Louisville Cardinals vs. Notre Dame: Predictions

It has been a couple of tough weeks for the Irish recently, and this Saturday will not be any easier. Notre Dame will be taking on the Louisville Cardinals (7-3), who are coming off of an impressive win over Boston College 38-19 and are well rested after a bye week.

I’m not really sure what this game means for the Irish anymore other than the fact that it might make some feel like ND’s season wasn’t just the story of a team that went from being a CFP team in the first half of the season turned late season joke.

So what do the Irish need to do to not lose three games in a row? Well let’s start with the defense. A lot of the blame for the last two losses have been on the defense as it should be to a point. As an average of the last 5 games, the defense has given up over 42 points a game. They made North Carolina and Northwestern look like they had juggernaut offenses. You cannot expect Everett Golson and the offence go out there and just try to light up the scoreboard every weekend just to stay in the game. But let’s be honest, the defense is young! You cannot put all the blame on them. The majority of the defense are freshmen and sophomores. VanGorder can only teach them so much and expect them to play like young guns.

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Just as obvious as it is an issue, Golson cannot turn the ball over to these guys. Louisville has been outstanding on defense this year and it has a lot to do with the fact that they know how to take the ball away. They lead the nation with 22 interceptions this year and if that becomes a problem Saturday the pressure will be placed on the defense, which hasn’t been resulting so well recently.

One thing ND has going for them is that Will Gardner are now out for the season after suffering from a knee injury against Boston College. This means the Cardinals will be looking to their running game, which we can say, is average. There have been three teams this season that has held Louisville to fewer than 100 rushing yards, but they are still capable of enforcing the run. Especially since Reggie Bonnafon will be calming the starting position and he is a dual threat QB.

This will be senior day in South Bend, a day in which Brian Kelly is 4-0. Hopefully the Irish will be able to say enough is enough and salvage the rest of this season starting with a win over the Cardinals!

Predictions

Andrew Hall (Lead Editor) 30-24 Louisville

Nicholas Blazek (Co-Editor) 31-21 Notre Dame

Mike Shields (Staff Writer) 31-21 Notre Dame

Manuel DeJesus (Staff Writer) 30-24 Notre Dame

Stephen Flood (Staff Writer) 38-34 Louisville

Chase Eyrich (Staff Writer) 34-31 Notre Dame