No Tello? I’m advised that Louisville’s basketball staff is seriously concerned that Juan Palacios, obviously injury-prone, will never recover enough from his latest knee injury to be fully effective this season.
What’s old is new. U of L fans might notice something a bit different this hoops season. The pep band will be playing a new version of the school’s fight song. Which is actually old, the original, according to its director.

Trick or Treat in Blue? The Cats were tricked. To be a legit contenda in the SEC, ya gotta be ready every week. Not-Quite-Ready-For-Prime-Time UK looked battered and tired, mentally and physically, against Mississippi State. The schedule — at Vandy and Georgia, Vols at home — gets no easier for the already bowl-eligible Cats. A week off should help them heal.

Trick or Treat in Red? The Cards’ treat was gift-wrapped with a big bow. Pitt, a team even more mediocre than U of L, laid the bittersweet victory on the ground with a minute to go, and Koach Steve’s guys pounced on it. Only one bowl rep was in the house, he from Meinecke Car Care Bowl. For the disorganized Cards’ to holiday in Charlotte, it will take a miracle.

SchnellSpeak of the week. The Great Pontificator retired his weekly stump speeches in the school cafeteria. He reminisced about the value of the interaction with the student body: “Instead of being booed when I started speaking in the cafeteria, I was loudly cheered. It’s a growing swell.”

Before last Saturday’s conference match-up with Louisiana-Monroe, Construction Boss Schnell had to repair his lineup: “It’s a patch-up job. We’re close to not having enough reserves. We’re trying to bring in new men.” Before the game, he also talked about a possible future encounter with Florida State.

The Fighting Owls lost 33-30 in three overtimes to the Not-Quite-Seminoles. On the winning 31-yard run by Warhawk Calvin Dawson, Dermatologist Schnell: “That was a freckle on a freckle’s difference of him being knocked out of bounds, and that was the difference in the ballgame.” Marksman Schnell summed up the loss: “On the last play, they found the bulls-eye in the target on our back.”