Looking back over Saturday’s victory against Pittsburgh, there was plenty of good, bad, and ugly in a victory that was absolutely crucial for the Irish’s season. For the second consecutive week, Notre Dame got off to a quick start, only to give back the momentum by squandering opportunities and committing some unforced errors. But in the end, the Irish held strong when Pitt had a number of chances to drive down the field to win the game, something that the Irish failed to do in the past few seasons.
“It’s how they play the game now,” Kelly said after the game. “They have a belief that they’re going to win football games. We’re not
there yet, believe me, but we’re taking the right steps towards where we
want to go as a football team.”
Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly.
THE GOOD
We discussed David Ruffer’s heroics earlier in the weekend, but it’s time to give credit to the Irish defense. They have played very well in the red zone, limiting Pitt to only three points on three trips to the red zone on Saturday and in 19 trips this season, have only allowed seven touchdowns — a stat the unit prides itself in.
“We build that mentality in the way we train,” Kelly said. “We do that in offseason
conditioning, we do that in the summer. You just build that belief that
when you go out there, you don’t have a breaking point. Those are things
we try to instill in the entire program. Bob (Diaco) has done a very
good job schematically, in terms of different looks down there and
making you earn it. Any time you do a good job against the run in the
short field and force the ball into the right zone coverages, you’ve got
a chance. So I’d say it’s building that mentality over a number of
months and gaining confidence with success.”
The offseason training didn’t just show up in the red zone, but was evident during the fourth quarter, where the Irish defense dominated Pitt and held strong on two attempts when Pitt had the ball and a chance to win the game. After Jonathan Baldwin’s long touchdown against broken coverage, the Irish defense stood strong when in the past it might have wilted. Pinned deep in their own territory, Pitt didn’t manage a first down in two attempts to win the game, and both the run defense and the pass coverage held up extremely well, with the pass rush constantly harassing Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri and forcing what should have been intentional grounding and a safety, something the Irish defense hasn’t done in quite some time.
A year after giving up six yards a carry against Pitt, the Irish held the Panthers to 3.5 per rush on Saturday, 83 yards less on he ground in a game where stopping the run was critical.
THE BAD
Unforced errors and inopportune penalties killed the Irish. A holding call by Braxston Cave kept a long completion to Michael Floyd off the board when the Irish had seven men protecting, something that just can’t happen. An offensive pass interference call kept another big play — a potential game-icing touchdown catch by Floyd — off the scoreboard as well. The latter of the two flags, Kelly openly disputed.
“Just disagree fundamentally with the call. I’ve watched it a
number of times. We’ll have a conversation with the supervisor of referees,” Kelly said. “I’ve been running that play a long time. We’ve
never had it called, because we run it the right way. That’ll be a
conversation we have to have and straighten that out.”
While those two calls kept big Michael Floyd plays off the board, the Irish continue to be their own worse enemy when they can least afford it. Two big drops by tight ends Kyle Rudolph and Mike Ragone halted Irish drives, with Ragone’s drop a crucial miscue on a well-constructed play Notre Dame needed to move the chains and keep the clock moving.
Many have bristled at Kelly’s use of pass plays late in the game when the Irish should be running out the clock. But Kelly believes his offense can effectively do that while also putting much needed points on the board.
“I think we’re good enough to do that, to control the clock,” Kelly said. “The problem
is we don’t put enough points on the board. But we can control the
clock, and at the end of the day I’m not a big time of possession guy.
I’d rather have more points on the board than time of possession and
sitting here going we won time of possession but we lost.”
THE UGLY
Pitt’s special teams have to feel like they let the game slip through their fingers. One of the Big East’s most consistent kickers failed to convert two field goals inside 35 yards, and an ill-fated fake punt handed the Irish three points when their offense was already sputtering. Here’s what Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt had to say about the kicking miscues.
“You know what, on one our holder dropped the ball,” Wannstedt said. “I mean, he spun the ball and he lost control of it. He’s been doing it for four years. And Hutch is as good a dependable kicker as we’ve got and he just pushed it to the right. Bad day. Bad day kicking field goals.”
For an Irish fan, it’s rare that the ugly actually seems to help out Notre Dame, so Wannstedt and Pitt’s displeasure is to the Irish benefit.
