Louisville football: Game-by-game predictions for 2020
By Jacob Lane
Week 5: at Notre Dame
Date: 10/17
In week five of the 2020 college football season there are going to be multiple college football commentators who get paid to talk who predict that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be on upset alert when they welcome in the Louisville football program for the first time since 2014.
On that cold night in 2014 the Cards traveled to South Bend with thousands of fans on their side and played a game that will never be forgotten by many. That year’s Irish team wasn’t the best or even close to the level of team’s the program has produced over the last decade, but picking up a win with a freshman QB at one of the most historic venues in college football history was huge.
Notre Dame paid Louisville back last season plus some, but had that team had a healthy Micale Cunningham things could’ve been much different. In the first half we saw arguably some of the best stretches of football from the defense that we saw all season and multiple high-powered drives led by the rushing attack of Javian Hawkins and Puma Pass.
Turnovers, lack of depth, and gap in talent led to the Irish pulling away, but I think I speak for all Louisville fans when I say the performance gave us hope of what could come with time. Time has happened, and the Cards will get another opportunity to pull an upset on the road against a team that by all accounts should be regulars in the top 10-15 spots of the polls.
Stopping Ian Book is going to be a massive challenge for Scott Satterfield and defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, especially behind what could be the best offensive line in all of America. Brown and defensive line coach Mark Ivey get paid a lot of money to have their guys ready for games like this, and I expect them to bring everything they have.
Nearly all of Louisville’s starters will have played against the Irish last season, which will be huge, and an offense that already played well should be even better with Cunningham and the gang on the field. If guys like Javian Hawkins, Micale Cunningham, Dez Fitzpatrick, C.J. Avery, Dorian Etheridge, Tutu Atwell, Caleb Chandler and Marshon Ford are going to attract the attention of NFL scouts and become draftable players, this is the game where they have to make their impact felt.
I did predict that Louisville will beat Notre Dame, so I’m going to keep my pick with that. I really think things would’ve been different should the teams had met later in the season, so this year I expect the offense to show why that is.
In a few years when Louisville’s atop the ACC or close to it, I think we’ll look back at this game and say it was the turning point of the Satterfield era.
Score: Louisville 38, Notre Dame 35
Record: 5-0 (4-0)