Never having been to Freedom Hall I have a question about the student section. How big/loud is it there? Watching the Cards on televsion it seems as if their non existant. I'm only comparing them to other teams I've watched on television, mostly Big East, whose student sections are incrediably loud and seem to be right on the court. They provide a huge advantage, in my opinion, for the home team. On a side note, does anyone know about the student section at the new arean? Will they be right on the court or be as bad as it seems right now at Freedom Hall.

April 13

I hit Louisville's first two practices way back in mid-March. The Cardinals took a week off for spring break and are wrapping up drills this week. I'm planning to visit on Tuesday to see how far they've progressed this spring.

Among the things I'm hearing that I'm interested to check out:

• Justin Burke and Adam Froman have apparently moved to the front of the four-way quarterback derby. Neither has the strongest of arms, but Burke is accurate while Froman can run.

• Speedy track star Jacques Caldwell has been moved from receiver to cornerback.

• Tight end Rock Keys is working out on the defensive line, where the Cardinals lack depth and experience.

• Brandon Heath has had a big spring at rover, a new position on the defense where's he's allowed to make plays as an outside linebacker.

 

April 15

Louisville quarterback derby features lot of bumping

At most spring practices, the quarterbacks wear a brightly-colored jersey and are treated like precious family heirlooms. If defensive players get within sneezing distance, the whistle is blown and the play is dead.

Not so at Louisville, where the bubble wrap has been taken off the quarterbacks. At Tuesday night's practice, the defense was sacking signal-callers and taking them all the way down to the ground, like in a real football game.

It's part of the Cardinals' search for a new starting quarterback this spring. The coaching staff figures they need to see what the candidates can do under actual game conditions.

"Competition breeds that," quarterback Justin Burke said. "I'm not saying we're expendable, but it's one of those things that's testing our moxie. It's kind of showing us who's going to compete, take a shot and get up and compete the next time."

Head coach Steve Kragthorpe doesn't seem too concerned about injuring his quarterbacks. He wants to find guys who make plays on the move, and it's hard to do that when they're wearing yellow jerseys.

"They're getting thumped," he said, "but we're also giving them a chance to make some plays with their feet, which you saw out here tonight several times."

Burke says he welcomes the early-year contact.

"The whistle gets real short when we've got those yellow jerseys on," he said. "When we're sacked, we want to know we're sacked, because sometimes a defensive player will be on us and we can kind of shimmy them off and make a play."

<!--more--> Louisville went into the spring with a four-way battle at quarterback. With the spring game set for Friday, it appears that Burke and junior-college transfer Adam Froman have separated themselves from the pack. They split reps with the first team on Tuesday night, with Burke the first one in for the 11-on-11 two-minute drill that ended practice.

Neither Burke, an NC State transfer, nor Froman have especially strong arms. If either wins the job, it will be quite a change from last year, when Hunter Cantwell boasted perhaps the best pure throwing arm in the Big East. But Froman is quick on his feet, while Burke delivers the most accurate ball of all the candidates.

"People wouldn't even think about saying I have as strong an arm [as Cantwell's]," Burke said. "But there are a lot of guys who've made a lot of money without a rocket arm who throw it accurately and on time. That's almost more important than anything.

"I wouldn't sell my arm short, now. I can get the ball where it needs to go. It's nice to be able to throw it 75 yards, but that's not a requirement."

Some other observations from the Cardinals' practice:

• Tyler Wolfe, who appeared to have a slight edge going into camp because of his experience in the program, looks to be third in line in the quarterback competition now. Zack Stoudt has had a rough camp.

• There's little doubt about who the best player on the team is. When Victor Anderson gets the ball, he can make something out of nothing.

• Louisville spent a lot of time on two-minute drills and hurry-up situations. Several times, the offense stalled in long field goal range. I still don't know if the Cardinals have anyone who can hit a clutch field goal.

• Cornerback Johnny Patrick went out with an ankle injury, leaving converted wide receiver Jacques Caldwell in with the first-team defense. Caldwell, who's also a track star, not surprisingly showed the ability to stay with any receiver. Whether he can make plays on the ball or be physical at the line of scrimmage remains a big question mark.

• Rock Keys, who was a tight end until a few days ago, was indeed working out at defensive tackle. Keys, who's listed at 248 pounds, clearly needs to add a lot of weight to be an effective player there in the Big East. But the Cardinals need bodies there right now just to have competitive practices.

I was just checking my cable lineup(Comcast) and I saw that the Louisville/Morehead State game was going to be on the CBS College channel. I don't know if this means that it won't be on regular CBS at all as they switch from game to game. Just thought everyone would like to know in case you do have this channel. It may be better for some than sitting in front of their computer tonight to see the game in it's entirety. Let's go Cards!!!

I saw that his transfer request was granted by Arizona. I believe he was once a Louisville commit. This may seem like a dumb quesion, but does anyone think he may consider the Cards again? I'm not sure if they would still want him after being dissed or what their scholarship situation is. I may just be suckered in by the possibility of a versatile 6-11 big man. Your thoughts would be much obliged.

I was just wondering if anybody here is on Xbox Live.

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If you wanna link up let me know your gamertag or you can hit me up at mine its Matlockandkey.

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Thanks and Go Cards!!

I saw this in USA Today and thought you Trinity alum would like to know.

Second Trinity joins Super 25

24. Trinity, Louisville (3-0)

Previous: Not ranked. Result: QB Cameron Smyth threw two TD passes, and the Shamrocks' defense had seven sacks and two interceptions in a 17-6 defeat of then-No. 20 St. Xavier (Cincinnati). Next: Thursday at Eastern (Louisville).

Also:

Trinity (Louisville) made a huge move in the Massey Ratings released Tuesday.

The Shamrocks jumped from No. 118 to 11th in the high school football computer rankings after its 17-6 win over St. Xavier (Cincinnati) last week.

But it was more than just the victory that propelled Trinity 107 spots into the top 25. In the Massey Ratings, strength of schedule is taken into account, which means Trinity benefits from its schedule (No. 8 in the state) and from St. Xavier's schedule (No. 3 in the nation).

"Most important is your opponent," said Ken Massey of HighSchoolSports.net. "But everyone is connected. If your conference does well and your out-of-conference opponents do well, that's going to reflect on you."

Trinity (Euless, Texas) remains No. 1. The Trojans started the season No. 2 but jumped over Colerain (Cincinnati) after defeating Cedar Hill (Texas). Completing the top five: Carroll (Southlake, Texas), Colerain, Armwood (Seffner, Fla.) and Long Beach (Calif.) Poly.

St. Xavier, which is 3-2, dropped to No. 15 from No. 4. "Any other 3-2 team wouldn't be ranked," Massey said. "But since they're playing top teams and they are close games, they're staying up there. I feel like I know as much information as you can without actually watching teams play."

Tranghese punishes ref who made call; won't elaborate on penalty

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Steve Kragthorpe isn't dwelling on a blown call by officials in last week's 21-17 loss to Connecticut. The Louisville coach is focusing on helping his team forget a tough loss in a season full of them.

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese called Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich on Sunday, saying the referees erred during a disputed punt return for a touchdown by the Huskies early in the third quarter.

"It certainly doesn't change anything that happened on Friday night," Kragthorpe said. "It was a factor in the game, but it wasn't the only factor in the game."

The Cardinals (4-4, 1-2 Big East) were leading 7-0 when Cory Goettsche punted. Connecticut's Larry Taylor moved under the ball and waved his right hand above his head, appearing to make a fair catch signal.

But when Taylor caught the ball, he began running to his left and raced untouched 74 yards up the sideline for a touchdown. Several Cardinals had slowed, thinking the play was over when Taylor made the catch.

A livid Kragthorpe protested, saying the play should have been blown dead when Taylor raised his arm. Kragthorpe called a timeout and asked the referee if the play could be reviewed. Fair catch signals, however, are not reviewable under the NCAA's current instant replay policy.

Tranghese told Jurich the officials had made a "terrible" mistake. Tranghese took action against the referee who missed the call, but wouldn't elaborate on the penalty.

"The bad part is I can't change the call," Tranghese said Monday.

Louisville responded to take a 17-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Huskies rallied for two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes to remain unbeaten atop the conference.

Kragthorpe said he'd like to see a play like that fall under the umbrella of instant replay.

"I obviously think it does because it happened not only this game, but it happened in the game against Notre Dame and USC," Kragthorpe said. "Anytime there's a subjective part to the game it needs to be reviewed."

Tranghese said there is chance the subject could come up after the season.

"We don't want to paralyze the game, but that's such a simple, simple play, if they had gone up to the booth, they would have said he gave the signal," Tranghese said. "We want to get the play right."

The loss means Louisville will have to split its final four games to become bowl-eligible for the 10th straight year.

The Cardinals host Pittsburgh (3-4, 1-1) on Saturday then finish the season with games against West Virginia (No. 8 BCS, No. 6 AP), South Florida (No. 10 BCS, No. 11 AP) and Rutgers (unranked BCS, No. 25 AP).