By Rocco Balistreri

This Saturday the Louisville Cardinals travel up to South Bend for a top-20 matchup against the No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Inconsistent quartback, inconsistent team

The undefeated Cardinals are coming off their first ACC win vs Georgia Tech after throttling their prior competition. The Fighting Irish, however, have been incredibly inconsistent. Notre Dame notched a top-25 victory over Texas A&M in week one, only to lose to NIU the following week.

Perhaps the uncertainty comes from the play style of their transfer quarterback, Riley Leonard. Leonard only has 587 passing yards only one passing touchdown. Leonard has also thrown only four touchdowns to five interceptions in his previous 12 games played. Louisville has the secondary to take advantage of this, but the health of top cornerbacks Quincy Riley and Corey Thornton put this advantage in question.

However, Leonard ranks in the top-five in total rushing yards among QBs (322) and has six rushing touchdowns. His running ability combined with running back Jeremiyah Love, who is a top 40 rushing player with 339 yards, has led to the majority of Notre Dame’s offensive success. Players like Benjamin Perry, Antonio Watts and Stanquan Clark will be tasked with slowing down the designed quarterback runs.

Blocking for Leonard and the run game will come behind a beaten and battered Notre Dame offensive line. The Irish will have four O-linemen out for Saturday’s game, and are forced to start multiple freshman and multiple starters from last year that got beat out in the offseason. The Irish O-line will still be good, but the lack of depth could cause them problems against the Cards’ great defensive line.

That Cardinals’ defensive line is a tenacious bunch led by outside duo Tramel Logan and Ashton Gillotte, a pair that will be a handful for Notre Dame’s run and pass games. Louisville ranks 18th in rushing defense only giving up 87.3 yards per game on the ground, but has had difficulties with dual-threat QBs.

Star-studded defense

Notre Dame has a defense full of x-factors that only allow 9.8 points per game and 256.3 yards per game. Corners Benjamin Morrison and Safety Xavier Watts are key reasons the Irish average only 135.3 passing yards allowed per game. They’ll be tested this weekend against star receiver Ja’Corey Brooks and the rest of the Cardinal receiving corps.

Caullin Lacy is a game-time decision to make his Cardinals-debut. His introduction could add a major fold into the passing game.

Jordan Botelho, the highest rated Irish defender by Pro Football Focus, tore his ACL and is out for the year. Botelho is the best pass rusher for the Irish, but they will have plenty of opportunity as Louisville’s O-line has not been up to par this season. The performance of the O-line could make or break the game for the Cards.

Louisville will look to repeat their season-defining win over the Irish from a year ago, and they have all the ability to do so.

Photo by Vinny Porco