Game Preview: Punish Pitt

Students in Dillon Hall (little brother of Alumni Hall)
urge the Fighting Irish to show no mercy against Pitt

The Fighting Irish began to turn the corner last week with their first win of the season over #15 MSU. With a win over Pitt this week, they can complete that turn around and set the stage for a 4 game winning streak going into the prime-time matchup against U$C under the lights in Notre Dame Stadium on October 22. 

Three foes stand between them and their West Coast rivals, and while they should be able to take care of business against Purdon’t and Air Force with relative ease, they will have their hands full against a fierce squad of Pittsburgh Panthers led by first-year head coach Todd Graham. Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish faithful remember Graham all too well as then head coach of Tulsa when the Golden Hurricane swept into South Bend to escape with a narrow upset victory last year. While Graham is still ironing out the details of installing his up-tempo spread offense at Pitt, he has the luxury of leaning on another Graham to carry the load of his offense. Running back Ray Graham presents a dual threat out of the backfield with flashes of brilliance between the tackles as well as his ability to contribute in the passing game. So far this season, he has amassed a team-leading 419 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns on 79 carries. Those are scary numbers, especially considering that last time the Fighting Irish ventured into Heinz Field, they got torched by star running back Dion Lewis. To avoid dejavu, a much improved defensive front will have to repeat the dominating performance they had last week when they limited MSU to under 50 yards rushing after the Spartans had averaged over 175 in their first two games. 

In addition to Graham, the Fighting Irish defense will have their hands full with the two most physically daunting wide receivers they will have faced thus far this season in Devin Street and Mike Shanahan. While Pitt’s quarterback Tino Sunseri believes himself to be a potent weapon in Graham’s system, describing his performance last week in a ND-at-Michigan-like meltdown against Iowa as “my greatest game I played yet,” he has only managed to throw 3 touchdowns while accounting for 4 interceptions and 2 fumbles. 

Thus, the key to success on the defensive side of the ball will clearly involve containing Graham and forcing long passing situations on third down, when Bob Diaco can unleash stud freshman pass rushing specialist Aaron Lynch against a weak offensive line that has given up 12 sacks already this season. 

The Fighting Irish offense will be going up against a Pitt squad that Brian Kelly calls “smart, tough, and physical.” Apparently they run extremely complex schemes that may force Kelly to dumb down the offense for Rees this week “so he doesn’t have to read a million different coverages.” Even so, Rees is going to have to step up and have a big game against a secondary that was embarrassed by Iowa last weak, giving up 399 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns. 

Prediction: 

Both Tommy Rees and Michael Floyd will have career days against a secondary that is still licking its wounds after getting shredded in the fourth quarter of their last game. The Fighting Irish secondary will give up a few big plays on jump balls against a physical receiving core, and Graham will break a few impressive runs, but the defensive front will come up big when it counts in order to ensure that Ol’ Notre Dame wins overall. 

Fighting Irish: 37 

Panthers: 31 

Offensive MVP: Michael Floyd – Expect Mike to have his way with the Pitt secondary similar to the way Golden Tate did last time the Fighting Irish played at Heinz Field. They can try, but they just can’t defend him. 

Defensive MVP: Aaron Lynch – The hype surrounding this freshman phenom will continue to grow, as another sack and another forced fumble cause a sudden increase in demand for #19 jerseys at the Hammes Bookstore.

Added Bonus Material:  4 minutes of ND owning Pitt:
(check out the stud in green at the 2:49 mark)