Louisville upsets Notre Dame as No. 25 Cardinals stifle Sam Hartman, No. 10 Irish in statement win

No. 25 Louisville picked up a program-defining win Saturday evening, upsetting 10th-ranked Notre Dame 33-20 in front of a sold-out L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. It didn’t take long to see that a special night could be in store for the Cardinals. 

Louisville cornerback Quincy Riley intercepted a pass intended for Rico Flores Jr. on the fourth play of the game as Sam Hartman threw his first interception in a Notre Dame uniform, snapping a streak of 149 pass attempts without a pick. Louisville was able to open a 7-0 lead off of Riley’s interception. Notre Dame answered on its first drive in the second quarter as Hartman hit walk-on Jordan Faison for a 34-yard touchdown. 

The two teams traded field goals to open the second half. Notre Dame would then go three-and-out before Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan scored on a 45-yard touchdown run, and it was all downhill for the Irish from there. 

Jordan had a 21-yard rushing touchdown to open the fourth quarter, giving Louisville a 24-10 lead. The Cardinals kicked a field goal on their next drive to extend the gap to two touchdowns and make it imperative for Notre Dame to respond. 

Hartman and the Irish offense took the field down 27-13 with 7:31 left to play. Hartman dropped back on the first play from scrimmage and uncorked a deep ball down the right sideline that was picked off by Louisville defensive back Devin Neal, who returned the interception 34 yards to Notre Dame’s 10-yard line. Louisville tacked on another field goal and took total control from that point. Louisville picked off Hartman for a third time with 1:10 left to play to completely shut the door on a comeback attempt. 

When the clock hit zero in the fourth quarter, Louisville had secured its second top-10 win in as many seasons. The Cardinals knocked off No. 10 Wake Forest — led by then-starting quarterback Sam Hartman — last season. Hartman also threw three interceptions against Louisville in that loss. With the win, first-year Cardinals coach and alum Jeff Brohm now has four wins against AP top 10 opponents in his career. 

Louisville’s win also snapped Notre Dame’s 30-game winning streak against ACC programs after the Irish had already added to that total this season with wins against NC State and Duke.