Stacking Up: Notre Dame Defense vs. Louisville Offense
The fourth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. Notre Dame will look to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play, but the Irish defense will be tested.
Louisville has its backs against the wall, and its talented offense knows it must be at its best. The Irish defense will also need to be at its best, but the Irish still hold several statistical advantages.
Let's take a look at how the Notre Dame defense stacks up on paper against the Louisville offense. (Note: There are just 76 teams currently factored into the rankings, compared to 130 last season)
Notre Dame Scoring Defense vs. Louisville Scoring Offense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Notre Dame had an off game against Florida State, of that there can be little doubt. The Irish gave up the most points, yards and yards per play since an October loss to Michigan almost a year ago.
Despite the struggles, the Irish defense still did enough to win, including holding Florida State to just six points in the second half.
Notre Dame was dominant in its first two games, but Duke ranks 63rd nationally in scoring offense and South Florida ranks 74th.
Louisville will be the best offense Notre Dame has faced so far this season, both statistically and from a talent standpoint. Notre Dame has yet to face an offense with the firepower at quarterback, running back and wide receiver that Louisville will put on the field Saturday.
The Cardinals struggled mightily against Pitt, scoring just 20 points and gaining 223 yards. It has moved the ball at will in its other three games, and when it isn't turning the ball over it can score a lot of points.
At issue for the Louisville offense is it has turned the ball over three times in each of its three losses. If the Cardinal offense protects the football it can be hard to stop. The issue for Notre Dame is it has generated just three forced turnovers this season.
Notre Dame Rush Defense vs. Louisville Rush Offense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Notre Dame's run defense was dominant in the first two games of the season, but we saw some chinks in the armor in the win over Florida State.
The Seminoles' 153 yards was the most Notre Dame has allowed to a non-option team since the loss to Michigan last season. Notre Dame struggled containing quarterback Jordan Travis, who rushed for 96 yards.
Louisville will present a similar attack, as junior quarterback Malik Cunningham has rushed for 1,063 yards and 14 touchdowns in his career.
To make the matchup even more challenging is the presence of running back Javian Hawkins, who ranks second nationally with 468 rushing yards. Hawkins rushed for 1,525 yards and nine scores in 2019 as a redshirt freshman.
Hawkins is an explosive and elusive back that can turn the smallest hole into a big play. He rushed for 164 yards in the loss to Miami and ripped off 155 yards in the loss to Georgia Tech. Hawkins has topped 100 yards in 10 of its 17 games, including five of his last seven games.
One area to keep an eye on is Notre Dame's ability to generate negatives against Louisville's inability to prevent them. Notre Dame ranks ninth in tackles for loss, while Louisville ranks 72nd in tackles for loss allowed (out of 76 teams).
Notre Dame Pass Defense vs. Louisville Pass Offense
Advantage: Louisville
A case could be made that this matchup is even, but if you dive deeper into the stats you'll see this has been a problem area for Notre Dame this season.
The Irish ranking benefits from dominating a South Florida pass offense that is 71st nationally in pass efficiency. Notre Dame has given up 7.5 yards per attempt in wins over Duke and Florida State.
Part of the issue has been a secondary that has yet to put a full and healthy lineup on the field. Everyone should be back and healthy against Louisville, and they'll need to be at their best.
Cornerbacks TaRiq Bracy and Nick McCloud will certainly be tested in this game, but you can be assured Louisville will do what it can to get matchups against the Irish safeties, which means star sophomore Kyle Hamilton will have a number of playmaking opportunities.
Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick will be the best one-two wide receiver punch Notre Dame will face this season, and only North Carolina and maybe Clemson will be able to match them throughout the season.
Atwell is a short, explosive pass catcher that hauled in 70 passes for 1,276 yards and 12 scores a year ago. Fitzpatrick has 124 career catches for 1,990 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Notre Dame ranks 18th in sacks per game while Louisville ranks 67th in sacks allowed per game. One way to slow down the Louisville pass attack is to harass Cunningham all game long.
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