Notre Dame’s offense never had enough verve to keep up with Louisville (6-0) on Saturday night, the No. 25 Cardinals upsetting the No. 10 Irish (5-2) in front of a record-setting crowd, 33-20. Notre Dame’s defense could have flirted with perfection, and the Irish still would have likely lost, dashing their lingering College Football Playoff hopes.
Of the three moments that best sum up Notre Dame’s loss,, all coming as the third quarter turned to the fourth, only one ties to the Irish defense, and it may be as much about officiating as defending.
Notre Dame kicker Spencer Shrader has a powerful leg, but that may have been a piece of the Irish downfall at L&N Stadium. After junior running back Audric Estimé was stuffed for a one-yard loss on a 3rd-and-3 at the plus-35-yard line, Notre Dame turned to Shrader.
Late in the third quarter, trailing 17-10, it was not inherently time to get desperate, but the Irish had not been to the red zone yet. This was only their third trip inside the 40-yard line, and analytically speaking, this wasn’t even a quality drive. Notre Dame was still more unlikely to score than it was to score, yet this was about as good as things had been for the Irish all night.
Shrader’s 54-yard field goal tied his own school record, cutting the one-score deficit to a … one-score deficit.
A team that had not been scoring much at all ended its best possession in quite some time needing exactly as many touchdowns to take the lead as it needed before the possession. Notre Dame would have been better served going for that fourth down.
This is why kicking that field goal was a mistake. You either go for it fourth and 4 down 7 from the 37, or on 4th and 11 down 11 at your own 30. https://t.co/0Jxz9M3S6D
— Greg Flammang (@greg2126) October 8, 2023
The Irish would never have the ball within one possession again. By this space’s usual definition of comfort in a game, the Cardinals were comfortable the entire fourth quarter, since Notre Dame never had possession with a chance to tie or take the lead. That hope abandoned Saturday night when Irish head coach Marcus Freeman opted for the conservative choice of turning to his booming kicker.
“Obviously just disappointed in the performance,” Freeman said of the night as a whole. “You got to take ownership as a coaching staff first, as the head coach first.
“Our guys weren’t prepared, for whatever reason. We have to take a deep dive nad figure out what it was”
It was still a one-possession game, Louisville leading 17-13, when Notre Dame thought it had stopped the Cardinals on 3rd-and-15 around midfield on that next possession. The snap prior, sophomore cornerback Benjamin Morrison broke up a pass with excellent coverage along the right sideline. When Louisville ran a jet sweep to speedy receiver Jamari Thrash to that same edge, Morrison held his ground, making the tackle with sixth-year safety DJ Brown in support, Thrash nine yards short of the first down.
The Cardinals would have almost certainly punted, attempting to pin Notre Dame deep in its own territory. And the Irish had not mustered any offense, gaining 53 yards in the third quarter, 24 of it on one catch by junior tight end Mitchell Evans. But, that was Notre Dame’s chance to get the ball back with a chance to take the lead.
Instead, fifth-year linebacker Marist Liufau was whistled for a face mask penalty away from the ball.
“We get them off the field on third down and we get the penalty,” Freeman said. “That hurt. You can’t have that. … Then they drove and we missed a tackle in the hole, and they scored again.”
Indeed, the drive ended with a poor run fit springing loose Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan for a 21-yard touchdown, his second explosive score of the night.
But what was Liufau guilty of? Getting blocked.
Notre Dame had lined up only two defensive linemen with their hands on the ground, and Liufau showed a blitz look, standing between them. He blitzed upon the snap and was picked up by an offensive lineman. As the jet sweep around the edge occurred, another offensive lineman chipped Liufau in the shoulder, effectively knocking Liufau’s arm up into the initial blocker’s facemask while also knocking Liufau off balance enough that his hands instinctively grabbed for balance.
Liufau did not face mask a Cardinal. His arm was knocked into a face mask as Liufau fell.
Regardless, the make-or-break moment of the night came a possession later, Notre Dame looking at 4th-and-11 from its own 35-yard line with 10 minutes remaining. The Irish were now down two possessions, thanks to that Jordan tally following the Liufau penalty on the drive after Shrader’s field goal cut a one-score deficit to a one-score deficit.
Freeman now understood it was two possessions. If he called upon his defense to shut down the scoring threat, it would still be a two-possession game when the Irish got the ball back. So Freeman went for it on fourth down.
“We played the percentage, hey, we either have to get a three-and-out if we punt the ball and hope we get enough time to go have two separate possessions, or you try to convert right there,” Freeman said. “... Even if we don’t convert here, you go three-and-ou, you force them to kick a field goal, it’s still a two-(possession) game.
Notre Dame did not convert, Hartman’s pass broken up. The Cardinals took over possession, draining more than two minutes off the clock while notching a field goal. They did not need the points, but burning the clock further snuffed out Notre Dame’s struggling offense.
Going for that fourth down ran quite contrary to kicking the field goal two possessions later, the former an aggressive approach and the latter exceptionally conservative, in football terms.
Being conservative next week against one of the country’s best offenses would be even more risky.
“You don’t have much time to feel sorry for yourself,” Freeman said. “... We have to learn from this game, and then we have to move forward to get ready for this game.”
Back-to-back-to-back primetime against unbeaten top-25 opponents.
— Douglas Farmer (@D_Farmer) October 8, 2023
7 straight weeks of games.
No one else has done either.
I broadly think such factors are overstated, but they aren't nothing.
Nonetheless, the bigger issue remains. What offensive edge did ND think it had tonight? https://t.co/rNHeF3BZe6
