The Cardinal’s have finished their ACC schedule and will now head to South Bend to face the Notre Dame fighting Irish for the first time in school history. This is the game I’ve had circled all season. Notre Dame stadium is the shrine for college football fans. There is so much tradition there. I’m looking forward to the Gold Helmets, Touchdown Jesus, the Play Like a Champion sign, and the Notre Dame our Mother school song. I’m also looking forward to watching the Cardinals play and get a win on that field.

Notre Dame is 7-3 after losing at home to Northwestern 43-40 last weekend. The Fighting Irish have lost three of their last four games, falling to Florida State, Arizona State, and now Northwestern. This will be Notre Dame’s final home game of the season and the Irish are 4-1 at home this year. Notre Dame’s defense is allowing 27.1 points per game, which ranks 66th in the country, and are averaging over 35 points per game on offense this season, which puts them in the top 30. This will be the 4th time head coach Brian Kelly leads a team against Louisville. The other three times he was the head man at Cincy and he holds a 2-1 record over the Cardinals.

Notre Dame’s 2014 OVERALL FBS RANKINGS
-PASSING YARDS
304.4
15th
Overall
-RUSHING YARDS
160.7
69th
Overall
-POINTS FOR
35.4
28th
Overall
-POINTS AGAINST
27.1
66th
Overall

Leading Brian Kelly’s offense this season is quaterback Everett Golson. While he’s struggled with some turnover issues here towards the end of the season he’s still a very heady QB. He has all of the weapons the arm, the mobility and the mind. He’s thrown for 3044 yards this season with 27 passing touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has also rushed for 339 yards and 8 touchdowns. In lieu of his recent problems with turning the ball over and Notre Dame’s losing streak I look for Kelly to try and keep the offense simple for his senior QB this weekend. He will try to use his mobility and the short routes to penetrate the Louisville defense.

The Irish will also try to use their rushing attack to grind out and balance the offensive attack. They have a solid group in the backfield led by Tarean Folston who has 668 yards this season with 4 touchdowns. They will also use Cam McDaniel who has 241 yards with 4 touchdowns and Greg Bryant who has 208 yards with 2 touchdowns.

Notre Dame has great athletes and talent all over the field especially at the wide receiver position. They have six guys who have over 250 yards on the season. They are led at this position by William Fuller who has 853 yards with 13 touchdowns this season. He is followed by Corey Robinson who has 464 yards with 4 touchdowns, C.J. Prosise 412 yards with 2 touchdowns,
Chris Brown 397 yards with 1 touchdown, Ben Koyack 289 yards with 2 touchdowns, and Amir Carlisle 273 yards with 3 touchdowns.

The good news for the Cardinal’s defense is that Notre Dame’s offensive line is coming off some not so great performances. They had been pretty solid but Golsen has been running for his life in their last two outings. Also coach Petrino said he expects Lorenzo Mauldin and Pio Vatuvei to play this weekend. Having those guys back will give this unit some added spark. Gerod Holliman will be looking to break the NCAA record for interceptions Saturday and I can’t think of a better place for that to happen. Louisville’s defense is allowing only 17.8 points per game, which ranks an impressive 10th in the country. They will be ready to go all out on Saturday.

One huge area for concern for the Irish on Saturday will be their depleted defense. This unit has been plagued by injuries and they’ve been piling up in the last few weeks of the season. They had already lost several members of their secondary including leading tackler middle linebacker Joe Schmidt for the season along with safety’s Nicky Baratti and Austin Collinsworth. This week they added to that list as Sheldon Day, the anchor of the Irish’s defensive line, and freshman defensive lineman Daniel Cage went out. Cornerback Cody Riggs, is also expected to see limited playing time. Six of their starters on the defensive side of the ball are freshmen or sophomores. They will call on younger guys to step up in their final two games.

The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for our Cardinals especially on the offensive side of the ball. It gave Reggie an extra week to get some consistency developed between him and the Louisville receivers. He and DeVante Parker should have a field day on Saturday. And I also think Saturday will be a great chance for Dyer and Radcliff both to go off for big-time yardage. Our offensive line should also be able to win the war in the trenches.

The University of Louisville, fans and the players have been looking forward to this game on Saturday since the schedule was released. I know we will all be caught up in the moment and be in awe of that place on our first trip there. I just hope that doesn’t funnel down to the players. Sure these guys have been on some big stages this season but let’s face it Saturday is as big as it gets.

It will be senior day inside Notre Dame stadium on Saturday. That adds a little motivation to their side and on top of that there’s no way the Irish want to lose three games in a row. They will be ready. Our Cardinals will have to overcome that initial surge of energy and face down their initial attack. If they can do that and keep the game ugly I really feel like we have a great shot at knocking the Irish off. I will be there covering all of the action from the sidelines. Win or lose it will be a good day but I really want to be writing the winning story on Sunday.

The Beak Prediction
Louisville 27 Notre Dame 23