Cards to issue injury reports

University of Louisville football coach Steve Kragthorpe is making a change to his injury policy.

Beginning with Saturday's contest at Cincinnati, the Cardinals will issue a report the day before a game that lists players as either "questionable" or "probable" because of injury. The reports will not disclose the nature of any injury.

Kragthorpe had previously declined to give out any information about injuries that weren't of the season-ending variety. He said he did this both to gain a competitive advantage over uninformed opponents and to protect players from the risk of further injury.

Team spokesman Rocco Gasparro said the change in policy is designed to dispel rumors and speculation about players who may not participate in the following day's game.
Next year's schedule shaping up

Halfway through the 2007 season, U of L still has a hole in its 2008 schedule.

The Cards have scheduled home games with Middle Tennessee State, Kansas State, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Florida, Cincinnati and Connecticut. They have games at Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers. Various Internet reports have said U of L also will host Tennessee Tech, though school officials have not confirmed that.

That leaves at least one open date on the schedule. Senior associate athletic director Kevin Miller said U of L is in talks with several schools about filling that date, but he said the short amount of time -- most football schedules are made out years in advance -- makes it difficult to set up a series.
Coach explains fake field goal

One of the most embarrassing moments for U of L in last Friday's game came late in the first half, when Utah converted a fake field goal. Tight end Matt Simms lined up at wideout completely uncovered and caught a pass from holder Brandon Godfrey.

"We had a guy assigned to him," Kragthorpe said. "He just did not see him out there."

Kragthorpe said the coaches were frantically trying to call a timeout on the sideline, to no avail.

"The unfortunate part about that is when you have to stand behind the 25-yard line and they're down on the other end of field, it's tougher to get their attention," he said.
Cincinnati game big for Wood

The Cincinnati game is an important one for the Cards if they have any hope of staying in the Big East Conference race.

But it's even more important to center Eric Wood. He's a Cincinnati native whose father played for the Bearcats. He was recruited by the school but chose to go to Louisville.

"Cincinnati-Louisville is a rivalry I grew up watching," he said. "A lot of those times, I was on the other end because my dad went there. Now I hate Cincinnati. Now I want to beat them. It's a pivotal game for me because I don't want to listen to my 10 friends that play for Cincinnati the rest of the year."

The rivalry hasn't been too competitive of late, with U of L winning the Keg of Nails trophy the past four years and eight of the past nine meetings. But this may be the most heated confrontation in awhile, with a sellout crowd expected at Nippert Stadium and the Bearcats (6-0) off to their best start in more than 50 years.

"It hasn't maybe gotten as much attention and recognition because it's been one-sided, and I think their side hasn't been into it as much as well because they haven't been filling their stadium," quarterback Brian Brohm said. "But now it's a sellout crowd, so it will definitely feel like a big-time rivalry."

The Cincinnati players, some of whom remember U of L's 70-7 beatdown three years ago, are aching for some payback.

"We want this one real bad," junior wide receiver Dominick Goodman told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We haven't had the Keg of Nails for a while."

The College Football Notebooks appear on Wednesdays.