Heinous mistakes cost the Louisville football team vs. Notre Dame

The Louisville football team was trying to make a statement. They were trying to show that they should be taken seriously as a College Football Playoff contender. Beating Notre Dame in South Bend certainly would have done that. Instead, they made a fool of themselves.

Too many stupid mistakes cost Louisville in a 31-24 loss that feels like more than just a loss. It feels like this because the Cardinals had the game. They made too many stupid mistakes and kind of handed the Fighting Irish the victory because of them. It was frustrating to watch.

Louisville turned the ball over three times in this game. The interception from Tyler Shough should have been a first down, but Ja'Corey Brooks just flat-out dropped a perfect ball and it landed in Notre Dame's hands. Instead of Louisville scoring on that drive, Notre Dame scored.

Louisville football team makes too many dumb mistakes to beat Notre Dame

The special teams were a disaster for Louisville too. They fumbled a kickoff twice in the same possession. Because of that, they started the drive inside their own 10-yard line instead of the 25. They also had an errant snap on a punt that led to a Notre Dame touchdown.

Tyler Shough played well enough for this team to win. He had one of the best throws of the year in the first half, slinging it side-arm while falling away to Brooks in the back of the end zone. The rest of the team didn't help him. The coaching staff made stupid errors too.

On the final drive, Louisville got a delay of game penalty that negated a fourth-and-one conversion. That pushed them back to fourth-and-six, and they couldn't convert. That ended the game. Quite frankly, it was a comedy of errors that lost this game for the Louisville Cardinals.

They have to go back to the drawing board and play better in big games. They still can win the ACC and get an automatic berth into the CFP. They just have to eliminate the mistakes first.