It sure wasn’t pretty, but the Fighting Irish got the victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, 15-12. It was probably one of the most boring games I have ever watched. Besides the five scoring drives between each team the game was just penalty after penalty, and dropped pass after dropped pass, with the occasional run for no yards. It was a sloppy game that wasn’t really a “defensive battle” as much as it was “offensive ineptness”.
3 things I liked
Tyler Eifert- Eifert made a name for himself last season after filling in for injured starting tight end, Kyle Rudolph. This year there is no Rudolph, so Eifert has been the starter. He has had a good season but he definitely had the best game of his career on Saturday against Pitt. While the entire Panther’s defense was focused on stopping wide receiver, Michael Floyd, Eifert was open in the middle of the field all day. Eifert also made the game-winning catch in the 4th quarter and finished the day with 8 catches for 75 yards. Eifert was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana so it’s pretty cool to watch a fellow Hoosier make an impact for the Irish.
Jonas Gray- Gray is the “backup” (I explain this in a second) running back, playing behind Cierre Wood. Gray is a senior, while Wood is a junior, so it’s nice to see Gray get a lot of touches in his final season. He has never been the starter during his career at Notre Dame, but he proved on Saturday that he has the talent to be a starter. Gray only ran the ball three times in the game, but his run of 79 for a touchdown was fantastic. He took the handoff, found the hole, broke through a couple of tackles, and sprinted into the endzone.
Having Gray and Wood in the backfield gives the Irish offense a great advantage over opposing defenses. Both have their own style of running; Gray is more power while Wood is more finesse, but both have the speed to get into the secondary. Although Gray plays behind Wood, it’s not like he’s Wood’s backup. Both guys are great and either could start ahead of the other.
Defense- All everybody talks about is how incredible the offense is, but this unit deserves a lot of props for what they do. In four games this season they have given up eight touchdowns and seven field goals. Check out these other defenses and how much they’ve given up:
#1 LSU- 6 TD’s and 5 FG’s
#2 Oklahoma- 7 TD’s 2 FG’s
#3 Alabama- 4 TD’s and 1 FG
#5 Oklahoma State- 11 TD’s and 6 FG’s
#13 Clemson-12 TD’s and 6 FG’s
Notre Dame- 8 TD’s and 7 FG’s
Ok, so the Irish definitely aren’t anywhere near LSU, Oklahoma, or Alabama, but they’re just as good, if not better, than Oklahoma State and Clemson. You have to remember though; Notre Dame’s offense has given up the ball 15 times, that’s the worst of any team in America.
The Irish defense also racked up six more sacks against Pitt, proving that the defensive line for the Irish is a force to be reckoned with.
3 Things I didn’t like
Tommy Rees- You know I support you Tommy, but god did you make it hard to. Rees finished the game 24/41 on passing, with 216 yards and one touchdown, which isn’t a bad game at all. Then consider the interception and fumble he had and it’s pretty disappointing. Rees threw a lot of passes that left me shaking my head in utter confusion. Over and over he would snap the ball, drop back, and stare at the receiver he wanted to throw to, then try and force the ball to the receiver. Look around! Look at your other receivers! He makes it so obvious where he’s going to throw it. He needs to learn to look for 2-3 receivers each play, not just one.
Penalties- The Irish committed 8 penalties for 85 yards. That’s way too many esp. when the Irish offense turning the ball over and shooting itself in the foot every other drive.
The worst of these penalties came in the 4th quarter. The Panthers were punting near their own goal line and a Notre Dame defender went to block the kick and scraped against the punter’s foot. This was apparently such a traumatic and endangering play to the punter that the official called “roughing the kicker”. This resulted in the Panthers moving up 15 yards and getting an automatic 1st down.
The same call was made in favor of the Irish in the 1st half, but even that penalty should not have been called. It appeared the Panther’s defender smacked into the Irish punter’s legs, but it was all an acting job by the punter.
Moral of the story, there should be a better way to examine what actually happens during punting plays. It is absolutely insane to penalize a player that doesn’t affect the punter or the punter’s punting (That’s a lot, I know). There should be a 5-yard and 15-yard penalty, depending on how hard the defender hits the punter. In both cases on Saturday, a 5-yard penalty would have been appropriate.
Not to keep harping on this, but I am SOOO sick of Big 10 officials at Notre Dame games. I swear the Big 10 wants the Fighting Irish to lose every game they referee.
Start time- I know what you’re thinking, “start time? How does that relate to the game?” Beside the fact that fans had to start the party a little earlier; it also meant this was the first game Notre Dame has had to play this season with a start time before 3:30 p.m. Before this they played a home game at 3:30 p.m., an away game in Ann Arbor(which is about 2 hours away from South Bend) at 8:00 p.m., and a home game at 3:30 p.m. Not only was this the first game that the Irish really had to travel to get too, but they had to wake up a few hours earlier.
In my preview I noted that three keys to a victory would be: limit turnovers, don’t give up any big plays, and manage the offense. Notre Dame only had two turnovers, but did Rees did not manage the offense at all. Rees needs to learn that he has several people on the team that have big play capability and get the ball to those players. The defense did prevent Pittsburgh from getting any big plays as they held Pitt to just 268 total yards.
I also predicted a final score of: N.D.-35, Pitt.-16. I was only a little off, right?
Next up for Notre Dame is the Purdue Boilermakers and the Battle for the Shillelagh. The Boilermakers had a bye week so they’ve had an extra week to get ready for the Irish. The game is at 8:00 p.m. so the Irish should be good and ready to play.
