Notre Dame has not begun a football season with four straight home games since 1934 under first-year head coach Elmer Layden. But if ever there is a year to expect the unexpected, this is it.

The No. 4-ranked Fighting Irish (3-0) host 1-3 (0-3 in the ACC) Louisville on Saturday afternoon with a 2:30 p.m. ET telecast by NBC to close out their roundabout four-game home stand at the beginning of this campaign. Meanwhile, the Cardinals will be playing their third straight contest on the road.

This will be only the third meeting between the two schools in football, with the most recent last year’s opener when the Irish won 35-17 in their first game ever played in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Louisville made its first appearance at Notre Dame Stadium on Nov. 22, 2014 and prevailed with a 31-28 victory. It will now attempt to join USC, Michigan and Missouri as the only schools to win their first two games in Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930.

The Fighting Irish have been installed as a 17-point favorite.

Notre Dame 47, Louisville 30

Second-year Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield made a huge splash in his debut season, guiding his team to a six-game turnaround by winning eight times in 2019 compared to only two victories in 2018 under former coach Bobby Petrino.

Building on that momentum remains Satterfield’s goal in 2020, a season that has brought tough reviews so far with three losses in as many ACC games.

After shaking off the rust in a 42-26 win last weekend over Florida State — and with COVID-19 quarantines under control — Notre Dame coaches and players settled into a better practice rhythm this week.

Notre Dame 45, Louisville 20

Clark Lea and the Notre Dame defense won’t get caught off guard by Louisville’s offense again. That doesn’t mean they’ll shut down the Cardinals’ attack, though. Louisville has scuffled early on and fumbled the ball everywhere, but has enough weapons on offense and the schematic creativity to put multiple touchdowns on Notre Dame’s defense. Tutu Atwell, to me, is the most dangerous receiver the Irish will see this season.

But I don’t think any Louisville points will come effortlessly, nor do I see Louisville’s ho-hum defense holding Notre Dame under 40 points. Notre Dame’s ability to halt Louisville’s offense by forcing a couple field goals or coming up with a timely turnover(s) will be the difference here.

Notre Dame 45, Louisville 17

Notre Dame’s is able to control the game by limiting the Louisville offense to just a few big plays, which is a major component of the Cardinals’ offensive production. Last year they ranked third nationally in plays where at least 40 yards were gained.

This also will be the best the Fighting Irish wide receivers have looked all season, which leads to a high-scoring affair for Notre Dame and some impressive numbers for starting quarterback Ian Book.

Notre Dame 45, Louisville 20

Louisville’s defense is pretty bad this year and hasn’t been good in quite some time. My original prediction for this game was 38-20, but after seeing Georgia Tech drop 46 on the Cardinals, I gave Notre Dame an extra seven points. This will be one of those games where Notre Dame could put up 60 if it really wanted to but will call off the dogs late with the game in hand.

Louisville does has some talent on offense and could keep this game somewhat interesting, but Notre Dame should have an easier time with the Cardinals than it did Florida State, which was also a relatively comfortable 42-26 victory.

Notre Dame 38, Louisville 21

Similar to the Florida State game last week, I’ll be interested to see how the Cardinals react if they have some early mishaps. I thought the Seminoles would pack it in after falling behind 14-3, but to their credit they came back to take the lead and kept the game competitive.

Louisville was picked fourth this preseason in the 15 team ACC, and has to be extremely disappointed about the 0-3 start in the league. Are they demoralized, or even more determined? If the latter, then it could be a tough out, and maybe even give Notre Dame the scare Virginia Tech did last year. If not, the Irish could roll easily. Maybe reality is in between. The Cardinals have similar skill position talent on offense to the Seminoles, as well as scheme.

But Louisville has had huge issues on defense, with turnovers (11 committed, three gained) and getting hit with lost-yardage plays (10 per game), which is not a good formula on the road versus a top-5-ranked team.

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