Petrino: Cards earned their 48-hour pass

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The University of Louisville football players head into a much-anticipated two-day break from practice today with significant praise from head coach Bobby Petrino.

The No. 12-ranked Cardinals have finished the heavy-hitting portion of the preseason, with workouts the next two weeks focusing more squarely on the Sept. 4 opener at Kentucky -- though contact drills won't end altogether.

"Our football team has worked extremely hard," Petrino said during Friday's kickoff luncheon. "These past two weeks have been very difficult. We get them up somewhere between 6 o'clock and 7 o'clock in the morning, go out and practice and keep them in meetings until 10 o'clock at night. But what I can say is that they really fought through the grind.

"What I tell the players is, when it's in the fourth quarter and we're down 10 like we were last year in the Liberty Bowl and everybody on the sideline still believes we're going to win the game, it's because we've done this grind, we've been through it together. We knew how to get up when we were sore and tired and get out on the practice field and forget all about that and concentrate on what we were coached to do.

"I'm proud of the way our players have handled the past two weeks."

Preparations for UK on

Though the Cardinals have been installing portions of the UK game plan all along, when they resume practice Tuesday they'll begin a more traditional game-week routine, then repeat the process next week to polish things up.

Seeing the game plan unfold is something that senior Montrell Jones looks forward to.

"I'm always anxious to see how coach Petrino is going to attack a team, especially offensively, because he has such a great mind for the game and you know he's going to come up with something that should work if you just execute it," Jones said.

"Sometimes he'll even come up with things late in the week, because he just keeps studying. I think that gives us a lot of confidence as an offense to know that he is so good at figuring out ways to attack teams."

Hype machine cranks up

The hype machine is running full speed. No, not the hype machine that has the Cards ranked No. 12 and receiving a first-place vote in The Associated Press' poll or appearing every other day on some kind of national outlet.

This hype machine is run by the U of L program and is aimed at UK's team. Both Petrino and athletic director Tom Jurich warned U of L fans this past week that coach Rich Brooks' Wildcats are more dangerous than they're being given credit for.

"I think Rich Brooks is way ahead of schedule," Jurich told the Louisville Rotary Club on Thursday. "I think they're sandbagging for us. I think that's why Bobby is working so hard for this game.

"Because you know what, they've had four years since probation came on for them. They've recruited 100 players. They might have lost six or 10 or 12, but they did sign 100. So those 100, if they've done the right things and their recruits are as good as they're saying they are -- and I'm certain Andre Woodson is going to do a terrific job -- then it's going to be a big challenge for us."

"It's a little more difficult this year in our preparation," Petrino said. "They have a new offensive coordinator, a young quarterback with a live arm and some really good receivers, so I think it's a great challenge for our defense. …

"What's going to be important to us in that opening game is that we do a great job of stopping the run and … hitting the quarterback. And if we can get those things accomplished defensively, I think you'll see us play very well."

Though all the work now is being done behind closed doors, offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said his unit continues to hum along.

"I think in the last two weeks we've really improved each day," he said. "I think now we just need to make sure we get out there and know exactly what our game plan is for Kentucky, understand what they're trying to do and get ready to go."