What we learned about 6-0 Louisville in win over Irish
Jawhar Jordan wasn’t going to shy away from the moment.
The Louisville running back was unsatisfied with his performance against North Carolina State a week ago. The Wolfpack held him to fewer than 100 yards rushing. Jordan made up for that against an even tougher defense, scoring two late touchdowns and helping the then-No. 25 Cardinals to a 33-20 win over No. 11 Notre Dame on Oct. 8 in front of a sold-out L&N Stadium.
Jordan said the key to his success – his eighth career 100-yard rushing performance – was being patient.
“We just knew that the run game was going to hit once we were being patient,” he said. “We just embrace the moment. When our number gets called, just make the play.”
Louisville (6-0) made enough plays to pull off one of the biggest wins in program history, keeping the team undefeated through the first 11⁄2 months of the season.
Here are three takeaways from Louisville’s win over Notre Dame:
Raising the bar
The Cardinals’ win over the Fighting Irish paints them in a different light. Despite
the team’s undefeated record, it had yet to play a ranked team, especially one of Notre Dame’s caliber. The Cardinals went from being 61⁄2-point underdogs to defeating the Fighting Irish by 13 points.
Beating Notre Dame was a “prove it” moment that puts U of L into the national spotlight for the first time since the Lamar Jackson era. With that comes a different level of responsibility.
“Just like I told the team, once you win a game like that, the bar goes from here, up to here,” coach Jeff Brohm said. “So, while we want to enjoy it and relax and go be around our family and friends, we’ve got to get back to work.”
Louisville next is scheduled to play a one-win Pitt team that’s undergone changes to its offense. The Cards won’t underestimate the Panthers, though, and have an opportunity to be 7-0 for the first time since 2012.
Using multiple quarterbacks
Louisville has nine quarterbacks on its roster and doesn’t mind using any of them. The Cardinals played two against Notre Dame, bringing in Evan Conley at different points. Brohm has been pleased with Conley’s athleticism and utilized him to help take some potential hits off Plummer.
On first-and-goal from the 7, Conley picked up 3 yards. After a false-start penalty, Plummer threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jamari Thrash for the team’s first score.
One quarter later, Conley was brought back in, though his rushing attempt was for naught. He lost a yard, and the Cardinals were forced to punt after a threeand-out.
“Evan’s a really good athlete,” Brohm said. “If I had to take it back, both calls, they max zeroed it and blitzed us and probably not a whole lot of room to run. We have to have some different things off of that if we’re seeing that, so, that falls on me.”
Tweaking the defense
Through the first five weeks of the season, Louisville had nine sacks, though it could’ve had more. On several occasions, the Cardinals struggled to convert the pressure they got on opposing quarterbacks into the statistical category they dominated a year ago. The defense finally broke through and got to Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman five times. Defensive lineman Mason Reiger led the unit with two sacks. Safety Devin Neal picked off Hartman twice, and cornerback Quincy Riley had one.
Louisville limited the Fighting Irish’s rushing attack to a season-low 44 yards. They previously averaged 192.17 yards per game. Brohm attributed the increase in sacks to coaching, citing the staff ’s adjustments of putting players in a better position to make plays.
“Every week we tweak the package to guard people tighter, get our hands on people more, challenge receivers and seam routes more and allow that defensive line just a little more time to get in there,” he said. “I think the blitz package has been more aggressive, and that comes from coaching and planning. So I give (co-defensive coordinators Ron English and Mark Hagen and) our whole defensive staff a lot of credit. We’ve continued to slightly tweak things even when things are working well.”