Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff Hopes Crumble With Loss to Louisville

Fighting Irish quarterback Sam Hartman threw his first three interceptions of the season as the Cardinals moved to 6–0 with a convincing win in Louisville on Saturday night.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Notre Dame’s already slim hopes for making the College Football Playoff ended Saturday night here, felled by another sluggish offensive performance.

Undefeated No. 25 Louisville’s 33–20 victory over the No. 10 Fighting Irish was powered by an explosiveness that Notre Dame lacks. Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan ripped off touchdown runs of 45 and 21 yards, while through the first 56 minutes of the game the Irish had no runs gain more than 13 yards and only one pass gain more than 15 yards.

Notre Dame is now 5–2 after a three-game gantlet against ranked and undefeated opponents, as the schedule turned up more difficult than expected. The Irish lost at home to Ohio State 17–14, giving up the winning touchdown with a second left. Then they won at Duke in remarkably similar fashion to the way they lost to the Buckeyes, driving late for a 21–14 victory. Here, Notre Dame was a mess offensively most of the night.

Louisville’s defense racked up five sacks and five turnovers in front of a raucous home crowd on Saturday night :: Timothy D. Easley/AP

Quarterback Sam Hartman threw his first three interceptions of the season, the Irish fumbled on a third-and-1 handoff, then fumbled again late in the game, and their only second-half points came on a 54-yard field goal. Notre Dame’s longest drive after halftime was 27 yards. They ran 28 times for 44 yards, their lowest single-game rushing total since Marcus Freeman’s first game as coach against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl to end the 2021 season.

Notre Dame also committed a costly defensive penalty that kept alive a Louisville touchdown drive for a 24–13 lead. From that point forward, the Irish utterly collapsed, losing their composure and failing to protect Hartman. The Wake Forest transfer had a nightmare game here last year, with six total turnovers and throwing two pick-sixes. This game wasn’t much better, with two interceptions and a fumble.

Meanwhile, it’s now time to view Louisville in a new light. At 6–0 and potentially favored in their next four games, the Cardinals are benefiting from not playing Florida State or Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season. Games at Miami Nov. 18 and against rival Kentucky Nov. 25 could loom large in determining how high the Cards can fly.

For Notre Dame, the tough sledding isn’t over. Undefeated USC comes to South Bend next week.