Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 58 Pitt 7
This game was over before it started.
It might not have seemed that way with a couple of interceptions by Sam Hartman that made the first half much closer than it needed to be. But it was over because there was no way Pitt was going to be able to do much with an offensive line that featured their 3rd string left tackle, a right tackle who had played 29 career snaps before today, and a true freshman at right guard.
Quarterback Christian Veilleux got hit constantly and made several poor decisions that resulted in four interceptions. Pitt only managed to get the ball into Notre Dame territory twice in their first 11 drives and that was when the Irish were playing their third and fourth team players on defense.
The defense dominated and two more special teams touchdowns were huge in helping the Irish run away from Pitt and never have to worry about an upset for one second.
- To not have Benjamin Morrison this game and then have Cam Hart leave the game early, it would normally cause most programs to change how they call their defense. Notre Dame doesn’t have to worry about that because Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray are good ball players in their own right.
Mickey came away with a pick-six and almost had a couple of others. Gray had one of the best plays of the season with a ball he tipped to himself on a leaping interception.
They’ll need Morrison and Hart back going forward, but it’s not like teams can look forward to bad cornerback play if they are out.
- I thought Gerad Parker had a good plan for this game. They came out and ran RPOs, they were much more effective with play-action, and they knew to attack the perimeter when Pitt was loading up people in the box.
Yes, they got a ton of help from the defense and special teams, but the day on offense looks even better if Hartman doesn’t make a poor throw to Rico Flores when they should have led him (though they should have called pass interference) and it was a low percentage throw on his other pick. He should have thrown that ball away.
Those mistakes ignore that there was way more good than bad with them running the ball well when they needed to and producing explosive plays like the one play-action to Flores.
Notre Dame averaged 8.2 yards per play (12.2 YPP in the 3rd quarter!). Pitt hadn’t allowed an offense to average more than 5.5 against them this season.
- That Chris Tyree punt return touchdown pretty much justifies him being the returner all season. It was an incredible job breaking all of those tackles, but maybe it was not all that surprising given that Pitt is one of the worst tackling teams in the country (117th in PFF’s tackling grades).
The catch he made over his shoulder was just as good. It’s now to the point where I’m not sure where the offense would be without him.
- Pitt came into the game with a 20.6% havoc rate in their last four games. They managed only 10.8% today.
- The flip side of that was Notre Dame’s defense having a havoc rate of 23.5%. Al Golden did a great job of attacking them with pressures and the defensive line won consistently.
The sacks numbers should have been way bigger if not for them trying to get the ball out quickly to avoid pressure. Getting negative plays on early downs forced them to have to drop back and take more chances. That did not go well for them.
Veilleux averaged 4.4 yards per attempt and Pitt was 1 of 10 on 3rd down.
- The only concerning thing to come out of this game was the unknown status of Mitchell Evans, Jayden Thomas (didn’t look good after that deep shot), Hart, and Morrison. Those are obviously key pieces and not having them against Clemson would be a blow.
Then again, I’m not sure what to expect from Clemson next week.
They are now 4-5 with Cade Klubnik as their starter (4-4 this season). It’s been over a decade since they’ve been .500 this late into the season.
And who knows what kind of crowd they’ll have for a noon kick game. There could be some empty seats and a lot of early groans if they come out and struggle early.
- In his last two games against Notre Dame, Pat Narduzzi has lost by a combined score of 103-10. I have no idea what his job security is at the moment, but these results haven’t helped his cause.
When you get beat this bad in consecutive match ups, it’s time for everyone to stop mentioning that the Pitt game worries them.
It’s also time to start appreciating how Notre Dame has a coach who doesn’t throw his players under the bus like Pat Narduzzi did after this game.
What a terrible look for him.
- This is exactly the type of win any coach would want to have after a bye week. It should give Marcus Freeman and the team as a whole a lot of confidence the rest of the way. Look at their opponents, they have a great shot at winning out.
Maybe that might not seem as important now that they aren’t in the College Football Playoff hunt, but there is still a lot to play for.
This defense isn’t just good. It’s great. There’s a possibility that they’ll end up with multiple All-Americans (Xavier Watts, hello!).
Notre Dame’s offense had Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love, Rico Flores, and Tobias Merriweather all make explosive plays today. Throw in Jordan Faison’s 20-yard punt return and that’s a lot of freshmen and sophomores making plays.
If fans weren’t excited about what they might see from the Irish to close out this season, I think this type of game gives them reason to change their stance. This is going to be a fun team to watch in November.
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