| GAME DAY INFORMATION | |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, October 17, 2020 |
| Time | 2:30 p.m. ET |
| Site: | Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN |
| TV: | NBC Mike Tirico (play-by-play) Tony Dungy (analyst) Kathryn Tappen (sideline) |
| Radio: | Notre Dame Radio Network |
| THE COACHES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head Coach | At School | Overall | vs. Opponent | |
| Notre Dame | Brian Kelly | 95-37 (11th year)ˆ | 266-94-2 (30th year)ˆ | 1-1 |
| Louisville | Scott Satterfield | 9-8 (Second year) | 60-32 (Eighth year) | 0-1 |
| IRISH VS. CARDINALS - BY THE NUMBERS | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Notre Dame Fighting Irish make history in 2020 by joining a conference for the first time in the 132-year tenure of the program. The Irish will play as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The South Florida matchup marks the only non-conference game the Irish will play in the regular season. |
| 2 | So far this season, Notre Dame has played two-consecutive games in which two true freshmen have scored touchdowns. DL Jordan Botelho and RB Chris Tyree scored touchdowns vs. USF, and Tyree and TE Michael Mayer both found the end zone vs. Florida State. Prior to this season, the last time two true freshman scored in the same game for the Irish was in 2015 vs. Air Force (Corey Robinson and Will Fuller). |
| 3 | Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is one of just three Power 5 coordinators currently coaching under the same head coach for whom they played as a student-athlete. He joins Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and North Carolina co-defensive coordinator Tommy Thigpen. |
| 3 | QB Ian Book became the first quarterback in Notre Dame history (modern era) to rush for three touchdowns in a half in the first vs. South Florida. It marked the second time in his career in which he has rushed for three touchdowns in a game. The last time he rushed for three touchdowns in a single game was against this week’s opponent, Wake Forest, in 2018). |
| 3 | RB Kyren Williams (185 rushing yards), RB Chris Tyree (103 rushing yards) and WR Javon McKinley (107 receiving yards) combined to mark the first time the Irish have had two 100-yard rushers and a 100-yard receiver in the same game since 2015 vs. Stanford. |
| 4 | With the 52-0 shutout of South Florida last week, Brian Kelly became the first Irish coach to post four or more shutouts in his Notre Dame career since Lou Holtz. The last Irish shutout took place in 2019 vs. Bowling Green (52-0), and Kelly’s first shutout as the Notre Dame head coach came vs. Wake Forest in 2012 (38-0).ˆ |
| 4 | Four graduate transfers -- CB Nick McCloud (North Carolina State), S Isaiah Pryor (Ohio State), WR Ben Skowronek (Northwestern) and K/P Dawson Goepferich (Brown) -- signed with the Irish this offseason who will play key roles on the field for Notre Dame. |
| 9 | The Irish boast a current win streak of nine games, the longest among Power 5 programs. No other FBS program claims a longer current win streak. |
| 21 | Notre Dame has won 21-consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium, which sets the modern-era record for longest home win streak. Clemson and Ohio State are the only other Power 5 programs that boast home streaks of 20 or more games. |
| 28 | Notre Dame has held 28-of-29 opponents during Clark Lea’s tenure as defensive coordinator to 30 points or less. That includes includes ranked opponents LSU, Michigan, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Clemson, Georgia, Virginia and Navy. |
| 30 | Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees (28) is one of just two offensive coordinators under age 30 among FBS teams (South Florida’s Charlie Weis Jr., 27). |
| 42 | The 42-26 win over Florida State marked the first time since 2000 the Irish have scored 42 points in consecutive games. |
| 362^ | Games coached by Brian Kelly in his career, second among active coaches in the NCAA to Mack Brown (North Carolina). |
ˆ Includes 20 regular-season wins and two postseason appearances vacated under discretionary NCAA penalty.
2020 Captains
- Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Brian Kelly announced five team captains for Notre Dame’s 2020 football campaign this fall. They include returning 2019 captains QB Ian Book and OL Robert Hainsey, as well as first-time captains S Shaun Crawford, DL Daelin Hayes and DL Adetokunbo Ogundeji.
- Book and Hainsey earn the role as rare two-time captains, just the 23rd and 24th Notre Dame players in the program’s 131-season history to ever serve multiple seasons as a team captain. More than 200 players have served in the captain role for Irish Football.
home field win streak
- Notre Dame has won 21-straight games at home dating back to Sept. 30, 2017, starting with a victory over Miami (Ohio) and extending to the 2020 season-opening win over Duke.
- It sets the modern-era record for longest home winning streak for the Irish (28-straight from 1942-50). With the 52-0 shutout of South Florida, the Irish topped the previous modern streak of 19-straight from 1987-90, and with the 42-26 win over Florida State, Notre Dame moved into a tie with Ohio State’s streak of 21 home games won. Clemson is the only other Power 5 program that boasts a home streak of more than 21 games.
- The Irish completed an undefeated home slate for the second-consecutive season in 2019. Notre Dame had not achieved back-to-back undefeated home seasons since 1988-89.
- Notre Dame completed an undefeated season at Notre Dame Stadium in 2019 for the third time in five seasons (2015, 6-0 and 2018, 6-0) after finishing 7-0 following a 40-7 win over Boston College. From 1990-2011, only the 1998 campaign (6-0) saw a perfect Notre Dame home slate.
2020 vision
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
- For the first time in the 132-year history of the Notre Dame Football Program, the Fighting Irish are playing the 2020 football season as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (131 years were spent as an independent. The 132nd season is the first in the ACC). Each ACC squad will play 10 conference games, in addition to one non-conference matchup, to complete a modified 11-game schedule. The two squads with the best records will face off in the ACC Championship in December.
- In the ACC Preseason Order of Finish, the Irish were ranked second behind Clemson, who enters the season as the top-ranked team in the nation.
- In a partnership that began in 2014, Notre Dame and the ACC agreed to schedule the Irish to play, on average, five ACC opponents each sesason. Originally scheduled through the 2025 season, the games have now been scheduled through the 2037 campaign.
- Notre Dame is 25-7 (.781) against ACC opponents since the scheduling agreement began during the 2014 season, and including 2020 play as a conference member
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
- Notre Dame has been ranked in the Top 25 for 51-consecutive weeks, the longest such streak for the Irish since the 1994 season (124 weeks).
- The 51-week streak currently ranks fourth among all FBS active streaks, which do not include teams who were not listed in the initial 2020 AP polls at the beginning of the season (Big Ten and Pac-12). LSU ended its 43-week streak this week.
LAST TIME: LOUISVILLE
- September 2, 2019 – Notre Dame 35, Louisville 17: Ian Book ran for one touchdown and threw for another, Jahmir Smith rushed for two scores and No. 9 Notre Dame beat Louisville 35-17 in the Monday-night contest.
- Tony Jones Jr. rushed 15 times for 112 yards, including an 11-yard TD, as the Fighting Irish put away the rebuilding Cardinals. It was the second career 100-yard rushing game for Jones, whose career-high of 118 yards came against Vanderbilt in 2018.
- Book’s TD came after a bizarre sequence featuring three consecutive fumbles between the teams, the last of which Notre Dame recovered at Louisville’s 20. The Irish forced five fumbles overall and recovered three. The last time the Irish recovered three opponent fumbles was against Navy in Dublin in 2012.
- Book hit Tommy Tremble with a 26-yard TD pass midway through the third for a 28-14 lead. He finished 14 of 23 passing for 193 yards. Smith rushed for touchdowns of three and one yards and totaled 24 on eight carries.
- Louisville junior quarterback Jawon Pass rushed for touchdowns of eight and 17 yards in the first quarter, but the Cardinals struggled after that and managed only Blanton Creque’s 46-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
- Playing before a record home crowd of 58,187, the Cardinals were outgained 425-383.
