What happened!?!?

Before we say anything else, let’s give a ton of credit to the Pitt Panthers on a great game.  They have a lot of great players who played a great game.  Looking at the stat sheet Sunday morning, there were numbers that would lead someone to believe that the Irish won this game and won this game overwhelmingly. Rushing first downs: ND 34 / Pitt 13, Net yards rushing: ND 231 / Pitt 144, Net yards passing: ND 291 / Pitt 164, Offensive plays: ND 104 / Pitt 62, Time of possession: ND 35:23 / Pitt 24:37, Third down conversions: ND 10-20 / Pitt 1-14, Sacks: ND 5 / Pitt 1.

Then there were the numbers I saw that brought me back to earth and defined why the game could have gone the other way.  Average yards per rush: ND 4.5 / Pitt 4.4, ND had one lost fumble and was intercepted twice, and the Irish also had five penalties in the first quarter.

It is often said that you can learn more from losing than you can from a win, and while I don’t buy that for a second, what is true in this case is that there are things you can only learn from losing.  There is much for the team as a whole (and the parts that make that whole) to improve on from what we learned from this game, which was as close to a loss as you can have without a mark in the L column.

Things that I’m hoping we learned include how to face true adversity and get through it.  Most of the negatives experienced during the game can be viewed as opportunities for improvement and growth.   Mike Golic is still missing blocks and I fear that our backups on the O-line are no better or Kelly would have made a move by now.  The Irish were the Irish of old Saturday as it pertained to penalties, turnovers, poor tackling, some sloppy plays including a missed extra point, all of which of which are correctable.

The game ball was given to Golson…perhaps Notre Dame’s quarterback of the future is here today.

What will keep you up Friday night?

The Irish should beat Pittsburgh handily and without incident.  However. there is a reason they play the game.

Every team gets up to play Notre Dame and the Pitt Panthers are no exception.

Pittsburgh senior quarterback Tino Sunseri, who has not thrown an interception since September 15, has 143 pass attempts with a 69.2 completion percentage.   Sunseri has thrown only two interceptions all season with 13 touchdowns.

Ray Graham has decent numbers this season - seven touchdowns with 622 yards on 162 carries for a 4.6 yards per carry average.  What will keep you up is when you discover that Graham has 4,427 career all-purpose yards, second in Pitt history to Tony Dorsett, despite missing four games last season due to an injury.

Defensive back Andrew Taglianetti has 19 tackles this season.  Below standard perhaps, but what will keep you up are his six career punt blocks.

Turnovers - Pittsburgh is 3-0 this season when forcing at least two turnovers.

Street and Shanahan - the Panthers’ leading receivers averaging 13.9 and 17.1 yards a catch, respectively.

Momentum - half of Pittsburgh’s wins have come in the last two games.

Boston College 1993 and 2002

Pittsburgh is scary

How does this team lose to Youngstown State and Syracuse then beat teams like (#13 at the time) Virginia Tech?  With their other three wins being against 3-4 Temple, 1-7 Buffalo and 2-6 Gardner-Webb, you can’t be over-intimidated by that resume.   So why are they scary?  Who knows what could happen with a team all over the place? And coupling that with a team with nothing to lose makes for a dangerous scenario.

Realistically, let’s face it, the Irish should win this game and win it convincingly.  Offensively, Pitt is fair at best.  Averaging just over 281 yards passing per game (ranking them 32^nd nationally) and being led by an experienced senior quarterback, the passing game should not be a huge issue for the Irish defense.  The rushing game offers even less of a threat, averaging just over 150 yards (ranking them 77^th in the nation).  Add to that game and against Notre Dame’s front seven, and those numbers  should only get worse for the Panthers.  The offense as a whole is averaging 29 points a game (ranking them 60th nationally).

Pittsburgh is a little more solid on defense, allowing 21.8 points a game (ranking them 33^rd nationally), but let’s keep that in perspective by looking at the teams they have played.  I suspect the Irish running game should do well this Saturday.  The offensive line is too big and strong and the backs are just too good.

Pittsburgh is the type of team which, when you look at the surface, just doesn’t make sense and you often fear what you don’t understand.  For example, for the season as a whole Pittsburgh has won the scoring battle in every quarter but the third, where they have been outscored 59-37.  Most teams who outscore their opponents three out of four quarters are better than 4-4.

Ok, now what?

I hate to do it, but Irish faithful we need to start looking at the big picture.  Make no mistake about it, the most important game of the season right now is the next game, against Pittsburgh.  We know our schedule and what that means, so let’s take a look at some of the other teams jockeying for position and what they are looking at as the season makes the turn toward the home stretch.

Alabama

#5 LSU (7-1)

#16 Texas A&M (6-2)

Western Carolina (1-8)

Auburn (1-7)

I can’t argue with the Tide’s number one ranking.  If I was a betting man, I would pick Alabama to go undefeated and stay atop the polls.  However, with two ranked teams and heading to Baton Rouge this weekend, they do have a couple of hurdles that could trip them up.  If they get past LSU and Texas A&M they have Western Carolina (how did this team ever get on their schedule?) and Auburn who is having an awful year just two seasons removed from winning the National Championship.  The final hurdle would come up in the SEC title game, but really no matter who their opponent may be I still like the Tide being #1 at the end of the regular season.  I almost would rather end up undefeated, be bumped out of the  National Championship game and win another BCS Bowl game to go 13-0 then lose to Alabama and finish 12-1.  On the other hand, the Tide have only played two ranked teams (one being #8 at the time, Michigan 5-3) so they may be a little overrated.

Kansas State

#24 Oklahoma State (5-2)

TCU (5-3)

Baylor (3-4)

#23 Texas (6-2)

The Wildcats are doing their best Oregon Duck imitation putting up a lot of points (ranked 5^th), averaging 44 points per game making them a hot pick to make the championship game.  With wins over three ranked teams, Kansas State has a solid claim to the number two spot.  They have two more games against ranked teams and three games against teams with winning records.  Although it’s unlikely, there are several opportunities for Kansas State to trip up.  The Big 12 does not have a conference championship, so if they can get through the regular season undefeated, I think the Wildcats will have a stronghold on the #2 spot.

Oregon

#17 USC (6-2)

California (3-6)

#14 Stanford (6-2)

#11 Oregon State (6-1)

The Ducks are ranked fourth in the BCS and second in the AP and obviously the BCS is still what counts.  Once again, Oregon is an offensive machine averaging 53.4 points a game, which is good enough for first overall in the nation and rushing for 330.6 yards a game, putting them third in the nation in that category.  However, it may be their schedule that ultimately does them in.  Opponents such as Arkansas State from the Sun Belt Conference, Tennessee Tech, a 2-6 Washington State, and a 1-7 Colorado, the Ducks’ big wins don’t look all that impressive.  To finish the season undefeated, Oregon needs to beat a 17^th ranked USC team with something to prove after last week’s loss to Arizona, a 14^th ranked Stanford team and an in-state rival game against 11^th ranked Oregon State.  If the Ducks get through that gauntlet, they will have to get a win in the PAC 12 championship game to stay undefeated.

History and Tradition

When Notre Dame and Oklahoma take the field Saturday night in Norman it will truly be a game between college football royalty.  These are two of the most successful and storied programs in history.

First Season: Notre Dame 1887 (125^th season) / Oklahoma 1895 (118^th season)

All Time Record: Notre Dame 861-300-42 / Oklahoma 826-308-53

All Time Winning Percentage: Notre Dame .733 / Oklahoma .718

Claimed National Titles: Notre Dame 11 / Oklahoma 16

Heisman Trophy Winners: Notre Dame 7 / Oklahoma 5

Consensus All Americans: Notre Dame 96 / Oklahoma 75

Coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame: Notre Dame 6 / Oklahoma 5

First round NFL draft picks: Notre Dame 63 / Oklahoma 42

College Football Hall of Fame: Notre Dame 44 / Oklahoma 19

Understanding Kelly

I guess it wouldn’t be a Notre Dame game day without Brian Kelly making a decision that leaves me scratching my head.  This week’s head scratching moment happened before the game even started.  I thought for a moment that I knew what he was doing, why he was doing it and how he was going to do it.  The reports out of practice during the week were positive for Rees but also spoke about Hendrix getting 40% of the reps.  So when I heard Rees was getting the start, I felt it was more about getting Hendrix into the game in a backup role, as that made more sense than having Hendrix come in behind Golson.  I figured against BYU, the Irish would go up by two or three scores in the fourth quarter and get Hendrix in the game.  Why, you ask?  This type of move would have accomplished a couple of things heading into a major showdown in Norman, Oklahoma against the Sooners.  First, it gives Golson an extra week to fully recover from his concussion.  Second, it gives Hendrix important game reps which, in addition to giving the junior quarterback confidence and more game experience, also makes Oklahoma have to prepare for the real possibility of the Irish playing three different quarterbacks with three different skill sets running three different styles of offense.  Hendrix did see the field, but it was earlier than I thought, and for a lot less snaps than I thought, although he did look good in his very limited appearance.   Of course, in the process of all this, Kelly needed to come out of this game with a win.

As we have said many times before and most likely will in the future, it does not matter how much you win by; at the end of the day, a win is a win.  Coming to South Bend, BYU was probably better than their 4-3 record but they were in no way a national power.  A three point win does not instill a lot of confidence heading to Norman, but it does send them there undefeated. 

BYU beyond the numbers

3              Notre Dame put points on the board three out of the four quarters (1^st, 3^rd & 4^th), compared to BYU only scoring in one quarter (14 points in the 2^nd).  Spreading the points throughout the game keeps momentum moving.

270         The Irish out-rushed the Cougars 270 yards to 66, and 43 attempts to 25.  With no fumbles, that is very solid ball control. 

2              The Notre Dame defense had not surrendered an offensive touchdown since playing Purdue in their second game of the season on September 8^th.  The Irish gave up two passing touchdowns Saturday against BYU.

61/60 and 29:19/30:41    Number of offensive plays and times of possession for BYU and Notre Dame, respectively.  These numbers really show how close this game was.

2/6         Kyle Brindza missed two field goals, which represented six points left on the field for the Irish.

2/4         With two interceptions and four sacks how much longer can the defense carry this team to wins?

2/100+  Two running backs (Wood and Riddick) each ran for over 100 yards each (Wood 114 and Riddick 143).

4/73/1   Tyler Eifert’s numbers getting him back into the offensive fold with four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.

5              Is there any player on any team in the country more valuable as a leader to their success than Notre Dame’s #5 Manti Te’o?  Manti finished Saturday with 10 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and an interception. The Irish need to control themselves though, as two very stupid personal fouls (Farley and Niklas) could have and cost Notre Dame a win.