Notre Dame’s recent struggles continued last Saturday when
the Fighting Irish fell to the Louisville Cardinals, 31-28. The Irish started
off slow and trailed the Cardinals 17-6 at halftime, but a nice second half
effort made for an exciting finish. In fact, Notre Dame scored 14 unanswered
points to take a 20-17 lead in the third quarter, but the Cardinals running
game was virtually unstoppable which led to two more Louisville touchdowns to
give them a 31-20 lead. The Irish would cut the lead to 31-28 when Everett
Golson found Will Fuller for a 28 yard touchdown, and then added a two-point
conversion on a Golson scramble. Notre Dame would have a chance to either take
the lead or tie the game in the final minutes, but they came away empty when a
promising drive stalled and Kyle Brindza missed a game-tying 32-yard field
goal. With the defeat, the Irish have now lost four of their last five games to
add to a disappointing finish to a once promising season.
Notre Dame’s offense got off to a decent start against a
great Louisville defense by converting on two field goal attempts in their
first three drives, but the offense struggled for the rest of the first half.
After Golson threw another ill-advised pass into the arms of a Louisville
defender, it looked like the Irish offense would be plagued by turnovers once
again. However, Golson responded quite nicely by playing well in the second
half and finishing the afternoon with 236 yards and two touchdowns. Running
back Tarean Folston had another impressive performance with 134 yards and a
touchdown on 18 carries, while wide receiver Will Fuller added 109 yards and a
touchdown to his outstanding season. Unfortunately, the Irish offense was
unable to overcome their struggles in the first half which ultimately proved to
be the difference in the game.
The Irish struggled once again on defense by allowing 409
yards of total offense, highlighted by a dominating 229 yards rushing. The
Notre Dame front seven proved to be no match versus the Louisville rushing
attack as the Cardinals carried the ball 50 times on the afternoon which
contributed to a 10-minute advantage in time of possession. After falling
behind 17-6, Notre Dame’s defense did play pretty well during the second
quarter and part of the third quarter, but Louisville was able to score when
needed as the Irish tried to mount a comeback. If the struggles weren’t enough,
the Irish also continue to lose impact players on their defense which led to
nine freshman playing significant minutes on defense. Regardless of the inexperience,
the Irish need to be much better on defense moving forward. The only real positive
to take away from the recent struggles is that a lot of freshmen are getting
valuable experience which should bode well for the future.
Unfortunately, many Irish fans are tired of waiting for next
year…
-Eric Tichelbaut
Twitter: @etichel07
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