Notre Dame vs. Louisville: 5 Key Numbers Behind a Big Irish Victory

The numbers that tell the story of Notre Dame's 31-24 victory over Louisville

Notre Dame celebrates winning a NCAA college football game 31-24 against Louisville at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame's 31-24 win over Louisville moved the Fighting Irish to 4-1 on the season as they reach their first of two bye weeks this season. Although the start was frustrating as a turnover and Louisville touchdown had Notre Dame down early, it was in control of the game for the vast majority of Saturday, which some key numbers speak to.

Headed to the bye week Notre Dame still has its playoff dreams alive as it gets some much needed rest and recovery. Below are the five numbers that tell the story of Notre Dame's 31-24 victory over the Cardinals.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Key Number 1: 49:59

Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) and quarterback Riley Leonard (13) celebrate a Notre Dame touchdown during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Louisville at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Despite the slow start, Notre Dame quickly recovered and found itself in the lead with 4:59 to play in the first quarter. The game would never be tied again as Notre Dame would extend the lead a short time after.

This fact combined with the fact that Notre Dame held a two-possession lead in the game for 36:20 of that 49:59 tell as much of the story of the contest as any individual stat line does. The numbers weren't overly pretty but because of what was going on in the game, they didn't have to be.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Key Number 2: 5.05

If you look at the box score you'll see that Louisville ran for just 131 yards on 35 attempts, averaging 3.7 yards per attempt. That seems like Notre Dame was in control of the Cardinals run game, right?

Well, take away the 42 yards Louisville as a team was discredited for on the botched punt that was recovered by Kennedy Urlacher, and those numbers look much different. Instead of 131 yards on 35 carries it switches to 173 yards on 34 rush attempts for an average of 5.05 yards per carry.

That would have been a major reason for concern in this outcome had it not been for...

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Key Number 3: 3

Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts (0) celebrates after an interception against the Louisville Cardinals in the second quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Three Louisville turnovers made a lot of the other numbers not matter nearly as much on Saturday afternoon in South Bend.

After Notre Dame tied the game up at seven, Louisville's first play from scrimmage was a 46-yard run by Tyler Shough but he was stripped and Notre Dame was able to land on the loose ball and scored the go-ahead touchdown four plays later. Instead of flipping field position, it was flipping possessions and rendered 46 of those 173 rushing yards mentioned above essentially useless.

The botched snap on the punt attempt was the second turnover, setting up a one-play touchdown drive for Notre Dame to stretch the lead to 21-7.

Finally, the Shough interception late in the first half helped Notre Dame score its only points of the second quarter by setting the Irish up in field goal range.

All three turnovers were huge factors in erasing many of the negative statistics for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Key Number 4: 11

I'm not trying to be negative as this game was called based on situation, not on padding stats. There is one that has me scratching my head, however.

Jeremiyah Love is the biggest playmaker this offense has, especially when quarterback Riley Leonard is getting roughed up. As Jadarian Price only had three carries, my question turns to how Love only had 11 carries.

Now he did haul in five receptions, including what wound up being the difference making touchdown, so touches were somewhat there. With his playmaking ability and with the hits piling up on Leonard though, I'd like to see a handful more carries/touches for Love.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Key Number: 30 x 3

Riley Leonard isn't going to launch the ball down the field with any regularity. If you watched any of him at Duke or have seen him through five games at Notre Dame, that should be obvious.

So what has to happen is Notre Dame has to get creative in how it makes explosive pass plays. As rugged as the offense may have appeared, the Irish were able to connect on three passes that all totaled over 30 yards on Saturday, and did so against a very good defense.

Two of those receptions resulted in touchdowns (Greathouse and Love's) while Jaden Harrison's 34-yard reception helped Notre Dame get down field on the drive that Love ultimately capped on the throwback screen.

It might not look like Patrick Mahomes chucking the ball around like many wish, but it was impactful and helped Notre Dame accomplish the task of getting out of Saturday with a win in its biggest home game of the season.

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