Notre Dame and Louisville played a turnover-filled game, as the Irish kept their playoff hopes alive and came out on top 31-24.
Via Notre Dame Athletics
On a rainy day at Notre Dame Stadium, this game was truly a tale of two halves. The first half was nonstop excitement, with five turnovers, many miscues, and constant gut-punches between both sides. On the flip side, the second half of the game was a defensive slugfest that led to a stalemate for both offenses.
The overall theme of today's game was sudden change. For the rollercoaster of a season the Fighting Irish have already endured, this game was quite possibly the biggest collection of highs and lows.
To start the game, Devyn Ford fumbled the opening kickoff, which led to a quick Louisville score.
The Irish then bounced back, as Riley Leonard put together his best drive of the season which featured a fourth down passing completion to Jayden Thomas. The drive was capped off by a Jeremiyah Love six-yard touchdown run.
Leonard was more effective through the air today but struggled again in the second half. Leonard finished 17/23 for 163 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, the Notre Dame running game struggled a bit running into stacked boxes. Leonard was also the team’s leading rusher with 52 yards on 13 carries. Love ended the game as the Irish’s second leader in rushing with 34 yards on 11 attempts.
After the Love touchdown, Louisville fumbled the kickoff, but the Cardinals were able to recover. This led to a long Tyler Shough scamper for 46 yards, but true freshman Leonard Moore was able to punch the ball loose. Moore played the entire game for the Irish in this one as Christian Gray, who wasn't listed as medically unavailable in the pregame injury report, didn't play.
The Irish capitalized on this turnover as Riley Leonard delivered a great ball to Jaden Greathouse for a 34-yard touchdown.
Notre Dame continued to roll on the next possession of the game as the defense forced Louisville to punt, but it was a bad snap that flew over the Cardinals' punter and Kennedy Urlacher fell on it.
Leonard then wasted no time with a four-yard touchdown scamper.
At this point, all things were going the way of the Irish. Up by fourteen, and forcing a Louisville punt, the Irish had a chance to throw a haymaker early in the game; however, Jadarian Price put the ball on the ground, and gifted Louisville field position on the Notre Dame seven-yard line. Louisville scored on an impeccable pass by Shough, and all the momentum the Fighting Irish had crafted simply went away.
Notre Dame punted and gave Louisville the ball back, only down by seven, but a drop by star wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks landed in the lap of ball-hawking safety Xavier Watts as the Irish made another spark play.
Mitch Jeter connected on a 48-yard field goal and made it a two-score game.
On Louisville's two-minute drill before the half, the Notre Dame defense bent but didn't break, as Jeff Brohm opted to go for it on fourth and one on Notre Dame's 15, and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Xavier Watts, and Donovan Hinish all teamed up for a huge fourth-down stop.
The Irish took the 24-14 lead into halftime, and this score held up for the entirety of the third quarter as both defenses shined.
Ultimately, Notre Dame’s defense won the Irish the game with a crucial fourth down stop with 52 seconds left in the contest.
The Irish defense was depleted due to some injuries in this one, as well. Along with CB Christian Gray not playing, emerging star DE Boubacar Traore went down with a leg injury. This led to many young, inexperienced underclassmen having to step up. Leonard Moore played many big-time snaps along with fellow freshmen DE Bryce Young and DE Loghan Thomas.
In the end, the Irish did enough to win a must-win game and keep their playoff hopes alive. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock called his best game of the season, and Riley Leonard continues to grow confidence within this system. The Irish will have a Bye week next week before the Stanford Cardinal come to town.
It should be interesting to see what team comes out of the idle week, but the Irish need to continue their A-game that they displayed they can do today.
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Irish need a better O to continue to scrape by …the offense did nothing in the 2nd half !