This Saturday afternoon, the #15 Louisville Cardinals roll into South Bend for a top-25 matchup with the #16 Fighting Irish. Notre Dame, led by Head Coach Marcus Freeman, should have revenge on their minds after the ugly 33-20 loss at Louisville last season.
Despite the Irish being 5 ½ point favorites at this moment, this game will not come easy. The Cardinals have assembled a more talented team than last season, thanks to securing the top transfer portal class this offseason, according to ON3. About half of Louisville's starters are new transfers, highlighted by quarterback Tyler Shough. Let’s take a look at this reloaded, but still talented, offense led by Head Coach Jeff Brohm and Shough:
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
As just mentioned, the Cardinals are coached by former UL quarterback and Ring of Honoree Jeff Brohm. The former Western Kentucky and Purdue coach enters his second year leading his alma mater after going 10-4 last season, the best season for UL in recent history.
Coming off an ACC Championship appearance, the Cardinals are 3-0 to open this year with wins over Austin Peay (62-0), Jacksonville State (49-14), and Georgia Tech (31-19). Saturday’s game in South Bend will mark the Cardinals’ first road game and ‘true test’ this season.
With former quarterback Jack Plummer entering the NFL, the Cardinals turned to the transfer portal to find their new signal caller: Enter Tyler Shough. The former Oregon and Texas Tech transfer will be marking his 25th birthday this Saturday in South Bend. During his time in Eugene and Lubbock, Shough surpassed 2,500 passing yards with 46 total touchdowns. The biggest red flag surrounding Shough is his health; having suffered season-ending broken collarbones in both 2021 and 2022 and a season-ending broken fibula this past season. Shough’s recent fibula injury may be the reason he is not running as often as compared to the past, but he has been near perfect as a passer to begin this season. Besides the injury history, Shough had his fair share of turnovers including 17 interceptions and seven fumbles over his 30 games of experience. But again, he has been near perfect as a passer to start the year.
Shough has begun the season on fire, totaling eight pass touchdowns with no interceptions, while completing over 68% of his passes and averaging 283 yards per game. The seventh-year senior has thrown for at least 232 yards and two touchdowns in each game this season. Here’s a quick look at how impressive Shough has been so far: Austin Peay (18/24, 232 yards, 4 touchdowns), Jacksonville State (21/33, 349 yards, 2 touchdowns), Georgia Tech (13/19, 269 yards, 2 touchdowns).
The most surprising fact about Shough’s hot start is he is doing it without his expected top option Caullin Lacy, a South Alabama transfer who suffered a broken collarbone on the final day of fall camp. Lacy is expected to return soon and is listed as a ‘game-time decision’ according to Coach Brohm. Expected contributors in the pass game besides Lacy include receivers Ja’Corey Brooks and Chris Bell and tight end Mark Redman. Brooks, a senior transfer from Alabama, currently leads the Cards in receptions (17) and receiving yards (297) with two touchdowns. He exploded last week for 125 yards on just four catches including this spectacular 57-yard touchdown.
Shough’s second favorite target behind Brooks is Chris Bell, a junior speedster who is one of just a few returning UL starters. During last season’s meeting the Irish secondary shut down Bell, holding him to zero targets and his worst game of the season statistically. This week should go better for him as he has emerged as a true big-play option, totaling 167 yards and two touchdowns on just six catches. Bell’s 27.8 yards per catch are currently 3rd-most in the NCAA.
Entering the season, it was expected that San Diego State transfer Mark Redman would receive the bulk of the tight end work. In 25 games at SDSU, Redman totaled 59 receptions for 691 yards and five touchdowns. The fifth-year tight end has been limited in the passing game this season, recording just three receptions for 45 yards, however two of his catches have been touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Jamari Johnson has stepped up given Redman’s quiet start, totaling five catches for 69 yards to begin his year.
Coach Brohm announced this week the receiver room took another hit as Jadon Thompson has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Thompson had filled in nicely during Lacy’s absence to begin this year, totaling six catches for two touchdowns and 88 yards. This new injury will certainly ramp up the pressure on Lacy to play this week.
The UL offensive line entered the season with question marks, having to replace key positions with incoming transfers. These questions have been put to rest for now as they have only given up two sacks so far. The leader of this unit is left guard Michael Gonzalez, a 6’4 305-pound preseason All-ACC selection who started every game last season for the Cards.
Louisville’s rushing attack has taken a wide committee approach to begin this season and it has been fairly successful. The Cards average 194.3 rushing yards per game (37th-most in the country) with five different true running backs splitting carries. All five backs have between 12-19 carries and a touchdown, while three of them have over 125 rushing yards this season.
The expected leaders in this running back room entering the season were Miami (FL) transfer Donald Chaney and Maurice Turner. After injuries disrupted his 2021 and 2022 seasons, Chaney finished last season with 478 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 94 carries at Miami. He has begun his UL career with 44 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, while adding two receptions for 34 yards in the pass game. The other expected lead back was Maurice Turner, a junior who has made the transition from receiver to back during his time at UL. Turner did miss last week’s game and Coach Brohm is “not optimistic” about Turner’s return this Saturday. Turner recorded 87 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries in the Cards’ first two contests.
Despite being the expected leaders, Chaney and Turner (injury) have not been the most efficient backs to begin this season. That would be the freshmen duo of Duke Watson and Isaac Brown. Watson, former four-star recruit, has totaled 141 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries including this 40-yard score. Coming out of high school, Isaac Brown was not ranked as highly as Watson, however, he has certainly matched his production at UL. Brown, another speedy weapon for this UL offense, has run for 173 yards (most on UL), including this 77-yard touchdown on 16 carries. He has also been reliable as a receiver, totaling four receptions for 24 yards.
This dynamic run game mixed with their explosive pass offense is one of the main ways Louisville has found success in this young season. Their 47.3 points per game ranks 12th-nationally while their 502.3 yards per game ranks 14th. Saturday will be the biggest test the Irish defense may play all season and Louisville will not be looking to slow down.
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