Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics
Cardinals Travel to South Bend to Face No. 4 Fighting Irish
October 16, 2020 | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville football team hits the road for the third of three-straight road games when the Cardinals face No. 4 Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. at Notre Dame Stadium. The game can be seen on NBC with Mike Tirico, Tony Dungy, and Kathryn Tappen.
Having dropped three games in a row, the Cardinals face a huge challenge against an experienced team that has won three games to open the season. Notre Dame, which will be playing its fourth consecutive home game, is 3-0 after a 42-26 win over Florida State last weekend.
Notre Dame has won 21-consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium, which sets the modern-era record for longest home win streak. Clemson and Ohio State are the only other Power 5 programs that boast home streaks of 20 or more games.
"The number one thing that stands out about Notre Dame is the offensive line," UofL head coach Scott Satterfield said. "It's arguably the best offensive line in the country. They have guys that have played a lot of ball together up front. I think Coach Kelly has even said this is his best offensive line since he's been at Notre Dame. These guys are good at pass pro and run blocking, and Ian Book, their quarterback, is obviously a very good player, especially when they're able to run the football."
The Fighting Irish have a trio of running backs in Kyren Williams, C'Bo Flemister and Chris Tyree who have each posted at least one 100-yard rushing game. Notre Dame is the only team in the ACC to have three different student-athletes mark a 100-yard rushing game this season, and no Power 5 team has more than Notre Dame's three. Irish running backs have reached the 100-yard mark four times this season, a figure which leads the ACC. No other FBS team has had more than four occurrences of 100-rushing yard performances this season.
"I think what they've shown this year is that they've got some very good backs that are able to run the ball because the offensive line is able to open up those holes," Satterfield said. "When you're able to do that, Book is able to stand back when it is time to make that throw to take his time and find that open receiver. They're very impressive there."
The Irish are just as impressive on defense, holding opponents to an average of 13.0 points per game, including an earlier shut out of South Floirda.
"Defensively, they have a lot of seniors, a lot of experience on that side of the ball," Satterfield said. "Guys can reallu run to the football. They try to keep everything in front of them and do an excellent job with that. They're also excellent on third down. I mean, this is Notre Dame. They recruit some of the best players in the country year-in and year-out. They have depth. It's just an outstanding program. So as you look at them, there's not a ton of weaknesses on this football team."
The Cardinals are led by running back Javian Hawkins and wide receiver Tutu Atwell. Hawkins, the ACC's top rusher, has ran for 468 yards, while Atwell has caught 25 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns.
In the last three losses, the Cardinals have turned the football over nine times, including three in a loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 9.
"I think the most glaring thing that stands out about it is the turnovers, the three fumbles that we lost," Satterfield said. "We felt offensively, we have been able to move the football and obviously if you turn the ball over, then you can't do that. And you're losing opportunities to go down and get points. I think the other thing that we haven't done a good job with so far this year is hitting on our deep shots. We look back to last year, we were really good at big plays. We have to be a big play offense because we have big play players with the kind of speed that we have, with some of the skill guys, we have to be able to utilize and hit those guys, and we were not able to connect on some of those plays. Even the first drive, we come out in an empty set and we had our tight end wide open, we don't connect on it."
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Having dropped three games in a row, the Cardinals face a huge challenge against an experienced team that has won three games to open the season. Notre Dame, which will be playing its fourth consecutive home game, is 3-0 after a 42-26 win over Florida State last weekend.
Notre Dame has won 21-consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium, which sets the modern-era record for longest home win streak. Clemson and Ohio State are the only other Power 5 programs that boast home streaks of 20 or more games.
"The number one thing that stands out about Notre Dame is the offensive line," UofL head coach Scott Satterfield said. "It's arguably the best offensive line in the country. They have guys that have played a lot of ball together up front. I think Coach Kelly has even said this is his best offensive line since he's been at Notre Dame. These guys are good at pass pro and run blocking, and Ian Book, their quarterback, is obviously a very good player, especially when they're able to run the football."
The Fighting Irish have a trio of running backs in Kyren Williams, C'Bo Flemister and Chris Tyree who have each posted at least one 100-yard rushing game. Notre Dame is the only team in the ACC to have three different student-athletes mark a 100-yard rushing game this season, and no Power 5 team has more than Notre Dame's three. Irish running backs have reached the 100-yard mark four times this season, a figure which leads the ACC. No other FBS team has had more than four occurrences of 100-rushing yard performances this season.
"I think what they've shown this year is that they've got some very good backs that are able to run the ball because the offensive line is able to open up those holes," Satterfield said. "When you're able to do that, Book is able to stand back when it is time to make that throw to take his time and find that open receiver. They're very impressive there."
The Irish are just as impressive on defense, holding opponents to an average of 13.0 points per game, including an earlier shut out of South Floirda.
"Defensively, they have a lot of seniors, a lot of experience on that side of the ball," Satterfield said. "Guys can reallu run to the football. They try to keep everything in front of them and do an excellent job with that. They're also excellent on third down. I mean, this is Notre Dame. They recruit some of the best players in the country year-in and year-out. They have depth. It's just an outstanding program. So as you look at them, there's not a ton of weaknesses on this football team."
The Cardinals are led by running back Javian Hawkins and wide receiver Tutu Atwell. Hawkins, the ACC's top rusher, has ran for 468 yards, while Atwell has caught 25 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns.
In the last three losses, the Cardinals have turned the football over nine times, including three in a loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 9.
"I think the most glaring thing that stands out about it is the turnovers, the three fumbles that we lost," Satterfield said. "We felt offensively, we have been able to move the football and obviously if you turn the ball over, then you can't do that. And you're losing opportunities to go down and get points. I think the other thing that we haven't done a good job with so far this year is hitting on our deep shots. We look back to last year, we were really good at big plays. We have to be a big play offense because we have big play players with the kind of speed that we have, with some of the skill guys, we have to be able to utilize and hit those guys, and we were not able to connect on some of those plays. Even the first drive, we come out in an empty set and we had our tight end wide open, we don't connect on it."
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