No. 10 Notre Dame’s dreams of a College Football Playoff berth were almost certainly put to rest with a 33-20 loss at No. 25 Louisville on Saturday night.
It was the third prime-time game in three weeks for the Fighting Irish and it showed. The game was tight through three quarters, but the fresher Cardinals were able to build an advantage and grind out a physical win as the second half progressed.
With the win, Louisville improved to 6-0 in Jeff Brohm’s first season coaching his alma mater and jumped into the ACC title race and national conversation in the process. The Irish, meanwhile, dropped to 5-2 and saw their 30-game regular season winning streak over ACC competition come to an end with the much-anticipated showdown with USC on the horizon in South Bend next weekend.
The game was tied 10-10 midway through the third quarter until Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan finally broke loose. Jordan broke off a 45-yard touchdown run at the 5:45 mark of the third quarter to give Louisville a 17-10 lead.
Notre Dame would respond with a field goal to cut the deficit to 17-13, but that was as close as the Irish would get the rest of the way.
On the ensuing drive, Louisville drove into Notre Dame territory and added to the lead with another Jordan touchdown run, this time from 21 yards out. The drive was aided by a facemask penalty called on Notre Dame on a third-and-long play that would have forced Louisville to punt. Instead, it resulted in an automatic first down and opened the door for Louisville to build a two-score lead.
Down 24-13, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman made a desperate decision on his team’s next drive. Perhaps sensing his team’s fatigue, he kept the offense on the field on fourth-and-11 from his own 35 with 9:49 still on the clock. Louisville brought pressure, attacking the weak interior of the Irish’s offensive line. Hartman was forced to escape the pocket and force up a throw, which fell incomplete and gave the ball back to Louisville.
That turnover on downs pretty much sealed the Irish’s fate. The Cardinals would tack on a field goal. And after Hartman threw his second interception of the game on the Irish’s next drive, the third of Brock Travelstead’s four field goals put Louisville up 30-13 with 5:02 to play.
Notre Dame just had no answers. Hartman, who brilliantly led the Irish to a last-minute road win over Duke last week, had a rough night. He hadn’t thrown an interception in a Notre Dame uniform, but he tossed one on the Irish’s first possession. It was a harbinger of tough things to come. Hartman finished the night with 254 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He was also sacked five times as the Irish had 298 yards of offense (many of which came in garbage time) and were held to 3-of-13 on third down.
Hartman didn’t get much help. The Irish’s strength is supposed to be in the trenches, but the offensive line was overwhelmed by the UL front — both in the running game and in pass protection. Notre Dame’s running backs could muster only 57 rushing yards on 17 carries. Audric Estime entered the weekend leading the nation with 672 rushing yards but he was held to 20 yards on 10 carries. The Irish got a few of their better receivers back from injury, but it made no difference against the feisty Louisville defense.
Louisville’s offense wasn’t overly impressive on a down-to-down basis, but veteran quarterback Jack Plummer avoided the mistakes that have been prevalent throughout his career. He had thrown six interceptions entering Saturday night’s game, but he didn’t have a single turnover against the Irish. He threw a touchdown pass to Jamari Thrash to give Louisville a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. But most of all, he managed the game as Jordan racked up 143 yards on the ground and the defense overwhelmed the Irish over the course of 60 minutes.