Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 SEPT. 28, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: LOUISVILLE games against anybody is nothing to scoff at. Brohm once again has a stout defense to lean on, led by co-coordinators Mark Hagen, who focuses on the defensive line, and Ron English, a secondary spe- cialist. They co-coordinated the 2023 Louisville defense as well. Those 44 Notre Dame rushing yards against the Cards last year? A season low. The Irish's second-worst output was 125 in a blowout win against USC. Those 5 turnovers? A season high. Hagen and English have precedent for what to do to stymie Notre Dame, albeit it against a different offensive coordinator. Still, strong memories to draw from. "We were going to scheme to stop the run," Brohm said after his Cardinals beat Notre Dame last year. "You have to do that or they're going to run you over." Louisville ran over Austin Peay and Jacksonville State to start its season. Through Week 3, the Cardinals were tied for ninth in the nation in rushing yards per game, with 263.0. They averaged 8.22 yards per carry, which ranked No. 2 in the FBS behind Boise State. Their 8 rushing scores were also tied for second among teams that had only played two games through Week 3. The good news for Notre Dame? The Irish don't have to contend with tailback Jawhar Jordan, who went for 143 yards in last year's matchup. That was his third- highest rushing total in a 37-game ca- reer. The bad news? Louisville has two freshmen, Isaac Brown and Duke Wat- son, who averaged more than 12 yards per carry on double-digit attempts in the Cardinals' first pair of games this season. Brown carried 13 times for 166 yards, while Watson rushed 10 times for 137 yards. Shough, who also played quarterback for Oregon and Texas Tech during his six-year college career, is taking care of the football. In his first two games as a Cardinal, Shough completed 68.4 per- cent of his passes for 290.5 yards per game with 6 touchdowns and 0 inter- ceptions. "He understands what we're do- ing and how to do it," Brohm said. "Of course, now we're going to face some really good football teams that are going to challenge him more and he's going to have to be good in his decision-making." Notre Dame being a really good foot- ball team didn't stop Plummer before Shough. We'll see which side of history 2024 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 at Texas A&M W, 23-13 Sept. 7 Northern Illinois L, 16-14 Sept. 14 at Purdue W, 66-7 Sept. 21 Miami (Ohio) W, 28-3 Sept. 28 Louisville (Peacock) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 Stanford (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19 vs. Georgia Tech# TBA Oct. 26 vs. Navy^ (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 9 Florida State (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Army* (NBC) 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at USC TBA # at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; * Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. ; Games on NBC are also televised by Peacock Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough is in his seventh season of college football with three different programs. PHOTO COURTESY LOUISVILLE ATHLETICS 2024 LOUISVILLE SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 Austin Peay W, 62-0 Sept. 7 Jacksonville State W, 49-14 Sept. 21 Georgia Tech W, 31-19 Sept. 28 at Notre Dame (Peacock) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 SMU TBA Oct. 12 at Virginia TBA Oct. 19 Miami TBA Oct. 25 at Boston College (ESPN2) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at Clemson TBA Nov. 16 at Stanford TBA Nov. 23 Pittsburgh TBA Nov. 30 at Kentucky TBA