Join the forum discussion on this postWill Notre Dame ever again be relevant in collegiate football? Every time it appears that the Irish are ready to make that leap – boom, something happens. The two stunning losses to begin the season – well they are what they are, two games that should have been Irish victories. Instead Notre Dame found ways to give both games away. The luck of the Irish came though against the Pittsburgh Panthers. I can hear it now, but Pittsburgh manhandled South Florida so they must be good. I somewhat agree, but on the day N.D. and Pitt hooked up, the Irish should have put these guys away as easily as Pitt did South Florida. You can not call yourself a great football team unless you win the games that you are expected to – in a big way. Once in awhile, there is a close tussle that was not expected to be that way. Understood, that happens. But with Notre Dame, it seems to be unending. The Fighting Irish with the talent on the field should have steam-rolled Pitt.
I can hear the echoes now, a win is a win. No it isn’t. The problem is the Irish aren’t winning on a consistent basis. Right now they are simply a.500 team. Notre Dame is no longer the Notre Dame of old. The talent level under Charlie Weiss improved dramatically offensively. Now thanks to Brian Kelly, the same can be said for the defense. However the Irish still have a long ways to go in that department. There is no consistency. Kelly has brought in good young defensive recruits and it shows. But the veteran defensive backs just haven’t performed to the capability that they should be. That being said though, it was the defense that won the Pitt game. If they hadn’t held this game close, then Rees never would have had a chance to bring the Irish back from the dead.
Rees was the hero, but he also was the goat. Why this kid gets leeway for all of the mistakes that he makes is a little numbing. Yes, I think he deserves to play ahead of Dayne Crist. However, Christ also deserves another shot if Rees isn’t moving the offense. That was the case against Pitt. Until the last drive, the only offensive flash for the Irish was the electrifying run by Jonas Gray. One play. One play only. I don’t care who the QB is, if they can’t move the team for three quarters, then for crying out loud make a change. Notre Dame is still a lot of players away from ever contending for the National Championship. Sometimes I think maybe never again. But like they say, never say never. However, Tommy Rees will never lead this team to a national championship. Nor will Dayne Crist. Andrew Hendrix or Everett Golson , neither might see the field this season, so way too early to tell.
Thanks to the Notre Dame defense, the Irish outplayed the Pitt Panthers. Of Notre Dame’s 15 points – one extra point conversion by David Ruffer, the 79 yard TD run by Jonas Gray, the Tyler Eifert 6 yard pass reception from Tommy Rees, and then the two point conversion on a toss from Rees to Eifert. That was it – 15 total points against the Pitt Panthers. Thank God the Irish don’t play LSU, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin and the plethora of teams that could easily manhandle this squad right now. This team has so far to go, one wonders when that is going to come to fruition. A lot blame the coach. I don’t know. How many coaches does the school need to hire before they get it right?
The Pitt game stats do favor Notre Dame in many ways. The Irish deserved to win the game. That being said though, again they were lucky to win the game. 23 first downs to 19 in favor of the Fighting Irish. N.D. was 6 of 13 on third downs and 2 of 2 on fourth downs. Notre Dame out gained Pittsburgh in total yardage 398 to 268. Tommy Rees completed 24 of 41 passes for 216 yards, one touchdown, one interception and was sacked twice. Rees also lost a fumble at his own 23 yard line to Pitt. The Panther passing game consisted of 22 of 32 passes for 165 yards. There were no interceptions and 1 TD pass thrown by Tino Sunseri.
The Notre Dame rushing effort was led by Cierre Wood with 23 carries for 94 yards. Jonas Gray had 3 carries for 84 yards and the stunning 79 yard run for a touchdown very early in the second quarter. Amazingly, Gray touched the ball on just one more rushing play the rest of the entire game. Let me iterate that, he runs 79 yards and then just totes the ball one more time. What is wrong with that picture? For the game, the Irish rushed for 182 yards on 32 carries. Pitt ran for 103 yards on 38 rushing attempts. They were led by Ray Graham’s 89 yards on 21 carries.
Notre Dame’s leading pass receiver, Michael Floyd caught 3 passes in the first quarter, yet after that he was held to just one more reception. Picking up the slack in spectacular fashion was TE Tyler Eifert. He caught 8 passes for 75 yards and the game winning 6 yard TD reception. He also caught a two point conversion pass from Rees after the TD catch. Theo Riddick pitched in with six catches for 52 yards. For Pitt, Ray Graham did double duty also leading the Panthers in receiving with 8 catches for 43 yards. Mike Shanahan added 6 catches for 64 yards.
The Irish lost only one fumble and threw only one interception in this game. That fumble led to 3 points for Pittsburgh via a FG. Notre Dame did have 8 penalties for 85 yards. Ben Turk punted four times for only a 37.2 yard average. However that was a bit deceiving as he did place 3 of those punts down inside the Pitt 20 yard line.
After a season where David Ruffer was near perfect as the Irish FG kicker in 2010, going 23 of 24, with 23 in a row, it has been a little bit tougher here in 2011. He missed a 39 yard FG against Pitt. Kicking needs to be a bit more consistent, else the Fighting Irish may lose a game or 2 due to these miscues.
The Notre Dame defense played a great game holding Pitt to a mere 268 total yards. Leading the way defensively was linebacker Manti Teo with 10 tackles. Darius Fleming had 3 tackles for losses. Robert Blanton, Prince Shembo and Harrison Smith pitched in with good games for the Irish on the defensive side.
The opening kick off to Notre Dame was a touchback. The Fighting Irish had the ball for 13 plays and used up 6 minutes and 38 seconds. However, they only traveled 39 yards and had to punt. Same for Pittsburgh but they only controlled the ball for a total of 5 plays. Then it was Notre Dame’s time to use up 5 plays, however, Tommy Rees fumbled the ball with Pitt’s Greg Williams recovering the ball at the N.D. 23 yard line.
The Pitt Panthers went three and out. They settled for a 45 yard FG from kicker Kevin Harper. The score was Pitt 3 Notre Dame 0. That would be the only score of the opening period. Notre Dame again had the ball only 5 plays before having to punt the ball away. Pitt went three and out and punted the ball to the Irish where they took over at their own 21 yard line. On first down, Jonas Gray bolted down the right side of the field going 79 yards for an Irish touchdown. David Ruffer added the extra point and Notre Dame led 7-3. Inexplicably, Gray touched the ball but one more time on a rush. Why? Pitt then went 54 yards in 11 plays covering 4 minutes and 31 seconds. They pushed as far as the Notre Dame 2 yard line. Darius Fleming made a great tackle on Ray Graham for a 4 yard loss and Pitt had to settle for a Harper FG from 23 yards out. The score was now Notre Dame 7 Pitt 6.
The Irish went on a short drive and reached the Pitt 24 yard line. However on first down, Rees threw an ill advised pass that was intercepted by J. Hendricks at the Pitt 5 yard line. Pitt only had the ball 6 plays and had to punt. The Irish started at their own 2 yard line. They went 76 yards on 15 plays to the Pitt 22 yard line. The drive stalled and David Ruffer missed his 39 yard FG attempt. The half ended with Notre Dame leading by the score of 7-6.
Pittsburgh drove with the second half kick off 80 yards on 19 plays taking up 8 minutes and 24 seconds. Hubie Graham caught a 3 yard pass from Tino Sunseri for the TD. A rushing attempt for the two point conversion failed. At the 6:36 mark of the third quarter, Pitt now led 12-7. Each team went three and out on their next possessions. To close out the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, the Irish had the ball for a 10 play drive that covered only 21 yards in 4:37. They punted to Pitt who took over at their own 12 yard line. After 7 plays, they punted the ball back to the Irish. Notre Dame took over at its own 15 yard line.
There was 11 minutes and 28 seconds left in the ball game. Tommy Rees and the Irish finally started clicking Rees completed 8 passes on the drive as Notre Dame went 85 yards on 11 plays covering 4 minutes and 40 seconds. Rees hit Tyler Eifert for 6 yards and a touchdown with 6:48 left in the game. Rees also connected with Eifert on the two point conversion and Notre Dame had a 15-12 lead.
Tino Sunseri started to hit his passes for the Pittsburgh Panthers on their drive. He had 6 completions on the drive. However two key sacks thwarted Pitt’s final drive of the ball game. The first sack was delivered by freshman phenom Aaron Lynch. Pitt had a first and 10 at the N.D. 40 yard line. Lynch sacked Sunseri for a 9 yard loss. Then on third and fifteen at the N.D. 45 yard line, Price Shembo sacked Sunseri for an 11 yard loss. Sunseri was incomplete on 4th down and the Irish took over at the Pitt 44 yard line. Notre Dame ran out the clock and had held on to a 15-12 victory.
Next week the Irish travel to Purdue for a rare night game to be on ESPN. This is the fifth game of the season and it is high time for Notre Dame to put together a complete effort covering the entire ball game.
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