Notre Dame football deep dive: First ACC matchup offers revenge against Louisville

Notre Dame football’s matchup with Louisville last year was a bad loss. There’s no way around it.

It’s not that Louisville wasn’t a good team. They were a solid ACC team, and were conference champion runner-ups. It was the way in which the Irish lost that game that was troubling. 

Five turnovers. Three picks. Hartman’s first interceptions of the season at that point. He was sacked five times as well. Notre Dame totaled 44 rushing yards.

“We can’t turn the ball over five times and expect to win,” said head coach Marcus Freeman after the game. “We have to do a better job of protecting the quarterback.”

The Irish fell asleep. Still celebrating the last-minute win over Duke? Looking ahead at USC? Who knows.

Notre Dame football seeks redemption. How do they stack up?

The Cardinals lose some pretty big names. Quarterback Jack Plummer and top-rushers Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo all head off to the NFL. Two of Louisville’s top three receivers (Jamari Thrash and Kevin Coleman) are gone, and fifth-year senior Caullin Lacy will be out for an undisclosed amount of time with an injury.

Louisville’s defense loses some big contributors, but that defensive line might be even better. Senior DE Ashton Gillotte is back, and (for good reason) he’s on all sorts of award watchlists. The Cardinals have a ton of experience in their defensive line, and add transfers Thor Griffith and Myles Jenrigan to beef it up.

The Cardinals add Texas Tech transfer quarterback Tyler Shough to man the ship. Shough (pronounced “Shuck”) has an injury history a mile long, his most recent injury being a broken fibula that ended his 2023 season. When he’s on the field he has the makings of an elite quarterback, but staying on the field has been difficult in his five years of college football.

Louisville returns runningback Maurice Turner and add Miami transfer Donald Chaney to handle the ground game. Turner played behind Jordan and Guerendo last season, and Chaney was third-string for the Hurricanes. Both players will have an active role rushing the football.

There are a lot of unknowns with Louisville, but the Cardinals have the talent to make some noise.

Week 1 for Notre Dame will be an indication of how this game will go

The defensive line is the strongest position group, by far, for the Cardinals. By this time the newly-constructed Notre Dame offensive line will have four games under its belt, one of which being one of the best defensive lines in the nation in Texas A&M. If the Irish can keep quarterback Riley Leonard upright in Week 1, the Louisville matchup looks promising. 

Plus, you can bet that Notre Dame football, especially Marcus Freeman and the upperclassmen would love to return the loss Louisville handed them a year ago.