UofL will have full capacity at Yum!, all other venues

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) -- It was expected, and Tuesday the University of Louisville made it official, announcing that the KFC Yum! Center will return to full capacity for men's and women's basketball games and volleyball matches next season after operating at only 15 percent capcacity last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

All other home venues will also operate at full capacity. UofL announced in late May that all football games at Cardinal Stadium would return to 100 percent capacity. Attendance in the 60,000-seat stadium was capped at 12,000 last season.

"As the positive momentum continues around the local health climate, we are thrilled to welcome Card Nation back home to ALL of our venues for this upcoming academic year," Vince Tyra, athletic director and vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics said in a statement. "As grateful as we are to our fans for sticking with us from their homes this past year, it'll be incredible to see our teams competing in front of live, full, loud home crowds here in The Ville. We need you, Cards fans. . .no one cheers like us. Let's have some fun."

Tyra said fans can purchase season tickets for the 2021 volleyball season now, while returning men's and women's basketball season ticket holders can renew season tickets through their My Cardinals Account. Admission will be free for regular season men's and women's soccer and field hockey matches during the 2021 season.

CARDS VS. SPARTANS. . .AGAIN

ESPN obviously likes the Louisville-Michigan State matchup in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge because those two teams are scheduled to play each other for the third time since 2014 for next season's event. The game will be played on Wednesday, Dec. 1, in the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

The Challenge features 14 Big Ten teams facing 14 ACC teams in a bid for the Commissioner's Cup. Every game will be televised on ESPN's family of networks. Since the competition began in 1999, the ACC has a 12-7-3 advantage.

Michigan State is ranked No. 22 in ESPN's "Way Too Early Top 25" after a disappointing 15-13 season. The Spartans, who were a top-5 preseason pick, struggled until late in the year, squeaked into the NCAA Tournament and lost to eventual national semifinalist UCLA 86-80 in overtim.

Louisville and Michigan State have split their two games in the series, with the visiting Cards losing 71-67 in 2015 and winning 82-78 in overtime at home in 2018 behind Ryan McMahon's career-high 24 points. UofL is 4-3 in the Challenge, but has not won on the road. The Cards have split two games against Purdue and also defeated Michigan and Ohio State at home.

Last year's Challenge game resulted in one of the worst defeats in UofL history, 85-48, at Wisconsin when the Cards were coming off a long COVID layoff and were without leading scorer Carlik Jones.

Here are the rest of the games in the Challenge:

Nov. 29--Iowa at Virginia, Notre Dame at Illinois.

Nov. 30--Clemson at Rutgers, Duke at Ohio State, Florida State at Purdue, Minnesota at Pittsburgh, Indiana at Syracuse, Northwestern at Wake Forest.

Dec. 1--Louisville at Michigan State, Miama at NC State, Michigan at North Carolina, Nebraska at NC State, Virginia Tech at Maryland, Wisconsin at Georgia Tech.

SATTERFIELD RANKED 6TH IN ACC

Entering his third season, UofL football coach Scott Satterfield is ranked sixth among ACC coaches in The Sporting News' annual college football ratings. Satterfield was No. 37 overall, a drop of nine spots from last season. He led the Cards to a surprising 8-5 record in his first season, but they fell to 4-7 last year despite returning 18 starters from 2019.

The magazine selected Alabama's Lou Saban No. 1, followed by: 2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson; 3. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma; 4. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; 5. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M; 6. Ryan Day, Ohio State; 7. Kirby Smart, Georgia; 8. Dan Mullen, Florida; 9. Matt Campbell, Iowa State; 10. Mack Brown, North Carolina.

Here is the complete order of the ACC coaches, along with their national ranking in parentheses:

1. Dabo Swinney, Clemson (No. 2); 2. Mack Brown, UNC (10); 3. Dave Doeren, NC State (29); 4. Manny Diaz, Miami (31); 5. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia (32); 6. Scott Satterfield, Louisville (37); 7. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest (43); 8. David Cutcliffe, Duke (44); 9. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh (45); 10. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech (51); 11. Jeff Hafley, Boston College (52); 12. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech (64); 13. Mike Norvell, Florida State (67); 14. Dino Babers, Syracuse (76).

Russ Brown, a former sportswriter for The Courier-Journal and USA Today, covers University of Louisville sports and college football and basketball for Kentucky Today. He can be contacted at 0926.russ.brown@gmail.com.