Report card is ugly for Notre Dame football after loss to Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As it turned out, Louisville was the trap game on the Notre Dame football schedule, not Duke.

After fighting off the weeklong temptation to look ahead to another top-10 showdown with rival USC, Notre Dame saw its College Football Playoff hopes go up in smoke Saturday night in a 33-20 loss to the 25-ranked Cardinals.

Offense: D-plus

Sam Hartman’s streak of 148 consecutive passes without an interception — a program record to start the season — ended with his fourth attempt of the night. Hartman absorbed five sacks on the night and committed five turnovers (three interceptions, two lost fumbles) as the Irish spent part of the first half experimenting with their interior line combinations.

Freshman walk-on Jordan Faison, a two-sport athlete ticketed for lacrosse in the spring, made two catches for 48 yards, including a 36-yard scoring grab in the second quarter, after briefly stepping in for Rico Flores Jr.

The Irish hadn’t opened the game with a turnover on offense in 28 games — dating to the 2021 home loss to Cincinnati. The sack-adjusted rushing average was a paltry 3.5 yards per carry as Audric Estime, the nation's leading rusher coming in, was held to 20 yards on 10 carries.

Defense: C-minus

Missing starting nickel safety Thomas Harper (concussion) and reserve defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio for the night and starting Vyper Jordan Botelho for the first half (targeting ejection at Duke), Notre Dame gave up a touchdown on its first defensive series for the first time this year.

Jaylen Sneed factored off the edge, especially on third down, but the Cardinals’ running game cranked up at winning time. Jawhar Jordan had a career-high 143 rushing yards, including second-half touchdown runs of 21 and 45 yards.

Special teams: B-plus

Spencer Shrader connected on second-half field goals of 53 and 54 yards, the latter tying his school record from earlier this season.

Punter Bryce McFerson was busier than usual, but the kickoff return combo of Devyn Ford and Jadarian Price failed to reach the 25 on two early chances. Price atoned with a 37-yard return in the third quarter to set up Shrader’s second bomb.

Coaching: C-minus

Third down remained a puzzle as Notre Dame converted just 3 of 13 third-down chances after going 3-of-15 last week at Duke, including 10 straight third-down failures in Durham. Even in short yardage, Notre Dame got too cute with its play calls, including a fumbled handoff to Chris Tyree in plus territory.

Overall: C-minus

Coming off an emotional escape at Duke, Notre Dame looked flat from the start in this one. A team that had climbed into a 2-point betting favorite’s position against the unbeaten Trojans now must look to play the spoiler role as a two-loss team.