Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from ugly win over Louisville in Week 7

1. Neither team has lived up to preseason expectations

More so with the Irish, both teams had high expectations heading into the season to threaten Clemson in some sort of way. Notre Dame has not played like the No. 4 team in the country and Louisville has no identity on offense.

With the returning production on offense, especially in key positions like quarterback, running back and receiver, a leap of progression is expected. A lot of that was effected by Notre Dame constantly swarming around the ball. Cunningham was limited to just 134 yards and apart from the first drive of the second half was not very good.

Ian Book’s preseason Heisman hype is slowly fading away. Even with Notre Dame’s 5-0 start, Book’s Heisman chances are basically gone, with mediocre play since the beginning of the season.

Instead of a turn around of the season, Louisville will be leaving South Bend, 1-4. The positive for the Cardinals is that they only play two more teams with an above .500 record, so there are winnable games left on the slate.

Notre Dame’s next contest will be on the road as they play 3-3 Pittsburgh. For the Cardinals, they will return home to play Florida State.