Notre Dame can kiss its playoff hopes goodbye after loss to Louisville

If Notre Dame still had any lingering hopes of making the College Football Playoff entering Saturday, those hopes are almost certainly gone after a 33-20 loss to Louisville. 

That loss gives the Fighting Irish two losses on the season, leaving them with virtually no path to this year's playoff. 

Their two losses — to Ohio State and Louisville — were sandwiched around a last-minute win against Duke that also probably did not do any favors to their resume. Notre Dame was ranked No. 10 in the country coming into Saturday's game, but will take a significant drop after getting dominated by the 25th ranked Cardinals. 

The most surprising development to come out of Saturday's game was how poorly quarterback Sam Hartman played for the Irish. 

Hartman entered Saturday having thrown for 1,458 yards and 14 touchdowns without being intercepted on 145 pass attempts over his first six games of the season. But that rapidly changed against Louisville, when he was intercepted three times and completed just 57.9% of his pass attempts. It was by far his worst game of the season and a dramatic change from what Notre Dame had seen from him earlier in the campaign. 

Early on he looked like a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, but those hopes are also probably dashed with Saturday's loss. 

After starting the season with 40 points in each of its first four games (and going 4-0), Notre Dame has scored just 55 points over the past three games, slogging to a 1-2 record in that space.

While Notre Dame's playoff hopes seem finished, Louisville seems to be inching its way into the discussion under first-year head coach Jeff Brohm. Saturday's win gives the Cardinals a 6-0 record and they are set to skyrocket up the rankings this week. 

Louisville travels to Pitt next weekend in what should be a very winnable game and then plays three straight home contests against Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech. There is a great opportunity here for the Cardinals to keep stacking wins and make a name for themselves on a national level.