Notre Dame’s passing game still needs a lot of work. But it also proved to be the key to putting No. 15 Louisville away.
The No. 16 Fighting Irish beat the Cardinals 31-24 after two big pass plays in the fourth quarter helped put the game away. Louisville defenders got mixed up in coverage as Jayden Harrison got wide-open for a 34-yard catch. Two plays later, Riley Leonard hit Jeremiyah Love for a 32-yard catch-and-run TD on a screen pass to give the Irish a 14-point lead with 9:16 to go.
Leonard’s stat line was abysmal before finding Harrison. Ahead of that pass, he was just 15-of-21 passing for 97 yards. He finished the game 17-of-23 for 163 yards.
The lack of confidence in the pass game showed on the drives sandwiching Love’s TD catch, however. Before the TD, Notre Dame had the ball inside Louisville territory facing a fourth-and-3. Instead of throwing the ball, Leonard ran it up the middle. He got stuffed.
Notre Dame then didn’t put the ball in the air after Louisville cut the lead to seven with just over five minutes to go. Leonard was tackled for a loss on a rollout to the right on third down and the Cardinals got the ball back with less than three minutes to go.
The Cardinals then committed a crucial error. Needing a yard on fourth down, Louisville got flagged for delay of game with 1:10 to go before Tyler Shough snuck it for what appeared to be a first down. After the penalty, his ensuing deep throw into double coverage fell incomplete.
Source Agencies
