Riley Leonard, Notre Dame Beat Louisville as CFB Fans Debate Irish's Playoff Chances

Riley Leonard led No. 16 Notre Dame football to a 31-24 home win over No. 15 Louisville on Saturday afternoon and helped keep the Fighting Irish's College Football Playoff hopes alive in the process.

Notre Dame scored 21 unanswered points in the first quarter after Louisville opened the game on an Isaac Brown 10-yard touchdown reception. The Fighting Irish's scores were courtesy of a Jeremiyah Love six-yard run, a Jaden Greathouse 34-yard reception and a Leonard four-yard run.

The Leonard rush was set up after a bad snap on a Louisville punt led to a fumble that got knocked backward and eventually settled into Kennedy Urlacher's hands inside the 10.

Louisville stayed in the game, though, and got a score back in the second quarter after a Ja'Corey Brooks five-yard touchdown. The two teams traded field goals before Love scored his second touchdown on a 32-yard catch for a 31-17 lead after the PAT.

The Cardinals fired back again with 5:17 left when Brooks caught a 24-yard touchdown pass. Louisville got the ball back after forcing a three-and-out, but its drive stalled at midfield, effectively ending the game.

Leonard completed 17-of-23 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns while adding 52 rushing yards and another score.

Notre Dame's College Football Playoff hopes took a massive hit in Week 2 when the team fell 16-14 at home to Northern Illinois, which has lost games to unranked Buffalo and NC State since then to fall to 2-2 this year.

However, the Fighting Irish have now responded with three straight wins against Purdue (66-7), Miami (Ohio) (28-3) and Louisville. Notre Dame has seven games remaining, and the only one that features a ranked team is the final one at No. 13 USC on Nov. 30.

The table could very well be set for Notre Dame to still make the CFP if the team runs the table. For now, though, fans discussed the team's playoff chances in the meantime.

Notre Dame now has the week off before hosting Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 12.