Irish Hold On, Defeat Pitt 23-17

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly has been mostly unfamiliar with the Irish schedule so far in 2010, with games against 3 Big Ten teams (although he did face Michigan HC Rich Rodriguez once), and a Boston College team that left the Big East before Kelly arrived at Cincinnati.  This week, though, he gets to see a familiar foe, as the Pittsburgh Panthers roll into South Bend, anxious to defeat the Irish for the 3rd consecutive season.  Last season, aided by a controversial overturn of an incompletion to a fumble in the game's final minutes, Pittsburgh beat Notre Dame 27-22.

Kelly, however, did not have the same fate as the Irish of 2009 against Pitt.  In the final week of the season, with an undefeated season and BCS Bowl berth on the line, Kelly's Cincinnati Bearcats won in a defensive struggle 45-44.  His offense tore through the Panther defense, coming back from a 21 point deficit.  Kelly was 2-1 in his 3 years at Cincinnati against Pittsburgh, winning the last 2.

This familiarity will hopefully bring about some better consistency offensively for the Irish, as they struggled mightily the final 3 quarters last week in their 31-13 victory over Boston College.  Pittsburgh will be playing without their star DE Greg Romeus, who has been out for almost a month after having back surgery.  The Panther defense has been pretty good against the run, only giving up 97 rushing yards / game, good for 15th best in FBS.  However, they are 92nd in FBS in passing yards per game at almost 245 / game, so expect Notre Dame to continue to air it out throughout the game.

QB Dayne Crist came out like gangbusters last week, leading 3 TD drives in the first quarter with 2 TD passes, as well as a great read-option keeper for a rushing TD of his own.  However, after that he became very erratic with his throws, really having trouble throwing on the run.  With Romeus out, look for Crist to stay more in the pocket today and find old reliable Kyle Rudolph.  Also look for the Irish to stretch the field with some deep throws to Michael Floyd or Theo Riddick, to help soften up the Panther coverage, making it a little easier to run the ball with Armando Allen.

On the other side of the ball, Notre Dame is coming off their best defensive showing of the season, stoning the BC offense the entire night last Saturday.  ILB Manti Te'o and Carlo Calabrese led the way, each with 10 tackles on the night.  The only lapse came on a long TD pass in the 1st quarter, on what looked like a blown coverage.  However, they came back strong, causing 2 turnovers in the 4th quarter, an interception each for Robert Blanton and Harrison Smith.  The defense may catch a break, however, as Pitt RB Dion Lewis did not play last week against FIU, but is listed as "Probable" for Saturday's game against ND.  If Lewis doesn't play, however, backup Ray Graham, who only ran for 277 yards and 3 TDs last week in Lewis's absence, will get the start.  Bottling up the Panther rushing attack will be key for an Irish victory.

The Irish will also have to contend with WR Jonathon Baldwin, who torched the Irish secondary last year for 142 yards on 5 catches and a TD.  CB Darrin Walls should get the assignment on Baldwin, but look for over the top help on a majority of the plays, looking to contain Baldwin.  SO QB Tino Sunseri will be tasked with getting the ball to Baldwin.  Even though Sunseri isn't highly acclaimed, the Irish defense has made it a habit of late to let Pittsburgh QBs have career days against them.

A win today for the Irish will be a great confidence boost going into a 3 game stretch of Western Michigan, Navy, and Tulsa, before they get their bye week.  The next 3 should be little problem for the Irish, so a win today could easily get them to 6-3 heading into the bye.  After gut-wrenching losses on back-to-back weekends, and a throttling by Stanford, coming back with consecutive victories would be huge for this team, desperate for some good mojo. Defeating an old rival for Kelly would also certainly put a smile on his face as well.