Monday, September 2
LOUISVILLE, KY
8:00 p.m.
University of Louisville
vs
NOTRE DAME
Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics
Louisville Football Squares Off with Notre Dame in Season Opener
August 27, 2019 | Football
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday at Cardinal Stadium.
| GAME DAY INFORMATION Louisville vs. #9 Notre Dame Location: Louisville, Ky. Venue: Cardinal Stadium (60,800) Twitter Updates: @UofLFootball Game Notes: Louisville | Notre Dame Monday, Sept. 2 | 8 p.m. ET TV: ESPN (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Maria Taylor) UofL Radio: Louisville Sports Properties (Paul Rogers, Craig Swabeck, Jody Demling) National Radio: Westwood One Radio (Brandon Gaudin, Brady Quinn) Sirius: Channel 84 XM: Channel 84 |
SCOTT SATTERFIELD ERA BEGINSÂ VERSUS NOTRE DAME
- Hosting No. 9 Notre Dame marks the second-straight year that the Cardinals begin the season versus a ranked opponent. Louisville kicked off the 2018 campaign with a 51-14 loss to No. 1 Alabama in Orlando, Fla.
- The Cardinals are 55-39-6 all-time in season openers, including 35-17-3 at home. Louisville has won five consecutive home openers, last losing to Kentucky in the 2010 home opener in Charlie Strong's first game at Louisville.
- Satterfield becomes the first head coach to open his UofL career at home since the 2010 season when Charlie Strong dropped his opening contest to Kentucky. Bobby Petrino returned to Louisville in 2014 and re-opened his career with a 31-13 victory over Miami (Fla.) — the first ACC game in school history.
OPENING WITH RANKED OPPONENTS
- The Cardinals open the 2019 season at home versus a ranked opponent for the first time in school history, with the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish visiting Cardinal Stadium on Sept. 2.
- Monday's game marks the fifth time the Cardinals have opened the year against a ranked foe, going 0-4 in the first four contests, including a loss to No. 1 Alabama last year.
- Louisville is 16-53-1 all-time against opponents ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press Poll, including an 8-13 mark at home. Louisville compiled an 0-4 mark versus ranked foes last season — losing to No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 13 Syracuse, and No. 17 Kentucky.
FIVE KEY STORYLINES
- The Cardinals are hosting Notre Dame for the first time in school history when the Fighting Irish visit Cardinal Stadium for a Labor Day showdown. This will be only the third Monday night game in school history and the first since 2014. Louisville played its first Monday game in 1941 — a 58-0 win over Rio Grande. The Cardinals played their first ACC game on a Monday night when they opened the 2014 season with a 31-13 win over Miami at Cardinal Stadium.
- Head coach Scott Satterfield, who spent 29 years as a coach and player at Appalachian State, is set to open his Louisville career versus Notre Dame. Satterfield went 51-24 in six seasons at Appalachian State, winning three straight Sun Belt titles and making four consecutive bowl appearances.
- Quarterback Jawon Pass looks to improve on his 2018 campaign when he threw for 1,960 yards and eight touchdowns, while throwing 12 interceptions. The junior recorded two 300-yard games, including a career high 358 passing yards in a loss to Wake Forest.
- The defense, which gave up 44.1 points per game last season, returns seven starters, but has a new leader in defensive coordinator Bryan Brown. The first-year coordinator guided the nation's sixth-ranked scoring defense while at Appalachian State last year, holding the opposition to 10 or fewer points in seven games.
- Offensive tackle Mekhi Becton is the lone returning starter on the offensive line and started all 12 games a year ago. The junior has started 22 career games and is the most decorated player this preseason after being named to numerous All-American teams.
LAST MEETING
- Louisville defeated Notre Dame 31-28 on Nov. 22, 2014 in South Bend.
- In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, Louisville jumped on the board with a pair of first quarter touchdowns and led 17-6 over the Fighting Irish at halftime.
- Notre Dame scored two quick touchdowns early in the third quarter to take the lead, but the Cardinals answered with a pair of touchdowns of their own to surge back in front.
- Leading by three in the final minutes, Louisville stopped the Irish at the 9-yard line and avoided overtime when Notre Dame's Kyle Brindza missed a 32-yard field goal.
- Reggie Bonnafon ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw a 21-yard scoring pass to DeVante Parker for the Cardinals.
- Brandon Radcliff rushed for 136 yards as Louisville amassed 229 yards rushing while holding the Irish to 99 yards running.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
- The Fighting Irish, who finished the 2018 campaign at 12-1, return 14 starters, including eight on offense and six on the defensive side.
- Ian Book is the unquestioned starting quarterback after completing 68 percent of his throws for 2,628 yards and 19 scores with seven picks last season in guiding the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff. Book can come through with his legs as well as his arm — rushing for 280 yards and four touchdowns in 2018.
- Dexter Williams, who rushed for 995 yards last season, is gone, but Tony Jones, who ran for 392 yards and three touchdowns, returns as the team's top rusher.
- Wide receiver Chase Claypool is the top producer returning at wide receiver after catching 50 passes for 639 yards. The senior caught a season-high eight passes for 130 yards at Northwestern.
- Senior safety Alohi Gilman should be one of Notre Dame's top defensive performers this season. The 5-11, 201-pound Gilman came up with two picks last season – both against Syracuse –  and broke up five passes. He was also solid against the run, finishing with 94 tackles. The former Navy transfer, is quick, active, and was a bright spot in the loss to Clemson with 18 tackles.
STRONG 2019 SLATE
- The Cardinals' 2019 schedule figures to be a challenging one as the teams compiled a remarkable 90-35 (.720) record last season, with nine teams winning at least seven games. Two of the teams on the schedule this season qualified for the College Football Playoff last year, with Clemson winning the national title and Notre Dame falling to the Tigers in the national semifinal.
- Kentucky and Syracuse each won 10 games a year ago, while NC State won nine contests.Â
- The Cardinals will play nine teams that participated in the postseason a year ago.
ACADEMIC SUCCESS
- Head coach Scott Satterfield has stressed the importance of academics, and his attention has paid off with tremendous success.
- The Cardinals achieved an outstanding 2.85 grade-point average for the 2019 spring semester, with 49 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA.
- Louisville received an NCAA Public Recognition Award for a perfect 1,000 Academic Progress Rate score for the 2017-18 season, the second one in school history.
- The Cardinals had 23 graduates for the year, including 13 going through the graduation ceremony in the summer.
- When the Cardinals open the 2019 season versus Notre Dame, 20 players will take the field with their degrees in hand.
Players Mentioned
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