The University of Notre Dame football team lost its second game of the season 33-20 at No. 25/25 Louisville in front of a L&N Stadium record-crowd (59,081) Saturday night.
The Cardinals took control of the game in the third quarter, scoring via two long run plays and eventually piling up 26 points in the second half. Louisville also shut down the Notre Dame run game by holding the Irish to just 44 rushing yards on 28 attempts.
Sam Hartman finished 22-of-38 passing for 254 yards, two touchdowns and his first three interceptions of the season. Spencer Shrader kicked two 50-yard field goals in the contest and became the first Notre Dame kicker to accomplish that feat in the same game.
Mitchell Evans led the Irish in receiving once again with four catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. Freshman wide receiver Jordan Faison saw his first career action and finished the game with two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Notre Dame will return home and face its program-high fourth-consecutive night game next weekend against Southern Cal (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
HOW IT HAPPENED
Hartman came out firing on the first drive, completing his first three passes – two of them to Rico Flores Jr. and one to Mitchell Evans that moved the ball across midfield. His fourth pass, however, intended for Flores was intercepted to give Louisville the ball at their own 30-yard line.
The errant pass was the first interception thrown of the season for Hartman, ending a streak of 149 passes to begin the season. That streak finishes as the fourth-longest in program history.
Louisville’s offense came out red hot after the miscue and drove down the field in 12 plays and just over seven minutes, capping the scoring drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass.
The teams traded two possessions back and forth before the Irish offense could find its footing. A short passing attack was bolstered by two short first-down earning runs. Faison entered the game and caught a key third down conversion just over midfield.
One play later, on a play-action fake, Hartman found Faison behind the defense for a 36-yard scoring strike to tie the game.
Notre Dame coupled together a drive off a couple of miscues from both teams, but would end up turning the ball over. With the ball on their own 43, the Irish were set to go for it on third down but a false start penalty pushed them back to third and six. After Jeremiyah Love’s three yard rush, McFerson punted the ball away.
Louisville was offside on the punt attempt, however, and gave the Irish a new possession. Hartman hit Holden Staes for nine yards on first down. One incompletion later the Irish were left with a third and one. Attempting an end-around hand off, Hartman fumbled the exchange with Tyree and the Cardinals recovered at their own 45-yard line.
Notre Dame’s defense would earn two more stops before the half ended, including holding the Cardinal’s to a 42-yard field goal with one second remaining that ended up wide right.
On the first play of the second half, Louisville completed a short pass to the right side. Irish captain Cam Hart was there to make the tackle, but also stripped the ball and recovered the fumble at the Louisville 39-yard line.
The Irish offense could manage just four yards on the drive, however. Spencer Shrader entered and connected on a 53-yard field goal to put the Irish ahead 10-7 just two minutes into the half.
Louisville quickly answered with its own field goal drive, penetrating to the Notre Dame 27-yard. A key third down stop short of the chains by Ramon Henderson led to the successful 44-yard kick.
A three-and-out for the Notre Dame offense gave the ball right back to Louisville and they did not take long to assume the lead. A two-play drive in 63 yards was capped highlight by a 45-yard run and the home team jumped ahead 17-10 with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter.
The Irish pulled closer with another record-setting kick from Shrader. A clutch 24-yard reception by Mitchell Evans on third-and-10 moved the ball to the Louisville 42. Notre Dame was stuffed on another third-and-short, however, and Shrader was called upon.
He matched his school-record with a 54-yard field goal to cut the Louisville lead to four points. Shrader also became the first Irish kicker to ever boot two 50-yard field goals in the same game.
Louisville would not be denied on their next drive and took a commanding 11-point lead. Aided by a Notre Dame facemask penalty on what looked to be a third-down stop, the Cardinals drove 11 plays in 75 yards and ended with a 21-yard touchdown run.
Notre Dame was unable to answer on their next drive, turning the ball over after a fourth-and-11 attempt at their own 35-yard line.
The Irish defense stopped the Cardinals three-and-out and after Louisville’s 45-yard field goal fell behind 27-13.
Hartman’s first attempt of the next drive was over the head of Evans, intercepted by Louisville and returned to the Notre Dame 10-yard line.
Notre Dame’s defense forced another three-and-out, but Louisville was able to extend the lead to three scores at 30-13. On the next possession, the Irish were unable to move the ball again and gave the Cardinals the ball at the 26-yard line.
The defense held again and the Cardinals tacked on yet another field goal to extend the lead to 33-13.
Notre Dame was able to cut into the lead in the game’s final minutes. The Irish drove 75 yards and scored their second touchdown of the game on a Evans grab. After a successful onside kick recovered by Notre Dame, Louisville ended any rally with the third interception of the game.