On Labor Day, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Louisville Cardinals will get their 2019 college football season underway at Cardinal Stadium. For the Irish, it’s a chance to rebound from a disappointing exit from the College Football Playoff last season. For the Cardinals, it’s a chance to showcase if they have rebounded from nine straight losses in 2018.
In the Cards favor, will be the fact that they won the lone meeting between the two teams, which came back in 2014 in South Bend. However, that was by the skin of their teeth as Kyle Brindza missed a 32-yard field goal with 51 seconds left on the clock and would have sent it into overtime. Both teams came into that game pretty evenly matched up.
This time the tables are much different, with Notre Dame coming in as heavy favorites. Their quarterback Ian Book had a great spring without competition after last seasons early starter Brandon Wimbush transferred to UCF. Running back Jafar Armstrong had a great spring as he prepared for his full-time starting full-time backing up Dexter Williams last year, who is now with the Green Bay Packers. Despite the bode of confidence, the Irish have just 6 returning starters on defense, which may or may not play into Louisville’s favor.
After a 2-10 season, the Cardinal faithful had little to get excited about in their newly renovated stadium. They return a total of 19 starters, with new head coach Scott Satterfield at the helm. They will look to Junior offensive lineman Mekhi Becton, who was named to the ALL-ACC Preseason team, for leadership. There are loads of questions at the quarterback position with junior Juwann Pass and redshirt sophomore Malik Cunningham seeming to be the front runners to take the lead snaps. However, don’t be surprised if the newcomer Evan Conley makes a case in fall camp for the job.
Kickoff for the Irish and Cardinals first meeting in Louisville is set for 8:00 pm EST on Monday, September 2nd on ESPN. Expect Cardinal Stadium to be rocking as the two opponents whose campuses are separated by just over 250 miles take to the field.
Written by Adrian Beecher
