How about these Irish? Notre Dame ran away with the game against Pitt in the first half, working Brian Kelly's spready/speedy offense to perfection, only to have to scrap to hold on in the fourth quarter. We can all thank God for keeping Pitt from having an ability to score once they got inside the 20. In the end, the Domers were able to ride their strong start to a 23-17 victory.
After falling behind thanks to a Pitt FG, Notre Dame rallied back to drill 17 unanswered points before the halftime whistle blew. Michael Floyd, who is clearly picking things up as the season goes on, grabbed a short TD pass in the first, but it was Dayne Crist's TD run in the second that lit a fire under my butt. Crist was behind the line when everything collapsed, and he was able to amazingly scramble ahead, dodge some defenders, and squeeze into the end zone for a 10 yard TD run. It was great. He was mobile throughout the game, showing that he really has taken a big step forward. Being mobile early in the year was something that Jimmy Clausen was never really able to do, and that makes me feel that Dayne could have a better legacy at ND than Clausen when it's all said and done.
Remember how all we used to do was complain about our kicking game? David Ruffer continued to shock us all with his amazing footwork over the weekend. Ruff Ruffman (PBS Cartoon Reference) drilled for a thrilling 50 yard FG early in the second half, and then seemed to ice the game with a 32 yard shot in the fourth that put us ahead by 13 with time running out. While Pitt was able to comeback with a long TD pass, the Irish were able to hold strong on the final drive fot Pitt to keep things in our favor. It all kind of worked out. You had ND pinning the Panthers back at the seven, and then you had some amazing stops. I will say this, though, there should have been a safety called on that drive. Notre Dame got in on the Pitt QB, he threw the ball down at the offensive linemen's feet right before he was hit. Guess what? No call. I couldn't believe it. How was it not intentional grounding in the end zone, and thus a safety? I was concerned because that is the kind of play where Pitt could completely just drill an amazing game winning shot with the Irish feeling defeated after the blown call. But, the Irish defense held strong in the face of adversity. It impressed me, and we deserved the win.
Both teams went 33% on third downs, which on offense is a place where Notre Dame needs to get better. Lots of drops in this game, and that needs to be cleaned up. Having 6 penalties and 3 sacks also kind of hurt us, especially compared to just 3 yellow flags for Pitt. The defense was completely on point, though, ripping out three fumbles and grabbing a pick (ending up with 2 turnovers) and the offense held onto the ball (not allowing a single TO).
Dayne Crist finished the game 24/39 for 242 yards with 1 TD and ZERO interceptions. His mobility was the most impressive aspect of his game to me, as I stated. Riddick caught for 75 yards, Floyd added 59 yards, and Rudolph continued to look off his game with just 38 in the air. I'm wondering if Kyle is hurt. If this was baseball, he'd be about ready to go on the DL with "shoulder fatigue." Armando Allen had 56 on the ground, with Wood getting 28. On defense, Smith grabbed the pick while Lewis-Moore recovered the fumble. Smithy also led the team with 11 tackles, but Calabrese was probably the most exciting defensive player, snagging a big 9 takedowns.
Just because I think a lot of us around Irish Nation are down on Kyle Rudolph right now, I'd like to add a little perspective to his season via College-Football-Reference.com. In his Freshman year, Rudolph had an 11.7 average yards per reception mark with 2 TDs on 29 total catches. His Sophomore season saw an 11 yard average with 3 TDs on 33 snags. And, so far this year, he is already sitting on another 11.7 average with 3 TDs on 28 catches. So, while we maybe expected a higher return at this point, when you compare his season to his career, he's pretty much just being good ol' Kyle Rudolph. Maybe we should lay off of him, because he's probably going to finish with his best season at Notre Dame this year when it's all finished.
So, we're back to .500. At 3-3, things seem a little lest scary, right? We are kind of in the part of our schedule where we can make a nice little dent before things get hard again. Could we be 6-3 heading into that game against Utah on November 13? We'll try and start that journey against Western Michigan on Saturday. At 2-3, WMU are coming off of a rallying kind of win against Ball State. 45-16 was the Mustangs win, and that may put the Irish on high alert. QB Alex Carder ran for three TDs and threw for four in the game, and that has me a little worried. While he's obviously no "Shoelace Robinson," he has some break out talent, and we had better prepare to stop him. You know, prepare more than we did for Michigan's QB-running-attack. I know I shouldn't be worried, but after the last game he put up, I'm a little concerned.
In my January season preview post, I predicted that ND was a lock to beat West Michigan. I still believe that, but I'm just a little more nervous.
Alright, Mr. Kelly, just 6 more wins to get to my lofty 9-3 expectations.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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