A weird green game
I’m not sure we could have scripted a weirder start to Notre Dame VS the Louisville Cardinals in South Bend. Obviously — we could have, but it was still pretty wild, and the Irish held on late for a 31-24 win at home.
Devyn Ford fumbled the opening kickoff, and three plays later Tyler Shough found running back Isaac Brown in the back corner of the end zone to take an early 7-0 lead.
The Irish answered with a 12 play 75 yard drive that ended with a six yard touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love. On the very first play of the ensuing Louisville drive, Shough went running wild down the middle of the field, but had the ball stripped by Leonard Moore and recovered by Jaiden Ausberry.
A few moments after the Ausberry fumble recovery, Riley Leonard found Jaden Great house all alone in the end zone for a 34 yard touchdown reception to make it 14-7 Irish. On the next Louisville drive, a bad snap on a punt saw Kennedy Urlacher fall on it inside the five yard line. On the next play, Riley Leonard put it in the end zone to make it a 21-7 game.
Early in the second quarter, the Irish fumbled the ball again, and the Cardinals capitalized once again when Shough found Ja’Cory Brooks for a 5 yard touchdown reception to bring the game to 21-14 Irish.
Towards the end of the first half, Xavier Watts picked off a “tip drill” pass from Shough. Notre Dame struggled to move the ball, but got enough on the ground to set up a 48 yard field goal from Mitch Jeter to make it 24-14. Louisville couldn’t answer the Irish before the end of the half as Jeff Brohm elected to go for it on 4th down instead of kicking the field goal — and the Irish held.
It was kind of a brutal third quarter for both teams. Notre Dame couldn’t put together much of anything on their offensive drives, and Louisville failed on two more 4th down attempts.
Early in the fourth quarter, Louisville put just enough of a drive together to attempt a 56 yard field goal — which just snuck in through the goalposts to make it a one score game, 24-17.
Notre Dame answered quickly and went 75 yards on 5 plays and scored on a 32 yard screen pass from Leonard to Love. The Cardinals, however, wouldn’t go away. The next Louisville possession was a 14 play endeavor that ended with a 24 yard touchdown pass to Ja’Corey Brooks — which was an incredible diving catch.
With 5:17 left to go in the game, it was back to a one score game with the Irish holding a 31-24 lead. The Irish offense went absolutely nowhere and a bad James Rendell punt that only went 36 yards put Louisville in good field position for a drive to tie the game. The Cardinals, however, failed to convert on 4th down (after a false start on 4th and 1) and the Irish ran the clock out for a 31-24 Notre Dame win.
