'Critical Mistakes' Pile Up For Louisville in Loss to Notre Dame

Seven of the Cardinals' 13 drives ended in a turnover or turnover on downs.

Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Tyler Shough (9) is hit as he throws by Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Loghan Thomas (10) in the fourth quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program had a tremendous opportunity in front of them on Saturday. They had the chance to make a statement for the college football world, and establish themselves as someone who could be a serious contender in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Unfortunately, this golden opportunity was squandered.

Facing Notre Dame in their first road game of the young 2024 season, the No. 15 Cardinals found themselves on the wrong end of the ranked matchup, succumbing to the No. 16 Fighting Irish to the tune of 31-24. It handed Louisville (3-1, 1-0 ACC) their first loss in year two under head coach Jeff Brohm.

While Notre Dame (4-1) is far from a perfect team, taking down a team of their caliber is far from an easy task. Doing so in their own building makes that task even more daunting, and having a chance at taking them down requires a near-perfect outing.

What Louisville produced on Saturday was anything but.

"Well, it wasn't a clean day for us, and unfortunately, that's not good enough to win when you go on the road - especially at Notre Dame," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "Give Notre Dame credit. They came ready to play, and they made plays to win the football game.

"We had some critical mistakes in key situations that hurt us, and some turnovers that hurt us. As coaches, we got to be better. We got to put our players in a little better position to succeed, and make sure that those things don't happen again. It's going to be a tough stretch of games coming up, and we got to be sharper as we move forward."

Louisville might have finished their game against Notre Dame with more yardage (395 to 280), but a myriad of miscues - in all three phases of the game - proved to be the difference. They committed three turnovers, all of which were easily avoidable, turned the ball over on downs four times, and committed six penalties. Seven of their 13 drives ended in a turnover or turnover on downs.

The encapsulation of Louisville's lack of execution and focus came in the final two minutes, with the Cardinals still clinging to hope of a comeback. Facing 4th and 1 on the other side of the two minute warning, a miscommunication led to a delay of game penalty. Louisville was unable to convert the ensuing 4th and 6, giving the Notre Dame the ball one final time.

"I'll give the crowd credit," Brohm said. "We wanted to make sure we got the first down, so we did switch the personnel. It got loud, (Shough) couldn't hear the call in from me. He finally got it, we got up there, and unfortunately the clock was winding down and he didn't see it. That can't happen. We have to have a better way, in situations with no timeouts, that we got to figure out a way to get first down in that personnel. So, that's on me."

Execution was not the only questionable aspect of Louisville's performance. Questionable play calling and substitutions by Brohm and the coaching staff hamstrung the Cardinals on a multitude of occasions.

The biggest instance of this came in the final minutes of the first half. With Louisville facing 4th and 1 inside the red zone, Brohm opted to go for instead of settling for the field goal. Instead of running right up the middle with power back Donald Chaney Jr., Brohm had Chaney run to the edge - and was unable to pick up the first down.

"That's on me," Brohm said. "We called to play to get on the edge instead of running up the middle, and we weren't able to get around the edge good enough. We probably needed to have a better plan and have a lead blocker in there, and just run off tackle, and do something like that. We run a lot of play action on fourth down, so we wanted to mix in a run or two. It didn't work."

Louisville certainly didn't expect to commit as many miscues as they did, but while they give credit to Notre Dame for making plays, they also believe that many of their mistakes are very correctable.

Additionally, while Louisville's loss certainly puts a damper on their undefeated start to the 2024 season, and throws a wrench into their potential of cracking the College Football Playoff, the Cardinals still feel like their goals - mainly contending for an ACC Championship - are still on the table.

"I think it was more of mental lapses for us," quarterback Tyler Shough said. "I feel like we stopped ourselves, is the short answer. But I think it's stuff that we can really clean up, and I think we're going to have to in order to achieve our goals. I think everybody, I can see it in their eyes: we have that hunger to go get better and go achieve our goals."

(Photo of Tyler Shough: Matt Cashore - Imagn Images)

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