Stats on Notre Dame's win over Louisville in week 5

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame wins their fourth game of the season against Louisville this Saturday with a final score of 31-24.

Despite the win, the Irish got out to a bad start on the opening kickoff, as Devyn Ford fumbled, allowing Louisville to recover and eventually score for a 7-0 lead.

"That was an emphasis for us: start fast. Started with a fumble. It was great to see our guys reload and our offense to be able to go out there and drive 75-yards down the field and score," Head Coach Marcus Freeman said.

Jeremiyah love crossed the endzone twice in Saturday's game, ending with 34 rushing yards and two touchdowns, extending his streak to five games with a touchdown.

It wasn't long before we saw the defense force a turnover of their own as Jaiden Ausberry's fumble recovery resulted Riley Leonard's 34-yards touchdown pass to Jaden Greathouse.

"I know the game gets close, but we have a lot of confidence in our defense. It's why I'm so aggressive as a coach on fourth down. You got a lot of confidence in your defense," Freeman mentioned.

The confidence continued as Xavier Watts earned his second interception this season, but not before Louisville's Ja'Corey Brooks caught the first of his two touchdowns in Saturday's matchup.

"We played lights out of the first half, especially offensively. I want to go back and again, it's hard when you're out there trying to stay focused on every single play. I want to go back and see. It was good. We were aggressive, threw some deep balls, had success in run game and passing game," Freeman said.

The Irish weren't as successful in the second half on either side of the ball. But in the fourth quarter, the Notre Dame put together a 5 play, 75-yard drive that resulted in Love's second touchdown of the night and giving Leonard 163 yards int the air.

"That was a big screen. Then we knew after this first down after the time out we were going to call that," Freeman said.

"For the for the throwback screen to work. I mean, we priced it all week, and what a great time to call it. Just worked out perfectly. They were in the perfect defense against it," Leonard added.

It wasn't pretty but Leonard didn't turn the ball over in tonight's game finishing with 17 of 23 passing and 52 rushing yards going into the bye week.

"He's banged up. We ran him. We knew we were going to have to run him. Tough, tough guy. He is tough. Sacrifices his body," Freeman added.

"Probably golf and hopefully catch a bass or two, but that'll just be for like tomorrow, and then probably get back to work. So, I think I got to get my body right. Definitely be feeling today's game tomorrow, but, yeah, we'll enjoy it. But I mean, we have to, we have to learn how to handle success, right?" Leonard said.