Notre Dame showed some signs of its 21 days off from playing football last week, but by the middle of the first quarter the big offensive line began to open huge holes for the talented ND running backs and the Irish racked up win number three, a 42-26 triumph over a surprisingly good Florida State team.

The Irish victory helped them move up one spot in the national polls to No. 4. But the win was not without some issues. The Irish defense, which was impressive in wins over Duke and South Florida, took a big step backward allowing the Seminoles to finish with a total offensive production of 405 yards.

The offensive line got some assistance from the tight ends and receivers in continuing to dominate an opponent. ND totaled 353 rushing yards, the most in a game since the last time they played Florida State in 2018, when 365 yards were turned in.

Sophomore running back Kyren Williams and freshman back Chris Tyree, both took advantage of the big running lanes produced by the line. Williams led the way with 185 yards on 19 carries while Tyree had 103 yards on 11 carries. Williams had two TDs and Tyree one.

Quarterback Ian Book had 16 completions in 25 attempts for 201 yards and two TDs and no interceptions. He also ran for 58 yards on nine carries. More stats later.

Today the Irish face a better Louisville team than their record shows. The Cards are 1-3, and 0-3 in the ACC. The lone win came against Western Kentucky, 35-21. The losses have been to Miami, 47-34; Pittsburgh, 23-20; and Georgia Tech, 46-27. Just looking at the scores it indicates to me that Louisville can score points and will be a big test for the Irish defense this week. Also, the Cardinals also give up a lot of points.

The Cardinals enter the week ranked No. 31 in the FBS in rushing offense with 177.8 yards per game and No. 32 in total offense with 424.3 yards per game. Louisville has a talented quarterback of its own in Malik Cunningham. The Irish are plenty familiar with the weapons around him but stopping Cunningham will be the key.

The game will be the second meeting between the schools. Last year ND won, 35-17.

The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV, with a 2:40 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES

: Head coach Brian Kelly presented the game balls last week to Dr. Matt Leiszler, team physician, and Rob Hunt, the team’s head athletic trainer, for their work in getting the Irish through the COVID-19 outbreak the team suffered which caused the university to postpone the Wake Forest game. ND was without 39 players the week of the Wake Forest game, with 25 of them in isolation for testing positive, and 14 in quarantine as the result of contact tracing. Last week just two ND regular players were not available, DT Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and LB Jack Kiser ... Turnovers last week helped Florida State. The two lost ND fumbles resulted in two field goals for the Seminoles ... ND’s long passing game, almost nonexistent in the first two games, found some life last week when Book found fellow senior Javon McKinley open for long gains. McKinley caught five for 107 yards. The rest of the team stats has Braden Lenzy getting 29 yards on three catches and a score and Michael Mayer, 25 on two. Kicker Jonathan Doerer missed his only field goal attempt of 45 yards. Defensively Kyle Hamilton is back to full strength and got eight tackles as did TaRiq Bracy. Bracy had one tackle for a six yard loss ... Backup rover Paul Moala suffered a torn Achilles tendon against Florida State, underwent surgery to repair the Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. In Moala’s absence, Ohio State graduate transfer Isaiah Pryor will be elevated as the backup to Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. The 6-foot-2, 199-pound Pryor came to the Irish as a safety, but he started transitioning to rover earlier this season ... The ACC announced that Notre Dame’s Oct. 24 game at Pittsburgh will be televised nationally on ABC with a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff ... Book tied Jimmy Clausen for No. 3 all-time in Notre Dame history with 60 career touchdown passes. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is No. 2 with 61. Book tied Rees for No. 7 all-time in wins (23) by a quarterback in program history ... No FBS team has a longer active winning streak than Notre Dame’s nine straight victories. The Irish have their longest home-winning streak in the modern era with 21 consecutive victories ... Notre Dame’s defense has held 28 of its last 29 opponents to 30 points or fewer under defensive coordinator Clark Lea ... Today is the last home game for a few weeks. ND hits the road for the fist time this season with a trip to Pittsburgh next week and Georgia Tech the following week. The first road trip to Wake Forest was canceled. The Irish next home game is Nov. 7 at night against currently No. 1 ranked Clemson ... Here is the latest on the COVID -19 numbers at ND, as of Thursday, when Kelly gave the press an updated briefing. For the first time since Sept. 8 ND didn’t have a single player in either isolation or quarantine ... ND is favored by 17 today but this is a dangerous game for the Irish. Although Louisville enters the game at 1-3, the Cards were ranked in the Top 25 at the start of the season. Also, the three losses can be attributed more to the Cards making mistakes - fumbles, penalties and the like - not so much due to the competition. In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today. ND should be ready now with the announcement that the Irish have a full roster for today’s game.