The No. 25 Louisville Cardinals sent a dagger through Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff aspirations on Saturday night. Needing a victory against a top-ranked opponent on the road, the No. 10 Fighting Irish fell flat, losing to the Cardinals 33-20. The loss snapped Notre Dame’s 30-game regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference winning streak that dates back to 2017.
A Sea of Red for Notre Dame
Losing for the second time in the last three weeks, Notre Dame’s CFP hopes came crashing down, courtesy of the Cardinals. Perplexing play calls and flat efforts in all phases doomed the Irish. Little went right for the Irish offense all night as the Cardinals’ defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. Notre Dame’s rushing game never got off the ground, making the offense one-dimensional. Audric Estime, the nation’s leading rusher entering the game, was held to just 20 yards on 10 carries. Notre Dame had 298 total yards compared to 330 yards for the Cardinals. The Irish gained just 44 yards rushing, a significant decline from their average of 192 rushing yards per game.
Quarterback Sam Hartman struggled from start to finish. His streak of 148 consecutive passes without an interception ended early in the game. He threw his first interception of the season on his fourth passing attempt of the game. All told, Hartman completed 22 of 38 passes for 254 yards. Despite throwing touchdown passes to Jordan Faison and Mitchell Evans, Hartman also threw three interceptions, and he got sacked five times. Hartman endured a similar result facing Louisville a year ago with Wake Forest. That contest ended with Hartman throwing three interceptions in a 48-21 defeat.
“Nobody has put the pressure on the quarterback like Louisville,” said Irish head coach Marcus Freeman. “Give them credit, they were stacking the box and saying we refuse to let you run the ball. Then we have to make some plays in the passing game. We didn’t, and we have to be sure not to let this happen again.
“Everybody is going to point the finger at Sam,” Freeman added. “You better point the finger at me. We have to do a better job of protecting our quarterback and putting him in situations to have a higher percentage for success.”
Historic win for Louisville
At 6-0, Louisville is off to its best start in 10 years. First-year head coach Jeff Brohm, a Louisville native and former Cardinals standout quarterback, is ushering in a new era for the program. In front of a stadium-record 59,081, the Cardinals not only beat an Associated Press Top 10 opponent, but they defeated one of college football’s most storied programs.
Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan led the way for the Cardinals and was the difference-maker in the game. Jordan rushed for a season-high 143 yards and scored two touchdowns. He scored on 45-and 21-yard runs in consecutive second-half possessions to seal the Irish’s fate. Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer proved efficient on the night, going 17-of-24 for 145 yards and a touchdown to complement the explosive run game.
“It’s a great win,” Brohm said in his postgame press conference. “And yeah, I like big games. Our team likes big games. If you can’t get up for those, this maybe isn’t the sport for you. But you’ve got to come ready to play, and you’ve got to do all the small things. You’ve got to be aggressive.
“I just think our players came out in the second half and understood what it meant, not only (for) us, but the entire town, city, and university to win, and they grinded it out.”
Implications
With the loss, the worst of the season, Notre Dame can be expected to sink several spots in the rankings. Louisville, in turn, is expected to rise in the rankings following the signature win. Despite a pair of losses on the season, the Irish have another big game ahead. They face the USC Trojans on Saturday in South Bend. Freeman and his staff have their work cut out for them. They must regroup, make the necessary adjustments, and bounce back for a fourth straight game against a top-ranked opponent in prime time.
“You don’t have much time to feel sorry for yourself,” Freeman said. “I’m going to really count on our leaders to make sure our guys understand we have to learn from this game and then we have to move forward and get ready for USC. We cannot sit here and mope and feel bad for ourselves. We have to move forward. This will be a true test of our leadership.”
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