Riley Leonard passed for two touchdowns and ran for one more, and No. 16 Notre Dame held off No. 15 Louisville for a 31-24 win on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.
Leonard completed 17 of 23 passes for 163 yards for Notre Dame (4-1), which avenged a loss at Louisville one season ago. Leonard also rushed 13 times for 52 yards.
Tyler Shough completed 24 of 41 passes for 264 yards, three touchdowns and one interception for Louisville (3-1). Ja’Corey Brooks caught two touchdown passes and Isaac Brown hauled in the other one.
Louisville opened the scoring on its first possession of the game. The Cardinals capitalized on a fumble by Notre Dame on the opening kickoff, and four plays later Shough fired a pass to Brown for a 10-yard touchdown.
The Fighting Irish evened the score at 7-7 on the following drive. Jeremiyah Love scored from 6 yards out to mark his fifth rushing touchdown in as many games.
Notre Dame pulled ahead 14-7 midway through the first quarter when Leonard found Jaden Greathouse for a 34-yard touchdown. Greathouse got behind the secondary and caught the ball in the end zone before the Louisville defense could catch him.
Leonard added a 4-yard rushing score to make it 21-7 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.
The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 21-14 with 12:28 remaining in the second quarter. Shough scrambled left and opened himself up to a big hit from the pass rush just as he zipped a 5-yard touchdown pass to Brooks.
Mitch Jeter made it 24-14 with a 48-yard field goal with 3:46 to go in the half.
The score did not change until early in the fourth quarter, when Brock Travelstead made a 56-yard field goal to pull Louisville within 24-17.
Leonard steadied the Fighting Irish with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Love with 9:16 left. That increased Notre Dame’s lead to 31-17.
The Cardinals refused to go away as Shough found Brooks again, this time for a 24-yard score, with 5:17 remaining. The play marked Brooks’ second touchdown of the game and his fourth of the year.
–Field Level Media
