The Anti-Preview: #4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Louisville Cardinals

The Anti-Preview for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish has a rare opportunity of being able to give you grace TWO WEEKS IN A ROW! Imagine that... yeah it’s real. After shutting the program down because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and fighting back to play another game — the situation is under control. Notre Dame will play a football game for the second week in a row for the first time in 2020.

And by the way — the Irish are 3-0, ranked #4 in the country, and running the ball like demons with their assholes on fire. Yay us, but now it’s time to focus on the...

Louisville Cardinals

Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Whenever we (Irish fans in general) were able to actually talk about football over the offseason, the talk about the Cardinals forced a snarled eye ball or two. Scott Satterfield’s squad was able to outperform the expectations for Louisville in 2019, which put them in conversations about playing in Charlotte for the ACC Championship.

BUUUUTTTTTT... they’re now 1-3 and 0-3 in the conference. Their offensive skill players are incredible (Malik Cunningham, Javian Hawkins, Tutu Atwell, Hassan Hall, and Dez Fitzpatrick) but the line is allowing a ton of sacks. And then there’s the defense which is — well it’s not good.

They still feel like a bunch of tricksters, but not the danger threat that we thought they might be.

What should you be drinking?

Without question the drink is bourbon this week. The bigger question, is how do we bourbon? Personally I just like it with an ice cube in a glass, or mixed as an Old Fashioned. Just for kicks, let’s go with a Bourbon Sour ( and I suggest using maple syrup with it).

What should you be eating?

It’s rare that the first thing that comes to my mind turns out to be the correct choice, but this week it was automatic. No doubt that many of you associate KFC with the state of Kentucky, and I can’t think of a better way to say “fuck off” than to scrap the Yum brand travesty for a much better fried chicken... Lee’s Famous Recipe.

Having grown up in and around Fort Wayne, Lee’s was always the better option. Though it only has 4 locations now, I remember when the Summit City had at least 6 or 7 locations.

Don’t forget those biscuits and savory sides.

What should you be wearing?

I understand the whole Texas Tech thing of “guns up” but watching Louisville fans continually “throw up the ‘L’” is just weird. You really calling for a loss? Okay bro, then you can take the L and I’ll take the W (with a massive shout out to Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah).

3 reasons to hate Louisville

• They are the former employer of Rick Pitino, Bobby Petrino, John L. Smith, and Lee Corso.
• Speaking of coaches I don’t like... hello Jeff Walz.
• Because the OFD Podcast is a Cincinnati Bearcats adjacent podcast — it’s bullshit that Louisville is in the ACC and not Cincy.

At the end of the day...

The Notre Dame defense did not play well last week against Florida State and were very sloppy — especially when it came to wrapping up and tackling the ball carrier. There were all sorts of reasons for that performance, and I fully expect a quick and dramatic turnaround this week. Conversely, the offense (outside of one Kyren Williams fumble) was very efficient and brutally imposed their will on the Noles. All of that is to say... it doesn’t matter what Louisville does this week — it comes down to Notre Dame doing what Notre Dame does best.

45-20 IRISH