:: Notre Dame Football: Irish Game Day ::
Notre Dame faces test of character, takes on top-10 Pitt, Irish stand at cross-roads
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 13, 2009
"Gentlemen, this is a football." — Frank Leahy
In what promises to be a furiously-contested battle featuring two of the nation's best offenses, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish renew their century-old rivalry with the Pitt Panthers at Heinz Field on Saturday in primetime. The game, Notre Dame's second this year against a top-10 opponent, will be broadcast nationally at 8 PM ET on ABC. Notre Dame has beaten Pitt in 12 of the last 15 meetings.
A hard-playing, talent-laden, possibly enraged Fighting Irish football team looks to right the ship on the road against top-10 Pitt after a close loss to Navy. At 6-3, with their three losses by a combined 11 points to three good teams, Notre Dame stands at a cross-roads where they "could've" been undefeated but instead are working to finish the regular season 9-3 instead of something worse.
Notre Dame has a top-10, multiple-Heisman-candidate offense, with the nation's best quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, as well as all-purpose threat Golden Tate. Rejoining the Irish last week is Michael Floyd, who promptly had a game roughly as good as Golden Tate. Meanwhile, Pitt is just behind Notre Dame in passing efficiency, with quarterback Bill Stull, and running back Dion Lewis is actually as productive in per-game yardage as the would-be Heisman candidate at Alabama. However, Pitt's defensive front-four helps Pitt be among the top-10 in sacks, and Notre Dame's defensive, at-times opportunistic and ferocious in the clutch, will be a group of men on a mission redeeming the previous week's result.
Notre Dame bowl
Technically Notre Dame can still go to a BCS bowl at 9-3, despite the howls such a result would bring. If the Irish beat Pitt on the road, they could jump back into the top-20 and be just a short number of spots away from the top-14 standing needed, generally speaking, for BCS bowl eligibility. Games against Connecticut and nationally-ranked Stanford would also provide opportunities to move up. At the same time, Notre Dame could conceivably go to the Gator Bowl by winning just one of its remaining games, regardless of the howls that result would bring. Even the loss to Navy, who is likely to finish 9-3, need not loom large in, for example, the computer standings.
For Pitt, even if they lose, they can still go to a BCS bowl by beating Cincinnati and winning the Big East. If Pitt meets expectations and beats a Notre Dame that should have been having a better year than Pitt, whether or not Pitt goes to a BCS bowl still might depend on their game with Cincinnati. A 10-2 Pitt that, hypothetically, beats Notre Dame but loses to Cincinnati, might not overcome the pro-SEC bias in the rankings, and also might see two non-AQ conferences sending teams to BCS bowls, in the form of TCU and Boise State. If Georgia Tech wins the ACC, the question would then be whether, for example, a Big Ten/11 runner-up, Pac-10 runner-up, or ACC runner-up got an at-large bid ahead of a Big East runner-up.
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame and Pitt
Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis returns to the city where he inaugurated his Notre Dame tenure back in 2005 against Pittsburgh Head Coach Dave Wannstedt, in what also had been Wannstedt's first game at the helm of the Panthers. Both coaches also are alumni of their respective institutions.
Their meeting in 2005 was a 42-21 blowout by an unranked Notre Dame of a nationall-ranked Pitt. The next meeting, last year, was a marathon four-overtime barn-burner at Notre Dame with Pitt finally prevailing 36-33. The Irish lead the all-time series 44-19-1, kicked off with a 6-0 Notre Dame win 100 years ago in 1909. This year Pitt has started the season 8-1 for the first time since 1982, when Notre Dame blew out a #1-ranked, Dan Marino-led Pitt team on the road, 31-16. Gerry Faust had the biggest win of his tenure in that game, ironically over Pitt Coach Foge Fazio who later would serve briefly as Lou Holtz's defensive coordinator at Notre Dame (before the defensive reins were passed to Barry Alvarez just in time for Notre Dame's most recent consensus national championship).
Here is some vintage (somewhat grainy) video of Ara Parseghian and Brent Musburger in the studio announcing the 1982 result, including a 55-yard touchdown pass off a flea-flicker and a dramatic, long touchdown run by then-freshman Allen Pinkett:
The city of Pittsburgh, with a metropolitan area of roughly 2.5 million people (although the core city itself has a population similar to South Bend), is taking Notre Dame so seriously that the mayor asked the city to treat Friday as a Pitt Panther "Blue-Out Day" to get geared up in anticipation of Notre Dame's arrival to Heinz Field. At 8-1, Pitt is ranked in the top-10, and considered a potential Big East Champion and BCS bowl team.
Meanwhile, today's Notre Dame football team stands at a crossroads where the Irish have played well enough that they could have been undefeated and competing for the national championship at this point, but at the same time, after getting upset by Navy, have some voices extrapolating whether Notre Dame also could stumble against the other strong teams remaining on the schedule. In addition to Pitt, Notre Dame has a tough Connecticut team at home and a top-25 Stanford team in Palo Alto. The Pitt and Stanford games are both primetime games on ABC, and UConn will be carried nationally by NBC as a Notre Dame homegame.
Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh resource links
:: Irish Set to Face Pittsburgh: Saturday will mark the 65th meeting between Notre Dame and Pitt, with the Irish holding a 44-19-1 series lead, Notre Dame Football news release with resource links
:: Notre Dame vs. Pitt game notes (PDF)
:: Notre Dame statistical rankings, NCAA database
:: Notre Dame depth chart
:: Notre Dame Football official site
:: Pitt statistical rankings, NCAA database
:: Pitt depth chart/game notes (PDF, depth chart p. 3)
:: Pitt Football official site
Notre Dame Loss to Navy Perceived Innacurately
Notre Dame has had an exaggerated reaction in the media, to the point of possible media malpractice, after having a confluence of factors converge on a two-point upset loss to a long-standing rival itself likely to finish 9-3.
Perhaps fatigued after making its longest road trip of the year, Notre Dame saw the law of averages catch up with them against Navy and not find a way to overcome the situation. Lost to the perceptions of some fans and media, there are a bundle of factors that go into playing championship-caliber football, and one element is coming out a little flat against a great opponent, seeing everything bounce against you, and still grinding out a win. The Irish need to do that to fully turn the corner.
Navy is a good team, talented and hard-playing, one of the top-rushing teams in the nation, and treats the Notre Dame as its biggest game after Army. (As it turned out, Navy also played a little dirty on at least one play this year and last. NBC has posted a video clip showing a Navy player going out of his way to blind-side a Notre Dame player with a running, diving body-block to the back of the player's knees as the play was ending or already over.)
Notre Dame did poorly in the so-called "red zone" with missed field goals, turnovers, and otherwise failing to score.
Notre Dame's freshman kicker, among the nation's best and on the short-list for the Groza award, had made 14 in a row, a school record, and by the law averages was potentially "due" to miss one or two at some point. He just happened to have it happen in a close game against Navy with the rest of team (at least early on) a bit less energetic than usual.
An Irish team that is among the nation's best in turnovers was potentially "due" to have a few, and just happened to have the law of averages catch up with them in the midst of the same scenario, when the kicker was also having some misses.
One of the nation's top receivers, missing half the season and coming off an injury, had a Heisman-caliber day, but also was predictably just a shade rusty, had a few uncharacteristic drops, and predictably had one miscommunication. But the rustiness came in the midst of the rest of the scenario described above, and the miscommunication meant an uncharacteristic turnover rather than a touchdown.
Some elements of the news media have misreported the notion of a coaching change, without even attempting to allege that there is any basis whatsoever in fact to report on such a thing. So, whether it is journalistic malpractice, editorializing under the guise of reporting (i.e., saying, we have absolutely no basis to suggest there is consideration of a coaching change but we are going to imply that there should be based on our reaction to one close loss to a great opponent), or simply anti-Notre Dame bias trying to bolster other teams' recruiting efforts, some nuisance reporting has been occurring.
Notre Dame Football has done the right thing, focusing on demanding higher standards across the board, demanding excellence-driven, hard-playing football, and looking like they are in a mind-frame to chew nails until they get it done.
One interesting twist on the Navy result, which will not be examined until next season, is that apparently there has emerged an unwritten rule among some media and some Notre Dame fans that, regardless of the great respect held for the U.S. Naval Academy as an institution, Notre Dame is simply not allowed to lose to Navy.
It probably is not really necessary to go into that. It is sufficient to say that, as Charlie Weis prepares for Navy next year, he probably needs to recognize that there are intitutional memory issues with Navy similar to those with Boston College and Michigan State. In other words, Navy is going to start thinking it can beat Notre Dame with regularity, and keep rearing up and biting Notre Dame on the neck if Notre Dame doesn't do something about it. Those institutional memory issues will need to be nipped in the bud before the sitution with Navy turns into what happened with BC and MSU. But the Irish need to set that aside for now, and focus on the tremendous opportunity presented by Pitt, because of the exciting challenge posed by Pitt.
Notre Dame and Pitt Bring Top-10 Offenses
Notre Dame and Pitt stand #5 and #6 nationally in passing efficiency offense, although the Irish are more productive on offense with respect to actual yardage.
Rightful Heisman front-runner Jimmy Clausen, #3 in passing efficiency nationally, has gone 209 of 308 (68%) for 2770 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions (two of which were perfectly placed and bounced off the receiver). Clausen averages 308 yards per game passing, #5 in the nation, and also ran in a 21st touchdown. No quarterback surpasses Clausen's combination of high efficiency and big yardage.
Pitt quarterback Bill Stull is efficient, ranked #5 in passing efficiency, but is only #50 nationally in actual passing yardage with 209 passing yards per game.
In fact, while the Irish offense overall is ranked #6, with 464 yards per game, Pitt's offense is only #37, averaging 408. One distinction is that Pitt has a more prolific running game, averaging 187 per game, paced by freshman Dion Lewis, averaging 5.6 yards per carry and 126 yards per game.
Lewis has almost identical statistics to the argubaly over-hyped would-be "Heisman candidate" running back at Alabama. Both have a per-game average similar to what Armando Allen was doing earlier in the year before he was injured.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame is averaging around 138 yards per game, respectable at 3.9 yards per rush, but not what the Irish are capable of.
But Pitt's running game is somewhat one-dimensional, while Notre Dame has had good production from multiple players, such as heavy-halfback/fullback Robert Hughes, Jonas Gray, and Golden Tate, as well as emerging all-purpose speedster Theo Riddick (who actually is demonstrating authentic running back and receiver skills, not just speed).
The Irish receiving corps welcomed back Michael Floyd from longstanding injury to play against Navy, where Floyd was a little rusty, having a couple of uncharacteristic drops, but still matched Heisman candidate Golden Tate statistically.
On the year, Tate is #3 in the country, averaging 117 yards per game. In the previous game, Floyd had 10 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown, while Tate had 9 catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. Both averaged about 14 to 15 yards per catch. So Notre Dame has what is probably the best wide-out tandem in college football, both All-America caliber and Heisman-candidate-caliber.
Notre Dame has lost tight-end Kyle Rudolph to injury, perhaps getting him back for the final regular-season game against Stanford. But do not forget that Mike Ragone was going to be the starter last year, and Rudolph was called upon when Ragone himself was lost to injury. Ragone had two catches for 33 yards against Navy, one a 30-yarder. He also showed astonishing open-field speed and intensity against Washington State, running down a Pac-10 defensive back from behind in the open field when the Cougar DB was trying to run back a blocked PAT for two points.
Ragone, a great athlete with good hands, good speed, and experience, can probably play as well as Rudolph, and will be more of an unknown commodity without as much film for the opponent to dissect for tendencies.
Big, sure-handed veterans senior wide receiver Robby Parris and junior wide receiver Duval Kamara round out what might be the best receiver corps in college football.
In Notre Dame's game against Pitt, the big question will be how the defenses match up. In recent games, Notre Dame opponents tried varying degrees of heavy downfield coverage to force shorter passes, but with Floyd getting back in the swing of things, the Irish have multiple NFL-caliber deep threats to match up with.
Pitt's defense is actually respectable, ranked #21, but the Panthers are still giving up more than 300 yards per game, including more than 200 yards passing. In a somewhat divergent schedule, Pitt's most recent competitive game against a strong opponent was several weeks ago against Rutgers, in which Pitt gave up nearly 250 yards passing but did manage to limit Rutgers to about 40 yards net rushing on 20 carries, an impressive 2 yards per carry for the Pitt defense.
At the same time, Pitt is #1 in the nation in sacks, which get figured into the rushing totals for the opponent.
Against Connecticut, Pitt gave up 106 yards on the ground on 36 carries, but they gave up about 100 yards, and about 6 yards per carry, to UConn's top rusher. So it sounds as if Pitt can get gashed by a good runner at times, but is strong overall on the ground, and also gets sacks.
Notre Dame's defense was making great strides against the run, and opportunistic against the pass, as well as coming through in the clutch, before getting gashed by Navy's triple option and giving up one big pass play to the Middies.
Notre Dame Win
If Notre Dame responds to the loss to Navy by playing its hardest-nosed football, playing very hard, and with intensity of focus to avoid mistakes, look for the Irish to blow out Pittsburgh. Clausen and company have the ability to pick apart the Pitt secondary. The Irish also have multiple runners who each could step up and crank out the yards needed. And the Irish offensive line, if it views the Navy loss as an insult to its manhood, should be able to throw its prehistoric-sized weight around.
Against Navy, the Notre Dame defense might have been tired out by the expeditition to Texas, especially if the travel arrangements turn out not to have taken into account the need for an athletic training schedule to get lots of sleep at regular hours. And they might have been slow to adapt to the triple-option, although the defense only gave up 21 points.
While giving up 400 yards to Navy was an abject embarrassment, the question now is how the Irish defense responds, and they the ability to shut down or at least top rushing offenses, especially when keying on one good back, as they did against Southern Cal and Boston College.
While Pitt's quarterback has some mobility, the Pitt rushing game is not nearly as multidimensional as the triple-option. And while Pitt's quarterback is efficient, he is not prolific.
If Notre Dame gets itself in gear and uses its biggest of the year, its second against a top-10 opponent, to restore its proper caliber of play, this could be a blowout win for the Irish. They have the ability to do that, and quite frankly they should.
Notre Dame Coaching Status
Already, with Notre Dame a strong 6-3 against one of the nation's toughest schedules for a good team, some voices are beating the drums again about Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis and how long he might stay for his decade-long contract. Recall how, last year, a Notre Dame official hinted at a possible temptation towards shenanigans by those jealous of Notre Dame's success. Unable to rival what Notre Dame has to offer with respect to academics, campus life, and athletics, some voices apparently turned to skullduggery, grasping at straws apparently hoping to create false disruptions to Notre Dame's highly touted football recruiting, thinking they could try to confuse elite prospects.
As Notre Dame Football Coach Charlie Weis has rightly reaffirmed, what he is focusing on is beating Pitt.
At the same time, as Notre Dame understandably is disappointed to lose a couple of nail-biters to some of the nation's best football teams, it might be worth remembering what happened when the winningest coach in Notre Dame history, also the winningest coach in football history, faced the propsect of a downturn in his season.
It was his weakest team, playing in front of 78,000 people in the Bronx against a national juggernaut, that Knute Rockne challenged to go out and win one for the Gipper. As legend has it, it was a player who never previously had a big play who scored the winning touchdown, saying as he crossed the goal line, "there's one for the Gipper."
Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh resource links
:: Irish Set to Face Pittsburgh: Saturday will mark the 65th meeting between Notre Dame and Pitt, with the Irish holding a 44-19-1 series lead, Notre Dame Football news release with resource links
:: Notre Dame vs. Pitt game notes (PDF)
:: Notre Dame statistical rankings, NCAA database
:: Notre Dame depth chart
:: Notre Dame Football official site
:: Pitt statistical rankings, NCAA database
:: Pitt depth chart/game notes (PDF, depth chart p. 3)
:: Pitt Football official site
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, Pittsburgh Football, Charlie Weis, Kyle Rudolph, Mike Ragone, Nick Tausch
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