Sloppy, unprepared, taking them too lightly, and need a lot of work.

Those are some of the comments made by members of the press — and by Notre Dame fans — concerning Labor Day night’s 35-17 win over underdog Louisville.

The Irish started slow, and although the defense did tighten up after the first quarter and half and held Louisville to just three points in the second half, ND had to rely on some timely fumbles by the Cardinals to help it win the opener.

Quarterback Ian Book did not look sharp at all. In fact, he looked very much like the same tentative QB he did last year near the end of the season and in the playoff loss to Clemson.

Book’s performance is the first area Brian Kelly and his staff has to address for today’s game against New Mexico, a decided underdog to the Irish. As one South Bend Tribune write put it, Book looked “out of sorts at times.” It was also very noticeable that Book’s passing was not as accurate as in the past, and ND did not try to throw deep once — despite the fact at times the Cardinals were putting up an eight-man front daring the Irish to throw the ball. Book’s passing was limited to short tosses over the line and in front of the secondary.

ND’s shaky start away from home against a team that won only two games last year does leave a lot of question marks. Kelly said of his team’s performance, “We don’t look like the finished product by any means, but we did some things tonight that align us in the kind of direction I want to go, because we had some young players step up that were really important for us in some areas that were uncertain (and they) played pretty solid football for us.”

The Irish lost leading running back Jafa Armstrong for at least four weeks due to a groin and stomach injury that took him out of the Louisville game in the first half. ND has plenty of good running backs to fill in, but Armstrong is the fastest of the group and the only real “break away” back the Irish have.

Some of the younger players who stepped up for the Irish included sophomore running back Jahmir Smith, who scored his first career touchdown, while sophomore tight end Tommy Tremble caught a 26-yard TD for his first career reception and score. Others included sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who finished second on the team with nine tackles, followed by LB Drew White, a junior, who had ND’s first sack of the season.

More on the game later.

Today, ND faces New Mexico for the first time. The Lobos are coached by former ND head man, Bob Davie. However, Davie will not be on the sidelines today. He took ill in the Lobos opening game on Labor Day weekend against Sam Houston University and had a “serious medical incident.” Davie, 64, cited health reasons for his upcoming absence in a statement released last week. It would have been his first time coaching in a game involving ND since spending five seasons at the helm of the Irish (1997-2001). Offensive line coach Saga Tuitele has been named as the active head coach.

The Lobos are led offensively by wide receiver Elijah Lilly and defensivly by DT Aaron Blackwell. The Lobos were 3-9 last year and the same in 2017. The Lobos were 9-4 in 2016, which is now a distant memory. Reportedly, Davie’s job is on the line this year. The Lobos opened with a win of Sam Houston, 39-31. They did not play last week.

Today’s game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV, the home of the Irish, with a 2:40 p.m. EDT kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Senior Tony Jones Jr. filled in nicely for Armstrong and came up with his second 100-yard plus rushing performance in his career. Jones finished with 110 yards on 15 carries and a TD. The rest of the ND rushing stats for the game were: Ian Book 14-81, 1 touchdown, long 37; Jahmir Smith 8-24, 2 touchdowns, long 12; Jafar Armstrong 2-10, long 5; and C’Bo Flemister 3-5, long 7. Book was 14 of 23 attempts for 193 yards, no interceptions and one touchdown. His longest toss was 34 yards. Receiving totals were: Chase Claypool 5 catches, 94 yards, long 34; Tommy Tremble 3-49, 1 touchdown, long 26; Jafar Armstrong 1-16; Lawrence Keys III 2-15, long 10; Javon McKinley 1-11; Jahmir Smith 1-6; and Chris Finke 1-2. Jay Bramblett had six punts for 236 yards — an average of 39.3. His longest punt was 46 yards. Defensively. the Irish were led by Alohi Gilman with 10 tackles, followed by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah with nine. In tackles for loss, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was 2-7, Drew White 2-6 and Julian Okwara 1-15 ... Freshman cornerback Kyle Hamilton showed that all the pluses he got from the media prior to the opening game were true, he is that good. The 6-4, 210-pounder replaced both starters — Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott — for multiple drives. He had two pass breakups and four tackles for the night ... Many figure ND should have whipped Louisville without any trouble since the Cardinals came off a two-win season. But let’s give the Cardinals some credit. A new head coach and coaching staff have obviously given the Cardinals an upbeat tempo for the season and a bright outlook for the future ... ND played in the state of Kentucky for the first time. ND has played football in 36 other states ... ND’s defense allowed 163 yards and two scores in the first two Cardinal drives. After adjustments, ND allowed just 25 yards on the next 18 plays to end the first half ... ND recovered three fumbles for the first time since its 2012 season opener against Navy ... In Book’s first five starts last season, he completed 127 of 167 passes for 76 percent. In his past five starts, he is 98 of 167 for 58.7 percent ... Junior tight end Cole Kmet is making good strides in his recovery from a broken collarbone. He started practicing this week and could see some playing time today ... Kelly didn’t give the Irish any kind of break from the practice schedule, despite having last weekend off. He continued contact practices the entire time during the off period ... There will be plenty of local fans at today’s game, including this writer. I predicted an Irish win today in my pre-season picks. No reason to change that.