By Derek DeBurger
On Saturday, the Louisville Cardinals let the college football world know one thing: we’re here. In front of a record crowd of 59,081, the Cards shocked the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and reached bowl eligibility in just six games.
Even before the opening kickoff, fans in attendance were ready to make their presence known. The crowd even burst into applause upon winning the coin toss.
“Our fans were the twelfth man. We felt them. We felt them all week. Without question, taking the field and seeing all the seats filled– that’s what college football’s all about. This is a great city that wants to win championships, be relevant, and do a lot of fun things and we want to try to provide that,” Head Coach Jeff Brohm said in his postgame interview.
Joey Gatewood (84) jumps to catch a pass.
First half pressure
After the opening kickoff, the Cards showed they were just as ready as the fans by getting early pressure on quarterback Sam Hartman and forcing him to throw his first interception of the season. Quarterback Jack Plummer would then use that great field position to march down the field and score on the opening drive.
The rest of the first half was more of a slugfest, as Notre Dame would put seven points up on the scoreboard and Louisville did little to respond. Louisville had the chance to put some more points on the board going into the half, but kicker Brock Travelstead just barely pushed the 42-yard field goal wide right. The game was tied 7-7 going into the half.
The lack of offense in the first half wasn’t due to poor offensive effort, but a great defensive effort by both sides. Notre Dame did a great job limiting big plays from Louisville, and the Cards got constant pressure in the backfield. The pressure on Hartman stymied the Irish offense and even saw linebacker Mason Reiger get past future NFL star Joe Alt to sack Hartman. The sack given up by Alt was the first sack he had given up in two years.
ND QB Sam Hartman is sacked!
Hartman goofs, Louisville gains
Louisville was set to receive the kickoff to start the second half, but wide receiver Jamari Thrash fumbled the ball on the first offensive play. The resulting Irish possession ended in a 53-yard field goal — Notre Dame’s first lead of the game.
After back-to-back deflating possessions, it would’ve been easy for the Cards to hang their heads and submit, but the opposite happened. The Cards went on a 9-play, 48-yard drive to tie the game back up at 10-10.
After a three-and-out, Louisville went 64 yards in two plays to score a touchdown on a 45-yard run from running back Jawhar Jordan.
Alumni Peyton Siva signals the kick is good.
Running back Jawhar Jordan runs in the ball for a score.
The Irish then responded with a field goal, but the Cards came right back down the field again with a 21-yard touchdown by Jawhar Jordan.
The next Notre Dame possession came down to a fourth-and-11 with 9:49 left in the fourth quarter where the Irish—for some strange reason—decided to go for it, but ultimately failed. That set off a string of drives where Louisville would kick a field goal, then another turnover by Sam Hartman, and then another Louisville field goal.
Notre Dame tried to make it interesting by scoring a touchdown and recovering an onside kick, but Hartman couldn’t handle the Louisville blitz and threw one final interception. Hartman finished the game with three interceptions and two fumbles after having none going into the game. Hartman will also finish his college career going 0-3 as a starting quarterback at Louisville, with nine total turnovers in those games.
The final score: 33-20 Cards.
Big time adjustments
As seen all season long, whatever head coach Jeff Brohm says/does in the locker room at halftime works. While Plummer noted post-game that this halftime was a lot calmer than others, they came out and were visibly the better, stronger, faster, more physical, and more aggressive team.
A lot of this can be attributed to better coaching from defensive coaches Ron English and Mark Hagan, according to Brohm.
“Every week we tweak that package to guard people tighter, get our hands on people more, challenge receivers and seam routes more, and allow that defensive line a little more time to get in there. At the same time, I think the blitz package has been a little more aggressive, and that comes from coaching and planning. The key is applying pressure to the quarterback and making him feel uncomfortable and not giving up easy completions and making them earn it,” he said post-game.
What was most likely the biggest difference was the use of each team’s top rusher in the second half. For Louisville, Jawhar Jordan came alive in the last 30 minutes, finishing the game with 143 yards and two touchdowns. Notre Dame’s top rusher, running back Audric Estime, disappeared in the second half—and that was by design. Despite being the nation’s leading rusher heading into Saturday’s game, the Irish inexplicably stopped calling running plays in the second half. This allowed Louisville’s relentless pass rush to wear down Notre Dame’s talented offensive line. Estime finished the game with only 20 yards and zero touchdowns.
Louisville superstar Jack Harlow throws up his L’s.
One game season each week
Louisville, in six ranked-on-ranked matchups at home, is now 4-2 in such matchups. Louisville also ended what was a 30-game winning streak for Notre Dame against regular season ACC opponents.
At 6-0 on the season for the first time since 2013, and in Jeff Brohm’s first year as head coach, the sky certainly feels like the limit for this Cardinals team. They aren’t letting it get to their heads, however.
“Right now we’ve won six games and lost none, and we’re just trying to keep adding to that, one game at a time. Coach always preaches a one-game season, so we’re only focused on the next opponent and that’s it,” Plummer said.
With a top-10 win now under their belt, and a very manageable schedule for the rest of the year, prepare to hear a lot of pundits talk about Louisville as ACC Championship and even College Football Playoff contenders.
File Photos // Tate Luckey, The Louisville Cardinal
