Louisville falls to Notre Dame, 31-24

That one’s gonna sting

Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Where to begin?

The more I sit in this frustrating defeat, the more it feels like all those Clemson games of yesteryear where it felt like Louisville had everything in front of them to win, but made just enough mistakes and the opponent had just enough help to slip away.

However, unlike most games against Clemson, Louisville looked and felt like the better team for the majority of the game. There were just too many mistakes made by players, coaches, and the referees for them to overcome what I think most of us would agree to be a decent, but not elite Irish team.

Let’s just go through the miscues.

The game had the start we could only dream of this week with the fumble deep in Irish territory. Then brilliant play call after brilliant play call had the Cards up by 7 just moments later. It was all going better than we could have hoped, until it wasn’t.

Once the Irish finally took possession without dropping the ball, they marched down the field and converted on multiple late downs that eventually let them get deep enough to score and tie the game. The defense had multiple opportunities to get off the field, but Ron English had the corners playing with far too much cushion which gave the Irish just enough space to attack underneath and make their short runs just long enough to stay ahead of the chains.

And after the Irish scored Isaac Brown put the ball on the ground after a boneheaded kick return but the Cards recovered. Then on a brilliant read option play, Shough scrambled nearly 50 yards before slowing down and a Notre Dame defender snuck from behind and stripped the unguarded ball for the Irish to regain possession. It was a huge play that would have set up the Cards in plus territory had Shough had more awareness and covered the ball at the end of the play when contact was to be expected.

Notre Dame would make quick work of their great field position to go up 14-7, with Louisville’s DBs still giving way too much cushion to an Irish team that was hesitant to air it out.

On the proceeding drive Louisville went 3-and-out, and a wild snap on the punt would set the Irish up on the Louisville 4-yard line where they would score again to score 21 unanswered points after Louisville jumped to a 7-0 lead at the beginning of the quarter.

Those ridiculous miscues in that first quarter were essentially the whole game as the teams would combine for just 27 more points over the next three quarters.

Early in the second quarter the Cards finally got a break when Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price fumbled on their 9-yard line and the Cards scored three plays later on a ridiculous side-arm throw from Shough to Brooks in the back of the endzone. But what looked like a likely targeting penalty on ND’s MLB, did not get called after the review. This would set the tone for some questionable an all-too-familiar poor officiating from the refs for the rest of the game.

Five plays later the Cards forced the Irish to punt and began marching down the field again. But then a perfectly thrown ball from Shough to Brooks bounced off the receiver’s hands straight into the Irish defender’s, which led to the Irish scoring on a field goal to go up 24-14 with just over 2 minutes left in the game.

The Cards got the ball back and began working their way down the field AGAIN(!) after getting kickstarted by this insane catch by Lacy (buddy, I’m so glad you’re back)

Eventually the Cards would face 3rd and 10 at the Irish 34 before Chris Bell was marked short of the first down after what looked to be an obvious conversion:

For some baffling reason this play was not reviewed.

On the following play, the Cards went for it on 4th and 1 and Shough ran a speed option to the weak side with Donald Chaney. Chaney got pushed out extremely close to the line to the gain but the ball was marked short for a turnover on downs. This play was reviewed more thoroughly, even though it was less convincing than the previous play.

The Irish would receive the ball after the play stood and take a 10 point lead into halftime withe the Cards set to receive the ball. It could have been a one possession game with the Cards down just a touchdown coming out of the half with the ball.

This feels like where the game was really won and lost.

There were far too many mistakes made by Louisville’s players and coaching staff, and dumb decisions left up to the officials when Louisville had looked like the better team the entire first half and had run the ball all over what was supposed to be a strong defense. And the Cards kept putting themselves out of reach.

The third quarter was a slog as both teams’ defenses slowed things down and neither team scored. The only “highlight” of the quarter was when Louisville was beginning to make progress again with Caullin Lacy as he and Shough connected on a 34-yard pass. Shough went back to him on a deep throw into ND territory where Lacy was interfered, but the officials stunningly called interference on both the ND defender AND Lacy:

It was a poor call, and it wasn’t the first of the game. ACC officials have continued to make an embarrassment of themselves after the performance they gave in Louisville’s contest against GT last week, and the Miami-VT debacle last night. Unfortunately, there will be no repercussions for the poor job.

In the 4th quarter Brock Travelstead connected on a ridiculous 56-yard field goal to cut the score to 7. But it didn’t last long as the Irish scored just five plays later to go up 14.

However, the Cards answered back after a 14-play drive capped by a ridiculous throw and catch from Shough to Brooks for a 24-yard touchdown to cut lead back to just one score.

Louisville forced a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and got the ball back on the their own 45 for a last chance to tie the game with 2:42 left on the clock. But they had no timeouts left as they’d burned them all earlier in the half trying to get set up properly on three separate occasions, which included one occasion where they received a penalty for too many players on the field following a timeout.

Louisville got the ball to the Irish 46 and faced 4th-and-1 before being penalized for delay of game (could have used one of those timeouts, Jeff). On 4th-and-6, a play later, Shough’s pass would fall incomplete, effectively ending the game.

It was a frustrating game and a frustrating performance all around. It’s awfully hard to come back from an all-system’s failure in the first quarter, but the team almost did it.

I was incredible impressed by the types of throws Shough made, the catches Brooks and Lacy made, the immediate impact we felt from Lacy, the obvious ability Isaac Brown has, and the way the defense stepped up after a terrible first quarter.

I really like this team and still think a great season could be ahead of them. It just was a bad day today and I think there’s a lot to learn. However, the good news is the 12-team playoff leaves the door a lot more open for teams to compete for a title than this sport ever did before, which means if Louisville takes care of itself in ACC play then there’s still a very strong chance they can make the big dance.

Here’s to hoping. Let’s get healthy. Let’s get ready for SMU. And let’s get ready to get back to Charlotte.