Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 12, 2024 25 3 Turnovers by Louisville in the first half against Notre Dame — the first three of the season for the Cardinals. The Fighting Irish turned those three miscues into 17 points. 4-0 Record for Notre Dame game in games streamed exclusively on Peacock. The Irish defeated Louisville (31-24) in 2024, Central Michigan (41-17) in 2023, UNLV (44-21) in 2022 and Toledo (32-29) in 2021. 4 Minutes and 42 seconds was what it took for the Fighting Irish to erase a 7-0 deficit and score 21 unanswered points in the first quarter. Sophomore running back kicked off the scoring with a 6-yard run at the 7:22 mark, followed by sophomore wideout Jaden Greathouse's 34-yard scoring reception at the 4:59 mark and capped by senior quarterback Riley Leonard's 4-yard run at the 2:40 mark. 9 Wins against ranked opponents for head coach Marcus Freeman in his two-plus sea- sons in charge of the Notre Dame program follow- ing the Irish's 31-24 victory over No. 15 Louisville. Per Notre Dame media relations, only Frank Leahy (10) has more ranked wins as the Fighting Irish football coach in his first three years with the program. 19 Straight victories for the Irish against ACC opponents in Notre Dame Stadium. The last time Notre Dame lost to an ACC foe in South Bend was a 34-31 setback at the hands of Virginia Tech on Nov. 19, 2016, during a season it finished 4-8. 20.0 Percent (1 of 5) conversion rate on fourth-down attempts for Louisville versus Notre Dame. The last of the four failures came on the Cardinals' final drive at the Irish 49 with 53 seconds remaining in the game following a crucial delay-of-game penalty on fourth-and-1. 33 Combined yards on Louisville's first two touchdown drives. The first came after the Cardinals recovered a fumble by Irish return man Devyn Ford on the 24-yard line. The second came after a fumble on the Irish 9-yard line by junior running back Jadarian Price. The Cardinals finished with 395 yards of total offense, but didn't drive the length of the field for a touchdown until the fourth quarter when they went 75 yards on 14 plays to cut their deficit to 31-24 with 5:17 to go in the game. 43-16-1 Record for Notre Dame while wearing green jerseys since 1977 following this year's win over Louisville. Most of those games were with Dan Devine at the helm. He had his guys wear green 42 straight games and posted a record of 32-9-1. Since then, here's how each head coach has fared when put- ting the Irish in green: Gerry Faust (2-0), Lou Holtz (1-1), Bob Davie (0-1), Tyrone Willingham (0-1), Charlie Weis (1-2), Brian Kelly (5-1) and Marcus Freeman (2-1). 50 Percent chance for the Fighting Irish to make the College Football Playoff af- ter their win over Louisville, per ESPN Analyt- ics. If Notre Dame had lost to Louisville the odds would've dropped all the way to 11 percent. No Week 5 game had a greater impact on the CFP race, per ESPN. 88 Passes without an interception for Lou- isville quarterback Tyler Shough before Notre Dame graduate student safety Xavier Watts intercepted him in the second quarter after a pass went through the hands of Louisville wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks. It marked Watts' second pick this year and his ninth interception in his last 18 games dating back to the Irish's win at North Carolina on Sept. 9, 2023. Watts is now tied with several other players on Notre Dame's career interceptions list with 9. 132 Yards of total offense for Notre Dame in the first quarter when it seized a 21-7 lead. The Irish managed just 10 points and 148 total yards over the final three quarters, but still held on for the victory. BY THE NUMBERS BY STEVE DOWNEY 672 Days between games with multi- ple touchdowns passes for Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard. Prior to his 2-touch- down effort in the Irish's 31-24 win, the last time he had mul- tiple scoring tosses in a game came when he had 4 in a 34-31 win for Duke over quarterback Sam Hartman and Wake For- est on Nov. 26, 2022. In that game, Leonard completed 29 of 41 throws for 391 yards with 4 scores and 1 interception. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER