Louisville


"I wouldn’t worry too much about who’s playing quarterback for Louisville. Bob (Petrino) has few peers when it comes to coaching quarterbacks and getting them ready to play. It looks like it’s going to be (Jawon) Pass. The most interesting part about this is that Bob has now completely embraced the idea of the dual-threat quarterback. You’ll still see pro sets and still see them run under center, but he’ll keep using those dual-threat, spread, QB run concepts. He’s all in."



"We were looking at Pass the other day. Big kid, stands tall in the pocket, good arm. Bob will have him ready to play."



"They’re going to be really young on defense, and that might not be a bad thing. The front kind of underachieved last year. A majority of those guys had the experience and ability, and they should have been much more disruptive."



"They have to do something different on defense. They weren’t forcing turnovers, and they were average tacklers. Bob has another new defensive coordinator (Brian VanGorder), so they better hope that changes things."



"Jon Greenard was a part-time starter last year, and I thought he played the best of anyone on that defense. A real force as a pass rusher."



"Bob’s a tried and true pro-style guy. He loves the passing game and all that goes into it. But he has realized the value of a quarterback who gives you an extra run threat in the backfield. At the end of the day, it’s about winning, and he’s just finding another way to get it done."

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/acc-coaches-talk-anonymously-about-conference-foes-2018

Tomorrow the Ravens play the Bears in HOF Game at 8pm on NBC. The Ravens are expecting to sit Flacco and RGIII is suppose to start the game. Lamar should see plenty of playing time tomorrow. Here's wishing for him the best--and don't bet against Lamar. Go impress the naysayers.

Trying to figure out how the ACC will fare in out-of-conference games this coming football season. What does the board think??

Which are the swing games, that will help, or hurt, the ACC's rep as a football conference?

Looking at it school-by-school ... bolded games are my swing games (purely my opinion, nothing else).

Boston College
UMass
Holy Cross
At Purdue
Temple

Going to hope BC gets all 4, but will predict 3 and 1, losing to Purdue. Temple is no slouch though, either.

Clemson
Furman
At Texas A&M
Georgia Southern
South Carolina

I think Clemson is the best team in the country, so I think they get all 4 of these. Tell Jimbo we said hey. 4 and 0.

Duke
Army
At Northwestern
At Baylor
NC Central

I have no idea what Duke will do this year. I hope they sweep these, but for the sake of not totally being a homer, I'll put them at 3 and 1.

Florida State
Samford
Northern Illinois
At Notre Dame
Florida

I bet the Noles drop one to either ND or Florida. Put me down for 3 and 1.

Georgia Tech
Alcorn State
At South Florida
Bowling Green
At Georgia

This looks like 3 and 1 to me.

Louisville
vs Alabama
Indiana State
Western Kentucky
Kentucky

Boy oh boy, wouldn't 4 and 0 be awesome here?? Sadly, I think this is a solid 3 and 1.

Miami
vs. LSU
Savannah State
At Toledo
FIU

Gonna go ahead and say it ... 4 and 0. Obviously, LSU is the tough one here. But their coach ... come on man. You got this Canes..

North Carolina
At Cal
At East Carolina
UCF
Western Carolina

C'mon Heels. Gotta get some revenge against Cal. Put me down for 2 and 2 though. Cal and UCF. Pirates are pesky, and will have the motivation to want to pull the upset, and a raucous home crowd. But the Heels will get this one. Right? Right??

NC State
James Madison
Georgia State
West Virginia
At Marshall

That game versus Mountain Momma could give us a Big XII scalp. I'm gonna say 4 and 0 here. But I know nothing about WVU.

Pitt
Albany
Penn State
At UCF
At Notre Dame

Dayum boys. 3 toughies. I'll root for better, but I'll put you down for 2 and 2.

Syracuse
At Western Michigan
Wagner
UConn
vs Notre Dame

Western Michigan on the road. Mmmm. A tough one to start. But I'm putting my faith in Dino and the boys there. Put me down for 3 and 1.

Virginia
Richmond
At Indiana
Ohio
Liberty

The Hoosiers. On the road. UVA rebuilding a bit. Hopefully ... the Cavs can do it. It should be a good game. But put me down for 3 and 1.

Virginia Tech
William & Mary
East Carolina
At Old Dominion
Notre Dame

Hosting the Irish. Could be electric. I want to say 4 and 0 here. I really do. But put me down for 3 and 1.

Wake Forest
At Tulane
Towson
Notre Dame
Rice

3 and 1.

So ... grand total ... 43 and 13. Not too bad. BUT ...

Of the bolded games, 8 and 13. Oomph. And there are other tough games not bolded too.

Where am I wrong? Surely all over the place. But just trying to get some football talk going before the season starts.

The father of five-star forward D.J. Jeffries said Kentucky was "unprofessional" in the way it handled his son's decommitment from the school Monday.

"We talked with Kentucky, and it kinda shocked me," Corey Jeffries told John Martin on ESPN Radio's Memphis affiliate Tuesday morning. "They were kinda unprofessional. They didn't handle the news the way I expected them to handle it, being professionals."

D.J. Jeffries, a five-star forward from Mississippi's Olive Branch High School, announced Monday that he was decommitting from Kentucky and reopening his recruitment

• New NCAA rules, Penny Hardaway's emergence and LeBron James were among the dominant storylines on the recruiting trail in July.

Kentucky told ESPN it had no comment on Corey Jeffries' interview. Colleges and coaches are not allowed to comment on unsigned high school athletes, per NCAA rules.

When reached Tuesday night by ESPN, Corey Jeffries clarified that it wasn't John Calipari who made the comments.

"It's just that they had been professional through the whole process," Corey Jeffries told ESPN. "We weren't cussed out or anything like that, there were just some discouraging remarks made about his future that were out of line. But that wasn't directly from Coach Cal."

D.J. Jeffries, who was coached by Penny Hardaway and played for his AAU program last spring and summer, pledged to Kentucky in March, before Hardaway took over for Tubby Smith at Memphis. He maintained his commitment after Hardaway was named head coach, but he reopened his recruitment Monday, one day after the third and final July recruiting period ended.

Asked by WATN-TV in Memphis if he was leaning toward choosing the Tigers, D.J. Jeffries reflected on his relationship with Hardaway.

"It's something I think about because Penny and I have been so close for these years, and I've built a good relationship with him," he said. "Even when I committed to Kentucky he would still reach out to me and help me with certain stuff to motivate me to do better. So Memphis would be one of the schools I'd consider."

Corey Jeffries went on to say that Hardaway's presence at Memphis was key in his son's decommitting.

"It was a factor," he told ESPN Radio. "We have a bond with Penny already. It's not like we have to get reacquainted with him."

Corey Jeffries told ESPN his son would set up visits to Memphis and Mississippi State soon. Ole Miss, LSU and Florida have also reached out.

He said he didn't expect Kentucky to remain under consideration.

"We're not expecting them to come back, but it is what it is," Jeffries said.

D.J. Jeffries, a 6-foot-7 small forward out of Olive Branch (Mississippi) High School, is ranked No. 19 in the ESPN 100 for 2019. He averaged 15.3 points and 7.0 rebounds for the Bluff City Legends on the Nike EYBL circuit this spring and summer.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...dad-says-kentucky-unprofessional-decommitment

https://www.collegefootballtoday.org/maxwellaward.html

On R&R, Coach Petrino said Puma benched 300 "and then we made him stop because we didn't want any injuries."

But Petrino said he could have hit 310 or 315 if they let him. Said Puma is in great physical condition.

815puma

1010rbs

1055letplayersdecide

UofL fights bias in the state and in the ACC. It's tough.

"UK tops U of L in fight for state cash

New performance funding model being phased in gradually in Ky.

Morgan Watkins

Louisville Courier Journal USA TODAY NETWORK

The state divvied up $31 million among Kentucky’s public colleges this summer using a formula that largely hinges on their academic performance — and the University of Kentucky earned more than the University of Louisville did.

The Kentucky legislature made those millions available to lessen the impact of a 6.25 percent, across-theboard cut to higher education that was included in the commonwealth’s new 2018-20 budget, but the money had to be distributed using a performance funding model that’s being phased in at the state level.

About $2.5 million from that pot of money was allocated to U of L, while UK secured about $9.1 million of it, according to a letter the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education sent to the state budget director.

U of L fared much better than Kentucky State University and Morehead State University, though. Neither of those schools received any portion of the $31 million. And Louisville spokesman John Karman said the university received nearly $1 million more than it expected from that pool of funds.

Ashley Spalding of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said the state’s performance-based model could put schools like Kentucky State and Morehead, which serve a lot of low-income students who face significant barriers to succeeding in college, at a financial disadvantage.

Less money means fewer resources, and that can lead to slashing sources of support these students rely upon, said Spalding, a senior policy analyst.

“They may be faced with more difficult decisions about cutting services, programs and staff,” Spalding said. “These are the very things that are critical for student success — particularly for students, for instance, who are the first in their families to go to college.”

The concern that smaller schools like Kentucky State that have many economically disadvantaged students could lose too much funding under the new model islegitimate, according to Bill Payne, the Council on Postsecondary Education’s vice president for finance and administration. Butsteps have been taken to help shield them from negative impacts in the near future, althoughadditional support may

be necessary later.

“I think that that’s something that definitely bears watching closely,” Payne said. “I understand the concern.”

The 2018-19 fiscal year began July 1, and most of the state funding designated for Kentucky’s public colleges wasn’t allocated using the performance model, which is being phased in gradually.

The model determines how much money each college should receive using various metrics that focus on student success, course completion and an institution’soperational needs. These metrics include how many science, technology, engineering and math degrees a school awards and the number of credit hours its students earn.

Although U of L received a smaller share of the $31 million pool of money than UK and a few other schools (such as Western Kentucky University) did, Payne said Louisville had the second-best performance among the state’s public universities on the metrics the new model uses. It was only outperformed by UK.

U of L received a smaller share due to an effort to address disparities in which certain other colleges received less funding from the state than they should have once their performance was taken into account, Payne said.

Bob King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, said Louisville was “historically being funded at pretty close to the right level,” based on the performance model’s calculations.

But Spalding cautioned that all of Kentucky’s public universities have struggled through year after year of fiscal cuts, including the roughly 6 percent reduction included in the state’s 2018-20 budget.

“None of the public higher-education institutions were winners in this budget,” she said. “The state has not been investing in higher ed over the past decade.”

Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @morganwatkins26. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/morganw.

When Bobby Petrino was asked what may surprise people about his team, the first thing he mentioned was the secondary.

"I really believe in our secondary, we have guys who are big and physical."

Said it is the fastest and strongest crew he's ever had at Louisville in the secondary.

Can't get pictures to post from messager. Crap.

Will UL have an open house to see the new weight room addition and expansion? UK did one last year for all the season-ticket holders.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba...-star-players-back-idea/ar-BBLeo15?ocid=ientp

Solid read .... unless you're Dan Issel.

“Even just from adding an NHL team, they’re doing great things,” reigning NBA MVP James Harden of the Houston Rockets said. “It’s built for it. Obviously, the money is there, but I think the fan support is there as well. We saw that in hockey.”

“The hockey team here did really, really well,” Blake Griffin said. “I don’t know if you consider it a sports town because of everything that’s going on here, but I think people appreciate sports here. I think all sports would do well here. It’s probably something in the future, but I think everybody realizes how much basketball brings to a city, and I don’t know that it would be easy to take a team away from a different city to bring one here.”

“They’ve got hockey here, and they’ve got WNBA here, the NFL will be here in a couple of years,” Paul George of the Oklahoma City Thunder said. “I think Vegas is built for an NBA team. I think they should be here. It has everything. It’s easy access from the airport down to the Strip. I don’t see why not.”

______

Now the challenge is getting a team.

The NBA has no plans to expand, with sources telling me there is no owner appetite for it right now (it would take a two-thirds vote of the existing NBA owners to approve any expansion). NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said this at the Finals, “Expansion, at least for right now… I’m very focused on creating a competitive 30-team league right now… Understandably people are saying can’t you do more to create more competition among your 30 teams, at least from a competitive standpoint my first reaction isn’t to think, all right, let’s add a 31st team or 32nd team.”


So ... no appetite from the commish for expanding ... but ...

... it sure sounds like Las Vegas joins Seattle as two sure fire shots for new teams.

Looks like the YUM will have to make do with the Cards.

Here's an article on Boston College's new athletic facilities. 231 donors, gave the $52 million needed to do all of the things they have done (and needed to do).

It doesn't look like Boston College wants to be the Atlantic Division cellar dweller many on this board expect them to be.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2018/07/25/bcfb/QN1DmivL1Orbdl5VNXZqzN/story.html

One glaring thing in all the changes Nike is not effected whatsoever the Peach Jam stays as it is go wonder ! However Adidas and Under Armour have to either give up their tourneys or move them at the same time as Nikes and the Ncaa's showcase . Just shows the power of Phil Knights backing and if anyone is hoping something will come of the Nike raid by the FBI i got an igloo for sale in Aruba.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-acc-network-year-away-0801-story.html


August is upon us. One year until the ACC’s linear television channel debuts with Mark Richt back-flipping off the high dive and Dabo Swinney reenacting his long-ago encounter with Augusta National security.

The ACC’s 15 schools continue to upgrade their on-campus studios and other video infrastructure, while conference officials huddle with television partner ESPN to discuss more sustainable programming.

But the paramount ACC Network challenge for ESPN and its parent company, Disney, during the next 12 months will be securing carriage deals with the nation’s top cable and satellite providers. And odds are those negotiations will be public, protracted and, perhaps, contentious.

Just look at the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks today. Just gaze back to the SEC Network’s 2014 launch.

DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite outlet. And that’s only the headline of the project’s distribution and financial shortcomings.

The Big Ten Network, the granddaddy of conference channels at 11-years-old, has been a windfall for its members. But at the league’s football media days last week, network president Mark Silverman ascended the podium to discuss a potential carriage issue.

Seems that Xfinity Comcast, cable’s leading provider, and Big Ten partner Fox Sports are at an impasse over a new deal that affects games on not only the BTN, but also Fox Sports 1. The current contract expires Aug. 31.

The conference has created a website, KeepBigTen.com, and social media hashtag, #KeepBigTen, to pressure Comcast, which earlier this year dropped the Big Ten Network in markets outside the league’s footprint.

In prepared remarks, Silverman called the stalemate “our biggest challenge since the launch of the network.”

“Unfortunately, my fear is the removal of BTN in the outer market may just be the first step in Comcast’s plan to remove BTN from their systems everywhere,” Silverman said, “including the Big Ten home markets. … BTN and FS1 have made a proposal to Comcast dating back to February, and we’ve had no substantive response at all.“As a result, we believe BTN and those Big Ten games that are on FS1 are in danger of not being carried on Comcast this coming season.”

Disney/ESPN has one carriage agreement for the ACC Network, and it’s big, with Altice, a primary cable provider in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. That population base makes Altice, formerly Optimum by Cablevision, the fourth-largest provider behind Comcast, Charter Spectrum and Cox, according to BroadbandNow.com and Variety.

But as the SEC Network teaches, ACC fans shouldn’t expect similar deals this far in advance, even with Disney/ESPN’s considerable portfolio and, therefore, leverage with providers .

Time Warner. Charter purchased Time Warner two years ago.

Aug. 4: DirecTV. This was 10 days before launch.

Aug. 14: Mediacom serving SEC states Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Grande Communications in Texas.

Aug. 26: Verizon Fios. This was 12 days post-launch and two days before the SEC Network’s first football game, between Texas A&M and South Carolina.

Their challenges notwithstanding, the SEC and Big Ten networks are models for the ACC as it attempts to close the revenue gap with the richest Power Five leagues.

During the conference’s annual football kickoff two weeks ago, ACC commissioner John Swofford said that he and his staff look forward to the new undertaking of collaborating with ESPN on programming for the conference’s channel. And even with ESPN’s recent presidential transition from John Skipper to Jimmy Pitaro, Swofford pronounced the working relationship as “stronger than ever.”

“This fall we will finalize the live event programming schedule for the fall, winter and spring sports,” he said. “Throughout the academic year, we’ll begin the process of considering our non-live program needs and reviewing different show ideas that will be on the ACC Network. And by next spring, we will have identified the talent for the programs that we create, as well as our lead game announcers for all sports. …

“It’s not that I don’t want to share more with you, but the reality is I’ve provided all the answers we have at this current time. But, rest assured, by next year's football kickoff, there will be no shortage of information surrounding the ACC Network shows and talent, and we will at that time be within weeks of its launch. Bottom line, whether it’s production, distribution, scheduling or anything else related to the network, I am pleased to be able to tell you that we are right on schedule.”

But as Swofford acknowledged in a subsequent one-on-one interview, “on schedule” for distribution is a relative concept.

Carriage negotiations are, Swofford said, “a tough world.”

Report: Louisville football hosts FCS powerhouse James Madison in 2022

Jake Lourim, Louisville Courier JournalPublished 1:50 p.m. ET July 30, 2018

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The Louisville football team will host James Madison on Nov. 5, 2022, according to a report from the Daily News-Record on Monday.

The Cardinals have now completed their non-conference scheduling through 2022. Except for paycheck games against lower-tier opponents, they're likely scheduled through 2024.

Louisville's other non-conference games in 2022 are at Central Florida on Sept. 17 and against South Florida on Sept. 24 and Kentucky on Nov. 26. That means that the team will likely begin the season with two ACC games, barring an open date on one of those weeks. It coincides with the league's goal of scheduling marquee conference games early in the schedule.

James Madison is one of the best teams in the Football Championship Subdivision. With their national championship in 2016, the Dukes are the only school besides North Dakota State with a national title since 2010. Last season, they went undefeated until the championship game, where they lost to North Dakota State.

Louisville has never played James Madison in football.

The Daily News-Record reported that Louisville's guarantee payment to James Madison will be $600,000, a standard sum. Louisville will pay Indiana State $500,000 to visit this season and Eastern Kentucky $600,000 to visit next season. The program paid Kent State $1 million for last year's game.

I caught up with Memphis OL Melvin McBride to talk about his Top 5, which includes Louisville.

You can read the story here.

From everything I can read, it looks like Clemson, Florida State, Miami and NC State are doing EXTREMELY well on 2019 recruits. Their star averages are very high.

NC State looks as if they are going to become a juggernaut.

I will be honest in that the recruiting hunt does not particularly interest me since the whole exercise is a fickle mistress. That said...just curious from the folks that follow this, is this coaching staff busting their asses to a greater extent than the Pitino regime? Not sure if their posting on social media gives off the impression they are doing more, or are they really putting in the extra effort?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-wrigley-field-bowl-game-off-20180726-story.html#


So much for a bowl game at Wrigley Field.

Sources told the Tribune on Thursday the game is off, at least for now.

The breakdown in negotiations occurred because Cubs officials wanted a premier spot in the Big Ten bowl lineup — the ability to land the conference’s No. 3 or No. 4 team. When Big Ten officials queried schools, they responded that they would prefer a warm-weather destination.

The Cubs had the finances arranged for a bowl game at Wrigley but declined to make a deal for a lower-slotted Big Ten team. The sides amicably parted ways and said they might revisit a potential game.

Rose Bowl hosting the Georgia-Oklahoma College Football Playoff semifinal, the conference lineup went like this: 1. Cotton (Arlington, Texas); 2. Orange (Miami Gardens, Fla.); 3. Fiesta (Glendale, Ariz.); 4. Outback (Tampa, Fla.); 5. Holiday (San Diego); 6. Music City (Nashville, Tenn.); 7. Pinstripe (New York); 8. Foster Farms (Santa Clara, Calif.).

The Tribune reported last month the sides had made “significant progress” toward a bowl game in 2020. The opponent likely would have come from the ACC.

Recent MLB Allstar and former Card Adam Duvall was traded from the Reds to the Braves. Adam has struggled this year batting around .205 but still has plenty of homers. Adam found himself as the odd man out in the Reds OF. Much as I liked to keep Adam close to home, I think he needs a change of venue plus a chance of playing in the postseason!

This should get interesting and somehow they will rule in his favor...