Why Notre Dame was doomed from the start in loss to Louisville
Early in the fourth quarter, on the kickoff after Louisville redshirt junior running back Jawhar Jordan’s second touchdown, the Cardinals’ kick coverage team was too fired up to slow down. The kick was a touchback, but they kept running to the right corner of the end zone and motioned the nearby fans to get loud. The fans, watching their team put Notre Dame away, obliged.
That was the passion and inspiration Louisville played with all night. Notre Dame never found it.
Worse, by head coach Marcus Freeman’s own admission, the Irish were unprepared to play.
“Our guys weren’t prepared, for whatever reason,” Freeman said. “We got to take a deep dive and figure out what it was.”
It was apparent from the opening kickoff and into Louisville’s first offensive drive, which began after graduate Irish quarterback Sam Hartman’s first interception of the season. The Cardinals, led by Jordan’s 6 touches for 37 yards, looked faster than Notre Dame. They routinely beat the Irish to the edge, or to whichever spot they needed to go.
Louisville looked like it came ready to play. The same cannot be said for Notre Dame. The shock of that first series, graduate linebacker JD Bertrand believes, was difficult to overcome.
“I think going back to that first series, we just need to start fast, because they don’t have that momentum going into the game,” Bertrand said. “I mean, it’s hard when a team puts seven up on that first drive.”
The sluggishness carried over to Notre Dame’s offense, too, especially up front. The Irish could not run the ball, in large part because the Cardinals just kept attacking downhill. They didn’t quit, keeping their energy up the entire game. Louisville’s defensive front dominated the Notre Dame offensive line, being the faster, more physical and more aggressive team.
The Notre Dame offense, save for one big play on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Hartman to freshman wide receiver Jordan Faison, never matched that energy. Junior offensive tackle Joe Alt felt something similar: Notre Dame never played with confidence.
“I don’t think they were physically more dominant than us,” Alt said. “I think we just kind of got on our heels a little bit with our confidence level. I think we got to continue to be confident through our looks and trusting ourselves and trusting our abilities.”
Freeman, using the phrase “for whatever reason” after acknowledging the Irish weren’t prepared, did not have any answers. He did not look like he did during the game, either. At one point, after something went wrong for Notre Dame, ABC cameras caught Freeman with his hands on his knees and his head down.
Freeman entered the press conference shaking his head. He stressed the need for self-reflection in the next 24-48 hours, but the damage is done.
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