Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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30 OCT. 24, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED mitted against Florida State, espe- cially when it comes to keeping con- tain and making cleaner tackles. Louisville came to South Bend with a 1-3 record, but was considered a talented offense more than capable of lighting up the scoreboard, with wide receiver Tutu Atwell and running back Javian Hawkins threats to score every time they touched the ball. Heading into the game, Louisville averaged 29.0 points, 424.3 yards and 72.3 offensive snaps per game. Against Notre Dame, the Cardinals were limited to just 233 total yards, one touchdown and 45 snaps. Lou- isville picked up only 14 first downs the entire game. What allowed the Notre Dame defense to achieve such a dramatic improvement over the course of a week? "The biggest emphasis this week was just keeping it simple and let- ting our guys line up and just play our game, win our one-on-ones and just do what we're accustomed to do- ing," fifth-year senior defensive end and team captain Daelin Hayes said. "Last week we didn't really feel great about what we put on film. So this week we just wanted to get back to the basics, stick to our fundamentals and just play our type of ball. "We were confident in that, and Coach allowed us to go out and make plays, kept the game plan simple and it was a fun day." JONATHAN DOERER'S FIELD GOALS CRITICAL TO WIN Notre Dame's red zone second re- sort is one it can trust. When its offense stalled or went backward on its first two red-zone trips, out came Jonathan Doerer to salvage the possession. Each time, the Irish senior kicker connected on a field goal — first from 32 yards and then from 30. Notre Dame held a 6-0 lead after two drives thanks to him. The two straight field goals were short-distance ones Doerer expected to make, but still needed boosts. He had missed two of his last three at- tempts going back to the Sept. 19 game against USF. He's now 4 of 5 on field goal attempts inside 40 yards. Doerer lined up for a third field goal attempt of the first half, but Notre Dame ran a fake instead of trying another 30-yard kick. On fourth-and- nine from the Louisville 13, Bramblett was tackled short of the line to gain. ✦ NOTRE DAME VS. LOUISVILLE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 12:43 9:24 3:49 10:36 22:07 14:25 36:32 Third-Down Conversions 3-5 1-2 2-2 3-5 4-7 5-7 9-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 Average Field Position ND-18 ND-10 ND-34 ND-23 ND-14 ND-27 ND-19 Louisville 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 2:17 5:36 11:11 4:24 7:53 15:35 23:28 Third-Down Conversions 0-1 1-3 2-3 0-2 1-4 2-5 3-9 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-1 Average Field Position UL-28 UL-27 UL-21 UL-20 UL-28 UL-20 UL-24 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND UL Nega ve 8 9 0-5 33 18 6-9 9 8 10-19 16 7 20-29 2 3 30-39 0 0 40-49 0 0 50 or more 0 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 5 1 2 2 Louisville 1 1 0 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Louisville • 3-7 UL31 Cunningham pass complete to Atwell for 28 yards to the ND41 • 2-9 UL7 Hawkins rush up middle for 28 yards to the UL35 • 1-10 ND30 Cunningham pass complete to Hawkins for 29 yards to the ND1 INSTANT TAKEAWAYS FROM FORMER NOTRE DAME CAPTAIN AND LINEBACKER MIKE GOOLSBY • "There was some regression even from last week. Last week, the excuse was that, 'Oh, the team didn't get to tackle, blah, blah, blah.' So, now, the team gets a week of full prac- tice and gets worse?" • "[Junior wide receiver] Kevin Austin got involved. Maybe that is something to feel good about." • "Maybe its saving grace is that the Irish are still trying to see what fits offensively. We know we can run the ball, and Coach [Tommy] Rees doesn't take that for granted. We ran the ball well today. It still seems like we are experimenting in the passing game." Louisville entered its matchup with Notre Dame averaging 29.0 points, 424.3 yards and 72.3 offensive snaps per game, but managed just seven points, 233 yards and 45 plays in their loss to the Irish. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS