The Fighting Irish are consistent this year - with their inconsistency! After building a suprising 17-3 lead at halftime, the team came back from the locker room and decided they had done enough. As if they were still resting from the mid-way break, the offense did not get one first down all third quarter and the defense decided that the game would be best if it got closer, and so it did.
Not that Pittsburgh needed much help. Their running back LeSean McCoy ran for 169 yards on 32 carries. The Irish just decided to make it easier in the 2nd half for McCoy. After holding the Panthers to no first downs in the first quarter and only 4 yards, the Pitt offense sputtered to finish the half with a field goal. They scored 14 unanswered in the 2nd half to tie at 17 and they exchanged a touchdown before going to overtime.
The highlight for Notre Dame was Brandon Walker, who managed to hit 3 field goals in a row(you read right) but couldn’t deliver on the fourth series in overtime, missing from 32 yards on the left side of the upright. The fact that Walker had to hit 3 field goals in OT, including a personal best of 48 yards, does however show that the Irish offense had all but surrendered and couldn’t deliver a touchdown at the critical time. Dave Wannstedt just prepared his team that much better at the break. In order to come from behind the way they did, they obviously succeeded where Charlie Weis’ coaching staff failed. Motivation, which I talk so much about was the difference. The talent was clearly on the field and the game could have gone to either side. The Irish just came out flat for the 3rd quarter and never recovered.
The lack of emotion and consistency killed the Irish today. Jimmy Clausen great first half, Michael Floyd’s record breaking receptions by a rookie at Notre Dame, all that was swiftly erased by Connor Lee, who was perfect today, kicking 5 field goals in 5 attempts.
Next week, the Irish travel to Boston College, who also lost a heartbreaker to Clemson today, after coming back from an 0-17 deficit to finally lose 27-21. Let’s work on that relentless 60 minutes effort this week and we should win at BC.
Melissa Haro
Lucia Dvorska
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Really disappointed in this one Mike. Neither of our lines played well enough to win. Pitt had pressure on Jimmy all day with just a 4 man rush. And the D Line failed to stop the running game they knew was coming at them. Tate needs to know when to take a knee on kick offs, to many long fields because of his runs to the 10 or 15. I also put some of the blame on the coaching staff, they still seem unable to make halftime adjustments on both sides of the ball. Charlie should have been more aggressive passing in the OT's, the run wasn't there. On the flip side, Pitt played to thier strengths in the 2nd half and OT, the run game and it worked for them. Overall a good game between two struggling programs, but ND had the home field and that should have been the difference but the team never did seem to be fired up.
MrMiyagiJr
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