Louisville Honors, Rankings and Kienholz Hype Headline Busy Week
The short version
- Kaleb Beasley and KeyJuan Brown earned national weekly awards for Louisville.
- Lincoln Kienholz ranks No. 2 on CFB Kings' Heisman watch and No. 8 in Dennis Dodd's rankings.
- Louisville is No. 2 in USA Today's ACC power rankings and favored by 12.5 against Wake Forest.
- Ex-Cards Wesley Bailey, Tyler Shough and Miller Moss are making NFL headlines.
- Louisville men's basketball began practice with Flory Bidunga earning the gold jersey.
Two Cardinals earned national weekly awards, Lincoln Kienholz surged up Heisman watches, and Louisville sits No. 2 in USA Today's ACC power rankings ahead of Saturday's game against Wake Forest.
Louisville enters Saturday's home game against Wake Forest as a double-digit favorite, listed at -12.5 in the spread while analytics models favor the Cardinals by 12. Quarterback Lincoln Kienholz has drawn early national attention, sitting No. 2 in CFB Kings' weekly Heisman watch behind only Miami's Darian Mensah, and No. 8 in Dennis Dodd's rankings.
Two Cardinals picked up national weekly honors. Defensive back Kaleb Beasley was named Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week, and running back KeyJuan Brown earned Doak Walker Award National Running Back of the Week despite not appearing on that award's preseason watch list.
Louisville moved up to No. 2 in USA Today's weekly ACC power rankings and holds an 11-seed in Sports Illustrated's latest playoff projection. The school also swept several team-sport polls: field hockey climbed two spots to No. 10, women's soccer entered the coaches poll at No. 13, and all seven active team sports are ranked in the nation's top 20. On3 named Louisville its 'Best Crowd' in weekly college football superlatives.
Former Cardinals are making NFL headlines. Wesley Bailey recorded his first career sack Monday night, Tyler Shough became the first player in NFL history with 3,000-plus passing yards and a 67-percent completion rate in his first 13 games, and Miller Moss is in line to back up at quarterback for the Bears against Philadelphia on Monday night.
On campus, Louisville men's basketball opened official practice with Flory Bidunga receiving the program's gold jersey, and CBS's Issaac Trotter projects a starting lineup featuring Jackson Shelstad, Seth Trimble (pending a fifth-year eligibility injunction), Karter Knox, Alvaro Folgueiras and Bidunga. Louisville men's soccer stayed unbeaten with a 3-0 win over Belmont on Monday.
