Notre Dame football will further playoff resume with win over Louisville

Notre Dame football will look to keep rolling against the Louisville Cardinals, who have been a terrible disappointment in 2020.

This ACC matchup on Saturday will be a tale of two teams that are heading in opposite directions.

Notre Dame still has some areas to shore up on defense, but the Fighting Irish are up to fourth in the latest AP Top 25 and looking to build on their momentum each week as a showdown with Clemson looms large.

Louisville, on the other hand, was a trendy pick to make the ACC title game by some and the Cardinals’ season is heading in the opposite direction after a loss to Georgia Tech last Friday. The Cardinals have started 1-3 due to a bad defense and a boom-or-bust offense and it won’t get any easier on Saturday when they travel to Notre Dame.

Due to a long layoff, Notre Dame is flying under the radar at this point in the season, but its offense has been playing really well recently.

The Irish offensive line is among the best in the country and their running game devastated Florida State last week. The Fighting Irish ran for 353 yards against the Seminoles last week and Kyren Williams appears to be a rising star in the backfield. Quarterback Ian Book is being efficient and not having to do much through three games due to the running game being so dominant this far.

Louisville has taken a step back after having such a surprising season a year ago. When you overachieve by as much as they did last year, the follow-up season can be hard to top and that is where Louisville finds itself after four games.

The offense has still managed to stay explosive but when the Cardinals are not hitting big plays, the offense is kind of stalling out and not able to do much. The defense has remained a step behind and got rocked against Georgia Tech last week.

Louisville could use a big upset this week to take some of the sting away from their early season struggles.

Here is how you can watch Notre Dame vs. Louisville on Saturday.

Date: Saturday, Oct. 17
Time: 2:30 p.m ET
Location: Notre Dame, Ind.
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live

Keys to Victory

For the Notre Dame offense, the key will be the running game once again. Louisville has one of the worst defense in the country and give up a lot of big plays in the running game. If the Irish can keep up their dominance up front with the offensive line and running game, it will be a long day for the Cardinals’ defense.

On defense, the Irish must stop the big plays from Louisville. Louisville running back Javian Hawkins is one of the best in the country and they can’t let him get loose off of the outside zone plays that Louisville loves to run. If the Irish can’t stop Hawkins, that opens up play action plays for Malik Cunningham and Tutu Atwell. Louisville will attack the Notre Dame secondary after Florida State receiver Tamorrion Terry had a big game last week.

For the Louisville offense, it is attacking Notre Dame through the air that will be key in pulling this upset. For Louisville to hit their big plays though, they will need a consistent running game from Hawkins and Cunningham to open up opportunities down the field for the talented Cardinals receivers. Big plays will be the key once again for the Cardinals.

For the Louisville defense, it will be about creating enough turnovers and bending, but not breaking. Notre Dame has too much firepower and the Cardinals defense is bad. For this defense to have a shot, they must force a couple of turnovers and make plays in the redzone and force Notre Dame to kick field goals.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of The Action Network

Spread: Notre Dame -17
Over/Under: 64

Prediction

Notre Dame is building momentum for the season and Louisville is losing all of it. However, I think that the Louisville offense can keep this game close for a bit before the Notre Dame offense becomes too much for this Louisville defense. Expect a similar game like the one the Irish played last week against Florida State where the Seminoles had success early before fading away later.

Final Score: Notre Dame 38, Louisville 24