https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=12KpaJ_0vmCod2x00

—Spread Check: Notre Dame by 7.

—Final reminder: Tomorrow’s game is only available on Peacock. They have a two week free trial available. Get it set up tonight, don’t be scrambling tomorrow. Planning ahead is imperative.

—I’ve got a “Where We’re Watching” post going up later today, but if you’re watching the game somewhere across the United States and want your locale to be included, send it to me at MikeRuth5@aol.com.

—Here’s the official U of L preview of tomorrow’s game in South Bend.

—ESPN’s Bill Connelly takes an analytical look (insider) at Louisville vs. Notre Dame.

A CFP eliminator (more or less) in South Bend
No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame (3:30 p.m., Peacock)
With an expanded CFP field and a certain number of two-loss teams likely to get in, we can’t really declare any major game between top-20 teams a must-win at this point. But it sure feels like one for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were already facing minimal margin for error with a shaky-looking schedule, and that was before Week 11 opponent Florida State’s collapse and, of course, Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois. The Irish will likely be at the bottom of any pack of two-loss contenders and probably need to win out to feel confident in a bid.
Louisville’s situation is a bit less desperate. The Cardinals are unbeaten and facing a schedule with Notre Dame, Miami, Clemson and perhaps either Miami or Clemson again in the ACC championship game. That would be a top-20 schedule, and they’ll have the leeway to lose at least one of those games and still get in. But using your mulligan in September is still ill-advised.
The Louisville defense proved its sturdiness against the run by stifling Georgia Tech last week; the Cardinals rank sixth in rushing success rate allowed and 14th in stuff rate. Their pass rush is aggressive and exciting, thanks mostly to outside linebacker Tramel Logan and tackle Jared Dawson, but if the QB gets the pass off, the Cardinals are vulnerable: They’re 107th in passing success rate allowed even with the sacks, and corner Quincy Riley is questionable Saturday with injury.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard is progressing since a disastrous performance against NIU: He has gone 27-for-41 for 266 yards, a touchdown, only one sack and 248 non-sack rushing yards over the past two games. Backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price have helped keep Leonard out of obvious passing situations, but that might be tougher against the Cardinals.
It also might be tough for the Irish to stop Louisville’s ground game. The Irish have been strangely inefficient up front, ranking just 98th in rushing success rate allowed. Even in blowout wins over Purdue and Miami (Ohio), the run defense was glitchy, and now comes a Louisville attack that ranks seventh in rushing success rate and fifth in yards per successful rush. Running back Maurice Turner is likely out with injury, but Keyjuan Brown and Isaac Brown are averaging 8.5 yards per carry between them.
The less Louisville has to pass, the better. Quarterback Tyler Shough is 15th in Total QBR, averaging 10.7 yards per dropback with eight touchdowns, no interceptions and only one sack. But despite a merely solid rush, the Notre Dame pass defense is elite. The Benjamin Morrison-Christian Gray cornerback duo is as good as anyone could have hoped, and the Irish rank third in passing success rate allowed and first in completion rate allowed.
Current line: Irish -6.5 (up from -4.5 on Sunday) | SP+ projection: Irish by 6.3 | FPI projection: Irish by 6.9

—The latest episode of the CC Podcast is here.

—Tonight’s ACC volleyball opener against Cal will start at 7 as scheduled. You can get tickets here.

—Louisville Report’s Matt McGavic looks at the biggest storylines heading into Louisville vs. Notre Dame.

—On one hand, it’s hard to believe that it’s already been eight years. On the other, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been eight years.

OTD Sept. 27, 2017. Day the Music Died. An interim president at U of L (Greg Postel) places Tom Jurich & Rick Pitino on leave, effectively firing both. Under Pitino, Cards go 416-143 over 16 years, including 2013 National Title, 3 Final Fours. Jurich rebuilt entire athletic dept. pic.twitter.com/fCYqcPRlGJ
— John Salzman (@HighPrairieFarm) September 27, 2024

—With school being closed today, all JCPS football games scheduled for tonight have been canceled or postponed.

—Trinity vs. St. X will now be played at 5:30 on Saturday, and the game will take place at St. X, not L&N Stadium.

—If you purchase Louisville Live tickets, you could win a free U of L basketball jersey.

—No idea what goes into this, but I’ll take it.

Top 30 teams with the greatest average Watchability for remaining regular season games pic.twitter.com/J2nW3KxoMS
— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) September 27, 2024

—If you missed Jeff Walz’s presser from earlier in the week, you can watch it here.

—The U of L women’s soccer team took a 5-1 loss to Virginia Tech Thursday night.

—Louisville field hockey’s scheduled home game against No. 12 Boston College has been moved to Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

—Junior is an unbelievable story.

“Junior Bridgeman to me is one of the greatest stories ever.” - Charles Barkley

The former Buck made less than $3M over 12 seasons in the NBA ($350K was highest season). He now has a net worth of $600M and is a minority owner of the Bucks. pic.twitter.com/toZ4N9jxrT https://t.co/1lhU1Ax1Uq
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 27, 2024

—Here’s the Irish Illustrated preview of Louisville-Notre Dame.

—Saturday Blitz is predicting a 27-23 Notre Dame victory.

—Pat Forde also thinks Louisville’s undefeated season comes to an end in South Bend.

Louisville Cardinals (23)
Next up: at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Why the game matters: The Cards haven’t played a road game and certainly haven’t played a defense of Notre Dame’s caliber. The line: Notre Dame by 6.5, per DraftKings.
Reason for Cardinal confidence: Louisville has been a buttoned-up operation offensively, not turning the ball over yet this season and allowing only two sacks. (There were some penalty issues against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday.) Against an elite defense, the Cardinals will have to continue avoiding self-inflicted wounds.
Reason for Cardinal concern: Injuries. Receiver Jadon Thompson suffered a season-ending injury Saturday, and expected star transfer wideout Caullin Lacy hasn’t played yet this year after a preseason broken collarbone. It would be pushing his recovery time to be ready for this game, and even if he plays, he might be rusty. The other major concern is an ankle sprain for star defensive back Quincy Riley. “I’m hopeful, but I’m not optimistic,” coach Jeff Brohm said Monday.
Dash prediction: Notre Dame 24, Louisville 17.

—Cardinal Authority has a Notre Dame week notebook.

—The latest From the Pink Seats podcast is here.

—Great hype video here.

Saturday. #GoCards pic.twitter.com/hhd5dyHrUj
— The Ville (@TheVilleHq) September 26, 2024

—Here’s Notre Dame’s official preview of their Green Out game.

—All six of the Irish Breakdown writers think Notre Dame takes care of business, and three of them like the Irish BIG.

—NOW WE GOT A ROAD GAME.

First truck load of the season is complete! Couldn’t do it without our amazing student managers. We will see you all at Notre Dame! #GoCards pic.twitter.com/bJIDwCrkRq
— Louisville Equipment (@UofLEquipment) September 26, 2024

—For a second straight year, Rece Davis is feeling good about Louisville’s chances against Notre Dame.

—Some predictions for Saturday from national college football writers:

Joel Klatt (FOX Sports): Notre Dame 24, Louisville 20

Klatt: “I do trust Notre Dame’s defense in this one. Notre Dame, at home, against Jeff Brohm and Louisville, because of last year and the way that this game went against Louisville, I think you’re going to some of that extra motivation from some of those Notre Dame players.

“And they understand that their backs are against the wall. If they want a postseason berth, this is one of those games everybody is going to point back to. You want to make us forget about Northern Illinois? You got to handle Louisville.

“Now, having said that, I just don’t think this offense can run and hide from anywhere. And Jeff Brohm is a terrific play caller with a veteran quarterback in [Tyler] Shough. So while I think Notre Dame wins at home, I don’t think they cover the 6.5.”

Greg McElroy (ESPN): Fighting Irish

McElroy: “I’m taking the Irish in this game. I think they protect the home field in one of the few big matchups that they have this year. This has been a revenge game. I think it’s been a circled game that they’ve talked about all offseason. And I think they get that revenge on Saturday against the Cardinals.”

The Sporting News: Notre Dame 27, Louisville 24

Bill Bender: “The Cardinals beat the Irish 33-20 last season, and the difference was limiting the Irish’s rushing attack to 44 yards and stopping the Irish on third down. Riley Leonard presents a different challenge, but those third downs will be the difference-maker. Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough has eight TDs, zero interceptions and has taken just one sack. Can the Irish put together a consistent performance on offense? The Cardinals average 502.3 yards per game. The Irish are 3-1 S/U against ranked opponents at home under Marcus Freeman.”

Bleacher Report: Louisville 23, Notre Dame 19

David Kenyon: “Can the Notre Dame defense keep carrying the team? Transfer quarterback Riley Leonard has trudged to 5.7 yards per attempt and topped out 163 passing yards in his first four appearances with the Fighting Irish. The hosts are favored, but Louisville—which has given up a meager 2.5 yards per carry—is built to beat ND for a second straight year if Leonard isn’t more effective as a passer.”

USA TODAY

Scooby Axson: Fighting Irish

Jordan Mendoza: Fighting Irish

Paul Myerberg: Fighting Irish

Erick Smith: Cardinals

Eddie Timanus: Cardinals

Dan Wolken: Cardinals

CBS Sports

Dennis Dodd: Cardinals

Tom Fornelli: Cardinals

Chip Patterson: Cardinals

Shehan Jeyarajah: Cardinals

David Cobb: Fighting Irish

Jerry Palm: Fighting Irish

Brandon Marcello: Fighting Irish

Richard Johnson: Fighting Irish

Athlon Sports

Steven Lassan: Notre Dame

Dan Lyons: Notre Dame

Thomas Neumann: Louisville

Pro Football Focus

Max Chadwick: Notre Dame 27, Louisville 23

Dalton Wasserman: Louisville 24, Notre Dame 20

—Big Red Louie has three bold predictions for Louisville-Notre Dame.

—I expected more out of the Notre Dame hype video.

—A couple clips from Jeff Brohm’s appearance on The Jim Rome Show on Thursday.

.@JeffBrohm says @LouisvilleFB is hungry to prove themselves vs. Notre Dame this Saturday. pic.twitter.com/xiSpGIC6rW
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) September 26, 2024

.@JeffBrohm on the experience transfer QB Tyler Shough brings to @LouisvilleFB. pic.twitter.com/gFeXI7vkOi
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) September 26, 2024

—They’re expecting some heavy winds in South Bend tomorrow, which should favor the team that wants to throw the ball less ... that ain’t us.

—Saturday is the ultimate “prove it” moment for Notre Dame.

Correction, Notre Dame absolutely will make a statement against Louisville this weekend. The only question is what statement will that be? Notre Dame will either announce itself as a playoff caliber team that has moved past its letdown game against Northern Illinois, and is the team that obliterated Purdue. Or it will let the nation know that this Notre Dame team isn’t capable of living up to the lofty expectations that were heaped upon the program in the preseason.
That’s the opportunity Notre Dame has this weekend against Louisville. The Cardinals are a talented team that will once again be a contender for the ACC Championship, just like they were last season in year one of the Jeff Brohm era. The Cardinals are an extremely well coached team and Brohm has quickly rebuilt the roster through the portal. As good as Louisville was last season during its 10-4 campaign, it is even more talented this season, especially on offense.
Notre Dame has been one of the nation’s best defenses through the first four weeks, but they are facing by far their toughest test of the season. In fact, when it’s all said and done I wouldn’t be surprised if we look back and realize this will in fact be the best offense that Notre Dame faces this season. If the Notre Dame defense can slow down, or even shut down this Louisville offense it will let the college football world know it is as good as advertised and can shut down top offenses just like it can groups like Texas A&M and Purdue.
Struggling against Louisville’s dynamic pass game, or failing to slow down the Cardinals run game, could be a sign of things to come as the quality of opposition ramps up. Notre Dame has yet to play one of the best offenses on the schedule, but that changes this weekend.

—The Irish Tribune is also calling this a must-win game, not just for Notre Dame’s 2024 season, but for the Marcus Freeman era.

—It was a rough afternoon for the Cards, but last Sunday’s volleyball match against Nebraska still made positive history for the sport.

—Three matchups to watch Saturday afternoon in South Bend.

—Despite the spread trending in Notre Dame’s direction all week, Rick Neuheisel believes the wrong team is favored.

"The wrong team is favored here. Louisville should be favored."@CoachNeuheisel says Tyler Shough and @LouisvilleFB should be able to build a lead and take down Notre Dame pic.twitter.com/UKesagE75H
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) September 25, 2024

—If the comments are any indication, my Locked On Irish Podcast appearance seems to have riled up the Fighting Irish fan base.

—One Foot Down serves up some hot and cold takes for Louisville vs. Notre Dame.

—The Cover 3 podcast talks Louisville-Notre Dame.

Another preview of the Louisville-Notre Dame game from the Cover 3 podcast pic.twitter.com/4QGNQVvL4D
— CrookedCardinalHead (@HeadCrooked) September 26, 2024

—Cardinal Authority is keeping tabs on where Louisville football commitments are playing this evening.

—And finally, beat Notre Dame.