U of L practice notes: Shifting to Murray State

Todd Grantham wasn't really in much of a mood to revel in Monday night's dominant defensive performance.

With only four days to prepare for Louisville's next opponent, the Cards' defensive coordinator had already moved on in his head to Saturday's 7 p.m. meeting with Murray State.

Yes, Murray State is an FCS program. Yes, Louisville hasn't lost to the Racers since 1984. No, the Cardinals aren't taking them lightly.

Not that you'd expect them to say otherwise.

"(Miami's) in the past ... Right after the game, come the next morning, you have to get ready for another opponent," Grantham said. "We'll have our hands full."

Murray State scored 73 points against Union College, an NAIA program from southeastern Kentucky, in the Racers' Thursday night win last week.

They run a hurry-up, no-huddle offense that'll keep Louisville on its toes.

"We just have to get adjusted to the speed," outside linebacker Deiontrez Mount said. "They play football. We strap on our pads just like they strap on their pads. With this quick turnaround, anybody can be a tough match for you."

POST-MIAMI STANDOUTS

Petrino on Wednesday morning had high praise for Mount and fellow outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin. The two combined for nine tackles, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and a sack.

James Sample, the focus of our Wednesday feature, also got some love from Grantham, who said the safety's preparation and study habits made him an instant success at Louisville.

And running back Dominique Brown, who ran for 143 yards on Monday, showed that he could handle a full workload. My buddy Steve Jones wrote about him on Tuesday.

NOTABLE

With the shortened week, Louisville changed up its practice plans. In a normal game week, the previous game was Saturday, which means the players get Sunday off. The early week focuses on tweaking the previous game's miscues and the mid-to-late-week practices shift their focus to studying and preparing for the next game.

Everything this week was smashed together, though the players did get Tuesday off.

QUOTABLE

"You just stay out of the media, for the most part. No offense, but you just can't have people pat you down on the back. You can't listen to that stuff." -- Mount on how players can avoid taking Murray State for granted.

INJURY UPDATE

Nothing new yet on Michael Dyer. Tackle Ryan Mack, who started on the right side of the offensive line, practiced Wednesday. He was shaken up on Monday night.

No word on safety Terrence Ross, either. He isn't on the depth chart, but he did sit out of Monday's game. It's unclear for now what's up with him.