Cards attract the lights and cameras

[bullwark]

LOUISVILLE - Michael Bush pawed at the freshly laid carpet inside Papa John's Cardinal Stadium yesterday shortly after workers had laid a new Big East logo on top of the old Conference USA one.

The Louisville running back looked at it, lifted it up, then looked some more. Maybe he was looking for some answers to reveal how the Cards might do this year in their inaugural season in the Big East.

Bush would love to know because that's all anybody wants to talk about these days. They want to know whether the No. 14 national ranking in the USA Today coaches poll, the highest ever pre-season mark for a U of L team, is accurate.

This comes just two weeks after Louisville was picked to win the conference by media that cover the league. Fans and the media want to know whether the Cards can go undefeated and play in a Bowl Championship Series game.

But Bush also knows that the last time the Cards were ranked in the pre-season, No. 17 in 2002, they finished 7-6 with a 38-15 loss to Marshall in the GMAC Bowl.

"We just can't take any of these days off from practice," Bush said yesterday morning at U of L Media Day. "We can't just come in and punch the clock."

There will be days, Bush said, when players don't want to work through the heat of two-a-days and might want to take a practice off.

"That's when leadership comes in and guys pat each other on the butt," he said.

Louisville got all these high expectations by finishing 2004 ranked No. 6 in the nation by The Associated Press. It was a team that led the nation in total offense and scoring offense.

How the Cardinals fare this season will hinge somewhat on how they handle this wave of pre-season publicity.

"We're going to find out, I think," Coach Bobby Petrino said. "I just think if we keep addressing it and putting it out there on the table, they'll really start focusing. ... I'm not sure if I've been around a team that's worked as hard as they did all summer long, so that's a good indicator that they are focused, but that can slip away, too."

So while the Cards had six players drafted into the NFL, the cupboard, as defensive coordinator Mike Cassity puts it, is not bare.

Cassity is hoping some healthy camp competition will make replacing middle linebacker Robert McCune and safety Kerry Rhodes easier. McCune led the team with 115 tackles while Rhodes had six interceptions.

Among the candidates to replace McCune are linebacker Matt Sanders, redshirt freshman linebacker Lamar Myles and junior linebacker Nate Harris. Senior Antoine Sharp, junior Brandon Sharp, redshirt freshman Justin Deely and sophomore Jon Russell are in line to replace Rhodes.

"We had a lot of depth last season, and we'll look for guys to step forward this season, but I think they'll be willing to do that," Cassity said.

Nine starters return on offense, but the spotlight will be on players who were primarily backups last season, including sophomore quarterback Brian Brohm, Bush and junior running back Kolby Smith, whom the coaches expect to add a change of pace from Bush.

But a question remains about who will play the weakside guard position to protect the 6-foot-4 Brohm, who hopes to make more down-the-field throws than 6-foot Stefan LeFors did last year.

Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said he expects Bush and Smith to replace Eric Shelton and Lionel Gates and get enough yards to give the offense flexibility on second down.

"That'll be the biggest thing," Petrino said. "If they can make that tough run and get four yards instead of making that unbelievable cut and losing three yards."