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Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes
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- Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes
—Spread check: Louisville by 14.5.
—Isaac Brown is your ACC Running Back of the Week and Lance Robinson is your ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week. It's the second time this season that the Cardinals have swept the two honors.
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—Robinson is also the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week .
—Whether it's Jeff or Brian Brohm calling the plays, the run game should be what fuels the Louisville offense from this point forward.
—The Pro Football Network grades from the Florida State game drive home just how important it is for the Louisville secondary to have a fully healthy Tayon Holloway back at cornerback.
Tayon Holloway posted a 93.9Impact Grade vs. Florida State, the highestof any CB in the country in Week 6.
See the CB Impact Grades →Kaleb Beasley posted a 93.0Impact Grade vs. Florida State, the 2nd-highestof any S in the country in Week 6.
See the Safety Impact Grades →Tayon Holloway's 93.9vs. Florida State is the 5th-highestsingle-game Impact Grade by any FBS CB this season.
See the CB Impact Grades →Kaleb Beasley's 93.0vs. Florida State is the 10th-highestsingle-game Impact Grade by any FBS S this season.
See the Safety Impact Grades →Louisville's defensive line graded 88.7vs. Florida State, 4th-bestof any FBS defensive line in Week 6.
See the Team DL Impact Grades →Isaac Brown was the highest-graded RB in the ACC in Week 6 ( 85.2).
See the RB Impact Grades →
—The latest episode of the Locked on Louisville podcast is here .
—Penny Hardaway says he spent $2.6 million of his own money on Memphis State's NIL budget for 2026-27.
—Isaac Brown is ESPN's Heisman Winner of the Week .
Some athletes just stand out. The way Kamario Taylor throws a deep ball just looks different from the way everyone else does it. The ease with which Jeremiah Smith gets open makes it seem like college cornerbacks have never studied routes before. The way Ndamukong Suh dominated a double-team at Nebraska made it seem like he was the only college football player who lifted weights.
Louisville running back Isaac Brown hasn't succeeded at the level of Smith or Suh, but he's putting together a solid career. A football and track-and-field star at Miami Northwestern Senior High School, he was the ACC's best rookie and a Freshman All-American in 2024. His third career carry went for 36 yards, and his fifth went for 77 and a touchdown. He finished the year with 1,325 yards from scrimmage, 12 touchdowns and a few solid kickoff returns.
His sophomore season began almost the exact same way — his sixth carry of the year: a 68-yard touchdown — but injuries limited his opportunities. And the first month of his junior season was a frustrating one: He averaged just 4.1 yards per carry with 238 yards from scrimmage in Louisville's first four games, and the Cardinals stumbled to a 2-2 start.
But Brown finally ignited with carries of 24, 20 and 70 yards against NC State in Week 5 (albeit in a loss), and in Week 6 he (A) moved Florida State's Mike Norvell about three steps closer to getting fired, (B) maybe saved Louisville's season and (C) reminded everyone that he's faster than just about anyone else on a football field.
Down 14-0, Louisville had just made a desperate fourth-down stop to keep hope alive, and on the first play of the Cardinals' third drive, Brown took off.
Florida State might not have its best defense ever, but Seminoles defenders are well-paid, high-level athletes. Brown made them look like a high school junior varsity, and this jarring touchdown kick-started a 44-6 run . He returned the second-half kickoff 71 yards to set up an easy score, and he fittingly capped the game with another long touchdown that finished with no FSU defender in the picture.
Louisville might not have the defense or the consistency to climb back into the ACC race, but any offense with a healthy Brown is among the most explosive in the country. And in Week 6, Brown was college football's most outstanding player.
This year, Heisman is running its Heisman Hopefuls Fan Vote all season long, with a platform that provides statistics, EA Sports ratings and other information. In that vein, I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). This week's 10 points go to Brown.
—Jeff Brohm prioritized winning over play-calling last Friday, and it paid off in a big way for Louisville.
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—Florida State wants want Mike Norvell out. That might not be possible for an athletic program that is $430 million in debt.
—Best Card Tape of the season so far:
—Former Trinity High baseball superstar Dillon Lawson has been named the new hitting coach for the Miami Marlins. Lawson previously worked as the hitting coach for the Yankees and the assistant hitting coach for the Red Sox.
—No one knows who Syracuse's quarterback on Saturday night is going to be.
—TNIAAM takes a guess .
—The rest of this week in Cardinal athletics:
Tuesday, October 13
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Men's Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championship (College Grove, Tenn.) and Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.)
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Women's Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championship (Mason, Ohio)
Wednesday, October 14
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Men's Tennis at Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.)
Thursday, October 15
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Men's Tennis at Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.)
Friday, October 16
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Volleyball vs. Duke – 7 p.m. ET (L&N Federal Credit Union Arena)
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Men's Soccer at Clemson – 7:30 p.m. ET (Clemson, S.C.)
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Men's Tennis at Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.) and MTSU Invitational (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
Saturday, October 17
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Field Hockey vs. Duke – 1 p.m. ET (Trager Stadium)
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Football at Syracuse – 7:30 p.m. ET (Syracuse, N.Y.)
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Lacrosse Hosts Louisville Fall Tournament (Cincinnati, UIndy, Xavier) – All Day (UofL Lacrosse Stadium)
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Men's Tennis at Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.) and MTSU Invitational (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
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Rowing at Head of Charles Regatta (Boston, Mass.)
Sunday, October 18
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Volleyball vs. North Carolina – 1 p.m. ET (L&N Federal Credit Union Arena)
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Men's Tennis at Lexington Futures (Lexington, Ky.) and MTSU Invitational (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
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Men's Golf at The Williams Cup (Wilmington, N.C.)
— Advice from Payton Pritchard has helped Jackson Shelstad find his place at Louisville.
—Cardinal Authority looks at Louisville football in the national stats .
—The first KenPom ratings of the season have Louisville — sans Seth Trimble and LJ Wells — at No. 17.
—Point guard Quinn Ellis has reportedly been ruled eligible to play for St. John's this season, which will make Rick Pitino's team much more difficult of an out at the Players Era Festival if the Thanksgiving Day matchup between the Cards and Johnnies takes place.
—The schedule for the annual Louisville baseball Pizza Bowl is out .
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—The Kentucky Derby Museum welcomed a record 266,035 guests in fiscal 2026, nearly 11,000 more than a year earlier . The Louisville nonprofit also cleared its old pre-pandemic high of 242,841, set in 2019, giving the home of Derby history a fresh mark of its own.
—Lincoln is the man.
—Will Leitch writes that it's time to treat athletes like paid adults, including Arch Manning .
—The CJ looks at the five biggest area high school football games for the upcoming weekend.
—The Eye on College Basketball Podcast previews Louisville and the rest of the ACC.
—Not surprised to see this.
—Clev Lubin currently leads the FBS in QB pressures.
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—Isaac Brown is the Senior Bowl Offensive Player of the Week .
—Karter Knox is feeling very confident about Louisville's chances against Kentucky (and everyone else) this season.
—St. X basketball standout Josh Lindsay took an unofficial visit to Louisville over the weekend.
—Ryan Conwell is lighting it up for the Heat in the preseason.
—FSU fans are handling Friday night well though.
—State of the U looks at how the Louisville running game gouged FSU .
—A witchy bar in Louisville will host the first ever Coven Cup .
—And finally, this week's S&P ratings have Louisville at No. 25. Like I've always said, computers know football way more than humans do.
