have en-tered the fourth quarter in four of their losses with the lead, tied or down by only two points (Utah).

“It isn’t over yet,” coach Todd Graham said. “We’ve got to regroup, and we will do that. Our guys are sick of losing. They are sick of being up one week and then down the next. We need to go and beat Louisville.”

Unlike last week, when UofL’s biggest chal-lenge was on defense against West Virginia’s high-powered passing attack, the most diffi -cult task this week falls on the Cards’ offense, which posted a season-high in points, along with its highest total offense (351 yards) in seven games.

Pitt’s defense, which returned eight start-ers from the unit that shut down UofL 20-3 last season while allowing only 185 yards, has been its strong suit.

The Panthers have excelled on third down. They stopped Cincinnati on 11 of 13 third downs to improve their national ranking to 16th (46 of 142, 32 percent). A big reason has been Pitt’s pass rush, which ranks sixth nation-ally with 29 sacks.

“Pittsburgh is just like everyone else in this league, kind of up and down,” Strong said. “We have to play well. We can’t overlook any-thing because we’re not where we need to be either. You’re probably going to see two similar teams on the fi eld Saturday.”

Strong said Louisville was at a crossroads after the loss to Marshall followed by setbacks at North Carolina and Cincinnati dropped its record to 2-4. The Cards either could have continued their slide, or reversed fi eld, which is what they did by beating Rutgers, Syracuse and WVU.

“A month ago, sitting here, I didn’t know which direction we were going to go, didn’t know what we were going to fall to,” Strong said. “The leadership took over, we won a game and the confi dence gradually started coming back.”

Now the Cards face another pivotal game, and the stakes keep getting bigger.

B O W L E L I G I B I L I T Y , T I T L E C H A N C E S O N L I N E

RUSS BROWN’S RUNDOWNUOFL 38, WEST VIRGINIA 35

The game was over when: Dominque Brown grabbed West Virginia’s onside kick with 42 seconds remaining.

Turning point: Andrew Johnson’s 82-yard return of a blocked fi eld goal by Adrian Bushell on the fi rst play of the fourth quarter gave the Cardinals a huge spark and increased their lead to 31-21.

UofL Offensive Player of the Game: Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed 21 of 27 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. “Teddy just continues to get better and better,” UofL coach Charlie Strong said.

UofL Defensive Player of the Game: (tie) Sopho-more strong safety Hakeem Smith led UofL with 10 tackles and forced a fumble. Senior nickel back Mike Evans was close behind with nine tackles and also recovered a fumble.

Who’s Hot: The Cards at the start of games, fi nally. After failing to score on their opening drive in any of the fi rst seven games, they now have scored on their fi rst possession two games in a row. Jeremy Wright did the honors against West Virginia with an 8-yard run that capped a 73-yard drive in just fi ve plays, highlighted by Brown’s 55-yard run off left tackle.

Who’s Not: UofL’s defense went into the game as one the stingiest teams in the FBS but has some regrouping to do against Pittsburgh this Saturday after allowing a whopping 533 yards total offense to the Mountaineers. That was 237.4 yards more than the Cards’ season defensive average of 295.6 ypg and the most points allowed since Cincinnati’s 35-27 victory on Oct. 15, 2010. It dropped UofL from No. 12 to No. 17 in total defense nationally.

On the Rise: Louisville has now posted back-to-back season highs in scoring and total offense after getting 27 points and 343 yards against Syra-cuse the previous week. The Cards had 351 yards against WVU in scoring their second-most points in 22 games under Strong, the higest total coming in last year’s 40-13 rout of Rutgers.

On the decline: The Cards fi nally got their penalties under control. They went into the game averaging slightly over eight per outing but were fl agged for just three for 25 yards. However, UofL still ranks near the bottom of the FBS, in a tie for No. 116 with Purdue at 7.89 per game.

Quotable: “Not a very hard one to fi gure out -- you lose the turnover battle, you go 0 for 2 on fi eld goals. That gets you beat.” -- WVU coach Dana Holgorsen.

Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed his fi rst 10 passes and fi nished 21 of 27 for 246 yards and a TD with one interception against West Virginia. - photo by Chuck Feist


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

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 W, 16-14

Sat., Oct. 29 Syracuse W, 27-10

Sat., Nov. 5 at West Virginia W, 38-35

Sat., Nov. 12 Pittsburgh (WHAS-11) Noon

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

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)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)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)96 Jamon Brown 6-6 325 DT FR Fern Creek, Ky. (Fern Creek)99 Jamaine Brooks 6-4 329 DL RS FR Miami, Fla. (Palmetto)

2011 FOOTBALL ROSTER

OFFENSEQB12 Tino Sunseri | 6-2, 215, Jr., RS11 Mark Myers | 6-4, 230, Fr., RSTB 4 Zach Brown | 5-9, 225, Sr., RS34 Isaac Bennett | 5-11, 190, Fr.,WR 15 Devin Street | 6-4, 190, So., RS6 Drew Carswell | 6-4, 215, Fr., RSWR 87 Mike Shanahan | 6-5, 225, Jr., RS84 Ed Tinker | 6-2, 190, So., RSWR14 Ronald Jones | 5-8, 165, Fr.,3 Darius Patton | 5-10, 170, Fr.,TE83 Hubie Graham | 6-4, 230, Jr., RS8 Anthony Gonzalez | 6-3, 215, Fr., RSOT 60 Greg Gaskins | 6-4, 295, Sr., RS52 Lucas Nix | 6-6, 310, Sr.,OT 68 Jordan Gibbs | 6-7, 315, Sr., RS60 Greg Gaskins | 6-4, 295, Sr., RSOG 76 Ryan Schlieper | 6-5, 305, So., RS70 Juantez Hollins | 6-5, 305, So., RSOG 52 Lucas Nix | 6-6, 310, Sr.,78 Cory King | 6-6, 325, So., RS

C 75 Ryan Turnley | 6-6, 320, Jr., RS60 Greg Gaskins | 6-4, 295, Sr., RS DEFENSE DE97 Aaron Donald | 6-0, 270, So.,96 Justin Hargrove | 6-4, 270, Sr., RSDT 98 Chas Alecxih | 6-5, 285, Sr., RS95 K. Mosley-Smith | 6-0, 290, Fr.,NT 94 Myles Caragein | 6-2, 290, Sr., RS91 Tyrone Ezell | 6-4, 295, So., RSLB 7 Brandon Lindsey | 6-2, 250, Sr., RS10 LaQuentin Smith | 6-2, 225, Fr.,LB 8 Todd Thomas | 6-2, 220, Fr., RS34 Carl Fleming | 6-1, 220, So., RSLB 38 Greg Williams | 6-3, 240, Sr., RS32 Tristan Roberts | 6-1, 230, Sr., RSLB 55 Max Gruder | 6-2, 230, Sr., RS5 Ejuan Price | 6-0, 235, Fr.,CB 22 Antwuan Reed | 5-10, 190, Sr.,21 Buddy Jackson | 6-1, 180, Sr., RSCB 2 K’waun Williams | 5-10, 190, So.,

27 Lloyd Carrington | 6-0, 180, Fr.,S 41 A. Taglianetti | 5-11, 190, Jr., RS20 Brandon Ifi ll | 6-1, 200, Fr., RSS 18 Jarred Holley | 5-10, 190, Jr., RS SPECIAL TEAMSK39 Kevin Harper | 5-10, 180, Jr., RS90 Chris Yankoski | 5-10, 200, Sr., RS

H92 Matt Yoklic | 6-2, 205, So., RS49 Garrett Tonio | 5-10, 195, Sr., RS KR2 Corey Davis | 5-11, 180, Fr.,21 Buddy Jackson | 6-1, 180, Sr., RS P92 Matt Yoklic | 6-2, 205, So., RS11 Mark Myers | 6-4, 230, Fr., RS LS58 Kevin Barthelemy | 6-3, 240, So., RS11 Marco Pecora | 5-11, 195, Jr., RS PR14 Ronald Jones | 5-8, 165, Fr.,87 Mike Shanahan | 6-5, 225, Jr., RS

PITT DEPTH CHART


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

S E N I O R S W I L L L E A V E P R O G R A M I N G O O D H A N D S

SCRUGGS THINKS YOUNG CARDS JUST GETTING STARTEDBy Russ BrownGreg Scruggs is so excited about the fu-

ture of the University of Louisville football program that he’d like to stick around a while longer -- with a caveat.

“I’m jealous of those young guys who get to play here the next 2-3-4 years,” he said. “If I could petition to come back for one more year, excluding spring ball, summer training and training camp, I would. I think it’s great for the university what is to come. I think the best is yet to come.”

However, the senior defensive end is run-ning out of eligibility and will play his last game in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Sat-urday at noon against Pittsburgh. After this weekend, he will have two regular-season games remaining -- at Connecticut on Nov. 19 and at South Florida on Nov. 25.

Scruggs was grinning widely when he mentioned the practices, but he was dead serious about where he thinks UofL’s pro-gram is headed under second-year coach Charlie Strong, who is coming off the big-gest victory of his brief head coaching career -- the 38-35 upset of then-No. 24/21 West Virginia last Saturday in Morgantown.

UofL (5-4, 3-1) beat the Mountaineers and put itself into contention for the Big East title despite being picked to fi nish seventh in the coaches’ preseason poll by playing 17 true or redshirt freshmen, along with 14 sophomores. Eight rookies started on offense.

“These freshmen are unbelievable, that’s why I speak (highly) about the future of the program,” Scruggs said. “It’s amazing how they’ve been able to catch on. The best is yet to come for this place. I wear my Louisville stuff proudly, and I will continue to wear it proudly for many, many years to come because of what I see in these guys.”

Scruggs was recruited out of Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School by former coach Steve Kragthorpe’s staff. After appearing in nine games at defensive tackle in 2008 as a true freshman, he started all 12 games as a sophomore and played both end and tackle last season. He’s been hampered by a foot injury this season but has played in eight games and started fi ve, including the West Virginia game.

Scruggs said he has witnessed a change in the culture of Louisville football under Strong. In Scruggs’ fi rst two seasons UofL was 5-7 and 4-8 but last year fi nished 7-6 and earned its fi rst bowl bid in fi ve years, beating Southern Miss in the Beef’ ‘O’ Bra-dy’s Bowl.

The Cards already have equaled last sea-son’s Big East total of three wins and are challenging for the championship with a 3-1 record. A victory in one of their last three games would put them in another bowl.

“I think the big change I’ve seen has been from a program that was kind of on the edge to a program that’s really starting to believe again,” Scruggs said. “My fresh-man and sophomore years I think those guys believed, but you still had some wa-vering about whether we could truly be a good team.

“What I see now is people and coaches who believe we can truly, truly be a good team. When I leave this place I can only imagine how it’s going to take off because those young guys have that belief. They have the culture instilled in them that me-diocrity and anything less than winning won’t be acceptable.”

Although the younger players recruited by Strong have taken playing time away from some of the veterans, Scruggs said

there are no hard feelings. To the contrary, he said the older players have done their best to help the newcomers progress.

“There’s no jealousy whatsoever because you want to do what’s right for the team and what’s going to help the team win,” he said. “You want to help them. Those guys are the future of the program. There’s no jealousy involved, simply just trying to have the best team possible because in the end we all win. I’m passionate about help-ing those guys so they can develop into great players for this university.”

Although Pittsburgh has been up and down this season and is missing All-Amer-ican running back Ray Graham, who suf-fered a season-ending knee injury against Connecticut on Oct. 26, Scruggs said the Cards can’t afford to dwell on their win over West Virginia and take the Panthers lightly. Pitt won last year’s game 20-3.

“Make no mistake about it, any team in this conference can win any game at any point in time,” Scruggs said. “They have a great big offensive line. If you remember, when we went up to Pittsburgh last year they rolled right through us. They have ex-perience and talent, even with the loss of that running back. If we don’t play funda-mental ball, we’ll get embarrassed on my Senior Day, and I don’t want that to hap-pen.”

Scruggs is one of 16 seniors, including injured safety Anthony Conner, who will be making their last home appearance Satur-day. They include running back Victor An-derson, wide receiver Josh Bellamy, tight

end Josh Chichester, offensive tackle Ryan Kessling, linebacker Dexter Heyman and placekicker/punter Chris Philpott.

As is the case with every Senior Day, Scruggs expects emotions to fl ow freely, but he intends to let those feelings enhance rather than hinder his performance.

“Everybody knows I’ve had plenty of ups and downs here and I’ve created a bunch of relationships with the fans and people here,” he said. “It will be pretty emotional, but I have to suppress that until after the game. It won’t really hit me until I come back here on Sunday and realize that’s the last time I’ll step foot in that stadium. But it’s been a great ride here, and I’m going to go out there, as I do every game, and give it my all and let my play express the emotions I’m feeling.

“We seniors have been through a lot, but we’re just trying to ride this wave til the wheels fall off. We’re having more fun than ever. We have a perfect mesh to really truly win as a team. We’ve gotten really, really close.”

Asked where he expected to be next year at this time, Scruggs, a sociology ma-jor, quipped, “A 9-to-5 job.”

BUSHELL HAS A BLOCK PARTYUofL surrendered a staggering 533 yards

of total offense to West Virginia -- 238 more than its season defensive average -- and more than twice its defensive point average, but still managed to win with its special teams play, turnovers and a huge effort by freshman running back Dominque

Brown on a fourth-down play.“They had a lot of yards, but if you get

some turnovers and you stop them at theright time, you can win the football game,”said Strong, whose team recovered twofumbles.

Trailing 24-21 at the start of the fourth quarter, WVU lined up for what seemedlike a chip-shot, 23-yard fi eld goal by Ty-ler Bitancourt to tie the score. But UofL’sAdrian Bushell surged untouched from theedge and cleanly blocked Bitancourt’s at-tempt.

The ball bounced to the left side and freshman defensive back Andrew Johnsonscooped it up and ran 82 yards for a touch-down. So instead of a 24-all tie, the Cardsled 31-21, a 10-point swing that proveddecisive.

“We know Bushell does a really good job ... even in practice he blocks a lot offi eld goals, and he has a really quick takeoffon the ball,” Strong said. “You could seethe whole thing develop. I mean he is thereto pound it and block it. I don’t know if thekicker even got his leg back. Then ‘Drewgets on it. It was unbelievable.”

Bushell said he had Hakeem Smith stunt to the inside to give him a quicker routefrom the edge, believing he could comeclean that way. And he did, blocking thekick with a full-body layout.

Heyman said Bushell was pointing at the kicker before the attempt, “so I knew itwas party time.”

It was UofL’s fi rst blocked fi eld goal for a touchdown since 2008 when BrandonHeath had a 60-yard return against Mem-phis. And it was the fi rst blocked kick fora TD allowed by the Mountaineers since2004 vs. Virginia Tech.

BROWN MAKES GAMBLE PAY OFFAnother big, eye-catching play involv-

ing superior effort came later in the periodand helped provide the eventual winningtouchdown.

Facing a 4th-and-1 at the WVU 43-yard line, Strong rolled the dice and went forit. It was the key play in a 13-play, 66-yarddrive that took 7:03 off the clock with theCards clinging to a 31-28 lead.

“I fl ipped the switch (to defensive coor-dinator Vance Bedford) and said, ‘Vance,I’m going to have to go for it here’” Strongsaid. “And he said, ‘Yeah, you’re going tohave to because I don’t know if we canstop them.’ I said, ‘Whether it’s 50 yardsor 80 yards, they may get a score, so let’sgo for it.’ I fl ipped to (offensive play callerShawn Watson) Wat and said, ‘Go for it.’He said, ‘I’m with you.’”

So Strong called timeout and summoned Brown, telling him, “You have to get thefi rst down.” Brown’s reply: “Coach, I’ll getthe fi rst down. You can trust me on that.”

Brown was hit behind the line of scrim-mage and looked to be stopped but divedahead and somehow got enough yardageto keep the drive alive.

“Their guy got good penetration, Domi-nique jumped over a guy, bounced, thendove to get the fi rst down,” Strong said.“Dominique made an unbelievable run.I felt, if we were going to lose the game,we’re going to lose it right here. We camehere to win the football game. If we don’tget it, we don’t deserve to win the game.”

Six plays later, Brown ran three yards for a touchdown and a 38-28 lead, keepingUofL’s red-zone success perfect for the af-ternoon. The Cards were 5 for 5 in the redzone, with four TDs and a fi eld goal.

Adrian Bushell (21) is about to block a fi eld-goal attempt by West Virginia’s Tyler Bitancurt

early in the fourth quarter. UofL led 24-21 at the time, so a fi eld goal would have tied the score.

Freshman Andrew Johnson set sail after recovering the blocked fi eld-goal attempt en route to an 82-yard touchdown return.

Johnson neared the goal line at the end of his return to give the Cards a 31-21 lead,

representing a 10-point turnaround in around 15 seconds.


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCOFFEE BREAK

What a great game the Cardinals football team played Saturday against No. 24 West Virginia!

UofL’s victory was only its second in Morgantown (I hope the small cadre of Cards fans who attended the game made it out OK) and just the third in 13 games against the Moun-taineers. There was a lot of tension surrounding the game, especially on the message boards. The attempt by WVU to leave the Big East before the 27-month waiting period, an agreement signed by West Virginia, and WVU’s subsequent lawsuit against the league heightened the drama. The message-board fodder became particularly rancorous, as in

this exchange: WVU fan, “How come your mascot has teeth, Cardinal birds don’t have teeth,” UofL fan, “How come your mascot has teeth, West Virginia mountaineers don’t have teeth.” And so it went.

In spite of the taunting and epithets hurled from the stands at the young Cards, they played an excellent game against one of the best offenses in the country. The rapid improvement of a team that lost to Marshall and FIU at home is extremely impressive.

Looking at the stats, however, it’s diffi cult to see how the Cards won the game. They were outgained in total yards 533-351 and average gain per play 6.8 yards to 5.8, and WVU ran 18 more offensive plays

than UofL. But a close look at several categories indicates why Louisville won the game. One important line in the Louisville column was “miscellaneous yards.” In the column for Louisville the number was 94, 82 of which represented the blocked fi eld goal and touchdown by Andrew Johnson in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 10-point turnaround and defi nitely the difference-maker in this game. I have no idea what the other 12 yards represent.

Other stats that indicate this young team is learning to play the college game were: penalties, the Cards moved from No. 119 to No. 116 in the national rankings for penalties per game with only three for 25 yards; red zone scoring, as the young team moved up to No. 87 in the national rankings by going 5 for 5 with four of those touchdowns; sacks, as the defense was able to pressure the elusive Geno Smith with three; and fumbles, with a 0 in the Louisville column and 3, with 2 lost, under WVU. The Cards also benefi tted from bad stats on the part of West Virginia, including a 20.7-yard punting average and 0 for 2 in fi eld-goal attempts. All of a sudden it looks bright for Cards fans to spend the holidays cheering on the home team.

–––––––––The transition from Leonid Yelin of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to Anne Kordes of Louisville,

Ky., as UofL head volleyball coach seems to have gone off very smoothly, thank you. In spite of having no freshmen recruits for the 2011 school year, Kordes has kept the Cards in a familiar position, at the top of the Big East Conference. After Sunday’s win over former league-leader Marquette, the Cards moved to the top of the conference with an 11-1 re-cord. Still remaining on the schedule are away games against Villanova and Georgetown.

For the fi rst time volleyball moved to the Yum! Center this season for six games, and the Cards averaged more than 2,100 fans per game. By not recruiting late for this season, Kordes’ team played short-handed the entire year. But the decision bodes well for the future as Louisville has extra scholarships available for next season. UofL has fi nished fi rst or second every year since entering the Big East.

–––––––––It appears that taking the high road and doing the right thing cost Louisville an immedi-

ate move into the Big 12, or at least a designation as the next member of the conference. Although I have no confi rmation on this as fact, you have to wonder whether it was the willingness of West Virginia to bolt the Big East prior to the 27-month waiting period that allowed the Mountaineers to get the nod over Louisville. My guess is that athletic director Tom Jurich refused to promise the Big 12 that UofL would make an effort to break the agreement and sue the Big East to leave right away, causing the Big 12 to take the team that would come in immediately, or at least try to. WVU’s quick lawsuit (in West Virginia state court) against the Big East charging that the league breached its by-laws when other schools left for another conference seems to indicate that WVU desired to commit the same immoral behavior as Syracuse and Pitt but wanted the courts to give them cover. You have to wonder after the subterfuge and dishonesty by Pitt Chancellor Mark Nor-denberg whether there is any integrity at the top of some college administrations. Cards fans should be proud that Jurich and President James Ramsey have taken the high road throughout this ordeal. As to where the Cards will wind up at the end of all this confer-ence realignment, about all we can do is have faith that these two men will have UofL in a position to realize all of its goals in the world of college athletics.

CARDS VICTORY IN MORGANTOWN

WAS HUGE, TEETH OR NO TEETH

Only President’s Award Winner in Greater Louisville 10 out of 11 years!

448-2802www.bobmontgomery.com

Top 10 Certified Used Car Dealer in the Nation

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Josh Chichester got a pat from Dominique Brown after Brown scored on a 3-yard run with 1:50 left to play to give the Cards a 38-28 lead. Offensive guard Jake Smith is to Brown’s left, Michaelee Harris to his right.

Tuesday, Nov. 1511 a.m. to 8 p.m.

PNC Club at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

Come and check us out at our new location!

FASHION SHOW AT 12:15 p.m.Emcee: Susan Sweeney Crum

Fashions by Sunny Daize and Evolve ConsignmentHair and Makeup by Strandz Salon

Models will be Family and Friends of the University

Lunch Buffet seating 11:30-12:30 /$15.00 personDinner Buffet seating 6:00-7:00/$15.00 person

Cash bar from 4:30 until 7:30

Special guest appearances throughout the day!UofL Cardinal Bird from 3:30-6:30 for photos

Valerie Combs & Bellarmine’s Scotty Davenport!

Silent Auction 11:00 until 7:30.You could win a Hot Air Balloon Ride for 2,

Tickets for 2 for Thunder over Louisville and more!

CENTRAL CARDINAL CLUB

2011 HOLIDAYBOUTIQUE

By Russ BrownGood news is complemented by even

better news where injured University of Lou-isville freshman basketball sensation Wayne Blackshear is concerned, although he’s still a long way off from being a signifi cant factor this season.

A few days after counting the 6-foot-5 Chicago native out for the season with a shoul-der injury, coach Rick Pi-tino revised that declara-tion and said Blackshear will return in 6-8 eight weeks after undergoing successful surgery last week for a torn labrum

in his right shoulder.And despite the latest setback, Pitino

said Blackshear will be in better shape when he returns than he was when he belatedly started preseason practice due to problems with both shoulders.

The fi rst time, he was too inactive; this time there will be no relaxing and gaining weight. He began a conditioning workout Monday.

“Wayne was out 6-8 weeks last time, but he sat around all the time and ate dough-nuts and didn’t exercise,” said Pitino, noting that Blackshear gained 17-18 pounds and checked in at 10 percent body fat.

“The reason I’m so optimistic is that he’ll be running and dribbling,” Pitino said. “For six weeks, though, the right shoulder will not move, so I’m fi guring after six weeks are up we’ll have his legs and his body in terrifi c shape, then he’s got two weeks to get back into basketball shape, to get the arm ready to shoot the ball.”

If all goes well and no more injuries occur, Pitino said he expects Blackshear to be able to contribute by mid-February, which would be around the time of the DePaul game on Feb. 14 in the KFC Yum! Center. But he’ll probably be ready to see limited action well before that date.

“Wayne will be a big lift for us,” Pitino said.

Of course, Blackshear isn’t the only Cardi-nal ailing. Sophomore backup center Steph-an Van Treese (knee) still hasn’t practiced and likely will be out until the Butler game on Nov. 19. Forward Rakeem Buckles is still recovering from knee surgery, junior guard Mike Marra is battling recurring back prob-lems, forward Jared Swopshire still isn’t fully recovered from surgery for a sports hernia that caused him to miss the entire 2010-11 season, and point guard Peyton Siva sat out last week’s exhibition win over Bellarmine College with a concussion.

“We’ve had some of the worst last eight or nine days you could possibly have,” Pitino said following UofL’s 62-54 victory over Bel-larmine last Thursday. “Our injuries happen without competition. They happen when our own player elbowed (Siva) and gave him a concussion. Jared has not recovered from his summer workouts, and Van Treese the same thing. Wayne is taking a layup with nobody on him and he screams as if some-body shot him.”

This is the third straight injury-marred season UofL has endured, and the Cards haven’t even played their fi rst regular-sea-son game yet -- that will come Friday against Tennessee Martin in the KFC Yum! Center.

Pitino chalks it up simply to a string of bad fortune.

“It’s fl uky and bad luck. Nothing more,” he said. “I’m easier on them than I’ve ever been. I’ve gotten soft in my old age. So the idea that I’m working them too hard is (bunk), and we have the best trainer (Fred Hina) in the country.

“Sometimes you have good luck, some-times bad luck, and we’ve had a run of bad luck the last three years. But we’ve still been able to win. We contended for the Big East championship last year.”

It would be nice, though, if after the lat-

est walking wounded return to health UofL could get through the rest of the year with-out more injury-related setbacks.

BULLET MISFIRESPitino said sophomore guard Elisha Jus-

tice could be invaluable this season as a backup to Peyton Siva at the point, but playing in place of Siva against Bellarmine Justice struggled at times on both ends of the court.

While playing a team-high 38 minutes, Justice missed 5 of 6 shots, had as many turnovers (3) as assists and got no steals.

“But Bullet will be stable, consistent and dependable this season,” Pitino said.

Said Justice: “I thought it was a good ex-perience for me, getting to play so much. Bellarmine is a really good team. They move the ball so well and really made us work de-fensively because they can all step out and shoot the ball.

“I could have played a lot better. I should have been a lot more active defensively, gotten more defl ections. Soon, Peyton will be back and I’ll just be backing him up and coming in to help the team any way that I can, trying to run the offense, be aggressive on defense and make steals.”

SWOP TO GET MORE SHOTSIn the fi nal tuneup for the season opener,

Pitino said he was pleased with Swopshire,who came off the bench to get 14 pointsin 23 minutes and tie Chane Behanan forgame rebounding honors with nine.

“Swop did some terrifi c things, gave us a big lift,” Pitino said.

Because of the pain and discomfort as-sociated with his injury, Swopshire hasn’tbeen getting individual instruction, but thatchanged this week, primarily to help hisshooting touch, although he made 7 of 9against Bellarmine.

Pitino said Swopshire takes about 12 shots during a normal practice, whereasindividual instruction gives him a chance toput up 200-300.

“He’s missing 800 to 1,000 shots a week,” Pitino said. “He is the only one whois not improving his shot, so I told him nomore skipping the individual sessions andthey will help him a lot.”

DIENG SURVIVES EARLY FOULSSophomore center Gorgui Dieng picked

up two fouls before the fi rst media timeoutin the Bellarmine game but didn’t get anymore the rest of the way, even though hewas chasing smaller, quicker players. Diengwent to the bench after his second foul butwas reinserted with 6:43 left in the fi rst half.He wound up playing 24 minutes, gettingeight points, six rebounds and four blocks.

By putting him back in the game, Pitino was looking ahead so Dieng wouldn’t beworried about coming out or lose his ag-gressiveness down the road.

“Sometimes when you get two fouls you get tentative, and that is why I put him backin,” Pitino said. “I didn’t want him to getthat mentality that he would be thinking hewasn’t going back in with two fouls. Whathappens then is they go out really soft andthey don’t play defense trying to stay out offoul trouble. Peyton Siva did that in the last(exhibition) game, and he didn’t look good.I want them to be aggressive.”

DAVENPORT GOES GUCCIBefore the game, Pitino presented Bel-

larmine coach Scott Davenport, a formerUofL assistant coach, with a gift of Gucciostrich leather shoes that are listed on theGucci web site as costing $1,650.

“I was trying to give Scotty something he would never think of buying himself,”Pitino said. “Ostrich Gucci shoes are not ex-actly what Scotty Davenport is all about. Buthe’d better wear them. As much as thoseshoes cost, he’d better wear them to bedat night.”

Sorry, Rick.“I’m putting them in a trophy case,” Dav-

enport said. “I’m not going to wear those. Maybe I’ll bronze them.”


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

Freshman power forward Chane Behanan had 14 points and nine rebounds in Louisville’s 62-54 exhibition win over Bellarmine last week. - photo by Gail Kamenish

NO MORE DOUGHNUTS ON THE HORIZON FOR BLACKSHEAR

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN


GAME THREE PREVIEW - KENTUCKY

Wow, what a win! It was Louisville’s fi rst victory in Morgantown since 1990 and

its fi rst against West Virginia in the past fi ve meetings. The Cardinals are now 3-10 all-time against WVU. The Mountaineers started last week as 14-point favorites, down to 13 1/2 by Saturday. This game was in their house amongst a fan base that was thirsty for a pound of fl esh from Louisville for temporarily delaying their new conference party. Louisville was not supposed to win this game. “We went on the road and won a tough game here at West Virginia and got our third win in the conference,” Charlie Strong said. “I am so happy for our team, and I am happy with how well they responded.” And here’s one more crazy stat: It is just the third loss since 2000 for WVU when scoring 30 or more points. WVU is now 73-3 since 2000 when scoring 30 or more points. Two of those three losses were to Louisville.

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was named the Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week for his performance in the Cardinals’ 38-35 win over No. 24/21 West Virginia. Bridgewater was 21 of 27

for a career-high 246 yards and a touchdown. His 77.7 completion percentage was the 10th-best single-game mark in school history. He completed passes to nine different receivers, and he has thrown for 1,275 yards and eight touchdowns this season. He is completing 65.5 percent of his throws this season, remarkable for a freshman quarterback. And three of his top four receivers are freshmen, and three offensive linemen who have started are freshmen. “We’ve been patient, we’ve had to be patient because of (the freshmen) we’re dealing with,” new offensive playcaller Shawn Watson said after the Cardinals beat West Virginia. “They’re experiencing college football for the fi rst time, but what you see is they have a great skill set and great heart.” Watson later added, “The future looks very bright.”

One of the biggest changes since Watson took over the play-calling? Red zone scoring! Louisville has scored a touchdown on seven of its last nine trips to the red zone, including 4 TDs in fi ve

trips against West Virginia, with the other trip resulting in a fi eld goal. Against Murray State, Louisville was 2 of 3 in the red zone, both TDs; against FIU 2 of 3, one TD and one FG; against UK 1 of 1, a FG, and against Marshall 1 of 1, a TD. For the record, the Mountaineers were 4 of 6 in the red zone, all TDs, but missed fi eld goals on their other two trips. WVU lost despite gaining 533 total yards. “I really don’t care about the number of yards,” WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We had the ball in the red zone and didn’t convert.”

After Louisville shocked West Virginia, the players high-fi ved fans along the wall next to the fi eld and then continued their celebration in the locker room. The Associated Press reported that

the Cardinals could be heard loudly singing John Denver’s hit, “Country Roads,” at the top of their lungs. “Country Roads ... take me home ... to the place ... I belong ...” is what quarterback Will Stein posted on Twitter shortly after the game. Then on Sunday, WHAS-11 posted a video from inside the locker room that showed Charlie Strong celebrating with his team, then leaping into their arms and surfi ng across the top of a crowd of players for 15-20 seconds as the players went wild with celebration. It was an awesome scene to watch, and it showed just how joyous Strong and his team were after such a monumental win.

Missouri offi cially going to the SEC means the countdown clock on the UofL-UK Governor’s Cup series has begun. With Missouri in and the SEC now at 14 teams, the league could push its league

schedule to nine games. With only three games left for out-of-conference foes (or as Kentucky views them, wins to make a bowl), the Cats will want to schedule three guaranteed victories. They can’t count Louisville as a guaranteed win now or really ever. Even during UK’s recent four-game winning streak, three of the games were close. Either UK will cite the need to have three homes games for its out-of-

conference slate or the need to give its program a better ability to make a bowl, and they likely will cancel the series. We know UofL will do everything possible to continue the series.

The regular season hasn’t even started yet and a couple of Louisville’s future basketball opponents already have absorbed BAD losses in exhibition games. Butler, which lost to Connecticut

in last year’s national championship game, was stunned by Division II Northern State 53-50, even though the Wolverines from Aberdeen, S.D., were playing their third game in four days and had six new players. Butler, in a continuation of its shooting fi asco against UConn (18 percent), made just 3 of 18 three-point shots (17 percent) and 11 of 21 free throws. “I guess we’ve got nowhere to go but up,” coach Brad Stevens said. A few days later, West Virginia was toppled by D-II Northern Kentucky 77-74 in Morgantown. “Embarrassing,” said WVU guard Truck Bryant. WVU, which suffered its fi rst exhibition loss against a college team, has just three returning players, six freshmen and a JUCO. UofL will meet Butler on Nov. 19 in Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and travel to WVU on Feb. 11.

We can’t wait for college basketball to start Friday night when the Cards take on Tennessee-Martin at 7 in the KFC Yum! Center. Then on Sunday the women’s team will open its season on the road at Missouri

State at 3:05 p.m., with the men taking on Lamar at 4 p.m. in the Yum Center. Then on Tuesday the women will take on Texas A&M, last season’s NCAA champion, in College Station. The men and women both are ranked in the top 10 nationally, and both are expected to contend for a Big East title this season.

It was GOOD to see former Male H. S. quarterback and UofL running back Michael Bush get the starting nod for the Oakland Raiders this week. Bush, who was fi lling in for the injured Darren

McFadden, had 19 carries for 96 yards for an average of 5.1 yards per carry. He also caught two passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. Bush has 60 carries for 237 yards and three touchdowns through the fi rst eight games of the season. The Raiders didn’t fare well, however. They were up 24-14 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter when the Broncos began a string of 24 unanswered points that included an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 60-yard Willis McGahee touchdown. Ouch. Tough way to lose a game.

Former Cardinal and current New England Patriot Deion Branch, who has had a remarkable career, tweeted this after Louisville beat West Virginia: “Shoutout to my Cardinals today with the big win.

Keep up the good work fellas.” After recording a pair of catches for 21 yards against the New York Giants Sunday, Branch has 426 receiving yards and three touchdowns this season as the Patriots’ third receiving threat. For his 123-game career he has 481 receptions for 6,202 yards and 37 touchdowns. He’s also got two Super Bowl rings and a Super Bowl MVP trophy. He has 10 seasons with 30 or more catches and seven with 40 or more. He played 2002-2006 with the Patriots, 2007-2010 with the Seattle Seahawks and now is back with the Patriots for a second season. It likely isn’t a NFL Hall of Fame career given today’s pass-happy numbers, but it is certainly a noteworthy legacy. He’s 32 now, and our guess is he’ll retire as a Patriot. He’ll likely be inducted into the Patriots Honored Jerseys after retirement.

Those so quick to count the Big East as a dead league will be upset to learn how receptive teams have been to joining. Good football programs, too. Last week, Boise State authorized its chancellor to

make a conference switch if he deemed it in the best interest of Boise State. Houston and SMU appear to be ready to sign at any time. UCF is ready to go. Air Force and Navy are apparently set to enter as long as Boise State comes in. Amazingly, if all the teams join that appear ready to join, the Big East would have three teams in the BCS top 25 this week. Boise State is No. 5, fi fth in both human polls that are part of the BCS formula (Coaches and Harris) and fourth in the computers. Houston is No. 11, 11th in both human polls and 13th in the computer rankings. Of current Big East teams, Cincinnati comes in at No. 23 in this week’s BCS standings, 18th in both human polls and 24th in the computer rankings.

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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 .



By Russ BrownRuss Smith has changed his uniform num-

ber. Now he’s trying to change his game.The University of Louisville sopho-

more guard wore No. 24 last season but is now sporting No. 2 on his jersey. Why the switch?

“I didn’t like 24,” Smith said. “Once I get a bad thing with a number, then I always have

to get rid of it. I didn’t change for no other pur-pose than that.”

No wonder he wanted a new number, consid-ering his injury-plagued freshman season, which was certainly one to for-get. He suffered a broken foot on Sept. 25, missed

eight weeks and couldn’t play until the Car-dinals’ fi fth game on Dec. 1. During the rest of the season he also missed games with a concussion, a strained foot and a sore knee.

So he can commiserate with Stephan Van Treese, Rakeem Buckles and Wayne Blacks-hear, all of whom are currently sidelined with injuries.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Smith said. “Last year I was one of the guys like them, and it’s really sad. You just want to be on the court, even if you’re not healthy. You want to be out there.”

So far, as UofL approaches its season opener Friday night against Tennessee Mar-tin in the KFC Yum! Center, Smith has been relatively healthy and is determined to make up for lost time and become part of coach Rick Pitino’s backcourt rotation as a backup to point guard Peyton Siva and shooting guard Chris Smith.

Last year the 6-foot Smith was a non-fac-tor, playing a total of only 96 minutes in 17 games. This season, though, presents a bet-ter opportunity. With freshmen Blackshear out with a shoulder injury and Kevin Ware ineligible for at least the fi rst semester, Smith -- along with fellow sophomore Elisha Jus-tice -- fi gures to be needed more. So he will get a chance to prove his worth and possibly establish himself in the rotation while Blacks-hear and Ware are on the shelf.

“I’ve got something to prove to Coach, re-ally, nobody else,” Smith said. “That he can trust me and that I will listen and try and do everything he tells me to do. That’s pretty much my main goal.”

What Pitino is telling Smith on a daily basis is to shoot less, pass more, eliminate his turn-overs and play better defense. Going into this season he has been a one-dimensional player who Pitino has said “thinks a pass is a virus.”

“He tells me that pretty much every day in practice,” Smith said. “I’m trying, I really am. But it’s just kind of hard trying to think score and pass at the same time when I was originally a scorer. That’s what I’m confused

about now. Sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m struggling, but I’m learning.”

At Archbishop Malloy High School in New York Smith led the New York City Catholic League in scoring two years, averaging 24.5 points as a junior and 29.6 as a senior. Then in a year at South Kent (Conn.) Prep School, he averaged 19.7 points.

Old habits are hard to break.“Our offense in high school was like, I

bring the ball up, see what kind of defense is being played and if our (offensive) set didn’t work I usually just did it on isolation,” he said. “That’s the system I’ve been in all my life until I got here, and I’m used to the one-on-one game. It’s no knock on my other coaches, I was really good at what I was do-ing at that level, but on this level I’ve got to try and expand my game.”

That will take some doing, according to Pi-tino. Aside from not knowing when to shoot and when to pass, Pitino said Smith has to improve dramatically on weakside defense and learn to ball fake better so he doesn’t travel as often.

“Oscar Robertson was one of the top three players of all time because he knew exactly

when to shoot and exactly when to pass,” Pitino said. “Russ hasn’t learned that aspect of it yet. He’ll learn; he’s only a sophomore. He’ll do a good job as long as he doesn’t turn it over.

“We can live with his defensive mistakes because he pressures the ball so well, but we can’t live with his turnovers. And he has to really come light years on defense, as well as quite a few of our guys. He’ll get there. He’s going to be a very good player for us. We need him to shoot, and he’s going to play.”

With Siva out due to a concussion, Smith saw his most extended action as a Cardinal in last week’s 62-54 exhibition victory over defending Division II national champion Bel-larmine and showcased his offensive explo-siveness.

He came off the bench and played 24 min-utes, mostly at shooting guard, and scored 13 points, including eight in a row early in the fi rst half. During that span he drove the lane for three layups and also hit an 18-foot baseline jumper. Next to Siva, Smith is UofL’s most effective player off the bounce, and he made 6 of 13 shots. But he also was guilty of a game-high fi ve turnovers.

“I was trying to just create some offense,” Smith said. “Coach wanted me to come inand dribble drive and stuff. It was kind ofhard because I was supposed to be lookingto pass while I was trying to score, and in do-ing that I turned the ball over a lot.

“The three-ball wasn’t falling (he was 0 for 2), so I was just trying to put it on the fl oorand see what I could get ... see if I could getGorgui (Dieng), Kyle (Kurich) or Swop (JaredSwopshire) some shots, try and take whatthe defense gave me.”

Smith said he isn’t sure whether his out-side shooting or his drives to the basketwould rank as his strong suit offensively.

“I just try and get the job done one way or another,” he said. “There are nights whenI have to shoot it, nights when I can’t fi nish,nights when I can, nights when I get fouled,and sometimes there’s nights when every-thing is going in, and those are nights I reallylook forward to.”

Tri-captain Chris Smith calls Russ (no rela-tion) “an offensive machine,” adding, ‘no-body can stop him off the pick and roll andthen the transition. I love his offense. No-body can guard Russ Smith off the dribble.Nobody. Once we get him to do the defensesame as the offense, he’ll be a great player.He’s still young and he has time, but now weneed him to play right away.”

Russ Smith’s scoring ability aside, he is well aware of what facet of his game willearn him playing time this season.

“Defense, hands down,” he said. “Coach couldn’t care less how many points I score orhow many I score in a row and so on. It’s de-fense. I’m looking forward to playing betterdefense every time I get in.”

And hoping he proves to be so productive wearing No. 2 that he won’t be looking tomake another number change next season.

With Peyton Siva out of the lineup due to a concussion, sophomore Russ Smith scored 13 points and had three steals and two assists against Bellarmine. - photo by Gail Kamenish


S O P H O M O R E S H O O T E R T R Y I N G T O E X P A N D H I S G A M E

RUSS SMITH HOPES HIS NEW NUMBER IS CALLED MORE OFTEN


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLOPPONENT PREVIEW

BY RICK CUSHINGThings haven’t gone well in Pitt’s

inaugural season under coach Todd Graham and his no-huddle, pass-happy offense .

“We’re going to be explosive,” he said before the season. “We want to lead the country in offensive plays and possessions per game. We want to run a play every 15 seconds.”

Pitt even unveiled a new marketing campaign: “High-Octane Football.”

Not so much.Things went sour long before the season began. After coach

Dave Wannstedt was forced to resign following a disappoint-ing season (8-5, but much better was expected), Pitt hired Miami of Ohio coach Mike Haywood, only to fi re him 16 days later after he was charged with felony domestic violence. Pitt quickly turned to Tulsa coach Graham, but the Panthers lost much of a highly rated recruiting class in the interim.

Then came the season. Going into Saturday’s matchup with UofL at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, Pitt is 4-5, 2-2 in the Big East. The Panthers have blown leads three times in the fourth quarter, including a 17-point lead to Iowa, which scored three touchdowns in the fi nal seven minutes.

High-octane football? Pitt ranks 76th in the nation in passing offense (215.56 ypg), 80th in total offense (369 ypg) and 70th in scoring (26.11 ppg).

The defense has been OK, although much better against the run than pass. Pitt’s run defense ranks 32nd in the na-tion (123.44 ypg), but its pass defense ranks 82nd (240.56 ypg). To make matters worse, Pitt’s turnover margin ranks 103rd at minus-7.

The principal reason for such ineptitude? Pitt fans will tell you it’s junior quarterback Tino Sunseri, who has a bad habit of making turnovers at critical times. He’s not entirely to blame, but anyone who watched the Pitt-Cincinnati game last Saturday might argue otherwise. Pitt held a 23-13 lead midway through the third quarter and had the ball when Sun-seri fumbled because he was toting the rock carelessly. The defense held UC to a fi eld goal. Seconds later, Sunseri threw to a receiver who was double-covered and was intercepted. UC scored a touchdown to tie the score and went on to win 26-23 as Sunseri was unable to move the team despite getting the ball at UC’s 40 after an interception. On a subsequent possession he threw several way-off-target passes. Pitt did get in position for a last-second, long fi eld-goal try, but Kevin Harper missed a 50-yarder.

OFFENSESunseri (6-2, 210), who originally committed to UofL be-

fore changing his mind (a break for the Cards), is 175 for 278 (62.9 percent) for 1,841 yards and eight TDs with eight interceptions. He seems confused about the transition from Wannstedt’s pro-style offense to Graham’s hurry-up, West Coast one. He’s 80th in the country in passing effi ciency at 122.32 and has been heavily booed by demanding Pitt fans.

Sunseri’s backup, walk-on freshman Trey Anderson (6-1, 180), is 12 for 33 with three interceptions and no TDs and has proven that he is not the answer although he was given a couple of chances to right the ship.

Pitt has fi ve receivers with 20-plus catches, headed by speedy sophomore WR Devin Street (6-4, -190) with 33 catches for 471 yards (14.3 per catch, 52.3 per game) and two TDs. Junior WR Mike Shanahan (6-5, 220) and junior TE Hubie Graham (6-4, 230) both have caught three TD passes.

The Panthers absorbed a big blow when junior RB Ray Graham (5-9, 195) went down with a knee injury early in the eighth game of the season. At the time he was second in the country in rushing, and he fi nished his season at 119.8 ypg, 5.8 yards per carry and nine TDs. He was a dynamic runner. He also caught 30 passes and averaged 25 receiving yards per game.

Graham’s backup, Wisconsin transfer Zach Brown (5-10, 220), runs hard but lacks explosiveness. He is averaging just

3.5 yards per carry. He is a good receiver, with 22 catches and 19.3 receiving yards per game.

The O-line has been inconsistent and has lost two starters to injury. It enabled Graham to pile up the rushing yards, but it also is 120th and last in the country in sacks allowed at 4.44 a game. Part of that is due to Sunseri holding on to the ball too long, another source of fan unhappiness.

Harper, a sophomore, is 13 for 20 on fi eld-goal attempts with a long of 52 yards. Sophomore Matt Yoklic averages 41.6 yards a punt.

DEFENSEThe defense has not exactly been stout, allowing Iowa to

move at will in the fourth quarter and allowing Rutgers to score 34 points, but it has been better than the offense. Pitt ranks 47th in the country in total defense (364 ypg) and 49th in scoring defense (23.78 ppg). The Panthers are sixth in the country in sacks per game (3.22) and eighth in tackles for loss (7.89 per game).

The Panthers employ a 3-4 alignment and blitz frequent-ly, a strategy that makes Pitt fans happy after six years of Wannstedt’s conservative defenses despite having a couple of stars on the D-line (Big East Defensive Players of the Year Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard in 2009 and 2010 respec-tively).

Senior linebacker Max Gruder (6-2, 230) is the leading tackler with 82, including 6.5 for a loss, but he is more of a fi nesse tackler than a physical one. Senior DB Jared Holley (5-10, 180) and senior LB Tristan Roberts (6-1, 230) are tied for second with 51 stops each.

The leader in sacks with seven is DE Aaron Donald (6-0, 270), and he’s tied with senior DT Chas Alecxih (6-5, 280) in tackles for a loss with 10.5 each. Alecxih has 4.5 sacks, and senior LB Brandon Lindsey (6-2, 250) has 5.5.

Pitt has fi ve interceptions and has recovered four fumbles. The opposition has 11 interceptions and has recovered fi ve fumbles.

Senior Buddy Jackson (6-1, 180) has returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD and averages 23.5 yards a return, and he aver-ages 7.0 yards a punt return, with a long of 22 yards.

PLAYER TO WATCHIt was Ray Graham until he was lost for the season. Now

it is Sunseri to see how many bad decisions he’ll make, forced and unforced.

TEAM STRENGTHThe defense has become the strength of a team that is sup-

posed to be offense-oriented but is not. But this is not the de-fense that Pitt was known for in years past. If any of you read-ers recall the Pitt defense of 1980, you know what I’m talking about. DE Hugh Green was second in Heisman Trophy voting that year (and should have won), and the Pitt D was one of the best of all-time, with such other stalwarts as DE Rickey Jackson (in the NFL Hall of Fame but overshadowed by Green in college), NT Bill Maas, LB Sal Sunseri (Tino’s father), LB Jerry Boyarsky and DB Tim Lewis. That team went 11-1 (Dan Marino was the QB) and held nine opponents to under 10 points.

TEAM WEAKNESSSunseri. He can throw the ball OK, but his decision-making

is very poor. The Cards can take advantage of that.KENTUCKY CONNECTIONPitt has no one on the roster from the Bluegrass State.COACHING RESUMEGraham is known as one of the fi nest offensive minds in

the country. He was 36-17 with three bowl victories in four seasons at Tulsa. Before that he served one season at Rice (7-6 in 2006), leading the Owls to their fi rst bowl game in 45 years. Overall he is 47-28.

ALL-TIME SERIESUofL and Pitt have met 14 times, with each team winning

seven. The Panthers have won the past three games, with UofL winning seven straight before that. When Pitt won its ninth national title in 1976, it beat the Cards 27-6. Heisman winner Tony Dorsett rushed for 150 yards in the fi rst half and sat out the second half.

PANTHERS TRYING TO RIGHT THE SHIP

BOTTOM LINEThe Cards’ roll should continue, although Pitt has enough good players to make it com-petitive. What UofL has to guard against is the-game-after-a-big-win syndrome. It can be tough for college kids to come back down. Admission: I’m from Pittsburgh and a lifelong Pitt football fan.P

ITT

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SATURDAYNOVEMBER 12, 2011

LOUISVILLEVS.

PITTSBURGHLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

12 PM NOONWHAS-11

QB TINO SUNSERIQB TINO SUNSERI

2011 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULTSept. 3, 2011 Buffalo W, 35-16

Sept. 10, 2011 Maine W, 35-29

Sept. 17, 2011 at Iowa L, 31-27

Sept. 24, 2011 Notre Dame L, 15-12

Sept. 29, 2011 South Florida W, 44-17

Oct. 8, 2011 at Rutgers L, 34-10

Oct. 15, 2011 Utah L, 26-14

Oct. 26, 2011 Connecticut W, 35-20

Nov. 5, 2011 Cincinnati L, 26-23

Nov. 12, 2011 at Louisville 12 PM NOON Nov. 25, 2011 at West Virginia TBA

Dec. 3, 2011 Syracuse 12:00 pm ET

2010 RESULTSDATE OPPONENT RESULT RECORD Sept. 2, 2010 at Utah L 27-24 OT 0-1 Sept. 11, 2010 New Hampshire W 38-16 1-1 Sept. 23, 2010 Miami-FL L 31-3 1-2 Oct. 2, 2010 Florida Int’l W 44-17 2-2 Oct. 9, 2010 at Notre Dame L 23-17 2-3 Oct. 16, 2010 at Syracuse W 45-14 3-3 (1-0) Oct. 23, 2010 Rutgers W 41-21 4-3 (2-0) Oct. 30, 2010 Louisville W 20-3 5-3 (3-0) Nov. 11, 2010 at Connecticut L 30-28 5-4 (3-1) Nov. 20, 2010 at South Florida W 17-10 6-4 (4-1) Nov. 26, 2010 West Virginia L 35-10 6-5 (4-2) Dec. 4, 2010 at Cincinnati W 28-10 7-5 (5-2) Jan. 8, 2011 vs. Kentucky W 27-10 8-5

FAST FACTSPitt has won nine national championships –

1915, 1916, 1918, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937 and 1976.

The legendary Pop Warner coached

the Panthers from 1915-23, compiling a 59-12-4 record, with three undefeated

seasons and three national titles.

HEAD COACHHEAD COACHTODD GRAHAMTODD GRAHAM


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCARDINAL FOOTBALL

By Russ BrownWith a Masters Degree in business ad-

ministration, Justin Burke could have em-barked on what promises to be a lucrative career in the corporate world, but the for-mer University of Louisville quarterback decided he wasn’t fi nished with football. It’s a decision he hasn’t regretted.

As a graduate assistant for UofL, Burke is seeing college football from the other

side and getting a dif-ferent perspective than he did while playing for North Carolina State and then UofL for two sea-sons.

“I’ve loved it,” he said.

Burke works with the offense and tries to help freshman quarterback

Teddy Bridgewater and junior QB Will Stein as much as possible.

During the week Burke breaks down fi lm on the upcoming opponent, what he calls “prep work, so the gurus can take that information and make it into a game plan.” On game days he’s on the fi eld communicating with quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson, who calls the plays from the press box.

Burke’s workload has increased some-what since the departure of former of-fensive coordinator Mike Sanford. Before, Sanford was in the press box and Watson signaled the plays to the quarterback.

“Oh gosh, we’ve got a really great group of guys,” Watson said of the GAs. “They’ve all pitched in and done their jobs really well. They’ve picked up a big work-load and we’ve all shared in it and we’ll fi ght our way through it. Justin has done a nice job. He’s going to be a great young coach, he really is. He’s done a tremendous job.”

Said Burke: “It’s a situation you have to work through. Nothing has really changed, the game-planning, my schedule or any-thing. You just adjust to whatever deci-sions are made. Our job is the same: Go out and put on a show for the fans, and the players deserve to have a good game plan.”

Bridgewater said he appreciates Burke’s input and guidance.

“Burke means a lot. He has that game experience last year and previous years,” Bridgewater said. “So he kind of knows what the opposing team is running and things like that.”

Burke describes himself as the go-be-tween bridging the players and full-time coaches. He said working with the coaches has been a real eye-opener from the stand-point of workload, and he keeps the same hours as most of the coaches, getting into the offi ce at 7 a.m. every day and leaving sometime between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.

“They’re long days, some longer than others,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do. But if I didn’t stay busy, I wouldn’t know what to do. It’s the perfect profes-sion for me, always doing something, on the move, or as people say, grinding

around. But it’s very rewarding on Satur-day if you come out with a win.”

Burke, a Lexington, Ky., native, began his career at N.C. State, then transferred to UofL in 2008. He spent his junior sea-son as Adam Froman’s backup. Last year, with Froman sidelined by an injury, Burke started the fi nal fi ve games and threw 10 touchdown passes, including two in the 31-28 victory over Southern Missis-sippi in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

Seeing life from a coach’s perspective has caused Burke to regret not working even harder as a player.

“You never really know as a player how hard these guys work and how much coaches really care about the players,” he said. “That gets lost because you can’t see big picture as player. But when you become a coach you see a lot of the fi ner details. If I studied then like I do now I would have been a lot better player. You don’t realize the amount of work and how really detailed this business is.

“Even though I felt I did a lot of study-ing, it wasn’t enough. As a player, you don’t realize when you chart it and you draw it and look at it all the time, it really does improve your performance mentally and makes the game easier.”

When his playing career ended, Burke wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, he just knew he loved being around football. So when head coach Charlie Strong asked him if he would like to be a grad assistant, he felt it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

“Coach Strong is pretty awesome,” Burke said. “Before I made any real-life de-cisions, I wanted to make sure this was a path I did or didn’t want to take. It’s been a rewarding experience so far, I’ve really enjoyed it. I couldn’t quit football cold tur-key. I’ve been around it too long.”

If Burke decides not to go into coaching, he hopes to match his football background with his business degree and perhaps work in collegiate sports administration or the front offi ce of an NFL team.

“If I want to be in the sports world in some capacity, whether it’s business or coaching, this was a great opportunity to learn and fi nd out what I want to do,” he said. “I’ve learned I really enjoy coaching, more so now than I thought I would when I started.”

Burke said his family was fi ne with his decision to delay a career in business.

“They were happy because I stayed in Kentucky and they don’t have to spend money to come see me somewhere else,” he said. “They support whatever I do. If I think it’s right, they do, too.”

One thing is certain: Burke has coach-speak and the “one game at a time” phi-losophy down pat. Asked last week what’s next for him when the season ends on Nov. 25 at South Florida, or in a bowl game next month, he replied:

“No idea. I can’t get past West Virginia. I wish I did know, but there will be time for that after the season. Right now, there’s too much stuff to do to think about it very seriously.”

2010 Louisville graduate Justin Burke has been Louisville’s de facto quarterback

coach for the last fi ve games due to the fi ring of offensive coordinator Mike

Sanford. - photo by Howie Lindsey


F O R M E R U O F L Q B G R A T E F U L F O R C O A C H I N G C H A N C E

BURKE ENJOYS SEEING FOOTBALL FROM THE OTHER SIDE


BIG EAST NOTEBOOKRECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeff WaffordThe Big East Conference will be heavily

impacted by some big-time freshmen bas-ketball players this season, and there is little doubt that by March several of the new-comers will be household names. As we get set for the tipoff to college basketball’s regular season this week, let’s take a look at how the Big East stacks up recruiting-class-wise heading into the 2011-12 season.

As is typical with the Big East, the num-bers are impressive. Half of the league’s 16 teams are rated as having incoming classes that are rated in the nation’s top 30, led by St. John’s, which came in at No. 3 overall in Rivals.com’s initial rankings, behind only Kentucky and Duke.

Steve Lavin’s program signed an amazing nine players, completing al-most an entire overhaul of its roster. The group is led by Norvel Pelle (6-10, 220, center), whom Rivals.com listed as the Best Shot Blocker among the incoming freshmen. Pelle, who is rated as the

No. 1 center and No. 23 overall prospect nationally, is joined by a foursome of four-star forwards: Maurice Harkless (6-6, 180), Sir-Dominic Porter (6-5, 200), Jakarr Simp-son (6-8, 205) and Amir Garrett (6-5, 175).

The group also wll be joined by four-star guard D’Angelo Harrison (6-3, 186) and perhaps the recruit with the best name in the entire country – three-star power for-ward God’s Gift Achiuwa (6-9, 200).

Despite news late this summer that three members of the Johnnies’ recruiting class would be ineligible until mid-December, their class remains tops in the Big East based on sheer volume.

But the rest of those ratings likely would look different if Rivals were to re-do them today. Initially, Rivals.com rated Louisville as the ninth-best class, followed by Syracuse at 16, Connecticut at 17 and Georgetown at 18.

Connecticut’s class would be rated much higher, because Jim Calhoun’s Huskies added Andre Drummond (6-10, 260), a top player originally from the class of 2012 who reclassifi ed and enrolled at UConn af-ter graduating high school a year early. At one time rated as the No. 1 player in the class of 2012, Drummond never received a rating in the 2011 class, but adding him to the Huskies’ 2011 group of recruits seems to give them the second-best Big East class heading into the season.

Drummond is an immediate starter in the frontcourt, and he’s joined by fi ve-star for-ward Deandre Daniels (6-8, 180) and four-star guard Ryan Boatwright (5-10, 150). Daniels is another player who is expected to compete for immediate starting time, while Boatwright is expected to be the backup point guard. However, Boatwright is cur-rently sitting out of games as the NCAA in-vestigates his eligibility, which is currently in question over a plane ticket bought for him by an AAU coach.

Like UConn, Syracuse has three players coming into the fold, including two of the top 30 freshmen in the country. The Or-ange’s group is led by Rakeem Christmas (6-8, 200), a center/power forward who is

rated as the No. 27 incoming player nation-ally. Christmas is joined by Michael Carter-Williams (6-4, 190), a big guard who can play both shooting guard and point guard, and Trevor Cooney (6-3, 180), a shooting guard who can hit from deep, similar to for-mer Syracuse players Eric Devendorf, Andy Rautins and Gerry McNamara.

While the addition of Drummond boosts UConn’s class, Louisville’s class, which was once rated at No. 9 nationally, has fallen in the ranks of the Big East because of pre-season news surrounding Wayne Blackshear (6-5, 200) and Kevin Ware (6-4, 180). The Cardinals are led by Chane Behanan (6-6, 250), a fi ve-star player who is slated to start immediately at power forward.

But the news of Blackshear’s shoulder injury before the season and Ware’s ineligi-bility at least until mid-December drops the Cardinals from the second-best class in the conference to the fourth. Blackshear could be back by January. Getting those two play-ers back in the fold could pay huge divi-dends for the second half of Louisville’s sea-son, particularly based on UofL’s need for a backup point guard, a role Ware could fi ll.

Also joining the Cards are Zach Price (6-11, 240) and Angel Nunez (6-7, 190). Price, a four-star player, is expected to be the pri-mary backup at the center position, while Nunez has been used sparingly in the pre-season at small forward.

Rounding out the top fi ve incom-ing groups of freshmen in the Big East is Georgetown. The Hoyas have a reputa-tion for churning out quality post players,

and that likely will continue because John Thompson has three new freshmen front-court players who are rated among the Ri-vals Top 100.

Four-star power forwards Otto Porter (6-8, 190) and Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 210) will be joined by Tyler Adams (6-8, 260), a big-bodied center. Also in Georgetown’s class are three-star players Jabril Trawick (a 6-5, 180-pound shooting guard)and Greg Whit-tington (a 6-8, 195-pound power forward).

The talent doesn’t stop with these fi ve, as Pittsburgh (18), Rutgers (23), West Vir-ginia (27) and Villanova (30) are all rated in Rivals’ Top 30 incoming classes.

TOP-10 INCOMING PLAYERS:1. Andre Drummond (6-10, 260, cen-

ter, UConn) – Once rated as the No. 1 player in the class of 2012, Drummond gradu-ated high school early and reclassifi ed to the 2011 class, joining UConn right before the fall semester started. Through two pre-season games he has averaged 14 points and seven rebounds, and he also has battled through a broken nose and a mild concus-sion. Barring injury, Drummond’s presence in the paint will be huge for the defending national champions.

2. Chane Behanan (6-6, 250, power forward, Louisville) – Not many freshmen come into Rick Pitino’s lineup and make an immediate impact, but if the Cardinals want to have a big 2011-12 campaign, they’ll need Behanan. If his performances in two exhibition games are any indication, Rivals’ naming of Behanan as the top incoming low-post scorer and biggest impact fresh-

man are spot on.3. Khem Birch (6-8, 210, power forward,

Pittsburgh) – Only the second McDonald’sAll-American to sign with Pittsburgh in theprogram’s history, Birch had a double-doublewith 16 points and 10 rebounds in the Pan-thers’ last exhibition game. He isn’t listed asa starter at present, but the Panthers coulduse a low-post scorer. Rivals.com lists Birchas the Best Rebounder, Best Defender andBest Pro Prospect in the incoming class.

4. Deandre Daniels (6-8, 180, forward, UConn) – Another player who was once amember of the 2012 class, Daniels gradu-ated high school early and ended up asthe No. 10 player nationally in the class of2011. An athletic player who also can playon the wing, Daniels is expected to start asa top reserve, but he may battle to enterthe starting lineup later in the season. Ri-vals named Daniels as the Most Versatileincoming player for 2011-12.

5. Norvel Pelle (6-10, 210, center, St.John’s) – Pelle would probably be ratedas the second-best player on this list if hehadn’t been declared ineligible for the fallsemester. An athletic big man who canblock shots and fi nish around the rim,Pelle is rated by Rivals as the best incom-ing shot-blocker. While Drummond’s entryinto the Big East has overshadowed Pellesomewhat, the matchup between that pairlater in the season should be a fun one towatch.

6. Nurideen Lindsey (6-4, 185, point guard, St. John’s) – Lindsey is easily themost experienced newcomer to the BigEast because he was arguably the top ju-nior college prospect in the nation last year.A big, physical point guard, Lindsey shouldtransition perfectly to the Big East, and he’llbe surrounded by a lot of young talent. Hewas named Best Perimeter Scorer and Bestin the Clutch out of the incoming playersto the Big East.

7. Michael Carter-Williams (6-4, 175, shooting guard, Syracuse) – Carter-Williamsmay feel more comfortable as a scorer, butit appears he’ll start the season off as theOrange’s backup point guard.

8. Rakeem Christmas (6-8, 200, powerforward/center, Syracuse) – Christmas is anunpolished offensive player whose athleti-cism allows him to block shots and get torebounds others simply can’t get. Reportsout of New York are that Christmas is com-peting for a starting spot already. He had sixrebounds and three blocks in the Orange’sfi rst exhibition game.

9. Wayne Blackshear (6-5, 200, small forward/shooting guard, Louisville) – Black-shear would be higher on this list if hehadn’t suffered a shoulder injury in thepreseason. This slashing scorer will miss atleast the fi rst two months of the season.How long it takes him to get back into play-ing shape will be key, but it’s possible hecould provide fresh legs to the Cardinals inthe latter part of the season.

10. Tyrone Johnson (6-3, 185, point guard, Villanova) – Johnson is a big pointguard who will need to fi ll big minutes be-cause the Wildcats lost a lot off of last year’sroster. He’ll be joined by redshirt freshmanpower forward Jayvaughn Pinkston (6-8,225), who was suspended after a legal run-in last season but has since regained hiseligibility.

BIG EAST RELOADS WITH TONS OF TALENTED HOOPS RECRUITS

JEFF WAFFORDJEFF WAFFORD

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

Joshua Appleby K Harvest, Ala. 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, Ind. 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, Ohio Brush 5-11 175Fast with speed to burn. Likely a cornerback, but could also return kicks.

Patrick Jean LB Port St. Lucie, Fla. 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, Ohio 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, Fla. Palmetto 6-0 225Short but strong linebacker with speed to play outside at Louisville.

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


BIG EAST NOTEBOOK

CINCINNATI HAS FIRM GRIP ON BIG EAST TITLEBy Rivals.comAfter a 26-23 victory over Pittsburgh Sat-

urday night, the 23rd-ranked Bearcats are just one victory away from taking complete con-trol of the Big East race.

Cincinnati (8-1, 3-0 Big East) has won six straight, including three straight comeback victories in the second half.

“We talk to our players about champion-ship character,” coach Butch Jones said. “We talked to them about focus. ... It is that mental conditioning. You don’t look up at the score-board until the end. Our team has a tremen-dous amount of confi dence in each other and a belief. A belief that they are going to win. We talked about it all week.... It is not seeing is believing, but believing is seeing.”

Given their three come-from-behind wins in a row, the Bearcats have been called lucky, but Jones scoffs at that notion.

“When you play hard, good things are go-ing to happen,” he said. “The ball is going to bounce your way, and that is why you have to keep playing and believing in each other.”

If the Bearcats beat West Virginia on Sat-urday at Paul Brown Stadium, they’d have a two-game lead for the Big East title because Louisville is currently second in the league at 3-1, with the one loss coming against Cincin-nati. But Jones and UC aren’t talking about a title - yet.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “This team since August we have talked about focusing on the task at hand. Each game is its own season, and we still have four games to go. As we have seen throughout this entire football sea-son, success can be very short-lived. That is why we will enjoy this right back to Cincinnati, and then our focus is going to be on playing an extremely talented West Virginia team.”

After Saturday’s game against West Virgin-ia, the Bearcats fi nish the season at Rutgers and Syracuse and at home against Connecti-cut.

“We’re in pretty good shape, but it’s not over,” running back Isaiah Pead said. “We’ve got to stay level-headed and stay humble and do the things week in and week out that got us here.”

PITT LET THE GAME SLIP AWAYCincinnati appeared in jeopardy four min-

utes into the second half against Pitt when the Panthers led 23-13 and appeared to have ev-erything working.

But in a scenario that has become all too familiar for Pitt fans, things fell apart, as the Panthers became their own worst enemies. An illegal block by Mike Shanahan turned fi rst and 10 into fi rst and 20, which eventually led to a punt and a Cincinnati fi eld goal. But the real blow came on the Panthers’ next drive.

On third and 2 from the Pitt 26, Tino Sun-seri ran and gained an apparent fi rst down but fumbled. Cincinnati took over at the 27 and scored a touchdown in three plays to tie the score at 23.

After Pitt got the ball back, a Sunseri pass to Devin Street, who was double-covered, was intercepted. That turnover led to a Cin-cinnati fi eld goal, setting what would be the fi nal score at 26-23.

Pitt had a chance to get back on top on its next drive when an 18-yard pass to Shanahan would have given the Panthers the ball at the Cincinnati 21. But the play was called back when offensive lineman Juantez Hollins was

ineligibly downfi eld. “The difference was, we came into half-

time and we had zero penalties and we had zero turnovers,” Pitt coach Todd Graham said. “And we said if we go out the next 30 minutes and do that, we’re going to win the football game. And we went out and turned it over and had a crucial penalty that really hurt us on a big play.”

All told, Pitt gained 397 yards of total of-fense, including 179 on the ground. But the turnovers and penalties in the second half doomed the team’s hopes.

With the loss, Pitt fell to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big East. The Panthers will face Lou-isville at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium at noon Saturday.

RUTGERS WINS IN DRAMATIC FASHIONRutgers’ return to the win column came

with the return of Chas Dodd to the quarter-back position in the fourth quarter following a pair of bitter losses with true freshman Gary Nova at the controls. Dodd’s comeback was part of a wild fourth quarter that ended with a San San Te 37-yard fi eld goal in overtime to give the Scarlet Knights a 20-17 victory over visiting South Florida (4-4, 0-4), which has lost four in a row.

“To come back tonight and win this one was very important for our program, for those kids and for these coaches,” said Rut-gers coach Greg Schiano. “I’m very pleased, obviously, about the way they fought.”

Through the fi rst half it seemed to be a bat-tle of ineptitude between quarterbacks, and Nova had the early edge over USF senior B.J. Daniels. The Scarlet Knights (6-3, 3-2) put up just 87 yards of total offense in the fi rst half.

The Rutgers defense was steady, except for a 9-play, 58-yard USF drive that resulted in a 23-yard touchdown run by Demetrius Murray. That enabled the Bulls to carry a 10-0 lead into the locker room.

But the real action didn’t begin until the fourth quarter when Dodd entered the game.

An ineffective fi rst drive led to a USF touch-down putting the Bulls up 17-3 with just 7:38 remaining.

Though things looked bleak, Rutgers soph-omore Jeremy Deering came to the rescue. He took a South Florida kickoff 98 yards for a TD to make it 17-10. The defense returned the ball to Dodd and it looked like another come-back would be in the works when Dodd spot-ted Miles Shuler on a deep route and laid the ball right in Shuler’s hands. But it fell through Shuler’s fi ngertips.

Rutgers’ defense forced another three and out, handing the ball back to Dodd at RU’s 15 with 3:23 to play. After a handful of comple-tions, Mohamed Sanu kept the game alive with a juggling one-handed grab on a 4th and 9. Sanu caught 11 passes for 113 yards.

Dodd then capped the drive with a perfect 34-yard TD pass to Brandon Coleman to knot the score at 17.

“Honestly, I’ve been waiting to throw one to him,” said Dodd, who completed 11 of 17 passes for 125 yards. “Ever since we got here as freshmen.”

However, the life appeared to be siphoned out of the scarlet nation following a Dodd interception that succeeded a USF three-and-out. A 34-yard USF screen pass and a 30-yard run by Daniels set the Bulls up on the RU 10-yard line with 12 seconds to play, but Maikon Bonani botched a 27-yard fi eld goal as time expired.

After USF failed to score on its possession in OT, San San Te made the winning 37-yard fi eld goal.

UCONN TOPS SYRACUSEAfter enduring a freak snow storm last

week which left millions in the Northeast without power, 38,769 nearly witnessed an-other natural disaster Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field.

Pitted against coach Paul Pasqualoni’s former team, UConn (4-5, 2-2) committed fi ve turnovers, three by quarterback Johnny McEntee, in an abominable fi rst half of foot-

ball. Fortunately, Syracuse (5-4, 1-3) gave theball away twice and, by some miracle, UConnwent into the half tied at 7.

With Connecticut Light & Power busy elsewhere, Scott McCummings and Lyle Mc-Combs took it upon themselves to restorepower to the UConn backfi eld. The Huskiesscored touchdowns on each of their threesecond-half drives en route to a season-saving28-21 victory.

“We know we have to win out (to secure a spot in a bowl game),” said wide receiver IsiahMoore, who caught a team-high four passesfor 72 yards. “It’s like the playoffs.”

After Syracuse opened the second half with a touchdown, McCombs respondedwith a 3-yard TD run on the following posses-sion. McCombs sparked the offense, rushing24 times for a career-high 152 yards, whichmarked the sixth time this season he has goneover 100 yards rushing.

This time, however, McCombs didn’t have to do it alone. Despite a costly fumble in thefi rst half by McCummings, Pasqualoni stuckwith the redshirt freshman, who ran for twoTDs in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead score from 7 yards out with 4:51 re-maining. A Syracuse linebacker read the playperfectly and had McCummings lined up, butMcCummings spun to his left and chargedinto the end zone.

“I felt like I was back in high school again,” McCummings said.”I was out there havingfun. It was great.”

The McCummings experiment wasn’t per-fect, though. Offensive coordinator GeorgeDeLeone called for McCummings to throwan option pass that would have ended in di-saster if not for a tremendous effort by leftguard Steve Greene. As McCummings waitedfor a receiver to get open, he was blasted byDan Vaughan and lost his grip on the football.Somehow, in a sea of orange, Greene cameup with the football.

“Do we have to talk about it?” McCum-mings joked after the game. “I just held theball the way too long.”

McCummings wasn’t the only one. For that play alone, Greene was deserving of a gameball; however, the players decided to give thegame balls to Pasqualoni and DeLeone forbeating their ex. Pasqualoni downplayed thesignifi cance of beating his former team, butlinebacker Sio Moore wasn’t buying it.

“He downplayed it the whole way, but we knew what it meant,” Moore said.

Moore, whose recent play has been marred by inconsistency, played a major role in thevictory. Along with fi ve tackles, he madethe interception that set up UConn’s fi nalTD march. After being beaten all day on RyanNassib’s bootleg passes, Moore fi nally jumpedthe route and made an acrobatic catch alongthe Syracuse sideline.

“I was just reading the release of the wide receiver and following him on the route,”Moore said. “I knew we needed a big play, soI just made one for us.”

UConn now has two weeks to prepare for a home game against Louisville. The follow-ing week will be another home game for theHuskies against Rutgers, then they’ll concludethe season at Cincinnati.

“We need to get these next two wins at the Rent, then go into Cincinatti and lay it allon the line,” McCombs said.

Cincinnati senior quarterback Zach Collaros has the Bearcats atop the Big East Conference at 3-0 after they rallied from a 10-point defi cit in the second half to beat host Pittsburgh 26-23 last Saturday.


BIG EAST CONFERENCE

BIG EAST MOVING QUICKLY TOWARD ADDING NEW MEMBERS

By Howie LindseyLast week the Big East moved forward

in its plans to rebuild the league after de-fections by Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC and TCU and West Virginia to the Big 12. A source told the Associated Press the Big East invited Houston, Central Florida and SMU to be new all-sports members and invited Boise State, Navy and Air Force to join for football only.

Commissioner John Marinatto declined to mention specifi c teams, but he did offer a note of optimism following the annual Big East meeting last week in Philadel-phia.

“We’ve been through this a number of times,”

he said. “We’ve expanded over the course of our 32-year existence more times than any other conference in the country. It’s an exercise we’ve been through. Hopefully, we don’t have to go through it very often.”

So far, it appears all of the six are inter-ested in joining the league for the 2013 season.

Offi cials from Air Force and Navy met with Marinatto and other league offi cials last week. On Thursday, the Idaho Board of Education gave BSU president Bob Kustra authorization to move Boise State’s foot-ball program out of the Mountain West for the 2013 season. In late October, UCF’s board gave president John Hitt the author-ity to negotiate a contract for its athletic programs to join a new league. A similar measure is in place at Houston.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Monday that Air Force remains undecided whether a move to be the Big East would be in the best interest of its students, but it would be tough for the academy, which is facing federal budget cuts, to walk away from a potentially lucrative new Big East television deal.

Sources told Yahoo! Sports last week Navy and Air Force appear to be ready to join if Boise State joins.

Why are these teams jumping on board a league with only fi ve committed teams for the future? The Big East is one of only six leagues with an automatic berth to a Bowl Championship Series bowl each sea-son, and that designation will not change contractually until at least 2014. After that, the league would be eligible to continue its automatic berth as long as it meets a series of measures based on champion’s strength and overall league strength.

Should Boise State join the league, the Big East would appear to continue its BCS automatic qualifi er status easily, not to mention the help that Houston (currently

No. 11 in the BCS standings) would be to overall league strength.

MORE CANDIDATES?Those six additions could take the Big

East from eight current football teams to 14 teams for the 2013-2014 season if the league doesn’t relent on its stance that Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia not be allowed to leave the league until 2014.

If the Big East does allow the three teams to leave (with a signifi cant fi nancial buyout, no doubt), the league would have 11 teams for the 2013 season. That is, un-less there are other candidates.

On Monday, BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall confi rmed that the Big East has expressed interest in BYU.

“There is a push, and there are conversa-tions that are in place ... to have BYU join that conference,” said Mendenhall at his weekly press conference. “I trust our ath-letic director (Tom Holmoe) and President (Cecil O.) Samuelson to deal with all that. I’ve been informed along the way, and at some point there will be a decision on what our intentions will be. I don’t know how fast, nor do I think the time frame is rel-evant at this point.

“Certainly there are plenty of ques-tions on our part ... but with the landscape changing, the main benefi t that I could see on a short-term scale would be inclusion into the BCS system. That’s up in two years, and whether the Big East is able to hold that spot, with the new teams going in, my guess would be yes.”

Seeming to realize he may have let the cat out of the bag, Mendenhall added, “I can’t speak as to what we’re going to do, other than just verify that ... we have been approached, but I wasn’t involved in any-thing else.”

According to CBS Sports’ Brett McMur-phy, San Diego State also has requested to join the Big East. On Monday, McMur-phy wrote: “Despite the great distance to the Eastern league members (Cincinnati, UConn, South Florida, Navy, Rutgers, UCF), San Diego State would prefer an all-sports membership – or at least in football and men’s basketball – sources said. They also would be receptive to a football-only mem-bership and could be in a Western division featuring Boise State, Houston, SMU, BYU and Louisville.

“San Diego State leads the Mountain West in football attendance this season (38,802), and since 2010 the Aztecs have won a combined 48 games in football and men’s basketball, the nation’s highest total. The San Diego State men’s basketball team also has won 20 or more games and ad-vanced to postseason play in six consecu-tive seasons, including back-to-back NCAA

Tournament appearances.“San Diego State athletic director Jim

Sterk declined comment to CBSSports.com but recently told the San Diego Union-Tri-bune: ‘The best-scenario is that we’re in a league with an automatic qualifi er, an en-hanced television package and we’re gen-erating revenues to run all our programs. That’s the No. 1 goal, whether that’s with the Mountain West, Big East or Big 12.’”

BIG 12 UPDATEWith Missouri (fi nally) offi cially an-

nounced as a new member of the SEC, the Big 12 currently has nine members commit-ted for the 2012-2013 season. While West Virginia says they are committed to playing in the league and a Big 12 release also lists the Mountaineers as a Big 12 member for 2012, WVU is contractually obligated to stay in the Big East until June 30, 2014.

Last Monday WVU fi led a civil suit against the Big East for breach of fi duciary duties in letting the league’s football membership be picked apart. West Virginia sued to be allowed to leave the league for the 2012 season.

Marinatto responded: “We are disap-pointed that West Virginia has adopted this strategy and cannot imagine why it be-lieves it does not have to respect and honor the bylaws it agreed to as a member of the Big East. Based on an initial review of the lawsuit, it is clear that the allegations and claims in it are false and inaccurate. Cer-tainly there is nothing in it that would jus-tify WVU’s not fulfi lling its obligations. To put it simply, a contract is a contract.

“Once we have reviewed the fi ling, we will explore all our legal options and will act vigorously to ensure that WVU lives up to all its obligations to our conference. In the meantime, this lawsuit will not inter-fere in any way with our ongoing efforts to strengthen and expand the Big East.”

On Friday, the Big East sued West Vir-ginia for breach of contract. Shortly after the suit was fi led in Rhode Island Superior Court, the presidents of the remaining Big East schools issued a statement in support of the conference’s suit.

“We believe that it is important to pro-tect the integrity of the interests of the Big East Conference and its member institu-tions, and we are confi dent that these in-terests will prevail,” the statement said.

On Friday evening, West Virginia spokes-man John Bolt said the university is aware the Big East’s lawsuit has been fi led, “but we have not received a copy of it yet and we will have no comment.”

Most expect the legal battle will end in a settlement that allows West Virginia to exit the league early for a particular payment - somewhere north of $20 million.

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY

2011 BIG EAST FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

CINCINNATI 7-1 (3-0)Thu., 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 USF W, 37-34Sat., Nov. 5 at PITTSBURGH W, 26-23Sat., Nov. 12 WEST VIRGINIASat., Nov. 19 at RUTGERSSat., Nov. 26 at SYRACUSESat., Dec. 3 CONNECTICUT

CONNECTICUT 4-5 (2-2)Thu., 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 PITTSBURGH L, 35-20Sat., Nov. 5 SYRACUSE W, 28-21Sat., Nov. 19 LOUISVILLESat., Nov. 26 RUTGERSSat., Dec. 3 at CINCINNATI

LOUISVILLE 5-4 (3-1)Thu., 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 W, 16-14Sat., Oct. 29 SYRACUSE W, 27-10Sat., Nov. 5 at WEST VIRGINIA W, 38-35Sat., Nov. 12 PITTSBURGHSat., Nov. 19 at CONNECTICUTFri., Nov. 25 at USF

PITTSBURGH 4-5 (2-2)Sat., 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 CONNECTICUT W, 35-20Sat., Nov. 5 CINCINNATI L, 26-23Sat., Nov. 12 at LOUISVILLEFri., Nov. 25 at WEST VIRGINIASat., Dec. 3 SYRACUSE

RUTGERS 6-3 (3-2)Thu., 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 LOUISVILLE L, 16-14Sat., Oct. 29 WEST VIRGINIA L, 41-31Sat., Nov. 5 USF W, 20-17Sat., Nov. 12 at ArmySat., Nov. 19 CINCINNATISat., Nov. 26 at CONNECTICUT

USF 4-4 (0-4)Sat., 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 CINCINNATI L, 37-34Sat., Nov. 5 at RUTGERS L, 20-17Fri., Nov. 11 at SYRACUSESat., Nov. 19 Miami (Fla.)Fri., Nov. 25 LOUISVILLEThu., Dec. 1 WEST VIRGINIA

SYRACUSE 5-4 (1-3)Sat., 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 VIRGINIA W, 49-23Sat., Oct. 29 at LOUISVILLE L, 27-10Sat., Nov. 5 at CONNECTICUT L, 28-21Fri., Nov. 11 USF Sat., Nov. 26 CINCINNATISat., Dec. 3 at PITTSBURGH

WEST VIRGINIA 6-3 (2-2)Sat., 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 SYRACUSE L, 49-23Sat., Oct. 29 at RUTGERS W, 41-31Sat., Nov. 5 LOUISVILLE L, 38-35Sat., Nov. 12 at CINCINNATIFri., Nov. 25 PITTSBURGHThu., Dec. 1 at USF



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 Red, 105-6010/26/11 vs. PIKEVILLE * KFC YUM! CENTER W, 74-55NOVEMBER 11/03/11 vs. BELLARMINE * KFC YUM! CENTER W, 62-54GLOBAL 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 W, 118-41

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

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL


By Howie LindseyRanked No. 9 in the nation in the pre-

season after returning most of its team from a Sweet 16 run, the University of Lou-isville women’s basketball team is expecting a big season. But fans will have to wait to see their team play.

The Cardinals will open the season in Springfi eld, Mo., against Missouri State Fri-day at 3:05 p.m, then on Sunday at 4 p.m. the Cardinals will face defending NCAA Champion Texas A&M in College Station. The Aggies return three of fi ve starters but lost starting center Danielle Adams, an All-American and the Final Four Most Out-standing Player who averaged 22.3 ppg. Adams, a junior college transfer, had nar-rowed her college choice to UofL and A&M before picking the Aggies. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Next Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Cardinals will play Eastern Kentucky in Richmond before returning to Louisville for the home opener, a rematch of last season’s NCAA second-round game with Xavier, on Nov. 20 at 2 p.m.

The Cardinals will be road warriors this season, with nine of their fi rst 13 games on the road, including trips to Missouri, Texas, Florida, Oregon and Washington.

BIG TV SCHEDULE This year’s women’s basketball schedule

features seven games on national televi-

sion. The Texas A&M game will be a part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. UofL will appear on the ESPN networks four times, including a Big Monday game in the KFC Yum! Center against Notre Dame on Feb. 20. Louisville also will appear on CBS Sports Network twice and the Big East TV Network once. Local coverage will be an-nounced at a later date.

“It is a great opportunity for us to show-case our program on a national level,” coach Jeff Walz said. “Having this level of interest in our women’s basketball team is a sign that we are headed in the right direc-

tion.”

BIG EAST LOADEDSeven Big East teams were ranked in the

Associated Press Preseason Poll, including four teams in the top 10, more than any other league.

No. 2 Notre Dame, which earned six fi rst-place votes, drew its highest ranking since fi nishing No. 2 in the March 12, 2001 poll. Connecticut checked in at No. 4, Louisville is No. 9 and Georgetown No. 10. Rutgers is No. 16, DePaul No. 19 and St. John’s rounds out the group at No. 25. Marquette and

Pittsburgh each received a vote.In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll,

Notre Dame is No. 2 with fi ve fi rst-placevotes, UConn is No. 4 and Louisville No. 9.Georgetown checked in at No. 11, whileRutgers is No. 17 and DePaul No. 18. St.John’s, Marquette, Syracuse and West Vir-ginia were listed as also receiving votes.

REID UP FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARDSenior Monique Reid is one of 30 NCAA

women’s basketball student-athletes select-ed as candidates last week for the 2011-12Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. To be eligiblefor the award, a student-athlete must beclassifi ed as an NCAA Division I senior andhave notable achievements in four areas ofexcellence - community, classroom, charac-ter and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty andAchievement for Staying in School, theLowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on thetotal student-athlete and encourages stu-dents to use their platform in athletics tomake a positive impact as leaders in theircommunities.

Reid is a preseason All-Big East selection.Last season she led the Cardinals in scoringfor the second straight year with 15.5 pointsper game, ranking fourth in the league. Shewas named to the All-Big East fi rst team forthe second consecutive season. She is cur-rently 10th on the Cardinals’ all-time scor-ing list with 1,345 points.

WOMEN’S HOOPS OPENS SEASON ON THE ROAD

Redshirt freshman Shawnta Dyer is one of fi ve strong newcomers for Louisville women’s basketball season. All fi ve are expected to contribute this season. - photo by Howie Lindsey

By Howie LindseyAfter a runner-up fi nish in the Big East

Tournament last week in Morgantown, W.Va., the University of Louisville women’s soccer team received an at-large bid to the 2011 NCAA Tournament during Monday’s selection show. The Cardinals will host the University of Dayton in a fi rst-round game on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET at Cardinal Park.

UofL (12-6-3), the 2011 Big East Con-ference National Division champion, will be hosting an NCAA match for the fi rst time in the program’s history. It will be Louis-ville’s third NCAA Tournament appearance and its fi rst since back-to-back berths in 2006 and 2007. Dayton (19-3) earned the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid.

The Cardinals should be a tough team for anyone to face in the tournament be-cause they have a strong defense, a potent goal-scorer. and a coach, Karen Ferguson-Dayes, who was named 2011 Big East Con-ference Coach of the Year after leading Louisville to its fi rst-ever conference title.

The Cards are led offensively by sopho-more forward Christine Exeter, the 2011 Big East Offensive Player of the Year. She totaled 24 points and scored a league-leading 11 goals in conference action. She recorded at least one point in 10 of 11 league games and has 14 goals and 31 points overall entering the NCAA tourney.

Defensively, Louisville is anchored by senior goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer, who has a 0.94 goals-against average while play-ing every minute of every game. Kiefer has seven shutouts this season.

The winner of Saturday’s Louisville-Day-ton match will advance to a second-round game against either No. 4 seed Memphis or Tennessee-Martin. The Big East has four teams in this year’s 64-team bracket -- No. 11 West Virginia, No. 13 Marquette, Louis-ville and Notre Dame.

A Big East team has played for the wom-en’s soccer national championship eight times in the past 13 seasons and has won three national titles (Notre Dame in 1995, 2004 and 2011). The 30th annual NCAA Women’s College Cup will be played Dec. 2 and 4 at Kennesaw State University Soc-cer Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga.

TICKETS AVAILABLETickets for Saturday night’s fi rst-round

game are $7 for adults, $5 for students (with ID), and $4 for senior adults, children and groups of 10 or more. Group tickets must be purchased in advance through the UofL ticket offi ce and will not be available at Cardinal Park on the day of the game. All tickets will go on sale through the UofL ticket offi ce on Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.

CARDS FALL TO WVUDespite not winning the league tourna-

ment title, Louisville took several steps for-ward as a program last week.

First, the Cardinals collected a bushel of awards at the Big East banquet Thursday night. Exeter was named Big East Offen-sive Player of the Year, Ferguson-Dayes was named Coach of the Year, Jennifer Jones was named to the All-Big East third team and Erin Yenney was named to the All-Rookie team.

Then UofL beat Notre Dame 2-1 in the Big East semifi nals, becoming the fi rst team in league history to beat the Irish twice in the same season.

But playing in the program’s fi rst-ever Big East Tournament title game against No. 11 West Virginia in its home stadium was just too much to ask. The Mountaineers (17-4-0) won 2-0, end-ing Louisville’s school-record eight-game win-ning streak.

“At the end of the day, I think the differ-ence in the game was West Virginia’s expe-rience in these situa-tions,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “We had chances to score, but their goal-keeper was big-time to-day. They had chances, and they were able to capitalize on them. West Virginia put together a full 90 minutes because they understood what they needed to do in order to win a Big East championship.

“We didn’t put to-gether a full 90 minutes, and there were times when we had lapses, and at the end of the game we couldn’t even clear the ball. West Vir-ginia is a fantastic team and they deserved to win. We will be a stronger team because of it, and we’ll be ready for the fi rst round of the NCAA Tournament.”

Louisville had four players named to the All-Tournament Team - senior Katie McDonald, Jones, Exeter and sophomore Chelsea Hunter.

MEN HEAD TO RED BULL STADIUMWith a 1-0 victory over Blue Division

champ Marquette on the Golden Eagles’ home turf Sunday, the 13th-ranked Louis-ville men advanced to the Big East semifi -nals at Red Bull Stadium in New Jersey for the third consecutive season.

The Cardinals (12-5-2, 3-4-2) set a school record for consecutive shutouts with four, blanking DePaul (1-0) and Vil-lanova (2-0) at the end of the regular sea-son, Providence (5-0) in the fi rst round of the Big East Tournament and Marquette in

the quarterfi nals in Milwaukee. Louisville will face No. 6 Connecticut in

the semifi nals at 5 p.m. Friday. In the other semifi nal, No. 22 St. John’s will face Vil-lanova, which upset No. 5 USF 1-0 Sunday and No. 19 Notre Dame in the fi rst round earlier in the week. St. John’s beat No. 24 Georgetown in the fi rst round and No. 20 West Virginia Sunday. Both games will be televised on the CBS College Sports Net-work.

Against Marquette, Louisville got the game-winning goal from All-American Co-lin Rolfe in the 23rd minute when Kenney Walker passed a ball just beyond the right-center back, giving Rolfe a chance to slip past the defender and rocket a shot to the back post.

The Cardinals’ defense kept goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux untested in the fi rst half, but that would change in the second half. Marquette cranked up the offensive pres-

sure, fi nishing the match with a 14-6 shotadvantage and forcing Boudreaux to makea couple of saves.

Things got dicey for the Cardinals whenAlex Obbey was given a second yellow cardand ejected from the game in the 81stminute, forcing UofL to defend the fi nalnine minutes a man down. Marquette hada shot on goal in the 83rd minute, but the defense blocked it. The Golden Eagles had another shot sail high in the 85th minute and a header in the 86th minute go wide.

ROLFE NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Rolfe was named the National Player of the Week by both College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer for the week end-ing Nov. 6. He led the team in scoring with four goals in the Big East Tournament last week, three against then-No. 23 Provi-dence and the game-winner against Mar-quette.

Rolfe notched his fi rst career hat trick in the Cards’ 5-0 victory over Providence on Thursday night in Cardinal Park. He be-came the fi rst Louisville player to score a hat trick against a ranked opponent, and the fi rst to score one since 2005. He has seven goals this season and 31 for his ca-reer.

NCAA BID ASSURED FOR MENWith a 64-team NCAA Tournament,

Louisville is a lock to make the fi eld regard-less of what happens this weekend. The Cardinals were 17th in the RPI going into last week’s games and beat Providence and Marquette.

Like men’s and women’s basketball, the top 35 in the RPI are virtually assured of a bid, with the next 15 in the RPI likely to get a bid as long as there aren’t massive upsets in the conference tourneys. UConn is No. 4 in the most recent RPI release.

PAGE 20 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 10, 2011

LOUISVILLE SOCCER

WOMEN’S SOCCER NABS NCAA BID AS BIG EAST RUNNER-UP

Christine Exeter was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year at the Big East banquet Thursday night; (Above) Louisville coach Karen

Ferguson-Dayes posed with her Coach of the Year plaque, and Exeter with her Offensive Player of the Year and fi rst-team All-Big East

plaques. Jennifer Jones was named third team All-Big East and Erin Yenney was named to the All-Rookie team. - photos by Garett Wall

WOMEN’S SOCCER


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KEEP UP ON ALL THE LATEST CARDINAL NEWS!AMERICA’S FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON UofL ATHLETICS

CARDINAL STARSTEDDY BRIDGEWATER - FOOTBALLThe freshman quarterback from Miami, Fla., was named the Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week after his performance in the Cardinals’ 38-35 victory at No. 24/21 West Virginia on Saturday. Bridgewater was 21 of 27 for a career-high 246 yards and a touchdown in leading Louisville to its fi rst win over a ranked opponent since 2008. His 77.7 completion percentage was the 10th-best single-game mark in school history. Making his sixth straight start, Bridgewater has thrown for 1,275 yards and eight touchdowns this season and is completing 65.5 percent of his throws in leading the Cardinals to a 5-4 overall record and a 3-1 Big East mark.

COLIN ROLFE - MEN’S SOCCERThe senior All-American from Berrien Springs, Mich., was named the National Player of the Week by both College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer for the week ending Nov. 6. Rolfe led the team in scoring with four goals in the Big East Tournament last week, with victories over No. 23 Providence and Blue Division top seed Marquette. He notched his fi rst career hat trick (three goals) in a 5-0 victory over Providence on Thursday night in Cardinal Park. In the second round of the Big East Tournament on Saturday at Marquette (9-8-2, 5-0), Rolfe scored the game-winning goal in the 23rd minute as the Cards won 1-0. The No. 13 ranked Cardinals (12-5-2, 3-4-2) will face Connecticut (16-2-2, 5-2-2) in the semifi nals at Red Bull Stadium in Harrison, N. J., at 5 p.m. on Friday (CBS Sports).

CHRISTINE EXETER - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe sophomore forward from Pickerington, Ontario, was named the 2011 Big East Conference Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year, while head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes was named the league’s Coach of the Year during Thursday night’s Big East Awards Banquet in Morgantown, W.Va. Exeter is the fi rst sophomore to be named Big East Offensive Player of the Year since Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks in 2006. Exeter totaled 24 points and scored a league-leading 11 goals in conference action. She recorded at least one point in 10 of 11 league games and tallied 27 points and 13 goals overall while leading the Cardinals to their fi rst Big East regular-season crown as the National Division champions.

ERIN YENNEY - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe freshman midfi elder from Troy, Ohio, earned Big East All-Rookie honors after scoring two goals with two assists while starting in every game. On Sept. 23, her fi rst career goal was also the game-winner in a 1-0 triumph at Notre Dame, and on Oct. 17 she was selected as the league’s Rookie of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal against Seton Hall. “It’s testament to her because she started and played signifi cant minutes for us in every game,” said Ferguson-Dayes. “She’s getting better with every game. I’m excited about her fi rst season with us, but I’m certainly thrilled to have the opportunity to coach her for three more years.”

TAYLOR BRAUNEIS - VOLLEYBALLThe sophomore setter from Crystal Lake, Ill., had a double-double with 33 assists and 13 digs, and Lola Arslanbekova added a match-high 18 kills as the Cards recorded a 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 sweep of Marquette to take sole possession of the top spot in the Big East volleyball standings. “I know it doesn’t show up on the stats so much, but Taylor Brauneis’ defense helped us tremendously,” UofL coach Anne Kordes said. “We worked so hard this week, and it was great to see her execute it. She had at least two momentum changers that helped when they were closing in on us.” The Cardinals have two Big East road matches remaining in the regular season: at Villanova on Friday at 7 p.m. and at Georgetown on Sunday at 2 p.m. UofL needs to win one of the two to clinch the top seed going into the Big East Tournament Nov. 18-20 in Milwaukee.

CHLOE KIEFER - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe senior goalkeeper from Whitefi sh Bay, Wisc., had seven saves to help Louisville knock off Notre Dame 2-1 in the Big East Tournament semifi nals Friday night in Morgantown, W.Va. Kiefer, who did not play as a junior and played only sparingly as a sophomore, has helped Louisville to a 15-5-3, 8-1-2 record this season with 82 saves. Louisville became the fi rst Big East team ever to beat Notre Dame twice in the same season. The Cardinals beat the Irish 1-0 on its home fi eld during the regular season. Kiefer’s goals-against average is 0.84, and she has seven shutouts. Playing in its fi rst BE Tournament title game on Sunday, UofL lost 2-0 to host West Virginia.

BRIDGEWATERBRIDGEWATER

ROLFEROLFE

EXETEREXETER

YENNEYYENNEY

HOWIE LINDSEY’SHOWIE LINDSEY’S

OF THE WEEKOF THE WEEK

BRAUNEISBRAUNEIS

KIEFERKIEFER


KFC Yum! Center OPENING PHOTO GALLERYSELECTED FALL SPORTS SCHEDULESLOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

By Howie LindseyWith both teams tied at 10-1 in league

play and just three games left before the Big East Volleyball Tournament begins Nov. 18, Sunday’s game between Louisville and Marquette (20-7, 10-1) in the KFC Yum! Center was a showdown for the league’s top seed.

The Cardinals (19-7, 11-1) not only won, they dominated the Golden Eagles 3-0. This came less than 24 hours after UofL dis-

patched Syracuse (17-10, 6-5) Saturday night.

“For us to come into this weekend with back-to-back matches with no time to rest and to win both is so huge, especially with it being this late in the year,” fi rst-year coach Anne Kordes said. “This win

puts us into sole possession of fi rst place with another weekend to go.”

The Cardinals, already playing with a shortened roster, used just nine players this weekend. That’s only three substitutions per game.

“This is huge,” Kordes said. “We’ve been struggling. I mean ... we actually do have just eight healthy players. We have no adjustments to make as coaches. We have kids with tweaked knees, tweaked ankles, and there is really nothing we can do about it except sit them out of practice.”

The Cardinals have been so banged up, Kordes hasn’t been able to hold traditional practices.

“To prepare for games all we can do is fi lm and video right now,” she said.

The Cardinals now are in the cat-bird seat in the league, with just two games left to play. UofL has a two-game lead on the rest of the league, meaning a victory Friday against Villanova or Sunday at Georgetown and the Cardinals are the league’s regular-season champions.

Kordes isn’t counting on the trophy yet, though. “Traveling to the East Coast is nev-er easy, and we need to get healthy,” she said. “Villanova has done a great job, and Georgetown is dangerous because they have nothing to lose, but I am really proud of the way we played this weekend.”

First up is Villanova (17-7, 8-4) and its stingy defense led by libero Kim Ma-roon.

“Villanova has the best defensive player in the league,” Kordes said. “She’s the best libero in the Big East, and she’s been back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year in our conference. Anytime a team can keep the ball off the fl oor against you, it gets frus-trating.”

At 14-11 and 6-6 in league play, George-town shouldn’t scare Kordes, but everyone is scary when a league title is on the line.

“When you are going into a game 10-1 and you think you have it all wrapped up, those teams that are playing with nothing to lose can trip you up,” she said. “We have to go hard this week. I told our team in the

huddle that we have to use these next two weeks to get better.”

BRAUNEIS A BIG LIFT

One of the keys to Louisville’s success this season is setter Tay-lor Brauneis. The 5-10 sophomore has 962 of UofL’s 1,137 assists this season and is aver-aging 10.46 assists per set.

“It might not show up on the stats, but we have been working so hard on her de-fense,” Kordes said. “She came up with four or fi ve digs to frustrate (Syracuse’s) most productive hitter Saturday night. I thought Taylor really gave us the momentum we needed to take the game in that sort of fashion. I think Taylor Brauneis was a big difference in the game right there, not just setting but defensively.”

Louisville’s dominant performance against Marquette was helped along by strong set-ting from Brauneis and good hitting from

Louisville’s outside hitter. UofL won the fi rst set 25-22 on the strength of .364 hitting, with eight kills from Lola Arslanbekova. The Cardinals held the Golden Eagles to .235 hitting in the fi rst set. In the second set, Marquette took a brief 8-7 lead, but a strong run of serves from Emily Juhl, start-ing with an ace on her fi rst serve, took the Cardinals from down one to up 12-8 before Marquette coach Bond Shymansky called a timeout. The break did nothing to slow Juhl and the Cardinals, however. She stretched the lead to 15-8 on a service ace before a service error ended the run. Marquette cut

the Cardinals’ lead to 20-17 before UofLclosed out the win 25-19.

“It started off with defense and serv-ing,” Kordes said. “If you watched the lasttwo home matches we missed about 18 or19 serves. Tonight we only missed 5 or 6serves, but we also had a bunch of serviceaces. When you can go a 1-to-1 ratio onservice errors to aces, you are doing reallygood.”

In the third set Louisville pushed to a 5-1lead and never trailed. It was 10-4 whenShymansky called a timeout to try to stallLouisville’s run. It was 15-5 before Mar-quette cut the margin to 15-9. The Cardi-nals led 23-17 when a kill by Tanya Lukya-nenko broke Marquette’s serve. With thecrowd standing for the fi nal point, Louis-ville closed out the victory.

Kordes was pleased with the 3-0 win butstopped short of saying the Cards played to100 percent of their potential.

“I think at times the percentage is - well,it is really dependent on our health,” Kordessaid. “It is so hard to say because Emily(Juhl) can’t practice for fi ve weeks. She justplays in games. Lola has been in and out ofpractices, Kaitlynn (James) is at practice butcan’t do drills. That’s three players! I thinkwe are playing well with what we have, butthere is another notch for us. I need morefrom our middles - Brooke (Mattingly) andTanya (Lukyanenko). They are getting moreconfi dent every game.”

YUM! CENTER HELPS OUT

Sunday’s victo-ry over Marquette was the last of six games Louisville played in the KFC Yum! Center this season. Prior to this season, all vol-leyball games were played on campus in 900-seat Cardi-nal Arena. Aver-age attendance at games in the Yum! Center was more than 2,100.

“It’s just unbe-lievable,” Kordes said of playing in the Yum! “There is not a program in the country that

can play in a facility like this with our kindsof crowds. Louisville is a special place tobe. I know volleyball in and out aroundthe country, and there is not a coach in thecountry that wouldn’t be jealous of oursituation.”

Kordes said the move has helped herprogram immensely.

“We have already been able to use it,and we have packed it in with recruits andtheir families,” Kordes said. “Everybody hasbeen impressed, and we are excited aboutour future in this building.”

Sophomore setter Taylor Brauneis’ setting and defense has helped Louisville move within a single

win of clinching the Big East regular-season title. (below) The

Louisville volleyball team waved to fans after beating Marquette 3-0

Sunday. - photos by Howie Lindsey

VOLLEYCARDS SEIZE CONTROL IN BATTLE FOR NO. 1 SEED

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY

APRIL 21, 2011 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 19

LOUISVILLE BASEBALL

LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 10, 2011 L

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT’S CARDINAL KIDS

DO YOUKNOW A

CARDINALKID?

SUBMIT A PICTURE OF YOUR CARDINAL KID BY

SENDING AN EMAIL TO:

[email protected]

Brice Moore, a kickoff kid for the 2008 UConn game, and his father, Brian, showed their ‘L’s while down on the

fi eld for the third quarter.

Kindergarten students from St. Gabriel sang the National Anthem at the Louisville-Marquette Volleyball game Sunday. - photo by Howie Lindsey

Tuesday, Nov. 1511 a.m. to 8 p.m.

PNC Club at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

Come and check us out at our new location!

FASHION SHOW AT 12:15 p.m.Emcee: Susan Sweeney Crum

Fashions by Sunny Daize and Evolve ConsignmentHair and Makeup by Strandz Salon

Models will be Family and Friends of the University

Lunch Buffet seating 11:30-12:30 /$15.00 personDinner Buffet seating 6:00-7:00/$15.00 person

Cash bar from 4:30 until 7:30

Special guest appearances throughout the day!UofL Cardinal Bird from 3:30-6:30 for photos

Valerie Combs & Bellarmine’s Scotty Davenport!

Silent Auction 11:00 until 7:30.You could win a Hot Air Balloon Ride for 2,

Tickets for 2 for Thunder over Louisville and more!

CENTRAL CARDINAL CLUB

2011 HOLIDAYBOUTIQUE

Michael Ready submitted this picture of his grandson, Donathon Hall.

Field hockey player Michelle Amon and her niece, Carley,

after a win over New Hampshire.

november 10, 2011 issue: louisville sportsreport

Documents

louisville sportsreport

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